Penn football commits four turnovers, ends its season with a loss to Princeton

Penn football fumbled away its chances of ending a disappointing season on a high note on Saturday.

The Quakers (4-6, 2-5 Ivy League) committed four turnovers and lost, 20-17, to Princeton (3-7, 2-5 ).

Despite going scoreless in the second half, Penn had the opportunity to win the game on its final drive after senior safety Shiloh Means’ second interception of the game.

On third-and-13, Penn junior quarterback Liam O’Brien looked to scramble on a broken play and coughed up the ball while trying to break through contact. Princeton recovered the fumble with 4:16 remaining and burned the clock down to win the game.

“Obviously, I wish we could have won. … The game owes you nothing. You give everything you have, and you still come out not victorious,” Means said postgame.

Alongside two interceptions, Means recorded four tackles and three pass breakups.

Here’s what we saw from Penn’s final game of the season:

The Tigers did not waste any time getting on the scoreboard.

On the game’s first play, senior running back John Volker found an opening in an all-out blitz by the Quakers. Volker had nothing but green in front of him as he ran a 75-yard touchdown in. He finished with 130 rushing yards on 15 carries.

Outside of that big play, the Tigers were unable to get much going offensively throughout the game. Princeton junior quarterback Blaine Hipa finished with 167 yards on 17-of-31 passing, didn’t throw a touchdown, and had two interceptions.

Penn struck next. On a 14 play, 52-yard drive that included two fourth-and-short conversions, senior wideout Julien Stokes hauled in a 7-yard touchdown catch. O’Brien had the option to run it in himself but opted to toss it to Stokes.

In the final moments of the first half, O’Brien found junior wideout Bisi Owens on a 6-yard streak for his second touchdown pass. It marked the 6-foot-4 wideout’s fourth touchdown in the last three weeks.

Penn’s offense had trouble staying on the field in the second half, though, and committed four turnovers.

At the 8-minute, 43-second mark in the third quarter, Penn sophomore running back Jamal Bing Jr. was stripped by senior defensive linemen Collin Taylor. Taylor’s forced fumble turned into a field goal for Princeton, which cut Penn’s lead to four.

On Penn’s next drive, O’Brien was strip-sacked on a second-and-20 passing attempt. Princeton sophomore linebacker Caden Wright recovered the fumble for a 6-yard scoop-and-score.

“When you have these turnovers, which we haven’t had all year long, that becomes the game,” said coach Ray Priore.

O’Brien finished with 168 yards on 15-of-30 passing, two touchdown passes, one interception, and two costly fumbles. Next season, O’Brien is expected to continue as the Quakers’ quarterback with Penn’s all time pass-completion leader Aidan Sayin is set to graduate.

Penn sophomore running back Malachi Hosley tacked 122 rushing yards on to his 1,000-yard season.

Harvard, Columbia, and Dartmouth?

For the second year in a row, the Ivy League championship was split between three teams. Harvard had the opportunity to be the sole conference champions but lost to Yale on Saturday. This Crimson loss opened the door for Columbia and Dartmouth, which picked up wins to secure a share of the title. Columbia broke a 63-year championship drought with its win against Cornell.

» READ MORE: Penn quarterback Liam O’Brien is ‘not really content’ at all with his record-setting performance

The last time the Quakers won at least a share of the Ivy title was 2016, being named cochampions alongside Princeton. Two recruiting classes have now come and went since the program last raised a championship banner.

Priore reflected postgame on his graduating senior class.

“These are the COVID kids,” he said. “These are kids that came to college without going on a recruiting visit. We selected them off of just film. … They have had it hard, but they are a resilient group.”