Ivy Play continues Saturday at Franklin Field between football and Columbia

PHILADELPHIA – After an impressive 31-21 victory over Bucknell to conclude non-conference action last weekend, the University of Pennsylvania football team resumes Ivy League play on Saturday, hosting Columbia at Franklin Field.

The Lions (3-1, 1-0 Ivy) were the talk of the Ancient Eight early in the campaign after defeating Princeton two weekends ago to kick off their Ivy slate. New head coach Jon Poppe will face the Quakers (2-2, 0-1 Ivy) for the first time as a ninth-year head coach Ray Priore is fresh off his 50th career win and is leading the program.

Penn is seeking its third straight win over Columbia in the series and 13th straight at Franklin Field since 1996.

The Columbia Series

Penn has controlled the all-time series with Columbia since their first meeting on November 16, 1878. The Quakers hold an all-time series record of 77-24-1, including 45-6 at Franklin Field. Penn’s only home losses came in 1881, 1934, 1960, 1962, 1976 and 1996. Since the last loss, Penn has won twelve straight at home. Today marks the first-ever meeting between head coach George A. Munger Ray Priore and Columbia head coach Jon Poppe.

Last meeting with Columbia

Penn withstood the elements and scored 10 points in the final 10 minutes of the fourth quarter to earn a 20-17 win at Columbia. The victory gave the Quakers a six-way tie for second place in the Ancient Eight. Kicker Graham Gotlieb finished the contest with two field goals – the second was a 23-yard game-winner – during Liam O’Brien snuck in for his fourth rushing touchdown of the year and Bisi Owens scored the game-winning touchdown for his first career score. Aidan Sayin completed 30 of his 44 passes for 286 yards and the touchdown in the fourth quarter Jared Richardson caught seven passes for a team-high 91 yards. In defense, Joey Slackman And Jack Juliano everyone picked up bags while Kadari Make finished the game with a team-high eight tackles.

Penn > Leader of the Patriot League

Penn scored 21 points in the third quarter to beat Bucknell 31-21 on Saturday at Franklin Field. It was the Quakers’ 10th straight win over the Bison since 2003 and their eighth straight against a Patriot League opponent. In addition, head coach Ray Priore recorded his 50th career win, becoming the fifth head coach in program history to reach the milestone. Malachi Hosley He had two touchdown runs midway through the third period on his way to 146 yards on 22 carries that put the game out of reach Jamal Bing, Jr. added 68 yards and a TD. Defensive, John Lista led the way with 11 tackles and 3.5 TFLs; On Monday, he was named the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week. Carter Janki added a TFL and a forced fumble Sam Carlson recorded two TFLs and a fumble recovery. In special teams, Julien Stokes Surpassed the nation’s leading return specialist (Bucknell’s TJ Cadden) with three kickoff returns for 104 yards (34.7 average).

Defensive Player of the Week

Penn’s first Ivy League weekly honor of the 2024 season goes to junior linebacker Lista, who was named Defensive Player of the Week on Monday. He is the first Quaker to win the award since then Joey Slackman in 2022. Lista recorded a career-best 10 solo tackles, 3.5 TFLs (an Ivy League-best mark in 2024) and a sack in the Red and Blues’ win over Bucknell on Saturday.

Leading rusher

Hosley had another standout performance for Penn on Saturday against Bucknell, making it clear that he is the Ivy’s standout running back just four weeks into the season. Entering Week 5 against Columbia, Hosley is outscoring the Ivy rushers in nearly every category, including carries (80), yards (535), yards per attempt (6.7) and yards per game (133.8). In addition, he ranked fourth in FCS football in rushing yards per game, sixth in all-purpose yards per game (145.5), and 13th in rushing yards per carry.

Fifty for priors

George A. Munger head coach Ray Priore became the fifth head coach in program history to reach the 50-win mark after the Quakers’ 31-21 victory over Bucknell at Franklin Field. With the victory, Priore overtook Louis Young (1923–29) and took fifth place alone. He currently trails only Carl Williams (60; 1902-07), George Munger (82; 1938-53), George Woodruff (124; 1892-1901) and the winningest head coach of all time and recent Penn Athletics Hall of Fame inductee Al Bagnoli ( 148; 1992–2014).

Bing to the rescue

Sophomore running back Jamal Bing, Jr. He finally got his breakout performance Saturday against Bucknell at Franklin Field, joining Hosley in helping Penn surpass 200 yards on the ground. Bing totaled 68 yards and also scored his first career touchdown. It’s nice to see another student-athlete putting on great performances on the gridiron and supporting Hosley, who has shouldered much of the workload thus far.

Home advantage

Franklin Field was certainly the “friendly” venue Penn wanted with only two home games remaining in the 2024 season. The Quakers are 2-0 in front of their home fans and are looking for their third win against Columbia on Saturday. When the red and blue beat the Lions 34-14 two years ago, Penn finished 4-1 at home.

Scouting The Lions

Columbia was one of the Ivy League’s biggest surprises after four weeks of play. The Lions finished the 2023 season in last place with a 1-6 record and are currently in a three-way battle for first place with Dartmouth and Brown.

The Lions cruised to a 24-6 win at Wagner on Saturday, scoring 24 unanswered points to start the battle en route to victory.
On the ground, it was Joey Giorgi who paced Columbia offensively with 111 rushing yards and a TD, while the team ran the ball for a total of 228 yards.

The team has rushed for a total of 200 yards in three of the four contests this year, while new head coach Jon Poppe earned his first road win as Columbia’s coach.

Keep an eye on Kadari

You have to remember this Kadari Machens Names as we move forward into the remainder of the 2024 season. The junior linebacker has excelled in his second full season at SAM, leading the Quakers in total tackles with 34.0 and solo stops (20) through the first three games. Machen recorded 15 total tackles – with eight solo – the most by a Quaker since 2022 (Garrett Morris, 15 vs. Brown) in Penn’s Ivy opener at Dartmouth two weekends ago.

In addition to being an outstanding player on the Penn squad, he is also one of the Ivy League’s leaders in total tackles, currently second behind Yale’s Abu Kamara (39.0). His 20 solo stops are second best in the league. The leader of the Ancient Eight – it’s Kamara again – has a staggering 34 solos, which also leads the nation.

Penn in the national rankings

The Quakers continue to be one of the leading teams in the country in numerous categories, even entering the fifth calendar week.

Penn ranks third in fewest penalties (16), third in tackles for loss allowed (3.00), fourth in FCS football in four-down conversion percentage (.833), fifth in kickoff return yards per attempt (27.2) and fifth in lost turnovers (3), 11th in red zone defense (.647) and 22nd in scoring defense (21, 8 ppg).

Individually, Malachi Hosley is fourth in rushing yards per game (133.8), sixth in all-purpose yards per game (145.50) and 26th in total rushing yards (535). Julien Stokes is currently sixth in kickoff return yards per attempt (30.6). Placekicker Sam Smith entered the field ranked 25th in the nation in field goals made per game (1.25).

Preseason All-Ivy

As Phil Steele announced on August 2, eight Quakers earned Preseason All-Ivy honors, led by first-team RB Malachi HosleyWR Jared RichardsonTE Bryce MyersL.B Jack FairmanL.B John Listaand DB Shiloh means. DL Paul Jennings and L.B Kadari Make secured places in the second team.

Hey, coach!

Priore expanded his coaching team with four new faces Greg Chimera (offensive coordinator), Marvin Clecidor (Defender), Jordan Johnson (Running Backs) and David Josephson (Tight Ends) is coming to University City.

Follow the action

For the first time this season, Penn will have a regional broadcast on NBC Sports Philadelphia in addition to ESPN+, while Joe Tordy (play-by-play) and Penn Athletics Hall of Famer Joe Valerio C’91 (analyst) will do the honors during Matt Leon (play-by-play) and Hench Murray (analyst) will host the radio conversation on the Quaker Audio Network (QAN).

For the latest on Penn Football, follow @PennFB on X (formerly Twitter), @PennFootball on Instagram and online at PennAthletics.com.

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