Some thoughts following St. Francis' 38-24 win over Georgetown Saturday:
1. 36.7. That's the points per game allowed by Georgetown this season, most since 2007. You're not going to win games giving up that many points in a game, which is what happened Saturday. Despite an early 14-0 lead, the Hoyas could not manage its defensive sets, the offense turned the ball over on consecutive drives to open the second half (where the Hoyas are being outscored for the season 106-51), and the defense is allowing over 50 percent of third downs and an ungainly 64 percent of fourth downs to continue drives. On the contrary, Georgetown was 1 of 6 Saturday.
By the first week of November, this cake is baked. The defense is not getting any better. It may hold its own versus Bucknell but will be battered and beaten by Holy Cross for as long as they want to before bringing in the reserves. For a program which used to shine on defense, the lack of experience in 2022 was a major factor, and perhaps, maybe, enough return in 2023 to reestablish the defense as more credible. This season has been a grind in every sense of the word.
2. 118. That's Georgetown's ranking among 123 schools in rushing, a now common occurrence on annual statistics. Georgetown has rushed for fewer yards as a team (762) than Holy Cross quarterback Matthew Sluka (769). Some of this is due to a pass-first offense, but a lot of it is due to Georgetown's deficiencies in recruiting impact players in the Patriot League. Undersized backs with undersized lines are not a formula for offensive consistency, and while Pierce Holley has done great work at quarterback, it obscures how thin the rushing game could be for Georgetown in 2023 without some significant recruiting or transfer support.
Of the bottom six teams in rushing, Georgetown is the only one of the six with more than one win this season. The bottom five (Presbyterian, Western Illinois, VMI, Wagner, and Robert Morris) are a combined 3-43.
3. Joshua Tomas. This has not been an era for great stars at Georgetown, but let's recognize and salute the efforts of Joshua Tomas entering the final two games of his college career.
As noted from the GUHoyas.com game recap: " Tomas had a stellar afternoon, making seven catches for a personal-best 180 yards and two touchdowns. His 180 receiving yards are the most in a game since Cameron Crayton put up 190 on Columbia in 2021. The GU wide receiver set the single-season record for receptions with 79, surpassing Chris Murphy's mark of 74. The Illinois native also set the all-time Hoya record for most career receptions in Blue & Gray with 207, smashing the previous mark held by Murphy as well (205)."
(I'm not sure 207 "smashes" 205, but you get the point.)
" I've been saying it all season, Joshua Tomas is the best receiver in the league and maybe at [the FCS] level," said head coach Rob Sgarlata. "It was great to see his body of work credited with the records that he broke today."
Tomas enters the Bucknell game 25 yards ahead of Fordham's Fotis Kokosioulis for the national lead in receiving yards. Two more strong games offers Tomas a legitimate bid for All-America honors, with the last Georgetown receiver to do so being Chris Murphy in 1991.
4. Around The PL:
Holy Cross 42, Lehigh 14: The Crusaders are ascendant. the Engineers are not. This week: Holy Cross seeks its 10th straight versus Bryant (3-6) at Fitton Field, while Lehigh hosts Colgate.
Lafayette 21, Colgate 16: An important win for the Leopards as the John Troxell era takes hold at College Hill. Lafayette led 21-10 at the half and held the Red raiders to three punts in four second half drives. This week: While Colgate travels to Lehigh, Lafayette travels to Fordham.
