Expectations higher for Penn football after last year's shared Ivy crown

A YEAR AGO, Penn's football team was coming off a 2-8 season, had a new coach for the first time since 1992 in longtime assistant Ray Priore, and had been picked to finish sixth in the Ivy League, its lowest projection in 24 seasons.

Then the Quakers started out 1-3, which included a win at Villanova, ranked fifth in FCS. Sandwiching that were 21-point losses at Lehigh and at home to Dartmouth.

Then, a program that had dropped 15 of its last 18 proceeded to finish the season with six straight wins to end in a three-way tie for the title, its first since 2012.

"I thought there was a first time (for us) doing everything," Priore said at Monday morning's media day at Franklin Field.

Now, the Quakers have been picked second in the preseason media poll, seven points behind Harvard, even though they received two more first-place votes.

If nothing else, it seems like old times again. Which means there are expectations. Harvard will visit West Philly on Nov. 12 in the traditional next-to-last game.

The last time that either Penn or Harvard didn't win at least a share of the crown was 2006.

"This year, I want outright," senior quarterback Alek Torgersen said. "That would be nice. Last year was a big step for us. But there's a lot of things we could still do better. We want to be a great team.

"We still have kind of a chip on our shoulders, in a way. Two other teams won a championship besides us. So we haven't done anything yet. If we can keep this going, I think it's going to be a lot of fun."

Getting rings usually is. And of Penn's 16 titles from 1982 through last season, 12 were solos, although, in the Ivies, they supposedly all count the same.

"We keep talking about not trying to defend the title," said junior wide receiver Justin Watson, who's already considered one of the top talents at this level. "We still have the same goal as last year. One-third was great. It was great to send those seniors out like that. But we want the whole thing (to ourselves).

"That's the legacy these seniors keep talking about wanting to have. We're going to honor them with our play and hopefully bring it home."

If that's pressure, well, none of them came here to play for the Miss Congeniality prize. They experienced what that felt like in 2013 and '14, and it was anything but good times.

"We've taken the proper steps to grow, but we've kept everything in the moment," Priore emphasized. "I think it's all how you handle it. You look at the seniors to keep people grounded. You're only as good as your last play. Right now, we're starting a whole new season. The trouncing Lehigh did to us, we've got that in our memory. Dartmouth gave us a pretty good beating. Trust me, there's plenty of that.

"Just go back to the film."

The Quakers host Lehigh in their Sept. 17 opener. Then they go to Fordham, which beat them, 60-22, in New York two years ago and 48-45 here last October, a game in which they trailed by 25 points in the second quarter. Then they're at Dartmouth. So, yes, the reminders are right there in front of them.

"We talk about building a house, putting up a foundation by laying brick by brick, and we've done that," Priore said. "So how can we better ourselves as a program? Are they keeping that edge? It wasn't like our margin of victory was four or five touchdowns a game. We won by doing the little things right . . . Our leadership was determined. They still had the taste of those bad seasons on their tongues.

"I think these kids are looking at it the right way. You want them to grow as individuals. But that doesn't mean anything if you don't have team success. You want to be part of something."

They already were. Now they seek something even more rewarding.

@mikekerndn