Hey, Matt Flegenheimer here from the Yale Bowl in New Haven, Ct. The wireless service in the press box has been out all day, but with the second half set to kick off, we’re finally connected and ready to go. Yale leads 7-0 after 30 minutes, scoring on a 17-yard drive following a Robert Irvin interception on Penn’s first drive. Yale tight end John Sheffield took a pass in the right flat from Yale’s Brook Hart (starting in place of injured Ryan Fodor) and went in untouched for the score. With Irvin struggling early, Al Bagnoli has gone to junior Kyle Olson from the end of the first quarter through the first drive of the second half. Stay with the Buzz for live updates the rest of the way.

Halftime stats:

Irvin: 4-10, 27 yards, Int

Olson: 6-14, 46 yards

Blackmon: 6 rushes, 27 yards

DiMaggio: 3 rushes, 6 yards

Koontz: 4 catches, 19 yards

For Yale…

Hart: 5-6, 29 yards

McCleod: 11 rushes, 23 yards

Haase: 3 catches, 23 yards

Penn 9 Yale 7, FINAL

Hart picked up two first downs on the ensuing drive, but was taken down by Drew Goldsmith on a huge sack to force 3rd and 18. Two incompletions later, Penn had the ball back on downs. With only one timeout left, Yale could only stop the clock once, and got the ball with 25 seconds left at its own 23 for one last shot. After two incompletions from Hart, former QB Brendan McNally picked off the final pass to end the game in style.

Penn 9 Yale 7, 4:35 Q4

Let’s see what you’ve got, Brook Hart. Samson knocks a 31-yarder through after a nice, prolonged drive from Olson and the backs. DiMaggio run hard, picking up three first downs, and Olson completed a nice intermediate route over the middle to Derham to get them close. The drive stalled at the Bulldog 8, and the Quakers went backwards from there, but Samson put the Red and Blue ahead with a good-looking knock that was never in doubt.

Penn 6 Yale 7, 12:26 Q4

Bagnoli might regret this one. Two DiMaggio runs set up second and goal from the 1, then another inside handoff to DiMaggio is sniffed out for a one-yard loss. On 3rd and goal from 2, Olson rolls right, has nowhere to go, runs backwards to the 12 or so, then flips a pass to DiMaggio at the 10–about 8 yards behind scrimmage–where the running back is promptly bottled up. Samson field goal makes it a one-point game, but this lost opportunity could prove the difference-maker today.

Penn 3 Yale 7, End of Q3

Another golden opportunity for the Quakers as the third quarter comes to a close. On a 4th and 1 from their own 38, the Bulldogs try a fake punt direct snap to corner Paul Rice, but the snap comes in low, and Rice can’t pull it in. He falls on it at the 33, and Penn takes over on downs.

Marcus Lawrence takes a screen from the left side and goes 8 yards on the first play of the drive, and DiMaggio picks up the first two plays later. On the final play of the quarter, Olson hits a wide-open Koontz for 8 yards over the middle to set up 2nd and 2 from the Yale 10.

Penn 3 Yale 7, 3:35 Q3

On the first play following another Penn punt, Hart gets decked by corner Tyson Maugle (back after missing two games with a broken nose) and coughs it up. Jordan Manning tries to scoop it, but ends up knocking back in Maugle’s direction. Maugle corrals it from his back, and Penn takes over at the Yale 13.

After three short runs by DiMaggio, though, Penn has to settle for three on a 22-yard field goal by Andrew Samson.

Penn 0 Yale 7, 7:17 Q3

Penn squanders its great field position with a three-and-out, then a pooch punt by Olson that goes into the end zone for a touchback (13 net yards). Yale can’t do much, either–the Penn D has been superb all day, only allowing points on an incredibly short field early in the first after the Irvin pick. Goniprow took down Hart for his second sack of the day to force 3rd and long, and Hart scrambled for a short gain on the next play to set up the ensuing punt. Penn takes over from its own 29.

Penn 0 Yale 7, 11:44 Q3

The teams trade punts, but Penn wins the field position battle. After stalling on the first drive of the half, the Quakers got a tremendous boot from Olson inside the Bulldogs’ 4. After a three-and-out by the Elis, punter Tom Mante shanked one to his own 36, where the Red and Blue will take over.

Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Jason Bartlett lives by his speed. Hey, how else does a middle infielder with one homer and a .971 fielding percentage in 2008 get a spot on a World Series roster?

And now, he has done us all a favor. With his stolen base in Game 1 of the World Series last night, Taco Bell will be giving away free tacos to all of America next week.

So on Tuesday, from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. ET, head down to 34th and Walnut to grab yours. I went after last year’s series, and it was incredibly efficient, fast and, of course, free.

We normally don’t make a big deal out of Penn football players who win Ivy League Player of the Week awards, since there are so many of them you can get on the list for just 73 total yards.

But the following nod certainly deserves recognition.  After earning two interceptions, recovering a fumble, deflecting two passes and notching six tackles — including one for a loss — senior defensive back Britton Ertman received FCS National Defensive Player of the Week honors, as announced by The Sports Network.

(Since I hate having a short, two-paragraph Buzz post, I thought I’d throw in this nugget:  The women’s basketball team was picked sixth in the Ivy League media preseason poll.)

Just like basically every single preview magazine, the preseason men’s basketball media poll picked Penn to finish second in the Ivy League, behind Cornell.

Interestingly, the Big Red received all 16 first place votes.

The complete poll:

2008-09 Ivy Men’s Baketball Preseason Media Poll
1. Cornell — 128 points (16 first-place votes)
2. Penn — 110
3. Yale — 80
4. Harvard — 77
5. Brown — 75
6. Columbia — 45
7. Dartmouth — 33
8. Princeton — 28

(Also, did anyone read page E4 of yesterday’s Philadelphia Inquirer? If so you would’ve seen an ad for a Penn football game. One problem: It featured Penn’s game versus Columbia, which already took place.  D’oh!)

In case you were worried that Penn Athletics was only focusing on marketing the men’s basketball team, the women’s basketball team is also receiving the wisdom of Nelligan Sports Marketing.

Against Drexel Dec. 19, the team will attempt to set an all-time attendance record for a home game as part of the yearly “Pack the House” Challenge. Part of the campaign also includes getting school groups to come to the Palestra — a necessity, since the game is during winter break.

Of all the women’s basketball games I’ve been to, the most spectators I’ve ever seen is about 200. So there’s certainly a lot of seats to be filled in the Palestra. Also it’s interesting that both the women’s and men’s games against Drexel this year are part of NCAA-wide gimmicks. The men’s team will play at Drexel for the first time ever, and it’ll be at 10 a.m. as part of ESPN’s 14-hour hoops marathon.

Here are two other Random Ivy notes:

1) Ivysport.com, which for the most part is a site that sells Ivy League apparel, has an “infopedia” on the Ivy League. Most of you probably already know the vast majority of what’s on this site, but in case you ever want to find out which Ivy League school doesn’t have a Latin motto (Cornell), or you want to see a good timeline of Ivy League history, this is the site for you.

2) Pumped up for college basketball after The Line?  Well here’s a reason to like every single basketball team in America.  Penn’s reason:

Glenn Miller has himself a deep rotation. Darren Smith and Tommy McMahon missed last season. Zach Rosen leads the recruiting class that’s pretty awesome. Harrison Gaines has an awesome rich man name. And the Quakers have four returning starters. Flat out.

Former Penn goalkeeper Danny Cepero was an Ivy standout (0.43 GAA) in his senior season back in Fall ‘06 and got himself drafted by the MLS’ New York Red Bulls’ for his efforts.

What’s he been doing since? Up until last night, not much — Cepero hadn’t seen a minute of action since he was drafted. But over the past week, he and his teammates have made some history, most notably last night.

On Thursday, Red Bulls starting keeper Jon Conway and defender Jeff Parke became the first MLS players to be suspended for testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. Both were banned for 10 games, thrusting Cepero into the box at Giants’ Stadium for the first time ever last night.

Pundits thought the suspensions would derail New York’s playoff hopes. Instead, Cepero turned in one of the best debuts in soccer history — not only did he look sharp in leading his team to a 3-1 victory over Columbus, but he also became the first goalie in the league’s 13-year history to score a goal. On a free kick in the 83rd minute, Cepero booted the ball well downfield. The high-arcing shot bounced once in front of the Columbus keeper, over his head and into the net. The Baldwin, N.Y., native said afterwards that he was just trying to “put it in the general area with no intention of scoring.”

In the process, he may have Wally Pipped Jon Conway.

(Video of the goal can be found here.)

A blog dedicated to  Columbia football — yes, the same Columbia football team that is currently on a 12-game losing streak — just wrote a post about Al Bagnoli and the quick turnaround of the Penn football team he masterminded in the early 1990s.

But as Quakers fans know, the last four years have brought zero Ivy League titles and three straight losing Ivy campaigns. Why the decline?  Well, according to the post, maybe Penn President Amy Gutmann is to blame.

But 2003 was the last time Penn won the football title. And that’s also when current Penn president Amy Gutmann came on the scene.

Could the two incidents be related? When I asked Bagnoli last year if he felt he was getting enough support from the administration, he mostly shrugged. I get the feeling he had more to say … but couldn’t.

And then later:

For all I know, Gutmann is supporting athletics more than anyone at Penn, but the time parallels here are pretty clear. This is not only the longest championship drought for Bagnoli, his Quaker teams have had three straight losing Ivy seasons! And basketball fell off a cliff in 2007-08 for the first time in… forever.

Oh, and quarterback Robert Irvin is also to blame, says the blog, despite the fact that he was injured for all but 1.5 games last year and performed well in his sophomore season when he earned honorable mention All-Ivy honors.

Although this post is more than a little suspect — Gutmann surely can’t be blamed for Penn’s football woes — the blog, Roar Lions Roar, actually does have some legitimate information. Some links of note for Penn fans:

Will Lions WR Austin Knowlin have a big game on Saturday?

Is there a rivalry between Penn and Columbia?

Scouting Penn

Penn Athletics just announced that The Line will be making its appearance Oct. 17-18, which is the first weekend back from Fall Break. First off, this is a little later than last year’s Line.

Second, with the decreased significance of The Line, Penn Athletics is pulling out all the marketing strategies it can to get people to sleepover in the Palestra.

There’s the standard promises of food (cheap hot dogs and free Qdoba tacos), of course, and Penn items, including “foam noodles, mini-hoop sets, megaphone, fan banner, and foam Quaker hat.” Also, the yearly Red & Blue Crew t-shirt will be distributed.

But in addition to these things, Penn is taking it up another level. The Red and Blue Crew students will also get a chance to win several “items and experiences such as: team gear, autographed items, lunch with Coach Miller and the team, free tickets to away games including Princeton, sitting behind the team bench, watching closed team practices, playing a pick-up game at The Palestra, as well as a few surprise perks.”

Will the potential to win such prizes encourage you to go to The Line? Let me know in the comments. Even you alums, feel free to post your thoughts on this new marketing strategy.

In other, random Penn marketing news, there’s a Penn football poster in 30th Street Station. I guess Nelligan Sports Marketing wants to get the rush hour crowd to Penn games.