PHILADELPHIA – Playing a Friday night game at home for the second consecutive season, the University of Pennsylvania football team finishes up a three-game homestand against Yale Friday at Franklin Field with a 7 p.m. kickoff.
It marks the 10th meeting between the two teams on national television, as the game is set to be broadcast live on ESPNU.
The Quakers (2-3, 0-2 Ivy) and Bulldogs (3-2, 0-2 Ivy) are both searching for their first Ivy League victories of the season while looking to stay alive in the hunt for an Ancient Eight title. A three-loss team has never hoisted the trophy since the league began in 1956.
GAME 6 – PENN vs. YALE
Friday Night Frights presented by Coca-Cola
Friday, Oct. 25, 2024 | 7 p.m.
Franklin Field | Philadelphia, Pa.
Watch Live on ESPNU ($) | Listen Live (QAN) | Live Stats | Tickets
Game Program | Penn Game Notes (PDF) | Yale Game Notes (PDF)
Friday Night Frights
Penn’s contest with Yale also marks the return of a fan favorite—Friday Night Frights—at Franklin Field. Fans are encouraged to wear their best costumes for the chance to participate in an on-field costume contest and take home some new Penn swag.
The Yale Series
While the Bulldogs have controlled the all-time series, 51-37-1, since it began back in 1879, things have been a whole lot closer as of late. For starters, both teams have split the last 10 games while the Quakers have won back-to-back meetings in both 2022 and 2023. Both seasons, Yale ended up with a piece of the Ivy League title. Penn holds a 22-13-1 advantage at Franklin Field while the Elis’ head coach Tony Reno is 6-5 against the Red and Blue and Ray Priore is 4-4.
Last Meeting With Yale
Penn used a record-breaking performance from sophomore wide receiver Jared Richardson to dominate through the air in a 27-17 victory at Yale in 2023. Richardson set a new Penn record for receptions with 17, totaling 191 yards and a touchdown. The catch total ended up being the most by a player in FCS football last season, a feat he achieved twice during the campaign. The Quakers scored two first-half touchdowns and a field goal to take a 17-14 lead into the locker room. Graham Gotlieb kicked a 28-yard field goal to extend Penn’s lead to six at 20-14 in the final two minutes of the third quarter, before Bryce Myers put the game out of reach with 4:26 left in the fourth with his first collegiate TD. Aidan Sayin passed for a career-high 364 yards, tossing two touchdowns without an interception. Malachi Hosley rushed 20 times for 86 yards and a TD. Jack Fairman led the team with 10 tackles, while the defense recorded four sacks.
Penn’s Last Time Out
Penn dropped its second Ivy contest of the season on Saturday, falling to Columbia at Franklin Field, 23-17. The Lions put together a dominant first half, led 17-7 at halftime, and kept the Quakers at bay for most of the second half. Sayin seemingly gave Penn life with 7:30 remaining in the third quarter when he scrambled for 10 yards and flipped into the end zone for the TD, making it a three-point game, but two Columbia field goals put the game out of reach. On defense, safety Julian Talley had a team-high 13 total tackles with three TFLs and two sacks. The loss puts the Quakers at 0-2 along with Yale while Columbia improves to 2-0 and will face Dartmouth tomorrow in NYC, a battle of Ivy unbeatens.
Just Call Him Mr. 7,000
It wasn’t the best day at the office for Sayin against the Lions on Saturday, but he did continue his push towards becoming Penn’s all-time leading passer.
He passed for 247 yards against Columbia and became just the third Quakers’ QB to reach 7,000 career passing yards, now at 7,177 after jumping over Alek Torgersen (7,025) for second place. He needs just 366 yards to usurp Gavin Hoffman ’01 (7,542) and become Penn’s career passing leader.
Talley’s Too Tough
Penn’s defense has relied heavily on its linebacker and safety production so far this season and Talley stepped up to the plate in a big way on Saturday, recording a team-high 13 total tackles—including nine solos—with three tackles for a loss of 15 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 much of anything going against Columbia on Saturday, as the Lions held him to just 50 yards on 19 carries in the loss. However, he did manage to score his fifth touchdown in his last three games. Heading into Week 6 against Yale, Hosley still paces Ivy rushers in almost every category including carries (99), yards (585), touchdowns (5) and yards per game (117.0). On top of that, he’s sixth in FCS football in rushing yards per game and 14th in all-purpose yards per game (126.40).
Fifty For Priore
George A. Munger Head Coach Ray Priore became the fifth head coach in program history to reach the 50-win milestone following the Quakers’ 31-21 victory over Bucknell at Franklin Field. The win put Priore past Louis Young (1923-29) for sole possession of fifth place. Currently, he’s now behind just Carl Williams (60; 1902-07), George Munger (82; 1938-53), George Woodruff (124; 1892-1901), and the all-time winngest head coach and recent Penn Athletics Hall of Fame inductee Al Bagnoli (148; 1992-2014).
Scouting The Bulldogs
In a good way, Columbia has been one of the biggest surprises of the Ivy League season so far, 2-0 in Ancient Eight play atop the standings with Dartmouth. On the contrary, however, Yale—defending champions in each of the last two seasons—is at the bottom of the table with the Quakers.
The Bulldogs finished off non-conference play on Saturday with a dominant, 38-23 victory over Lehigh at the Yale Bowl. With that, they are 3-2 overall heading into the most important stretch of the campaign on Friday night.
Running back Tre Peterson led the Elis with 98 rushing yards, scoring 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 that paced Yale against the Mountain Hawks’ offense. Tarver recorded two interceptions and eight total tackles while Gonzales found the end zone on a pick-six late in the first quarter.
Yale opened Ivy play with back-to-back losses to Cornell (47-23) on Sept. 28 and Dartmouth (44-43, ot) on Oct. 12.
Linebacker UofP
We’re already five gamedays into this season and the position group that has excelled the most on the defensive side of the ball has without-a-doubt been at linebacker.
The Quakers boast a solid group of linebackers in Kadari Machen, John Lista, and Jack Fairman, who have all stepped up in a big way this year. Machen and Lista rank second and third, respectively, in the Ivy League in solo tackles with 23, while Fairman is tied for third in total tackles with 38, Machen second with 41.
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 that category, while his 38 total solos rank tied for fifth.
Penn in National Rankings
The Quakers continue to be one of the nation’s leading teams in a variety of categories as we enter Week 6 on the calendar.
Penn is tied for first in the nation with two other teams 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 turnovers lost (5), 12th in red-zone defense (.696), and 23rd in scoring defense (22.0 ppg).
Individually, Hosley is 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 is 18th in completions per game (19.8). Julien Stokes is currently third in kickoff return yards per attempt (30.6). Placekicker Sam Smith has burst onto the scene ranked 25th in the nation in field goals per game (1.20).
Preseason All-Ivy
Announced by Phil Steele on August 2, eight Quakers earned Preseason All-Ivy honors led by first-teamers RB Malachi Hosley, WR Jared Richardson, TE Bryce Myers, LB Jack Fairman, LB John Lista, and DB Shiloh Means. DL Paul Jennings and LB Kadari Machen earned spots on the second team.
Hey, Coaches!
Priore added four new faces to his coaching staff with Greg Chimera (offensive coordinator), Marvin Clecidor (defensive backs), Jordan Johnson (running backs), and David Josephson (tight ends) coming to University City.
Historic Franklin Field
2024 marks Penn’s 129th season playing at historic Franklin Field, the oldest stadium in collegiate football.
The Quakers will play their 876th game at the stadium on Friday night and have posted an all-time record of 581-263-31 at home. 23 of Penn’s 128 seasons entering this year have resulted in undefeated home records with 18 Ivy League title celebrations. Not only has Penn called Franklin Field home, but the stadium has also served as the home of the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles from 1958-1970 before moving to South Philadelphia.
Franklin Field is also home to several ‘firsts’ including scoreboard (1895), permanent collegiate horseshoe stadium (1903), two-tiered football stadium (1925), stadium capacity of more than 78,000 (1925), neutral Army-Navy game (1899), college football radio broadcast (1922), college football telecast (1940) and the first episode of ABC’s Wide World of Sports (1961).
Follow The Action
Penn will play its 55th all-time game on national television Friday night, aired live on ESPNU with Eric Frede (play-by-play) and Jack Ford (analyst) on the call. Handling the honors on radio will be Matt Leon (play-by-play) and Hench Murray (analyst) on the Quaker Audio Network (QAN).
For the latest on Penn football, follow @PennFB on X (formerly Twitter), @PennFootball on Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.
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