AROUND THE IVIES: Football Looks to Spoil Last Hurrah For Bagnoli

Swinging.

With a bang.

Of style.

Like a lamb.

On a limb.

I could go on, but you get the jist. There are a lot of ways to “go out…” Almost all of them would be preferable to the departure Penn coach Al Bagnoli has lined up Saturday when he leads the Quakers into Franklin Field for the final time.

This is Bagnoli’s 23rd season and by far his worst on the field. Penn is 1-7, 1-4 in Ivy play, on pace for Bagnoli’s worst record by far except for 1997, when the team had to forfeit all but one of its wins after an eligibility scandal.

It would be easy to make fun of Bagnoli’s plight if it just wasn’t so darn sad. I might mockingly compare him to an Emperor watching the sacking of Rome while mentioning that his quarterback has been brought down 23 times, second in the Ivy League. I could go cinematic and say Jerry Thompson in Citizen Kane could have been talking about Bagnoli when he said Charles Kane “was a man who got everything he wanted, and then lost it”—except for the fact that Bagnoli has not fallen once but lost seven times in eight games. I could talk about Shaquille O’Neal’s Celtics years and make a joke about Bagnoli somehow managing to be a bigger disappointment than the Big Disappointment.

I really could. But I can’t. All I want to say is, “I’m sorry,” but not yet.

The only Ivy coach to win nine league titles, post consecutive undefeated league seasons (he did it thrice), or win .714 percent of his conference games should not have to lead a 1-7 team in his final go-round. After doing so much right, Bagnoli let William Hung sing his swan song. What was supposed to be a celebratory parade has become a funeral procession.

And it’s only going to get worse this weekend.

Enter Harvard (8-0, 5-0). The Crimson’s 23.4 average margin of victory is 10 points larger than any other Ivy team’s. Its defense ranks first in the FCS in points allowed. Its turnover margin is twice as good as anyone else’s in the conference. And it’s hungry.

The last time Harvard went down to Philadelphia, the Quakers out-muscled the Crimson, 30-21, to earn an Ivy title. It was the last in a run of quasi-championship games as one of the two schools won the league for six straight years and in 11 out of 13 seasons.

Harvard players still bring that mentality to the rivalry, and they are ready to show their dominance Saturday.

This game should have more meaning than that, too. It should be a seminal passing-of-the-torch moment from the league’s current elder statesmen to its next.

Except Penn has already stomped out its flame, peed on it, and then smothered it with a wool blanket.

Sorry, Al.

On the picks...

BROWN AT DARTMOUTH

This had the potential to be a major trap game for the Big Green (6-2, 4-1). While Brown (4-4, 2-3) sits right in the middle of the standings, the Bears boast the second best defense in the league behind record-setting Harvard and they haven’t lost any game by more than 14. But, running back Tyler Varga and Yale knocked the air out of Brown by knocking it out of title contention in a back-and-forth 45-42 win last weekend. I don’t see the Bears getting up for another big game this time around. Look for Dartmouth to survive and enter next week’s matchup against Princeton with a chance to earn a share of the Ivy title if Harvard stumbles.

Prediction: Dartmouth 27, Brown 19

CORNELL AT COLUMBIA

Coaches are fond of saying “It was one of those games somebody had to lose.” It’s quintessential meaningless coach garble, but the corollary actually applies here. The Empire State Bowl (yes, that’s an official name) between the Lions (0-8, 0-5) and the Big Red (0-8, 0-5) is one of those games somebody has to win, unfortunately. I would list all of the other bowls I’d rather watch for three hours Saturday, but this is a family newspaper, so I’ll get straight to the prediction and move on.

Prediction: Columbia 24, Cornell 16

PRINCETON AT YALE

The big game of the week is a rare elimination game in Ivy football. Either the Tigers (5-3, 4-1) or the Bulldogs (7-1, 4-1) will enter week 10 with a chance to win a title share. I see Yale pulling through on the back of Varga and the arm of quarterback Morgan Roberts over a Princeton team that was not able to blowout cellar-dwelling Cornell and Penn over the last two weeks. An Eli victory would set up one of the most interesting Games in years next week as both Harvard and Yale would be playing with title implications.

Prediction: Yale 37, Princeton 20

HARVARD AT PENNSYLVANIA

Senior Day + Bagnoli’s final home game = a motivated Penn side, but that will not be enough. Look for the emotional squad to start hot and keep pace for a while, but expect the Crimson’s bruising offensive line and nearly unbreakable defense to ultimately help Harvard move one game away from a perfect season.

Prediction: Harvard 34, Penn 17

—Staff writer Jacob D.H. Feldman can be reached at jacob.feldman@thecrimson.com.