Some thoughts following Georgetown's 46-24 win over Davidson Saturday:
1. Controlling Davidson. To paraphrase its head coach, controllables were controlled in the Hoyas' opening week win.
The Wildcats are a unique team in FCS, and sufficiently difficult to prepare for in a meeting, that to the players, was its first ever, though Sgarlata and his staff had seen them in 2019. Much like Army, the ground game of Davidson is the best in its subdivision; but, also, like Army, it's not always enough to win, and Georgetown took advantage of this. Yes, Davidson which led the nation in 2023 at over 300 yards a game and was ranked fifth in total offense. Yes, they were 5-4 versus Division I opponents last year because the ground game isn't always enough.
In the game, Davidson carried the ball 57 times for 245 yards, but it was not enough. Georgetown was able to control four of five key statistical trends in the game:
1. Total Yards: Georgetown. 369 to 345
2. Yards Per Play: Georgetown, 8.4 to 4.6
3. Red Zone Efficiency: Georgetown 200% to Davidson's 75%
4. Net Turnovers Gained: Georgetown +2
5. Net Time of Possession: Davidson, +17:52
That last statistic is an anomaly given Davidson's ruin game, and it's fair to say in all the Georgetown games I've followed over the years I'm hard pressed to remember any of them where the Hoyas gave up nearly 39 minutes of time of possession and won handily: it's not a common occurrence with any other common opponent.
Georgetown also took advantage of any number of potential turning points in this game and swung it to its collective advantage: the interception to end the second half with Davidson marching to a halftime lead, the first drive of the third quarter, even the muffed punt that the defense was able to hold the Wildcats without a first down at midfield. Throughout the game, the Georgetown staff took note of a trend seen in Davidson's game all last season: its secondary is porous, and can give up big plays, and the Hoyas took full advantage.
Yes, it's Davidson and no one is confusing this opener with the opponents met by other Patriot League schools, which we'll discuss below. The Wildcats have a ceiling in the Pioneer and while this is the weakest of Georgetown's opponents at Cooper Field, it's a win a team needs to build its record. For a Georgetown teams which now needs to go .500 the rest of 2024 for that elusive winning season, it's one game at a time and this challenge can now be put on the shelf as Marist awaits.
2. Danny Lauter: The debut of junior quarterback Danny Lauter seemed a mixed one, given his record setting performance in his only game to date, namely, his 427 yards against Lafayette last season.
Lauter finished the afternoon 9 of 16 for 107 yards, with passes to six receivers. Seven of the nine receptions were eight yards or more, but none more than 20. No sacks, no interceptions, but no touchdowns either.
Call this a conservative game plan to open the season. Lauter was not given many long ball opportunities and given the success of the ground game, it wasn't needed. Fans could see much the same in the upcoming game at Marist, but the run game will grind down as the opponent level increases and Lauter needs the confidence upstairs in the coaching booth as well as on the field of apply to exert a more active passing attack. The need is obvious: Georgetown does not have a running game that can take over games.
It's one of the unfortunate byproducts of Georgetown's nonscholarship status: its backfield wears down as the season progresses. The stat sheets of the last two decades are filled with names which dominated its the early games of the season and struggled by November: Charlie Houghton, Nick Campanella, Joel Kimpela. It's not a knock on the current crew, but that the Hoyas tend to struggle as injuries mount and teams know that Georgetown is not deep in the backfield. This is where veteran quarterbacks step up and while Lauter is not there yet, his ability to get there is a story to watch in this first month of the season.
Georgetown has the talent to compete in the air game. We may not see it this week, but we'll need to see it soon.
3. Special Teams: The goal of any opener for the special teams start with "do no harm" and the Hoyas met that standard Saturday. However, the issue with kickoffs still has some work ahead of it.
Two kickers were brought in to challenge for a role where punter Patrick Ryan has been less than effective: kickoffs.
The Hoyas had nine kickoffs Saturday that resulted in no touchbacks, a trend seen last season as well. Georgetown averaged 18.6 yards allowed on kickoff returns and an average starting field position at the opponent's 30 yard line. Much the same could be expected at Marist, where the Red Foxes aren't much better on kickoffs (the difference in last year's game was an average of one yard between them) but it's a point off concern as the season progresses.
4. Around the Patriot League: Not a great week for the league, but to be fair, no one else was playing Davidson.
The PL was 1-6 overall in its opening week games, with Georgetown being the only win of the weekend. Much of this was expected with four schools (Bucknell, Fordham, Lafayette, Lehigh) playing FBS opponents. Overall, FCS was a combined 2-47 versus its major college opponents in week one, with wins form only Montana State and Villanova.
Perhaps the most interesting game came in Saturday's finale, where Holy Cross came back from 10 down in the fourth to take the lead at Rhode Island with 1:47 to play, only to see the Rams march 75 yards in 12 plays for the winning score. URI quarterback completed his final there passes of the evening for 61 yards for the win. There are going to be growing pains for a Holy Cross team which lost so many leaders following the 2023 season, but they sent a message that the Crusaders aren't going away.
Other games for this week include the following:
Wagner (1-0) at Lehigh (0-1), 12:00 pm, ESPN+
Lafayette (0-1) at Monmouth (0-1), 1:00 pm, FloSports
Bucknell (0-1) at VMI (0-1), 1:30, ESPN+
New Hampshire (0-1) at Holy Cross (0-1), 2:00 pm, ESPN+
Villanova (1-0) at Colgate (0-1), 6:00 pm. ESPN+
Fordham (0-1) at Central Connecticut St. (0-1), 6:00 pm, NEC Front Row
