Sept. 11, 2007

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EASTON, Pa. - Coach Tavani and two Lafayette student-athletes met in Pfenning Alumni Center on Tuesday to discuss their upcoming game against Penn at Franklin Field on Saturday. Here are a few excerpts from the luncheon:

Penn Coach Al Bagnoli:
On being ready for the season opener:
"It's hard to know until you play somebody else. We came in with a little bit better dynamic than we did last year, having a quarterback now with 10 games under his belt and having Joe Sandberg back at tailback and having Braden Lepisto back at wide receiver. We think we came back, offensively at least, a little bit better fundamentally and probably a little bit further along. Defensively, we were trying to break in five or six new defensive backs last year, so we're somewhat on schedule there as well. Our biggest question mark is going to be the kicking game. We're probably going to have a freshman field goal, extra-point guy, and we'll see whether or not he can withstand the rigors of a game. Outside of that, we think we have some questions answered."

On whether or not starting the season later than other schools is an advantage:
"I think it depends on what side of the coin you're on, but I think it's a huge disadvantage for us. The only outside competition we've had was an outside scrimmage with Widener and that was over two weeks ago. So I'm not sure how game ready we're going to be. I think when you look at Lafayette's scenario of already having two games under their belts - two games to kind of work out the kinks, and certainly two games that kids can adjust to the speed of a varsity game, I think it puts the Ivy schools, and not just us - we just happen to be playing the three-time champions - but I think it puts our entire league in a very difficult scenario. I think everybody that the Ivy is opening up with has at least one, if not two games under their belts, and that puts you at a decided disadvantage."

Lafayette Coach Frank Tavani:
On problems with Penn last year:
"Well history will show that we've had a lot of problems with Penn. If you'll look at the overall record, I think it's 61-18, and some ties, so we've got some other issues obviously. We certainly had a lot of opportunities last year to win that football game and coulda, woulda, shoulda, and didn't unfortunately. The biggest thing I think a year ago was not just sticking it in the endzone, but we didn't tackle Sandberg and we're going to get another opportunity to tackle him and he's probably as good a tailback as we saw a year ago, and will see this year."

On whether Penn has an advantage by starting the season late:
"Eight years ago I would have said, and I think I did say that I think it's an advantage to have two games under your belt. As I look at it now, they've had a very short preseason camp, maybe three or four days, so the wear and tear on the legs - these guys will be coming in with more bounce in their legs than I saw a year ago. And the fact that they've had film to prepare for it and we're preparing blind, when we've had opportunities to prepare for the Ivies with at least one game film, we've fared pretty well. When we haven't, we haven't fared very well, and again, it's not an excuse, it's just a fact. We accept that otherwise we wouldn't have signed a contract with them. It's just part of the game and part of the challenge and it still comes out to blocking and tackling and making football plays, and we didn't do enough of that a year ago."

Sophomore linebacker Mark Leggiero:
On what he's been told about playing at Penn:
"From what I've heard so far, all l can tell is that it's a historic field and it's going to be a great opportunity to play there, especially a night game at their home opener. I can't really think of much more that would excite me to play football than that."

Senior wide receiver Duaeno Dorsey:
On whether he ever got discouraged waiting for his chance to play:
"At times, but you really can't get too discouraged when you have three rings. Everybody has that competitive edge where they want to be on the field. You wouldn't be here if you didn't have that competitive edge."