It’s a beautiful day at Franklin Field, as the Penn Quakers look to get in the win column today in their Ivy League opener as they host the Dartmouth Big Green. There are approximately 14 students here; I guess the 12 pm start was tough to make. Stay tuned to the Buzz for live updates throughout the afternoon.

Final, Penn 23, Dartmouth 10

Despite a very ugly first half offensively, Penn looked very sharp in the second half, and the defense played very well throughout the game. Impressive performances from Lewko and Wynn on defense, and from DiMaggio, Irvin, and Derham on offense. Overall, a solid win for the Quakers, who move to 1-0 in Ivy League play.

1:15 to go in the 4th, Penn 23, Dartmouth 10

Jenny was put back in under center for this drive and moved Dartmouth to inside Penn’s 10 yard-line, but Eric Paul tripped in the endzone on fourth and goal and couldn’t come up with the catch. Penn will coast from here.

3:53 to go in the 4th, Penn 23, Dartmouth 10

Mike DiMaggio is doing a great job running the ball, despite a fumble that Wurst recovered. He moved the ball down the field very well on several runs for the Quakers, consistently breaking through the line and bouncing outside to the right sideline for large gains. Penn couldn’t put it in the endzone, but Samson knocked through another field goal, his third on the game, to put Penn up by 13.

8:16 to go in the 4th, Penn 20, Dartmouth 10

A late-hit by Drew Goldsmith after a McManus scramble moved Dartmouth up to Penn’s 34, but the Penn defense responded. First Goniprow broke through with a sack, and then the defense chased McManus out of the pocket and forced him to dump it off for no gain to set up a 3rd and 14. Jordan Manning finished off the solid defense with a great open-field tackle on a Milan Williams screen pass, forcing Dartmouth to punt. Penn will take over at their 20 on the touchback — Britton Ertman got a piece of the punt on a block attempt, so the running-into-the-kicker flag was picked up.

11:10 to go in the 4th, Penn 20, Dartmouth 10

Tim McManus is now in at quarterback for Dartmouth, relieving a struggling Alex Jenny.

11:24 to go in the 4th, Penn 20, Dartmouth 10

On 1st down, Irvin dumped the ball off to DiMaggio, who made a few nice moves and broke it out for a 20-yard pickup. DiMaggio is really stepping it up in Blackmon’s absence. Penn couldn’t do much else, and Samson came on and knocked through a 33-yard field goal.

A sidenote: the attendance has just been announced. Apparently there are 12,000 people here. I guess we’re counting double, these days?

14:15 to go in the 4th, Penn 17, Dartmouth 10

Another three-and-out for Dartmouth’s anemic offense — Dartmouth tried a fake punt of its own, but the completion came up well short of the first down. Penn takes over at Dartmouth’s 44. Not sure why you need the fake punt there down seven with a whole quarter to play?

14:43 to go in the 4th, Penn 17, Dartmouth 10

Irvin put too much mustard on a third down toss, throwing it out of the endzone. Andrew Samson booted a 27 yard-field goal to give Penn a seven-point advantage.

0:00 to go in the 3rd, Penn 14, Dartmouth 10

A huge play got Penn deep into Dartmouth’s territory — Irvin launched a bomb downfield to Kyle Derham, who made a great catch while backpeddling. He followed up with another catch on first down to move Penn up to Dartmouth’s 10. On the deep ball, Irvin racked up 3,000 yards passing for his career, becoming the tenth quarterback in Penn history to do so. Penn will have 2nd and goal from the 10 to start the fourth quarter.

2:08 to go in the 3rd, Penn 14, Dartmouth 10

A three-and-out for Dartmouth — the ball was nearly picked off as Britton Ertman and Jonathan Saelinger converged on the ball but knocked into each other, and no one came away with it. Penn takes over at its own 12 after another punt.

3:11 to go in the 3rd, Penn 14, Dartmouth 10

Penn couldn’t capitalize on the opportunity. Irvin did a beautiful job of selling a play-action fake to give himself plenty of time to throw, but he hit Dartmouth’s Shawn Abuhoff right in the numbers. Dartmouth will take over on the interception at its own 45.

4:22 to go in the 3rd, Penn 14, Dartmouth 10

A little trickery on fourth down — it looked like it would be another three-and-out. Kyle Olsen lined up to punt but rolled left and hit Tyson Maugle for a nice first-down completion on the fake punt, giving the Quakers new life.

5:50 to go in the 3rd, Penn 14, Dartmouth 10

A nice kickoff return gave Dartmouth good field position at close to midfield to start the drive. After a holding penalty, a good stop by Jake Lewko on Milan Williams forced Dartmouth into a 3rd-and-22 situation, and Lewko finished it off on the next play with a sack on Jenny for a 10-yard loss. Lewko has been playing a great game for Penn today. Scullin punted it away to Wynn, and the Quakers will take over on their own 35. Worth noting is that Bradford Blackmon hasn’t been out on the field this half — he must be injured.

8:00 to go in the 3rd, Penn 14, Dartmouth 10

An 18-yard completion from Irvin to Derham moved Penn up to midfield, and then Michael DiMaggio made a great cutback on a run up the middle and bounced out towards the right sideline for a 33-yard pickup. On the next play, Irvin tried to find Marcus Lawrence in the endzone but threw the ball beyond his reach — however, a late hit by Ian Wilson on Lawrence gave Penn an automatic first down at Big Green’s 10 yard-line. The Quakers took a step back on the next play — a Derham end-around — as tight end Ryan Murray was flagged for a hold, bringing up 1st and goal from the 20. A great shoe-string catch by Tyler Fisher moved Penn up to the 9, setting up a third and goal. Finally, Fisher capped it off on the next play, receiving a strike in the back of the endzone from Irvin for an important touchdown to put the Quakers back on top.

11:45 to go in the 3rd, Penn 7, Dartmouth 10

Dartmouth had a good opportunity on 2nd and 10 from around midfield, but Eric Paul dropped an easy pass for what would have been a first down. But then on the next play, Jenny heaved up a desperation toss that was up for grabs between Jordan Manning and Tim McManus, the backup quarterback and a receiver for Dartmouth. McManus made a fantastic catch, wrestling it away from Manning, to put Dartmouth at Penn’s 6. Dartmouth couldn’t put it in the endzone, though, and Chris Wynn made a nice hit on McManus on 3rd and goal to break up what could have been a touchdown pass. Foley Schmidt’s chip shot was good, giving Dartmouth the three-point edge.

Halftime Stats

6 punts for Dartmouth, 6 punts for Penn

Irvin: 13-23, 143 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT

DiMaggio and Blackmon: 6 carries for 10 yards

Jenny: 8-16, 46 yards

Milan Williams: 9 carries for 28 yards

Dartmouth has only 61 yards of total offense, compared to 144 for Penn

0:00 to go in the 2nd, Penn 7, Dartmouth 7

Irvin bought some extra time and rolled right but couldn’t hit anyone in a blue uniform. Instead, Peter Pidermann picked off the pass, and Dartmouth kneeled down to end the half. And what an ugly half it was. I’ll be back in a few with the halftime stats.

0:21 to go in the 2nd, Penn 7, Dartmouth 7

On fourth and few chain links, Irvin kept the drive alive with a QB keeper, inching up to Penn’s 47. Then on 3rd and 2, Amoo-Achompong picked up the first down on a run up the middle. Penn now calls a timeout with 21 seconds to go — the Quakers have the ball on Dartmouth’s 37 on 3rd and 5 with two timeouts remaining.

2:14 to go in the 2nd, Penn 7, Dartmouth 7

Boring. Another punt. Penn takes over at its own 22. Irvin’s back in.

5:58 to go in the 2nd, Penn 7, Dartmouth 7

Olson has a rough series under center — he nearly threw a pick on third down, and now has to punt away his own three-and-out. He is a good punter, for what it’s worth, pinning Dartmouth back to its own 11.

6:49 to go in the 2nd, Penn 7, Dartmouth 7

Kyle Olson is under center for this drive.

7:41 to go in the 2nd, Penn 7, Dartmouth 7

Dartmouth capitalized on the opportunity, as Hudson Smythe took it in for an easy two-yard score. A bad break for Penn on that call — it really looked as though Blackmon’s progress had been stopped.

11:03 to go in the 2nd, Penn 7, Dartmouth 0

On the first play, Blackmon was stopped at the line, and even though it appeared that his forward progress had been stopped, the ball was stripped at the end of the play and Dartmouth recovered, taking the ball back to Penn’s two yard-line. A livid Al Bagnoli pleaded his case, and he sure had a good one, but the call was not overturned.

8:25 to go in the 2nd, Penn 7, Dartmouth 0

A nice run from Milan Williams gave Dartmouth a first down, but Dartmouth couldn’t move the ball after that, punting it away yet again. Poor Brian Scullin — his leg might fall off before the half is over. Penn takes over at its own 15-yard-line.

11:03 to go in the 2nd, Penn 7, Dartmouth 0

On the first play after the fumble, Irvin rolled right on a play-action fake, selling it beautifully, and found a wide-open DiMaggio streaking down the opposite sideline for an 18-yard touchdown pass. Finally, two drives in a row without a punt, and the Quakers strike first.

One sidenote: it looks like Bradford Blackmon is getting some attention on the trainer’s table down on the sidelines. We’ll keep you posted.

11:11 to go in the 2nd, Penn 0, Dartmouth 0

Dartmouth finally managed to get a first down on a 2nd-and-3 completion. They would have been better off sticking to the three-and-outs. Alex Jenny followed it up by fumbling the snap and lost 15 yards, putting Dartmouth three yards back behind where it started the drive. On the ensuing play, Britton Ertman pounced on a fumble, and Penn will take over at Dartmouth’s 18.

12:40 to go in the 2nd, Penn 0, Dartmouth 0

The pattern continues. Another three-and-out, and another good punt from Olsen. Penn had a third-and-one, but the call was an off-tackle pitch to Blackmon, who was stopped for a loss. I would have given it to DiMaggio to pound it through the middle on a short yardage situation like that, but I’m not the one calling the plays. Dartmouth will take over at its 17.

0:00 to go in the 1st, Penn 0, Dartmouth 0

I bet you can guess what just happened. Another three-and-out. The clock ran out on the quarter just before the Big Green was ready to boot the eighth punt of the quarter. Dartmouth still doesn’t have a first down. That honestly might have been the most boring and poorly-played offensive quarter in the history of football.

1:44 to go in the 1st, Penn 0, Dartmouth 0

Robert Irvin got the Quakers going on 2nd and 15, delivering a strike to Matt Reinert over the middle for a first down. But again, Penn couldn’t keep the momentum going and was forced to punt — Olson pinned Dartmouth back to its own six. In case you’re keeping track, I believe that’s the seventh punt of the quarter. But I’ve lost count.

4:27 to go in the 1st, Penn 0, Dartmouth 0

Three pass attempts by Jenny, three incompletions, and another three-and-out. Can’t you feel the excitement right now? Scullin got off another good punt, and Chris Wynn fumbled the ball on the return, but Penn covered it up and will take over at its own 45.

5:02 to go in the 1st, Penn 0, Dartmouth 0

A deep pass from Irvin to tight end Josh Koontz got Penn into Dartmouth’s territory, but the Quakers couldn’t do anything after that. Another punt from Olsen — this time pinning Dartmouth back to its own 11.

8:20 to go in the 1st, Penn 0, Dartmouth 0

Another three-and-out forced by the Quakers. Two runs were stuffed at the line, and then Jenny’s pass was incomplete on third down. A great punt from Brian Scullin gave the Quakers the ball back at their own 30.

9:35 to go in the 1st, Penn 0, Dartmouth 0

Irvin is trying to get the rapport with Marcus Lawrence back, but he would have been better off looking for Tyler Fisher on 3rd and 3 from Dartmouth’s 43 instead of trying to sneak one into Lawrence. Fisher was wide open over the middle, but Irvin tried to hit Lawrence instead and threw a pass well out of his reach. Kyle Olson then came on and tried to pin Dartmouth deep, but his punt rolled into the endzone for a touchback.

11:47 to go in the 1st, Penn 0, Dartmouth 0

Penn’s defense looks sharp early on, forcing a three-and-out. Jake Lewko knocked down Dartmouth quarterback Alex Jenny on 3rd down, forcing him to get rid of the ball early and throw it away. Penn will come away with decent field position, taking the ball over on its own 41.

12:50 to go in the 1st, Penn 0, Dartmouth 0

On the first play from scrimmage, Robert Irvin rolled right and hit Kyle Derham for a 12-yard first down. The Quakers couldn’t get much going after that. Number one receiver Marcus Lawrence is back on the field for the Quakers after missing the first two weeks with an injury, but he dropped a pass on third down that would have been short of the first down marker anyway, and Kyle Olson punted it away. Dartmouth will take over at its own 29.

Even though I’m posting these links as they come instead of every Wednesday, I actually have some today.

1) The first concerns the College of New Jersey Princeton. In a fascinating coincidence, two of the most accomplished Princeton athletes of all-time — basketball legend Bill Bradley and football star Dick Kazmaier — both wore number 42 on their jersey. Although 42 has been unofficially retired from the football and basketball teams, the number will be uniformly (no pun intended) retired for all Princeton athletics teams in a ceremony on Oct. 24.

Bradley, a former U.S. senator and Presidential candidate, took the Tigers to the 1965 Final Four and earned National Player of the Year recognition that same season. Kazmaier, meanwhile, won the 1951 Heisman Trophy and Maxwell Award as a member of the Tigers.

2) With the Major League Baseball playoffs starting today, here’s a trivia question: Who is the only active MLB player who is a former all-Ivy League quarterback? If you answered former Penn student Mark DeRosa of the Cubs, you’d be correct. In fact, DeRosa is the only current Major Leaguer who graduated from Wharton. Here’s a profile The New York Times did on the 1996 Penn grad who played both baseball and football for the Quakers.

UDPATE: The Inquirer also did a piece on DeRosa. (HT Jonathan Tannewald, of Soft Pretzel Logic.)

3) The biggest news story recently has been the financial crisis.  Not too surprisingly, three people critical to our economy’s recovery have Ivy connections. But what you might not have known is that one of the three — Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson — was a Dartmouth offensive lineman. ESPN.com’s Ivan Maisel dedicated part of his I-Formation column today to Paulson’s past football exploits. (It’s the fifth item on the right side.)

Final, Penn 68, Dartmouth 66

Kevin Egee first makes a game-saving block on a Giobacchini layup attempt with Penn up 2. Off the inbound, Fitzgerald recovers the ball from a scramble and puts up a layup that sits on the rim for what seems like an eternity but it falls out and Penn squeaks out a win.

2nd Half :06, 68-66 Penn

Kach fouled Mosley — 40 feet from the basket — and he hit two. But Egee goes back to the line for Penn and made one.

2nd Half :18, 67-64 Penn

The Penn defense held, so Dartmouth was forced to foul Egee. He went to the line for a one-and-one and made both. Glen Miller calls his next-to-last timeout, and Dartmouth has one more good chance to tie the game coming up.

2nd Half :42, 65-64 Penn

Penn takes back the lead! Eggleston tipped in a jumper and Terry Dunn burned his final timeout.

2nd Half 1:14, 64-63 Dartmouth

Wow. Dartmouth hit a layup, Bernardini turned it over, and Barnett drew a foul and hit both free throws, and Dartmouth has a lead for the first time since 18:44 in the first half. This hasn’t been a sudden collapse, but Dartmouth has been chipping away for a long time now, and Penn has gone totally cold from the field. Crucial possession coming up.

2nd Half 2:21, 63-60 Penn

Dartmouth turned it over on the inbounds, and Reilly drew a foul in a scrum on the other end. He hit one, and then Giovacchini — he seems to be in on every play — airballed a three. Bernardini did the same on Penn’s next possession, and the Quakers’ lead is at three.

2nd Half 3:40, 62-60 Penn

Penn didn’t score, but Egee made sure Dartmouth didn’t either. He blocked a driving Giovacchini to preserve Penn’s two-point lead for now. Dartmouth has 4 seconds left on the shot clock when we come back from this timeout.

2nd Half 4:40, 62-60 Penn

No, no, no! Eggleston picks up his third foul. Kurt Graeber makes one. Game is dangerously close to slipping away.

2nd Half 5:16, 62-59 Penn

Bernardini may have helped breath life into the Big Green. He practically body-slammed Giovacchini as he was taking a three, and wouldn’t you know it, it ends up as a four-point play. Not a smart play at all.

2nd Half 5:34, 62-55 Penn

Ugly turnovers are preventing either team from doing much scoring now. Penn is doing the smart thing and taking its time on offense, working as much time off the clock as possible. It’s Grandieri, Eggleston, Bernardini, Egee and Reilly on the floor for the Quakers.

2nd Half 8:24, 60-53 Penn

Giovacchini rolled off a screen and hit a three. Schreiber had a chance to undo some of the damage, but missed two free throws. Only two timeouts left for Dartmouth.

2nd Half 9:34, 60-50 Penn

Barnett got open on the baseline for a dunk and Michael Giovacchini hit two free throws, but Eggleston answered with a lay-in, Gaines found Schreiber with a long pass for a dunk in transition and Grandieri hit another patented mid-range shot. Dartmouth is closing the gap, but if they can’t stop Penn from pulling down offensive rebounds, they won’t have enough possessions to come back.

2nd Half 13:52, 54-41 Penn

Grandieri scored inside and Bernardini hit a fadeaway mid-range J to maintain Penn’s lead despite a rare three-pointer from Dartmouth. Incidentally, Grandieri is playing much better than he did last night. Most of his scoring comes inside six feet, and after hitting a few long jumpers early he’s really gone to work down low against Dartmouth. He may have a double-double before this game is over.

2nd Half 15:48, 50-38 Penn

The Quakers have stretched the lead with some great inside play. Cameron Lewis scored twice inside three feet and Jack Eggleston hit a layup too. Egee is running the point and doing a satisfactory job, even though he just gave up the ball on an ill-advised 30-foot pass. He does that way too often, by the way.

Dartmouth is shooting horribly; this is Penn’s game to lose at this point.

The Red and Blue Crew comes out with its first rollout of the game: “We may have an off year, but you’re still Dartmouth.”

1st Half Statistics:

Leading Scorers: Penn - Eggleston (12), Dartmouth - Barnett (11)

FG%: Penn - 15-31 (48.4%), Dartmouth - 13-29 (44.8%)

Rebounds: Penn - 27 (12 offensive), Dartmouth - 11 (4 offensive)

Assists: Penn - 9, Dartmouth - 4

Turnovers: Penn - 6, Dartmouth - 5

The Philly Phanatic is in the house! Strange halftime entertainment of a pick up game featuring the Penn Quaker, the Villanova Wildcat, the Phanatic and the Philadelphia Soul’s Soul Man. It must be hard to move around in a mascot suit because these guys can’t buy a bucket. The Phanatic looks intoxicated and it seems like the Soul Man can’t see through his big sunglasses.

Halftime, 41-29 Penn

Dartmouth, down by ten and with the shot clock off, failed to take the last shot of the half, leading to a final Penn possession. After the ball was knocked out of bounds with 0.2 on the clock, Eggleston converted an alley-oop jumper to give Penn all the momentum going into the break.

1st Half 1:09, 37-29 Penn

Grandieri is heating up for the Quakers, but Barnett is keeping Dartmouth in the game. Like last night, Penn is allowing too much dribble penetration by opposing guards. Penn is starting to look pretty comfortable on offense though, exemplified by some nice ball movement that led to an Eggleston jumper from the top of the key.

1st Half 2:56, 31-24 Penn

Mosley scores inside after two Penn defenders can’t grab the board, but he then commits a needless reach-in foul, giving Eggleston two free throws, and misses a wide-open three. After a tough Bernardini layup between two Big Green defenders, Barnett winds up for a monster throw down but is fouled by Schrieiber. After the free throws Dartmouth put on the press, but the Quakers broke it easily and Grandieri hit a 3. Terry Dunn is really using his bench, 11 players have entered for the Big Green.

1st Half 7:02, 22-16 Penn

Harrison Gaines has entered the game but Egee remains on the floor with him. The combo seems to be working well so far. Marciano picked up his second foul and was sent to the bench. Ronnie Dixon, despite a nice drive to the hoop and layup conversion is getting the “AIR-BALL” treatment from the Penn students for an earlier three point attempt. Penn is killing Dartmouth on the offensive glass. Lewis just took a missed Gaines’ jumper and put it in for 2. Barnett responded by breaking Egee’s ankles and converting a baseline jumper.

1st Half 11:46, 13-8 Penn

Andreas Schreiber has made an immediate impact off the bench, First he forced a turnover fronting Marciano inside then he hit a short fadeaway jumper and later converted on a layup. Eggleston is exuding confidence and fighting hard inside, but Penn is turning the ball over, which led to a fastbreak layup by Mosley

1st Half 15:52, 5-4 Penn

I guess most of the Greeks had their share of school spirit last night, not much of a crowd here. It’s been somewhat of a sloppy game so far with a lot of deflections and some missed opportunities, including a Cam Lewis missed layup. Marciano looks like he is going to be a tough load to handle for the undersized Quakers inside.

Starting Lineups:

Dartmouth:

F Alex Barnett

F Johnathan Ball

C John Marciano

G DeVon Mosley

G Marlon Sanders

Penn:

F Cam Lewis

F Jack Eggleston

G Brian Grandieri

G Tyler Bernardini

G Kevin Egee

For some reason Penn is wearing their blue away uniforms and Dartmouth is sporting the home white. Justin Reilly had to wear Dan Monckton’s jersey last night after bloodying his own. This may confirm the suspicion that the Quakers don’t have any backup jerseys.

Rob Gross here at the Palestra to bring live updates from tonight’s Penn-Dartmouth contest. Stay tuned for the game’s events throughout the night.

A couple out-of-towners asked about the ejections last night. Here’s what I saw: Justin Reilly and Harvard’s Evan Harris got tangled up after a rebound and fell over, almost comically. Reilly and Harris got up visibly heated, Andreas Schreiber took to the court, Brennan Votel went out to restrain Schreiber, and the scene quickly quieted down.

Reilly got a personal foul and Harris got a ‘T’. Votel and Schreiber didn’t get called for fouls, but they were ejected. According to the NCAA rulebook (download it here), neither player is ineligible for tonight’s game. Rule 10, Section 11, Article 4(a) says that no technicals are assessed when a player leaves the bench without the intention to fight.

Reilly came back to the game wearing Dan Monckton’s jersey — who wasn’t, I believe, on the bench at all last night.

Some other notes from the game are here.

The game balls from last night go to the E’s, Egee and Eggleston. Egee had some nice drives and played in control, and Eggleston wreaked havoc on the Harvard frontcourt (admittedly, without Pat Magnarelli) for 33 minutes. It was Eggleston’s second straight 30-plus minutes game.

In the other League games: Columbia confirmed Yale’s status as a disappointment, Princeton finally did something good and Cornell continued to impress.

On to tonight’s game against Dartmouth. As of 2 p.m., Penn is a four-point favorite with an over-under of 134.5. I’ll leave you with the condensed preview of Friday’s DP:

Offense: This might not be your older brother’s Dartmouth. the Big Green have two legitimate scoring threats in Alex Barnett and Devon Mosley. Good enough for the edge this time. Advantage: Dartmouth

Rebounding: Barnett’s a big man. But he’s not all that big. Penn forwards Cam Lewis and Andreas Schreiber should outmuscle the Big Green’s undersized frontcourt. Advantage: Penn

Defense: Glen Miller has always harped on poor effort on defense as the Quakers’ major problem this season. until they prove they can make a change, they won’t be getting much love here. Advantage: Dartmouth

Coaching: If Penn AD Steve Bilsky had wanted Terry Dunn, he probably could have had him. Miller’s got the experience and fire that Penn needs right now. Advantage: Penn

Overall: Given last year’s result, this one could be a squeaker. Dartmouth, surprisingly, isn’t half bad this year. Advantage: Dartmouth