Looking Back, Looking Ahead

After consecutive 2-9 seasons and the loss of 14 starters from last season, pre-season hopes for the 2023 Georgetown Hoyas were dim.

At the start of the season, Georgetown was picked last in the PL pre-season poll, a common starting spot for many prior Georgetown teams. What was uncommon was a team which developed and grew every week: a first win at home versus Fordham in 12 years, a near upset at Penn, a first ever road win at Lehigh, tough but competitive losses to Lafayette and Colgate, an overtime thriller at Bucknell. For a program with fewer resources than nearly every opponent they faced, the Hoyas were no longer the easy win some might have thought.

A 5-6 record is not, on its own, a success. But the drive to 2024 begins with a word not often heard around these parts, but welcome nonetheless: hope.

No, not that Hope--that's actress Hannah Kuykendall, part of the repertory company that makes SEC Shorts must-see viewing every week of the college football season. When this Hope appears to a fan base, it's a sign of dread, because she brings a sense of unrequited expectations that a team or fan base can ever ascend the mountaintop that is the SEC. (SEC Shorts canon: Alabama never needs Hope, by the way, and Vanderbilt doesn't even bother to ask.) 

What Georgetown has, or more likely could have, is something it has lacked for years, probably going back to the beginning Rob Sgarlata's tenure, when alumni and fans saw the synergies Sgarlata could provide that Kevin Kelly did not. In reality, Sgarlata deals with the same issues Kelly did, but 2024 offers different outcomes.

If it's not outright hope, it's the next best thing: possibilities.

1. Recruiting. A 5-6 season isn't the FCS playoffs but it's a movement in the right direction. Georgetown loses more than it wins against scholarship programs but it can make a statement in the early  signing period that it can aim beyond the NEPSAC kids and the "all-county" entrants that have defined recent recruiting cycles.

2. Transfer Portal: As far as we know, the transfer portal is not against the ethos and culture and thus an opportunity for the Hoyas to make some rapid improvement in selected positions--this made a big difference with WR Nicholas Dunneman coming in from Division III Union, and to a lesser extent with OL Hampton Tanner from Wake Forest and Kolubah Pewee from Maine. Georgetown has targeted needs at running back, linebacker, and kicker that a graduate transfer would be of immediate benefit. The transfer portal swings open wide in the next two weeks and Georgetown has a better argument after this season than it has in the last three. 

3. Coaching: New assistants for 2023 made a noticeable difference in quarterback and O-line play, thanks to up and coming coaches like Jack McDaniels and Joey Partin. The coaching game can be a transitory one but Georgetown needs to be competitive in retaining coaches while they can, while elevating those up the ladder who could take over when a Rob Spence or Kevin Doherty retire. The Hoyas have hired 10 assistants since 2018 who stayed only one season, and that's not a long term model for success. Of the ten, just four remain in coaching today.

4.  NIL. Don't think this is something for men's basketball and nothing else. It's coming to the Patriot League whether the league wants it or not (look to Fordham and then Colgate)  and Georgetown should at least have a strategy to address it, rather than merely ignore it.

5. Fundraising. Let's look beyond merely summer camp and nutrition - there are some opportunities out here to enlist the small donor, the mid-market donor, and the benefactors out there to take steps forward.  

Look no further than Georgetown baseball, a program that has no home field of its own,  had no winning seasons for 35 consecutive years and once lost 47 games in a single season. Baseball has momentum and they have support. From a March 2023 announcement:

"The Georgetown Baseball Campaign received a program-defining challenge gift of $4.8 million to support and enhance scholarship and coaching endowments. This gift will make significant progress towards the overall campaign goal to support three areas of need including coaching, scholarship and facilities.

The impact of enhanced scholarship endowments allows Georgetown to recruit the best and brightest student-athletes to continue their formation and development during their time on the Hilltop. The addition of these scholarships is a transformative shift allowing Hoya baseball to compete with the top programs in the nation...

Coaching endowments are a commitment to coaches now and in the future to provide the vital resources needed to recruit and retain the best staff in an increasingly competitive environment. Supporting and investing in the stability of coaches directly impacts the consistent development of a student-athlete."

What would $4.8 million do for football coaching, recruiting, and player development?   As Lee Reed might say, why not us?

Now is the time for the football community to not just pack it in until August, but seize the opportunity to have some conversations and take new steps forward in 2024. We can argue and quibble about the little things but there is progress in FCS football if only we seek it out. "Be not afraid of moving forward," says the adage. " Be afraid of standing still." 

And be hopeful.

Week 10 Thoughts

 

Some thoughts after Georgetown's 50-47 win over Bucknell:

1. (Whew.) I've watched and/or listened to nearly every Georgetown football game over the past 25 or 26 seasons and this game was one of a kind--not only in the score, but in the sheer number of ways this team held it together, As such, the outcome was more a relief than of exultation, because it was a little like getting out of the dentist's chair after four hours. 

Don't kid yourself--after a slow start, Bucknell came to play. Ralph Rucker may be the best quarterback in the league once Matthew Sluka graduates, and while the Bison can struggle as much as the Hoyas do, they may be one of the best  three-win teams anywhere. But in a game that featured 13 touchdowns, a field goal, and one safety (almost two) between the teams, four plays stand out as absolute game changers:

1. 13:08, 3rd quarter: The beginning of Bucknell's offensive momentum had just begin, with Rucker leading the Bison on a five play, 65 yard drive to close to 23-15. A Bucknell stop and this gets real tight, real quick. Instead, Naiteitei Mose makes the special teams play of the decade by alertly picking up a wayward onside kick and returning it untouched. 23-15 becomes 30-15 and the Bison's climb back is a little steeper as a result.

2. 5:00, 3rd quarter: Bucknell stands with a first down on the Georgetown two. David Ealey forces a fumble that, one Georgetown play later, results in a 95 yard touchdown pass. A potential 30-23 jumps back to 37-15.

3. 1:25, 4th quarter: After an epic drive that ties the score at 44, Bucknell advances to midfield, but the Hoyas break up consecutive passes that forces a punt into the final minute of regulation.

4. Overtime: Tyler Knoop's run to the end zone was fraught with peril--a fumble while stretching out the ball for the score would have been worth years of anguish--but an earlier play helped set it all up: an 11 yard run by Naieem Kearney that put GU in position to win, not merely tie.

There will be plenty to review on the 2023 season after next week but Saturday's game was a master class by the coaching staff in not letting the team get too high or too low following the rapid turn of events. Losing a 22 point second half lead would have sank many Georgetown teams of the past, and did, but the 2023 team has a sense of grit and determination that has held together the first 10 games of the season. 

Earning a winning season on Fitton Field may be elusive, but the fact that the Hoyas are even this close is a momentum builder heading into the off-season.

2. Around the PL: Saturday's game appear to have stabilized the PL title possibilities and the playoff race.

If Lafayette wins over Lehigh, they win the title. A win by Holy Cross, despite a stellar season, would be a coin-flip for an at-large bid A loss to Georgetown, and they are out of both scenarios. 

A Lafayette loss and a Holy Cross win sends a fifth PL title to Holy Cross, while a three way tie between Lafayette (losing to Lehigh), Colgate (defeating Fordham), and Georgetown (defeating Holy Cross) at 4-2 sends the title to Colgate, as the Red Raiders defeated both Lafayette and Georgetown.

Last week's results:

Lafayette 24, Fordham 16: Jamar Curtis and the Lafayette running game solidified the Leopards' hold on the PL lead before 4,256 at Fisher Stadium, ending any post-season options for the Rams. Lafayette QB Dean Denobile was a quiet 16 of 21 for 137 yards but Curtis' 204 yards on the ground was all the difference. A trip to South Mountain and the 159th game with Lehigh is next for the Leopards, while Fordham travels to Colgate.

Army 17, Holy Cross 14: A solid game for the Crusaders despite the score, as Holy Cross battled back from a 14-0 fourth quarter score to fall short before 30,602 at Michie Stadium. HC quarte4rback Matthews Sluka passed for 156 yards and ran for 171 in the loss.

Colgate 37, Lehigh 21: The early game struggles continue for the Engineers as the Red Raiders continued their late season run before 2,-031 at Andy Kerr Stadium. Colgate led this game 30-0 in the third before the Lehigh comeback, closing to 16 but no further. It's the fifth win in the last six games for Colgate, the seventh loss in the last eight for Lehigh.

Week 9 Thoughts

 Some thoughts following Lafayette's 35-25 win over Georgetown last week:

1. Opportunities Lost: Much like the Colgate game a week earlier, the Hoyas let this game get away from them early and did not sufficiently recover. The first quarter drives of Lafayette netted 14 points and a field goal opportunity, all of which began in Georgetown's side of the field. Little can be done at this point of the season regarding special teams, but it needs to be addressed in the off-season. 

Injuries are common across many teams in October,  but they are hitting Georgetown harder than most, primarily in the offensive line. It's neutralized the running game and giving defenses better success in stopping third down conversions. Scholarships provide depth and that's verboten on the Hilltop, so the depth that they have is going to fall behind the curve from the start. 

Credit must be paid to the line for protecting QB Danny Lauter en route to a career afternoon in his first collegiate start of any kind, but should Lauter play in any capacity the remainder of the season the combination of a weaker line and opponent access to game films of Lauter will take its toll.

Yes, the turnovers hurt; so too, the fourth down conversions that fell short at critical moments of the game: one early that led to the second Lafayette touchdown, and one late that kept the margin too far to make a serious run. As much as many, the cumulative opportunities ran into a chronic issue hat has dogged the Hoyas for 20 years -- the lack of a go-to player on offense who can drive the play no matter what.  Whether at quarterback or running back (think Holy Cross' Matthew Sluka and Jacob Dobbs) Georgetown hasn't been able to recruit that go-to leader in the backfield, and as much as anything it's why the Hoyas are 4-5 this season and not 6-3.

And yet, the Hoyas are still mathematically eligible for the PL title with a win over Bucknell on Saturday and a significant upset of Holy Cross in the regular season finale. The former appears more realistic than the latter, but the fact that GU is even in this scenario speaks to the team and the staff's ability to stay in games and compete until the end. It worked with Fordham and at Lehigh (imagine that) but its last two home games fell short. 

On to Bucknell.

2. Whatever Happened To... While wandering across the Internet trying to find out what will happen to NEC football after it is losing Merrimack and Sacred Heart, I located an article about an unfamiliar name in college football with a familiar name leading it forward.

The school is New England College, which, unless you were at Georgetown in the 1970s and saw their one and only basketball game against the Hoyas in 1978 (final score: 80-30), it's probably unknown to most, and certainly in football. NEC (no relation to the conference) is a Division III school in central New Hampshire which is adding football next year. At the helm of the effort is former Georgetown head coach Kevin Kelly.

As someone who grew up in New England, played collegiately at Springfield College, and returned there after his coaching career had ended circa 2020, it's full circle for Kelly, now 64. Since leaving Georgetown in 2014, he was an assistant at Bal State for two seasons, a high school coach for two seasons, a defensive coordinator at Bryant for two seasons and less than a year with the New York Guardians of the XFL before the onset of COVID. In a career that goes back over 40 years, Georgetown was the only stop where Kelly stayed more than three seasons. 

A new opportunity at New England starts from scratch: no equipment, no stadium, and, as for now, no players. 

"Starting any endeavor from the ground up is an enormous challenge," Kelly said in August of this year. "But working within the visions of President Lesperance and Athletic Director DeCew makes this challenge a very exciting one—as we build a program that NEC, the NEC Alumni and the Henniker community will be proud of."

Schools of NEC's size don't add football for fun, so to speak. Per D3Fooball.com, "The sport is being touted as "a strategic investment, that we have high confidence will pay dividends in enrollment, in enhancing campus culture, and in expanding the college's football in New Hampshire and beyond," said a college trustee. Enrollment has declined from about 1,700 to just 1,163, so this is an enrollment play.

The Pilgrims don't have a conference affiliation in football (It recently joined the GNAC but that league does not play football), but a number of Division III programs are available in that area. Whatever the configuration, coach Kelly will have the players ready for the challenge.

3. Around The PL: From last weekend, three key scores set the table for the pivotal weekend to come:

Colgate 37, Lafayette 34 (OT): The Leopards' path to its first PL title since 2013 hit turbulence Saturday, as the resurgent Red Raiders battled back from 17 down at halftime to force overtime, hold LC to a field goal, and score on a 13 yard touchdown pass for the win before 4,418 at Fisher Stadium. The teams were a combined 10 for 11 in the red zone but Colgate had the advantage late and cashed in. The Leopards need to defeat Fordham and Lehigh to close out the season as champions.

Holy Cross 28, Lehigh 24: Despite injuries to Matthew Sluka and Jacob Dobbs, the Crusaders took a step back into the PL title race behind  228 yards from RB Jordan Fuller, before 3,528 at Murray Goodman Stadium. The Engineers held a 14-0 lead after but were not able to maintain the lead, falling to 2-7 and ensuring its  seventh consecutive losing season. Following a game at Army this week, the Crusaders could claim the title with a win over Georgetown and losses by Lafayette to  Fordham and Lehigh.

Fordham 27, Bucknell 21: Despite a personal record 358 yards passing from Bucknell QB Ralph Rucker, the Rams held on late before just 1,950 at Moglia Stadium. Fordham QB C.J. Montes was 18 of 33 for 328 yards and there touchdowns, including passes of 64 and 91 yards. 

Week 8 Thoughts

 

Some thoughts following Colgate's 28-18 win over Georgetown Saturday:

1. Post-Haste: A day late on the blog, but the mistakes Georgetown made in this game didn't change in the last 24 hours.

When teams are closely matched, three or four plays can turn a game. It certainly was the case in the Alabama-Tennessee game last weekend, or even Lafayette-Holy Cross. And for the first or second time in a decade, 60-scholarship Colgate and Georgetown were actually evenly matched, only to see Georgetown fail on certain key moments of the game which Colgate, to its credit, did not. They were:

1. 11:09, 1st quarter: Tyler Knoop's interception at midfield was, on its own, not a game changer, but the players were well out of position to prevent a runback. One of the reasons a "pick six" is especially effective at midfield is what a returned has ahead of him at that spot of the field: linemen, big and slow. Georgetown's play cal didn't have anyone who could catch up with Goss and thus the Red Raiders cashed in seven before its offense could see their first snap.

2. 4:12, first quarter: Georgetown's second possession brought them to the Colgate 14, but penalties and a breakup in the end forced a field goal, not a touchdown. The Red Raiders made quick work of the GU defense for a touchdown and a 14-3 lead when 7-7 was eminently possible.

3. 2:01 , 2nd quarter: At 21-12 going into halftime, the game was still in range, but two critical defensive fouls and breakdowns in the secondary allowed Colgate to extend the lead to 28-12 in a one minute, 16 second drive.

Yes, three total interceptions by Knoop didn't help. But for Georgetown to have led in nearly every statistic in this game and still lose by double figures was a huge opportunity lost if a six win season is doable for this team, mindful that their odds of a win in the season finale against Holy Cross continue to be prohibitive. Comebacks are nice, but to give up 28 points to a team which mustered just 213 yards at halftime was visible evidence that, in coach Sgarlata's own words, Georgetown did not control the controllables. 

2. Injuries: The ability of Georgetown to finish 6-5 this season begins (and may end) with a depleted offensive line. There's a lot of missing pieces to the line as October draws to a close and with two freshmen and two sophomores starting last week, that's a problem. 

To its credit, the line has done a solid job keeping  Knoop reasonably safe: the nine sacks allowed by the O-line is best in the PL and 18th best nationally. The challenge in facing a Lafayette defense that is holding opponents to 129 yards per game on the ground bears watching. Georgetown got only 93 yards versus Colgate, and that won't be enough Saturday.

3. FCS Realignment? If you think realignment talk is reserved to conferences with a "Big" in their first name, Tuesday's news of a shakeup in the Northeast Conference was newsworthy.

With only eight football-playing schools, the NEC lost Merrimack and Sacred Heart to the MAAC Tuesday, having also lost Robert Morris and Bryant in the past three seasons. While these changes are not driven by football (the MAAC is not reviving football), it does introduce instability to the NEC, which will play at the NCAA minimum for the 2024 season. The football membership of Central Connecticut, Duquesne, LIU, St. Francis, Stonehill, and Wagner have to collectively decide if they will hang together or head for the lifeboats, while Merrimack and Sacred Heart have similar questions to answer , of which there are limited  options: 

1) The far flung OVC-Big South patchwork, offering schools the opportunity to travel to decidedly non-Eastern locations such as Lindenwood (MO),  Eastern Illinois, or Tennessee-Martin with which to fill a schedule; 

2)  An invite to the CAA, all but unlikely;

3) An invite to the Patriot League, even less so;

4) Garner interest with the MEAC, which has been historically reluctant to pursue any non-HBCU's to its association;

5) Drop scholarships and join the Pioneer League; or 

6) Soldier on as an independent until the next turn on the realignment wheel.

At least one school has football (somewhat) in mind, however. 

"Football is an important sport on this campus," said Merrimack athletic director Jeremy Gibson to the Mack Report blog. "For anyone who was at Homecoming weekend and saw that we had over 13,000 people back, it's not hard to see why football will continue to matter at Merrimack."

"[The MAAC] are the schools, at the presidential level, deciding who are their peer institutions and who they want to be associated with. This is a validation from the schools in the MAAC that this is what Merrimack is now. We're not a small school anymore, and these affiliations made sense for us."

3. And the Wheels Keep Turning:  Per various reports, the U.S. Military Academy will return to a conference in 2024, joining the American Athletic Conference, itself a hodge-podge of programs from UT-San Antonio to Temple. The rivalry with Navy continues (as Navy is in the AAC) but Army must settle millions of dollars in game contracts for a schedule that go out through at least 2034, including road games at Syracuse, Wake Forest,  Boston College,  UConn, and Missouri.

Army will continue to park its other sports in the Patriot league, giving rise to speculation that the AAC will add Virginia Commonwealth of the A-10 for non-football sports.

With watchful A-10 schools seeing no current path to the Big East (commissioner Val Ackerman said as much at yesterday's Media Day), will schools start looking at offers like this, or does the A-10 start adding more far-flung schools once again? Six of the 15 A-10 schools live in states that do not border the Atlantic Ocean, and one A-10 blog suggested earlier this summer adding Murray State (??) and Monmouth.

This is not over, folks.

4. Around the PL: The game of the year in PL football has, for one week, anyway, placed a new team on top of the leaderboard. 

Lafayette 38, Holy Cross 35: Despite a career high 330 yards rushing from Holy Cross QB Matthew Sluka (a record for a QB that may not soon be broken), the Lafayette Leopards were the better team in this one, winning on the road behind 229 yards from RB Jamar Curtis and never trailing in the game, establishing LC as the team to beat in Patriot play., It's the first loss in the league for the Crusaders in four years, and begins a run of three consecutive road games where HC does not control its path to a league title.  Holy Cross now must travel to Fordham for an de factor at-large elimination game for one of the two schools, while Lafayette travels to Georgetown.

Lehigh 27, Bucknell 18: The Engineers ended a five game losing streak with a solid 27-18 before an embarrassing total of 966 at Christy Mathewson Stadium in Lewisburg, MA. Lehigh led 20-3 at the half and successfully withstood an 88 yard kickoff return for touchdown and a late Bucknell touchdown that made the game close, but no further.  Lehigh is idle this week while Bucknell must play at Colgate, where it has won once since 2013.

Week 7 Thoughts

 

Some thoughts from Georgetown's 17-7 win over Lehigh this past Saturday:

1. Past Or Prologue? This isn't a team Georgetown is supposed to beat, even in some decidedly down years at Lehigh. It's sufficiently rare (just one prior win since 2001) that it's worth asking the question: is this a moment in time, or the start of something big?

Maybe a little bit of both.

The past three games have sent echoes of the 2011 season, one where the Hoyas surprised everyone with a five game win streak en route to its only winning season since 1999. It was also a period of retrenchment by some PL programs that allowed Georgetown to sneak up on them (Colgate, for one; maybe Lafayette as well). This season's Hoyas haven't sneaked up on its recent opponents but played 60 minutes of consistent football, one that gives it an opportunity to control time of possession (we'll get to that later) and play to its strengths. 

Or is this a harbinger of things to come? The financial imbalance of football at Georgetown University has always been a quick and deserved response to why the program has struggled, but it has also been a deficit of impact talent. This season's team has some important contributions with underclassmen on offense (Dunneman, Kibble, Grimes) and defense (Daniel, Dugger, Mose, Cadet, Rufo) that have overachieved based on what was popularly expected out of their classes in 2022 and 2023. That's something to build upon for a program that is often rebuilding every year.

In one sense, 2023 is neither 2011 redux nor a window into dominance: it is what it is, and it's been fun to watch thus far. Georgetown has been competitive in every game but one this season, and when was the last time you could say that? The Massey Ratings service had GU as underdogs in each of the last eight games of the season and a 1.189% chance of making it as far as four wins. And yet, here we are.  

2. Raiders Up:  A 3:00 pm start time at home is rare for Georgetown, and if this was major college football, it would be the afternoon version of prime time. It's not, of course, but the Hoyas will be the late game Saturday versus Colgate.

Georgetown is 1-18 all time versus Colgate dating to 2002--the Red Raiders opted not to fit GU in its 2001 schedule. The games have been routinely noncompetitive as Colgate owned the rushing game as is their tradition, with the only Georgetown win coming in the aforementioned 2011 season. A look at its statistics to date offers some clues about what may be the biggest game of the season relative to Georgetown fighting for six wins this season.

Did I say rushing? Colgate is last in the PL in offense and fifth in rushing at 110 yards a game. That's not enough to dominate this game, and Colgate is allowing 185 yards in return, which if GU rushed for 185 in this game , it would be a very, very good sign.   

Averages can be deceiving, however. Unlike Georgetown, Colgate traditionally schedules up to begin a season and as such they were overmatched in losses to Syracuse, Villanova, Penn, and Holy Cross. Since then, versus Cornell and Dartmouth, it has averaged 185 yards gained and 130 allowed. 

Colgate's passing game also bears watching. Ranked near the bottom of the league overall, the Red Raiders  passed for 221 yards pre game but allowed 316.5 in return. Georgetown enters the game ranked 1st in pass defense, so watch this closely.  Also worth watching? Time of possession. Georgetown won't be close to the 40 minute time of possession it held at Lehigh, but a 33 -35 minute total would be a sign GU is controlling the ball and limiting Colgate possessions. In a series like this , this could be the numbers that can turn to an upset.

3. Looking Back: This marks the 20th anniversary of a memorable game in the Colgate-Georgetown series, a 20-19 Colgate win to open the season at the pre-MSF configuration known as Harbin Field. 

"[Trailing] Colgate, 14-0, Coach Benson substituted freshman Alondzo Turner in at QB, who led an exciting 15 play, 80 yard drive," wrote the game recap at HoyaSaxa.com. "Turner was shaken up towards the end of the drive and Crawford returned, and when Georgetown faced a 4th down at the 2 yard line, Crawford found William Huisking in the end zone for the score, 14-7."

It continues:

"After a Colgate punt, Crawford returned to quarterback the team the rest of the game. Following the punt, he answered with a 35 yard TD pass to Luke McArdle for a touchdown. Rob Smith, making his first start at kicker in the wake of Michael Gillman's injury, had the PAT blocked, 14-13.

"In the fourth, Colgate responded with an 11 play drive that stalled at the Georgetown 32. With 8:44 to play, the Hoyas went three and out and punted to Colgate at its 21, but the Raiders fumbled at the Georgetown 47 with 6:44 to play. Georgetown responded with a seven play drive highlighted by a 29 yard pass to TE Jordan Jarry to the Colgate 1, where Kim Sarin gave Georgetown the go-ahead score, 19-14. A try for two points failed thereafter."

"In the race for the end, Colgate drove to the Georgetown 46, but a long pass was intercepted at the 25 with 1:28 to play. A penalty for excessive celebration hurt the Hoyas, sending them back to its 10 The team needed just one first down to put away the game, but instead combined for four yards in three plays. Opting to punt and not take a safety for field position, Colgate got the ball and returned it to the Georgetown 35 with 20 seconds to play. 

"Narrowly averting another interception in the series, Colgate's Brown completed passes of 10 and 22 yards took the Raiders to the Georgetown 2 with under 10 seconds to play, where a direct snap to WR J.B Gerald found receiver DeWayne Long to seal the win, 20-19."

This was as close as any opponent would get to the Red Raiders for the next three months. Despite opening with five of its first six on the road, Colgate won 15 consecutive games that season until falling to Delaware in the FCS national championship game. No Patriot League opponent has been as close since.

4. Around the PL: A productive week for league teams last weekend:

Colgate 27, Dartmouth 24 (OT): Special teams heroics were the order of the day before 2,732 rain-soaked fans at Andy Kerr Stadium last week. With Dartmouth trailing 17-3 at the half, the Indians came back from 14 down in the fourth quarter to force overtime, where Colgate connected on a short field goal and blocked Dartmouth's response to carry the win. Colgate was 4 for 4 inside the red zone, Dartmouth just 4 for 7.

Bucknell 21, Colgate 13: In a  series that dates to 1888, Bucknell earned a third consecutive win over the Big Red for the first time ever, holding Cornell scoreless for the final 27 minutes of the game and holding the homestanding Big Red to 3 for 13 on third down in the win before 2,142 at Schoellkopf Field. Running back Coleman Bennett led the Bison with 157 rushing yards.

Fordham 26, Stony Brook 7: A long season continues for the Seawolves as  Fordham pulled ahead late for a 26-7 win over winless Stony Brook before 4,165 at LaValle Stadium. Stony Brook was held to a season low 27 yards on the ground. 

Lehigh travels to Bucknell this weekend, with Lafayette and Holy Cross, both idle last week, meeting for what may be the early PL title game.

Week 6 Thoughts

 Some thoughts following Penn's 42-39 overtime win over Georgetown Saturday:

1.  A Sixty Minute Game, And Then Some:  There are more than a share of college football games to which a loss is utterly deflating or completely expected, or both. Saturday's game was neither.  Georgetown and Penn played as complete a game for sixty minutes that any coach (or fan) could have asked for. 

Yes, there were mistakes made. Opportunities were given, others were lost. Giving up a safety and two interceptions at midfield was no way to open a second half, granted. But any Georgetown fan in the stands Saturday or those following along online could not have been more impressed by a  team which scored three consecutive touchdowns over the final 18 minutes of play to put themselves in a position to win. Had the coin flip gone the other way, I think they would have.

Overtime games are rare for Georgetown, and rarer still are games where the Hoyas score as many as 36 and still lose. last we week, we noted how unusual it was for Georgetown to allow 22 or more points and still win. Well, how about this one: this is only the fourth time in school history where Georgetown scored more than 35 points and lost a game. Of the four, none were as close and none came down to the end as this one did.

Over a quarter century of following these games, Saturday's game harkens back to a 2002 game between Georgetown and Bucknell at Harbin Field.  The Hoyas trailed 17-0 at halftime, 24-7 midway in the third, and 31-20 with 8:00 remaining, yet rallied to take the lead with 19 seconds remaining in a 32-31 win.  That it took 21 years to match that kind of performance probably says something about the recent state of the Hoyas, but it is a sign for this team, and those that will follow, that it can be done.

2. Ivy Woes: With the loss, Georgetown falls to 3-3 on the 2023 season, but continues a run of futility against the Ivy League.

Since scheduling Ivy opponents in 2003, Georgetown is 7-33 (.175) versus the Ancient Eight and a fitful 1-20 (.047) versus Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Penn and Dartmouth.  Many, many reasons why, but Georgetown just hasn't been competitive, and such are not the ingredients of rivalries.

3. Empty Seats: One more thing that can be said about Saturday's opponent: it was no rivalry game, either.

A generously counted crowd of just 2,250 found its way into Franklin Field for the game, which appears to have been the second smallest home crowd for the Quakers in as least 80 years at Franklin Field., per annual statistics posted online. Yes, gone are the days when 82,000 showed up when Notre Dame played the Quakers in the pre-Ivy League days of the early 1950s, or even the 35,810 who filled the lower deck thirty years ago when Princeton came to town.

The reasons for this decades-long decline are varied numerous. Some of it is the sophistry of Penn undergrads, some of it the continuing erosion of college football among local fans who are predisposed to watch the SEC Game of the Week than sit through the elements at a Temple, Penn, or Villanova game. (For what it's worth, Temple drew a season high 18,388 Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field versus another non-rival, Texas-San Antonio.)

Maybe it's just the students; or, more appropriately, you need to start with them.  This is not a generation of college students that does anything in large groups, including attendance. They do not march for football teams or to espouse political rights, they merely watch it on their Instagram account and nod accordingly.

In a  recent Georgetown Voice article, a similar theme was echoed.

"I think the first thing is, it’s a school full of students, more so than a school full of  sports fans," said women's soccer coach Dave Nolan, "I feel that probably there’s not enough students at Georgetown who are genuinely interested in sports to begin with." 

"[For] kids today, social media is the easiest way to reach them, but it’s only the easiest way to reach them if they’re already aware of you and they’re already following you. If you have a student at Georgetown who doesn’t follow women’s soccer on Instagram or Twitter, they’re not going to be any wiser. And I sometimes feel that we forget that,” he said.

"If our students get involved, we build this culture … that’s going [to] go a long way for the experience of everyone,” said John Corwin, assistant athletic director of  athletics marketing. “One thing we can all circle back to is we’re all Hoyas, we’re all a part of this family."

But for a lot of sports, football included, it's a family that doesn't pay much attention to each other.

4. Around the PL: Holy Cross may have a legitimate challenger this season that's not from the Bronx.

Lafayette 12, Princeton 9: The Leopards made some history in a 12-9 road win before 4,059 at Princeton Stadium. Scoring a field goal, touchdown, and a final safety with 1:57 to play,  Lafayette moved to 5-1 and secured its first win over Princeton in 13 tries since the  2003 season. All-time, Princeton leads the series 45-5-3, but this was Lafayette's day, moving to 5-1 for the first time since 2009 and with a week off to meet Holy Cross on Oct. 21.

Holy Cross 55, Bucknell 27: Also approaching the bye week, the Crusaders were not challenged  on the road before a turnout of just 925 at Lewisburg. Holy Cross combined for 574 total yards, led 34-14 at the half, and coasted to the win. 

Fordham 38, Lehigh 35: The Rams narrowly averted a second consecutive upset after spotting the Engineers a 21-7 lead in the second quarter and trailed 35-24 early in the fourth quarter.  A five play , 85 yard drive by Fordham QB C.J. Montes rallied the Rams to within three, while two Lehigh punts led to eventual Fordham field goals to close out the game. The Rams go out of conference to face winless Stony Brook while Lehigh will take a 1-5 record into Saturday's game versus Georgetown, which has never won at Goodman Stadium.

Homecoming Attendance: 4,367

 

Saturday's Homecoming Game drew an official attendance of 4,367, the largest in the history of Cooper Field and Georgetown's largest home crowd since 1979. 

Since its opening on September 17, 2005 as Multi-Sport Field, no home game had drawn more than 3,500, the turnout that day versus Brown with temporary bleachers across both sides of the field. Without temporary bleachers in use Saturday, some questions have been raised as to how Georgetown could accommodate over 4,000 when the stated capacity of Cooper Field is 3,750, inclusive of a 750 standing-room area behind the  north goal posts, which was unused Saturday. 

The answer may well be the nature of Homecoming itself. As various Homecoming guests wandered around campus Saturday, students and recent alumni attended some of the game, but ultimately left and others filled their seats. Thus, the attendance count exceeded those that seated throughout the game.

The turnout was the largest since 1979, when Georgetown defeated St. John's 20-14 before 4,927 atop Kehoe Field. According to The HOYA, "The response was tremendous; as an overflow crowd of almost five thousand thronged to Kehoe Field for the St. John's game. Unfortunately, the University's response to the huge turnout left a lot to be desired. Many people who arrived before kickoff found themselves waiting in line well after play had begun....Thousands of the seatless milled around at ground level, obscuring the view of those who came to watch football and turning the muddy area into a veritable quagmire," it wrote.

Saturday's game was the 12th largest on-campus crowd since 1964, surpassing other Homecoming weekend events for women's soccer (643), men's soccer (509), and volleyball (321).

Date	W/L	Opponent	Site	Att.
11/20/1965	L	Fordham	Kehoe Field	9,002
11/21/1964	W	NYU	Kehoe Field	8,004
11/2/1968	W	Seton Hall	Kehoe Field	7,000
11/1/1975	W	Fordham	Kehoe Field	7,000
11/12/1966	W	NYU	Kehoe Field	6,970
11/4/1978	W	St. Francis	GU Baseball Field	6,300
10/14/1972	W	Manhattan	Kehoe Field	6,000
11/5/1977	W	John Carroll	GU Baseball Field	5,641
10/27/1979	W	St. John's	Kehoe Field II	4,927
10/24/1970	W	Manhattan	Kehoe Field	4,500
11/6/1971	W	Fordham	Kehoe Field	4,500
9/30/2023	W	Fordham	Cooper Field	4,367