Disappointing, Not Surprising. OK, so a lot of us were part of the Era of Good Feeling around this team. Davidson? Good start. Lafayette? Great win! Yale? Seven seconds and a yard removed from a major upset. Holy Cross? A game GU clearly won. But if the Colgate game brought a few more of back to reality, perhaps that'll be a good thing when all is said and done. This team wasn't going to finish 10-1, and with the continuing gaps in the running game it was a matter of time before it would come back to bite them.
One need only look at the last three games in the series to understand that Georgetown hasn't quite figured out the Red Raiders, deceptively simple though their running attack may seem.
2007: Colgate outgained Georgetown 569-226, 321 of it on the groundColgate excels in the run game and when teams can't stop the run, bad things follow.
2009: Colgate outgained Georgetown 437-197, 313 of it on the ground
2010: Colgate outgained Georgetown 430-113, 304 of it on the ground
Clearly, Georgetown doesn't play a team as consistent with the run remaining this season but teams are certainly capable of it. Case in point: Wagner, who ground down Cornell with 325 rushing yards in a 41-7 win in week 2. The Seawhawks aren't consistent with numbers like that (only 175 yards this past weekend against Bryant) but they are certainly capable, which ought to be a concern for the GU defense.
Running Back Yardage: Georgetown running backs only carried the ball five times versus Colgate, all from RB Philip Oladeji. In five games this season, the backs account for an average of only 14.5 carries a game, versus 13.5 carries a game for the QB's. The Hoyas need to get the ball back into the hands of the backs.
Time Of Possession: Colgate held the ball for 40:39 Saturday. If you told me it was 50:39, I might have believed you.
Crunch Time: The next three weeks may not mean much in the PL title race, but for Georgetown, it is a major barometer on where the program is headed.
Non-conference games with Wagner (Oct. 9) and Sacred Heart (Oct.23) may not carry the name recognition of Richmond and Old Dominion, but they carry something perhaps more important right now: they are winnable. Add a home game with a Bucknell team (Oct. 16) that is 0-4 and facing Penn this weekend, and Georgetown has three strong opportunities to show that September was a sign of things to come and not an aberration....not just for fans, but for recruits and for a coaching staff that could use some good news heading into 2011.
Let's hope that students understand this and give the team all the support and then some. The momentum if this team were to get on a winning streak would be phenomenal. None of the opponents are pushovers, however, so let's keep that in mind, too.
An Unfortunate Anniversary: I posted this over at the Any Given Saturday message board this evening, and it bears repeating.
"The fifth anniversary of the unfinished Multi-Sport Field at Georgetown passed without notice in the last two weeks. Five years. The temporary seats are well, still temporary, the temporary scoreboard is still there, there are no permanent locker rooms or restrooms and the grounds remain non-existent. But left unsaid in the PL schoalrships debate is the simple fact that if GU can't get this built, how can it even begin to discuss affording scholarships? Both come down to money, or the lack of it."
A lot of good people are working on this, but it is a fact in business that a project without a timeline is just a plan.This project has to get back to the forefront of GU Athletics and to the University itself. Georgetown would never tolerate a library in modular buildings while funds were being raised for a new building, any more than it would tolerate students living in trailers while dorm construction was sidelined. For the sake of not only football athletes, but for students as a whole, it needs attention due it by a university of Georgetown's place and purpose. MSF must also stand for "Must Start Fundraising"....again.
