Lafayette-Penn

[bulldog10jw]

Penn took an intentional safety which, obviously, backfired.


http://www.usatoday.com/sports/scores107/107258/NCAAF763947.htm


Lafayette 8, Pennsylvania 7

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -Freshman kicker Davis Rodriguez booted a 27-yard field goal with eight seconds left in the game to give Lafayette an 8-7 victory over Penn on Saturday night.

Lafayette, which held Penn (1-0) to just 224 yards, has its first 3-0 start since 1988.

The Quakers, faced with a fourth-and-10 from their own 1-yard line with 5:15 left to play, took an intentional safety. The Leopards took the ensuing punt from the Penn 30-yard line, and with quarterback Mike DiPaola and halfback Maurice White running the ball, moved to the Penn 10-yard line before Rodriguez made his game-winner.

Penn took a 7-0 lead on a 1-yard run by Joe Sandberg with 8:30 left in the first quarter. A 21-yard field goal by Rodriguez made it 7-3 with 14:41 left in the half.

Four turnovers by each team then kept the game scoreless until the final minutes.

White gained 161 yards on 28 carries. Penn's leading runner, Sandberg, who had more than 1,000 yards last season, gained 85 yards on 17 carries in the first half, but a leg injury kept him out of the entire second half.

The victory was Lafayette's first over Penn in seven tries dating back to 1991. Penn, which was opening its 131st football season, now leads the overall series 8-3.

[Lafalumni29]

Great day for the PL !!!!

[bulldog10jw]

Great day for the PL !!!!

3 of the 7 Ivy-PL games decided either in the last few seconds or OT and the PL won them all.

[letsgopards04]

Hell yeah the PL did very well today. Lafayette's D is for real. They have given up 24 points in three games. The O can run the ball DiPaola seems to be able to manage the game well enough by getting the ball to Adair. I think this team could run the table in the PL.

[charliej]

Penn took an intentional safety which, obviously, backfired.


http://www.usatoday.com/sports/scores107/107258/NCAAF763947.htm




....White gained 161 yards on 28 carries. Penn's leading runner, Sandberg, who had more than 1,000 yards last season, gained 85 yards on 17 carries in the first half, but a leg injury kept him out of the entire second half....

.

I hear Sanberg may be lost for the year.

[PantherRob82]

intentional safety reminds me a bit of the coastal carolina-chuck south game in 05.

[Franks Tanks]

Hell yeah the PL did very well today. Lafayette's D is for real. They have given up 24 points in three games. The O can run the ball DiPaola seems to be able to manage the game well enough by getting the ball to Adair. I think this team could run the table in the PL.


I dont want to get ahead of myself but this may be the best Lafayette team this decade. We dont have the star power of the Mauer's and McCourts like in the past but these kids are winners and wont be denied. This is a huge win on the road for us, and will build a ton of momentum and confidence in the team. Now lets kick the S&%t out of Princeton next week , I hate those guys, and get into league play undefeated :D

[Bogus Megapardus]

I hear Sanberg may be lost for the year.

I saw the game. Penn's offense fizzled out completely when Sandberg went out. It just looked like he had a cramp or something, though.

[charliej]

I saw the game. Penn's offense fizzled out completely when Sandberg went out. It just looked like he had a cramp or something, though.

This mornings Philadelphia inky says it was a hamstring pull. Serious enough,but hopefully won't end his season.

[carney2]

I dont want to get ahead of myself but this may be the best Lafayette team this decade. We dont have the star power of the Mauer's and McCourts like in the past but these kids are winners and wont be denied. This is a huge win on the road for us, and will build a ton of momentum and confidence in the team. Now lets kick the S&%t out of Princeton next week , I hate those guys, and get into league play undefeated :D

Hold on, FT, let's not get ahead of ourselves. No self inflicted injuries from patting ourselves on the back until at least after the Harvard game.

[letsgopards04]

Hold on, FT, let's not get ahead of ourselves. No self inflicted injuries from patting ourselves on the back until at least after the Harvard game.


I don't think it is completely unreasonable to beat Princeton and start league play undefeated. I mean I do not think that we will run the whole schedule.

[Franks Tanks]

I don't think it is completely unreasonable to beat Princeton and start league play undefeated. I mean I do not think that we will run the whole schedule.


I doubt we will run the table, but Princeton, Harvard and Columbia all lost to Pl teams this weekend and all are beatable. Now im excited

[bulldog10jw]

I doubt we will run the table, but Princeton, Harvard and Columbia all lost to Pl teams this weekend and all are beatable. Now im excited

I agree that ALL the Ivies are beatable. But did any team in either the PL or the Ivies prove they are NOT beatable? If they did, I didn't notice.

[Franks Tanks]

I agree that ALL the Ivies are beatable. But did any team in either the PL or the Ivies prove they are NOT beatable? If they did, I didn't notice.

I of course just meant that in both leagues there are no clear cut favorites. A few teams in each league appear better than others, but it wouldnt be a surpise if they lost to other more lowly league members.

[Pards Rule]

But we have GOT to hang more than 8 points on the board this week. And get someone other than Adair involved or they will trip-team him this week. Christ, no other receiver had more than 5 yards!!!

[Pards Rule]

Also it is hard to believe but this was only third win ever against the Quakers? I remember the one in '82 when I was there (actually in DC for the Washington Semester), also 1991 and 2007. I guess it was so stunning that my friend told me after the game KYW 1060 in Philly was reporting a 10-7 PENN win!!

[Franks Tanks]

Also it is hard to believe but this was only third win ever against the Quakers? I remember the one in '82 when I was there (actually in DC for the Washington Semester), also 1991 and 2007. I guess it was so stunning that my friend told me after the game KYW 1060 in Philly was reporting a 10-7 PENN win!!

That all time record is way off, I have no idea where it came from. Our all-time record vs Penn is actually 19- 61-4. Princeton is the really terrible one at 4-36-3. Many of these losses however came from pre 1950 when the Ivy's were national powers.

[Pard4Life]

I dont want to get ahead of myself but this may be the best Lafayette team this decade. We dont have the star power of the Mauer's and McCourts like in the past but these kids are winners and wont be denied. This is a huge win on the road for us, and will build a ton of momentum and confidence in the team. Now lets kick the S&%t out of Princeton next week , I hate those guys, and get into league play undefeated :D

Yes we have a lot of potential, but I still need to see a few more games and a few more wins to believe that (i.e. Princeton, Harvard, Colgate, Holy Cross). If DiPaola dominates a game against a good team defense, I will be a strong believer.

Our defense did a tremendous job. Not many people realize this here, but Penn has one of the strongest teams in the east... a very strong offensive powerhouse. They had all of their major pieces back from last year's team that went 6-4 (lost three in OT, one by 7 to Nova). I even had them ranked #12 in my AGS poll.

As for the best team this decade, I'll go with 2005. Looking back at the results that year, we were SOOO close to going 11-0 in the regular season... bad Tavani decision with Maurer and giving up key 3rds vs Princeton... narrowly letting Harvard escape... and the late-game Colgate nonsense.. plus we scared the pants off App St... a questionable non-INT call for us and App St. just might be one-time defending champs!

[Lafayette71]

This team has a long way to go. The competitive balance in the league is better than it has been in a long time. Right now, there are five teams that are feeling pretty good about themselves. I don't see anyone running the table in league play.

[carney2]

Not many people realize this here, but Penn has one of the strongest teams in the east.


Amen.

[Pards Rule]

Carney, those votives must have done something!!

[PeacockRaider]

Watched most of the game on tv, and while I'm not taking anything away from Lafayette's victory, someone will have to explain to me what UPenn's coach was thinking. I could see taking the safety if there was less than a minute left, but five? If you punt out of your endzone LC still needed to score a touchdown to beat you, all taking the safety did was give you 18 yards and allowed a fg to beat you. I though the Ivy League was supposed to be smart.xoopsx

[Franks Tanks]

Watched most of the game on tv, and while I'm not taking anything away from Lafayette's victory, someone will have to explain to me what UPenn's coach was thinking. I could see taking the safety if there was less than a minute left, but five? If you punt out of your endzone LC still needed to score a touchdown to beat you, all taking the safety did was give you 18 yards and allowed a fg to beat you. I though the Ivy League was supposed to be smart.xoopsx

I agree, it didnt make a lot of sense. I remeber in 2004 Iowa was playing Penn State and did something similar. The score was 6-2 Iowa and they were also on the one yard line with a few minutes left and decided to take the safety rather than punt. It of course make the game 6-4, and Iowa ended up winning as Penn State didnt move the ball an inch all day. I guess Bagnolli had so much confidence in his D he felt the only way Lafayette would score was a blocked Punt or a big return by Adair. However I agree it is incredibly hard to justify putting a team a field goal away from winning on purpose.

[Pards Rule]

I agree, it didnt make a lot of sense. I remeber in 2004 Iowa was playing Penn State and did something similar. The score was 6-2 Iowa and they were also on the one yard line with a few minutes left and decided to take the safety rather than punt. It of course make the game 6-4, and Iowa ended up winning as Penn State didnt move the ball an inch all day. I guess Bagnolli had so much confidence in his D he felt the only way Lafayette would score was a blocked Punt or a big return by Adair. However I agree it is incredibly hard to justify putting a team a field goal away from winning on purpose.

AND Al Bagnoli had no confidence in frosh Lafayette kicker Davis Rodriguez. After Penn took the intentional safety, Tavani, according to yesterday's Philadelphia Inquirer report on the game, went up to Rodriguez and said "the only reason they did that was they don't think you'll make the kick (e.g. field goal)." A gamble by Big Al and he lost.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

As far as I'm concerned, Bagnoli gave Lafayette the game. If I'm the head coach, I never GIVE the opposing team a chance to kick a FG to BEAT you. After the safety, there was 5 minutes left! Let's say he didn't get the punt off and the worst possible thing happened: they blocked the punt and recovered it for a TD. Then Penn would have had 5 minutes to drive and try to score if necessary. As it stood, he gambled that his defense could stop Lafayette, and he lost.

To me, you take a safety when the resulting score difference is greater than 4. It's a lot easier to stop a team from the end zone than it is to stop them from getting into FG range.

[LEHIGH61]

Boy, it doesn't take much to get Lafayette fans "excited" - they haven't olayed anybody decent yet (Sandburg didn't play the second half). Their offense hasn't really shown any thing to get excited about.

[Franks Tanks]

Boy, it doesn't take much to get Lafayette fans "excited" - they haven't olayed anybody decent yet (Sandburg didn't play the second half). Their offense hasn't really shown any thing to get excited about.

Please, Penn is a very solid team. My excitement wasnt that we have the worlds best offense, but we have a bunch of gritty tough kids. It says something to snatch a win on the road against a team we havent beat in years, we found a way to win. One thing I am excited about however is going for 4 in a row!!!

[Pards Rule]

Well I'm still flying high after the first win over Penn since 1991 and the first 3-0 start since 1988! But, I am also a realist. I'm not yet comfortable with the offense and the kicking game I saw at the Marist game had me holding my breath. Kudos to Rodriguez for the game winner under intense pressure. It did seem to me that LC outplayed Penn for the last three quarters. I listened to the game at the Jersey Shore on WNTP 990 AM and at the end could barely make out the call of the winning FG. In fact, at the end the announcers were saying "they are in FG range for sure" and I'm thinking WTF there is less than two minutes left (thinking the score was 7-3 still cause the reception must have faded out for the intentional safety!). Seconds later, the announcer said they are setting up for the game winning FG so I assumed it was 7-6 and thought I had missed a FG. Soon enough, heard the score at 7-5. What TV station carried this game?

[carney2]

Carney, those votives must have done something!!

Yeah, it unleashed the "Bagnoli screwed the moose" crowd. I agree that it was a bonehead move on his part, but it should not overshadow the great game that was played by the Pards - on both sides of the ball. Check the stats:

1st Downs: L 20, P 16
Rushing yardage: L 148, P 103
Passing Yardage: L 164, P 121
Time of Possession: L 34:52, P 25:08

My carneymeter had Penn the better team for 20 minutes (the first 20 minutes), Lafayette the better team for 30 minutes (the final 30 minutes), with the two teams pretty much even for the final 10 minutes of the 1st half. Pre-game, John Loose, the Lafayette defensive coordinator, said that the Pards had to be able to withstand an initial Penn (1st game) emotional surge and then rebound. They did.

Still way too early for some of the hoopla I've been reading, however. Save it until after game 6, when all of the Ivies are in the rear view mirror.

[Andy]

Boy, it doesn't take much to get Lafayette fans "excited" - they haven't olayed anybody decent yet (Sandburg didn't play the second half). Their offense hasn't really shown any thing to get excited about.

WITH the 23 year old star running back, Penn scored 7 points. Lafayette has a defense to get excited about.

With or without Sandberg, Penn is way more than "decent".

I agree the LC offense is not championship quality yet. As Pard 94 posted elsewhere, this offense will improve. Heck, it's only the QBs third varsity game.

[Pard94]

Boy, it doesn't take much to get Lafayette fans "excited" - they haven't olayed anybody decent yet (Sandburg didn't play the second half). Their offense hasn't really shown any thing to get excited about.

Actually most of us are still riding the buzz of hanging 49 on you guys last year...so you are right...it doesn't take much. xthumbsupx

[LBPop]

Of course I wasn't at the game, and I'm not a Bagnoli fan at all. Having said that, I don't find a lot of fault with his decision based on what I'm reading. Punting from the 2 yard line is about more than just yardage. The punter can't take a full drop and the blockers have to hold for an extra count. That considerably alters the situation. Considering that Lafayette had only managed three points by that time, I probably would have strongly considered the same strategy.

Heck, that's what Ampipe should have done in that big game. But Craig T. Nelson choked and then he blamed everyone else. xlolx

[Franks Tanks]

Of course I wasn't at the game, and I'm not a Bagnoli fan at all. Having said that, I don't find a lot of fault with his decision based on what I'm reading. Punting from the 2 yard line is about more than just yardage. The punter can't take a full drop and the blockers have to hold for an extra count. That considerably alters the situation. Considering that Lafayette had only managed three points by that time, I probably would have strongly considered the same strategy.

Heck, that's what Ampipe should have done in that big game. But Craig T. Nelson choked and then he blamed everyone else. xlolx

Yes he screwed Steven Dvorchiak and almost doomed him to a life working at the mill. Craig T. Nelson must have learned from that experience however as he of course led Minnesota State to the National Championship years later, and eventually used that victory to get an NFL head coaching job.

[Go...gate]

Yes he screwed Steven Dvorchiak and almost doomed him to a life working at the mill. Craig T. Nelson must have learned from that experience however as he of course led Minnesota State to the National Championship years later, and eventually used that victory to get an NFL head coaching job.


..and to think, Dvorchak took a scholarship to Cal Poly!!!

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

I'll be interested to see how Penn does against Villanova on Saturday.

[LBPop]

Yes he screwed Steven Dvorchiak and almost doomed him to a life working at the mill. Craig T. Nelson must have learned from that experience however as he of course led Minnesota State to the National Championship years later, and eventually used that victory to get an NFL head coaching job.

And he married Shelly Fabares...not a bad deal. Not bad at all...xnodx