Football hosts Yale in a nationally televised game Friday night

PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania football team will play a Friday night home game for the second straight year, completing a three-game home series against Yale at Franklin Field on Friday with a 7 p.m. kickoff.

It will be the 10th meeting between the two teams on national television, as the game will be broadcast live on ESPNU.

The Quakers (2-3, 0-2 Ivy) and Bulldogs (3-2, 0-2 Ivy) are both looking for their first Ivy League wins of the season while staying alive in the fight for the Ancient Eight title remain. Since the league began in 1956, no team has ever lifted the trophy with three losses.

Friday Night Terrors

Penn’s contest with Yale also marks the return of a fan favorite – Friday Night Frights – to Franklin Field. Fans are encouraged to wear their best costumes to participate in an on-field costume contest and take home new Penn swag.

The Yale Series

While the Bulldogs have controlled the all-time series at 51-37-1 since they began in 1879, things have gotten much closer lately. First of all, both teams have shared the last 10 games, while the Quakers have won two consecutive meetings in both 2022 and 2023. In both seasons, Yale secured a share of the Ivy League title. Penn has a 22-13-1 edge at Franklin Field, while Elis head coach Tony Reno is 6-5 against the Red and Blue Ray Priore is 4-4.

Last meeting with Yale

Penn had a record-breaking performance as a sophomore wide receiver Jared Richardson to dominate through the air in a 27-17 win at Yale in 2023. Richardson set a new Penn record for receptions with 17 receptions, totaling 191 yards and a touchdown. Last season, a player had the highest catch percentage in FCS football, a feat he accomplished twice this season. The Quakers scored two touchdowns and a field goal in the first half and took a 17-14 lead into the locker room. Graham Gotlieb previously hit a 28-yard field goal in the final two minutes of the third quarter to extend Penn’s lead to 20-14 Bryce Myers put the game out of reach with his first college TD with 4:26 left in the fourth. Aidan Sayin Passed for a career-high 364 yards and threw two touchdowns without an interception. Malachi Hosley ran 20 times for 86 yards and a TD. Jack Fairman led the team with 10 tackles while the defense recorded four sacks.

Penn’s final timeout

Penn lost its second Ivy contest of the season on Saturday, falling to Columbia 23-17 at Franklin Field. The Lions had a dominant first half, leading 17-7 at halftime and holding the Quakers at bay for most of the second half. Sayin seemed to give Penn life with 7:30 left in the third quarter when he ran 10 yards and spun into the end zone for the TD, making it a three-point game, but two Columbia Field Goals put the game out of reach. About defense, security Julian Talley had a team-high 13 total tackles with three TFLs and two sacks. The loss leaves the Quakers at 0-2 along with Yale, while Columbia improves to 2-0 and faces Dartmouth, a matchup of the undefeated Ivy, tomorrow in NYC.

Just call him Mr. 7,000

It wasn’t the best day at the office for Sayin on Saturday against the Lions, but he continued his efforts to become Penn’s all-time leading passer.

He passed for 247 yards against Columbia and became just the third Quaker QB to reach 7,000 passing yards in his career, now at 7,177 after passing Alek Torgersen (7,025) for second place. He needs just 366 yards to pass Gavin Hoffman ’01 (7,542) and become Penn’s career passing leader.

Talley is too tough

Penn’s defense has relied heavily on the linebacker and safety performances so far this season, and Talley made quite the show on Saturday, recording 13 total tackles – including nine solo – with three tackles for a loss and 15 as Recorded team-high yards and two sacks.

This year, Talley is tied for third on the team with 32 total stops and his three TFLs rank second.

Leading rusher

Hosley struggled to get anything going Saturday against Columbia, as the Lions held him to just 50 yards on 19 carries in the loss. However, he scored his fifth touchdown in his last three games. Entering Week 6 against Yale, Hosley is still leading the Ivy rushers in nearly every category, including carries (99), yards (585), touchdowns (5) and yards per game (117.0). Additionally, he ranks sixth in FCS football in rushing yards per game and 14th in all-purpose yards per game (126.40).

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).

Scouting The Bulldogs

On a positive note, Columbia has been one of the biggest surprises of the Ivy League season so far, going 2-0 in Ancient Eight play atop the table with Dartmouth. On the contrary: Yale – defending champions in each of the last two seasons – is at the bottom of the table with the Quakers.

The Bulldogs concluded non-conference play on Saturday with a dominant 38-23 victory over Lehigh in the Yale Bowl. They go into the most important phase of the season on Friday evening with an overall result of 3:2.

Running back Tre Peterson led the Elis with 98 rushing yards and scored a 57-yard touchdown late in the third quarter to extend the lead to 21 points. Defensively, it was Joshua Tarver and Da’Quan Gonzales who kept Yale on its toes against the Mountain Hawks’ offense. Tarver recorded two interceptions and eight total tackles, while Gonzales found the end zone with a pick-six late in the first quarter.

Yale opened Ivy play with consecutive losses to Cornell (47-23) on September 28th and Dartmouth (44-43, ot) on October 12th.

Linebacker UofP

We’re five games into the season and the position group that has stood out the most on the defensive side of the ball has undoubtedly been linebacker.

The Quakers have a solid group of linebackers Kadari Make, John ListaAnd Jack Fairmanwho have all made great progress this year. Machen and Lista rank second and third in the Ivy League with 23 solo tackles, respectively, while Fairman ranks third with 38 tackles and Machen is second with 41 tackles.

Both Fairman and Machen are chasing Yale’s Abu Kamara, who leads the Ancient Eight in total stops with 44.0. Kamara’s solo tackles per game average (7.6) leads the nation in this category, while his 38 solo tackles rank fifth overall.

Penn in the national rankings

The Quakers continue to be one of the top teams in the country in numerous categories, entering week six.

Penn is tied with two other teams for first in the nation in fumbles lost (0), third in kickoff return yards per attempt (27.22), fourth in tackles for loss allowed ( 3.20), seventh in fewest penalties (24), seventh in fourth-down conversion percentage (.800), 10th in lost turnovers (5), 12th in red-line zone defense (.696) and 23rd in scoring defense (22.0 ppg).

Individually, Hosley ranks sixth in rushing yards per game (117.0), 14th in all-purpose yards per game (126.40) and 29th in total rushing yards (585). Sayin ranks 18th in shots per game (19.8). Julien Stokes is currently third 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 (1.20).

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.

Historic Franklin Field

In 2024, Penn will play for the 129th time at historic Franklin Field, the oldest stadium in college football.

The Quakers will play their 876th game at the stadium Friday night and have compiled a record of 581-263-31 at home. Twenty-three of Penn’s 128 seasons beginning this year have resulted in undefeated home records with 18 Ivy League title celebrations. Not only did Penn call Franklin Field home, but the stadium also served as the home of the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles from 1958 to 1970 before they moved to South Philadelphia.

Franklin Field is also home to several “firsts”, including a scoreboard (1895), a permanent collegiate horseshoe stadium (1903), a two-tier football stadium (1925), a stadium with a capacity of more than 78,000 spectators (1925), and a neutral site game between Army and Navy (1899). ), college football radio broadcast (1922), college football television broadcast (1940), and the first episode of ABC’s Wide World of Sports (1961).

Follow the action

Penn will play its 55th game ever on national television Friday night, broadcast live on ESPNU with Eric Frede (play-by-play) and Jack Ford (analyst) on the phone. Taking on the radio honors are Matt Leon (play-by-play) and Hench Murray (analyst) at 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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