Penn had a chance to beat Columbia during the Ivy League college football game on Friday night. It failed to kick the game-wining field goal because of terrible clock management.
Head coach Rick Santos’ explanation for the loss makes it even worse than it looked.
A random college football staffer called for the field goal unit from the sideline. It was not Santos.
Penn missed its game-winning field goal.
Friday’s game between the Lions and Quakers had huge implications for the conference standings. Only Princeton and Harvard remain undefeated in the Ivy League. Columbia and Penn both had one loss. The winner would stay alive, the loser is all-but out.
It was a tale of two halves.
The Quakers jumped out to a 17-7 lead in the first quarter. The Lions scored a pair of touchdowns during the second quarter to go into the locker room down by three at halftime. They scored a combined 45 points in the first half. They scored only 10 in the second.
Penn added a field goal during the third quarter to take back the lead. Columbia scored a touchdown on the third offensive drive of the fourth quarter to go up by one, 28-27. And then it got weird.
- Penn went three-and-out and punted
- Columbia finished a five-play drive with a punt
- Penn threw an interception
- Columbia went three-and-out
The Quakers took back over on offense with 52 seconds remaining. They drove 45 yards on five plays to set up a game-winning field goal that did not reach the uprights.
Columbia won the game by a final score of 28-27. Penn absolutely blew it.
The clock management disaster was even worse than it looked.
Everything went right for the Quakers on the final drive of the game. They quickly moved the ball into field goal territory and gave themselves a chance to win. What happened next was a disaster. I’m not just talking about the miss.
Penn, which did not have a timeout remaining, converted a crucial first down with 10 seconds left on the clock. It had the opportunity to rush to the line while the clock was stopped and to spike the football on first down. The Quakers would’ve had enough time to take a quick shot to the end zone or move the ball closer to the goal line with a pass to the sideline. They would’ve had plenty of time to get the field goal unit on the field and to set up the kick.
It should’ve been easy. It wasn’t.
Penn did not stop the clock and rushed its field goal unit on to the field during a chaotic fire drill. The offense did not know whether to get off of the field or rush to the line and stop the clock. The entire transition was jumbled. And the kick missed.
WHAT ARE THEY DOING https://t.co/XG9uL2RUAH pic.twitter.com/bgeSImjn0K
— T.J. Randall (@TJ_Randall12) October 17, 2026
Head coach Rick Santos explained the blunder during his postgame press conference. The Quakers should’ve spiked the ball instead of rushing the field goal unit on to the field. However, somebody (or somebodies) on the sideline — not Santos — yelled for the field goal unit. It was too late to make a change and the kicker missed short.
#Penn Coach Rick Santos saying that they should have spiked the ball instead of rushing the FG unit out in Loss to Columbia#FightonPenn #IvyLeague #COLvsPENN pic.twitter.com/aWZZvosWQ4
— David Malandra Jr (@DaveMReports) October 17, 2026
Yikes. The missed field goal was a terrible way to lose. It was a clock management disaster. To miss the field goal because someone other than the head coach or special teams coordinator called for the field goal unit is even worse.