FCS coaches are still riding with Penn, despite a loss to Brown. Next up: Cornell
The Quakers will look to shake off the loss to Brown against the Big Red of Cornell on Saturday.
Coaches within Football Championship Subdivision still have faith in Penn, giving the Quakers 11 votes in the latest weekly poll despite them being upset, 34-31, by Brown last weekend.
Saturday’s game at Cornell (1 p.m., ESPN+) will be a final test before running the gauntlet against Harvard and No. 17 Princeton to end the season.
Keys to victory
Last week’s loss showed Penn’s (6-1, 3-1 Ivy) remaining Ivy League opponents that the Quakers aren’t invincible. Cornell (4-3, 1-3) only has one conference win thus far, and it’s against a Brown team that picked up its second win of the season.
Beyond keeping its head in the game, the Penn defense will have to keep Cornell quarterback Jameson Wang in check. He’s not afraid to run if he can’t find any eligible receivers and currently leads the Big Red in rushing yards per game (53.29) and has seven rushing touchdowns on the season.
Keep an eye on
Special teams. Beyond Julien Stokes’ 97-yard kickoff return touchdown last week, special teams have been excelling this year. The Quakers defense has kept punt returns to just 1.6 yards, making them No. 8 in FCS. Penn also leads the Ivy League in net punting (39.4 yards) and kickoff returns (29.8 yards).
Kicker Graham Gotlieb has also been a consistent force for Penn. He is arguably the best kicker in the Ivy League with an 81.8% field-goal percentage and 1.3 field goals per game.
These two have a history
Since 1893, Penn has led the series 75-47-5, including a 6-1 record since 2014.
Up until 2018, the Penn-Cornell matchup, called the Trustees’ Cup, marked the last game of the season and historically was played at Franklin Field on Thanksgiving Day. The rivalry was first played in Ithaca, N.Y., in 1964 for the 71st iteration of the event.
He said it
“Once you get to this time of the season, these become all playoff games.”
— Penn head coach Ray Priore
Looking down the line
After Cornell, the Quakers will host Harvard (5-2, 3-1) in its last home game of the season (Nov. 12, 1 p.m., ESPN+). Harvard is one of the top teams in the Ivy League, with its only conference loss coming at the hands of undefeated Princeton.