The two-time defending Ivy League Champion Penn football team will have three nationally televised games this season, tied for the most in school history.

The Quakers, who enter this season as a favorite to win their third consecutive Ivy League title, will be featured on the VERSUS televison network at 3:30 p.m. on Oct. 15 (at Columbia), at noon on Oct. 22 (home vs. Yale) and at noon on Nov. 12 (at Harvard). VERSUS is a sports cable network currently available in about 75 million homes across the country.

Riding a 15-game conference winning streak, Penn will begin its 135th football season with practice in late August. The 2011 team will open the season on Saturday, Sept. 17, against Lafayette, at 6 p.m. at Franklin Field. The game will be televised locally on the RCN network.

All 10 Penn football games can be listened to on local Philadelphia area airwaves through WNTP 990AM or WFIL 560AM, or globally on the web through the Penn Sports Network (PSN) at PennAthletics.com.

The five webcasted games on the PSN will include bouts against Lafayette, Villanova (Sept. 24, 7 p.m.), Fordham (Oct. 8, 6 p.m.), Princeton (Homecoming, Nov. 5, 1 p.m.) and Cornell (Nov. 19, 1 p.m.).  

The home game against Yale will not be available on the PSN because it will be nationally televised on VERSUS.

On Oct. 1, Penn will be the opponent in the first-ever night game at Dartmouth’s Memorial Field. Kickoff is at 6 p.m.

The 2011 team includes 32 returning letter-winners, including nine starters and eight All-Ivy honorees. Three of the returning starters were on the league’s top-ranked offense and four are back from the league’s top-ranked defense.