Penn looking for some quick wins

PENN (4-2, 3-0) has played two Ivy League road games. The Quakers won both, at Dartmouth (2-4, 1-2) and Columbia (0-6, 0-3), on touchdowns in the closing seconds.

They have two trips left. Tomorrow they're at Brown (5-1, 2-1), and on Nov. 12 they travel to Harvard (3-0, 5-1). Princeton (1-5, 1-2) and Cornell (2-4, 0-3) have to visit West Philly. If the Quakers are going to become the first to threepeat since Penn won five straight (the first two shared) from 1982-86, they'll mostly need to come up large away from Franklin Field.

Obviously, they've shown they can. But the bar is about to go way up.

"In a perfect world you don't want it to come down to the last dive, but we have confidence [if it does]," said coach Al Bagnoli, whose team rallied in the second half for four touchdowns in an 8-minute span to beat Yale (3-3, 2-1) at home, 37-25. "We're prepared to play close games, and we're comfortable with [them]. It's one of those 'been there, done that' kind of deals.

"We're comfortable with our identity. Hopefully that will help us. One thing we've demonstrated is tremendous resiliency and tremendous character. We've been the team on everyone's schedule with the bull's-eye on our back, home or away. They've put up their best effort against us. Some have collapsed the following week. Dartmouth went to Yale and lost, 30-0. And Columbia lost at Dartmouth, 37-0. So they put a tremendous amount of effort into our game. That tests your mental toughness and focus, for sure."

This will be Penn's only game on grass. The Quakers have beaten the Bears the last 2 years. But they lost the four before that, including two at Brown. And the 2009 game up there went to overtime.

The Wildcats (1-7, 0-5 CAA) will be holding Senior Day tommorrow on the Main Line. Only they won't be starting any seniors, since defensive back James Pitts will miss his second straight game with an injury.

That's a problem.

Another is the opponent, No. 8 Maine (6-1, 4-0), whose lone loss was at Pitt by six in early September. It's the fifth conseutive ranked club they'll face.

"It's been a playoff atmosphere, almost every week," coach Andy Talley said.

Trouble is, his team won't be going to the postseason for the first time in 4 years.

Next week they're at Massachusetts (4-3), which is moving up to FCS and the MAC next season. Following a bye, they close with No. 21 Delaware (4-4, 2-3) on Nov. 19 at Chester's PPL Park.

Maine hasn't won here since 1988. The Wildcats won up there last year, 48-18. This year, Villanova has scored more than 17 points just once.

"We're not a team that can answer right now," Talley said. "But they've continued to work hard and play hard. That's a plus. We're in unfamiliar territory. Sometimes on Saturdays it's just hard."