Some thoughts following Lafayette's 42-37 win over Georgetown Saturday:
1. Week Three. Another 2-0 start, another 2-1 finish.
In a game that was not quite as close as the score would indicate, Lafayette won the game on the strength of the one skill position that Georgetown has been unable to overcome in recruiting: the running back.
In an league that has produced the likes of Chase Edmonds, Jordan Scott, Nate Eachus, and Joe McCourt, there are no Georgetown running backs in the PL Top 10 career marks. Or Top 20. Or Top 30.
Georgetown has not had a rusher gain 2,000 yards over a career since Joe Todisco in the MAAC era. Of the 13 rushing categories listed in the PL record book, not a single Georgetown rusher of the last 25 years is listed in any of them. In a passing era, it's easy to look at quarterbacks and receivers as the foundations of an offense. But football is still driven on the ground, and Lafayette had a back that Georgetown did not.
Kente Edwards isn't Chase Edmonds but he didn't need to be against a young Georgetown defense. Edwards' 19 carries for 255 yards shredded the Hoyas and with it, offered a view to what other PL teams with talented run offenses may be able to replicate against the Hoyas.
Georgetown's defense needs to acclimate itself to stopping the run game--not at the expense of a pass defense, but as a first line of defense. The likes of Luke Yoder (Lehigh), Tariq Thomas (Bucknell) and Jayden Clerveaux (Holy Cross) figure to test it early and often. Georgetown enters week three last in the PL in rushing defense, and it needs to be addressed.
2. End Of An Era? As noted on the front page, a four year series with Brown was cut short to accommodate Patriot League expansion, and both the Brown and Columbia series appears to end after this season. Georgetown has played an Ivy team consecutively since the 2005 season. Does this come to an end in 2025?
The Ivy scheduling model was the brainchild of former head coach Bob Benson, which saw the opportunity to schedule "up" with the promise of academic peers being a popular choice . Playing Yale or Penn was preferable to Duquesne and St. Peter's for recruiting, for alumni, and presumably for fans.
In the intervening years, it's been a mixed bag. Hoya fans haven't been get excited to "play the schools in the fight song" and Ivy fans view Georgetown on the football with about as much fervor as Georgetown basketball fans view UMBC. There's little anecdotal evidence that Ivy League games provide a bump in attendance, largely because of distance. Holy Cross can schedule four different Ivy schools whose fans are within an hour and a half from Worcester, while only one Ivy school (Penn) is within 200 miles of the Nation's Capital. Beyond the local alumni clubs, few traveled from Hanover or Ithaca for a game in Washington; in no small part, because there was never a rivalry to begin with.
The records haven't helped, either. Since 2003, Georgetown is a competitive 6-7 against Columbia and Cornell and a combined 2-24 versus everyone else, including 0-11 versus Harvard and Yale. These schools got a significant head start on the art of non-scholarship recruiting and it showed. Some of these games were great fun, and some were akin to getting one's teeth pulled.. a show of hands if you were at the Harvard game at RFK Stadium in 2017.
Collectively, Georgetown isn't the Ninth Ivy and it's unclear which of the Ancient Eight will engage in any long term series with GU when the Patriot League goes to nine league games in 2026. Georgetown doesn't share its future schedules, so it's to be determined whether the Hoyas will see the likes of Yale or the University of New Haven down the road. Let's take the opportunity to enjoy the next two weeks for what they are, and maybe get a win along the way.
3. Attendance...What Gives? Distance precludes me from figuring out what is going on with attendance, but after two games Georgetown's average has dropped a staggering 61% from the first two games last season.
OK, the first game featured an approaching thunderstorm, but Saturday's game was warm and sunny. Just 1,132 showed up, the second smallest turnout at Cooper Field and the third smallest since leaving Kehoe Field.
So what happened?
A call on social media to Hoya Blue for answers went unanswered (as did Hoya Gray, who may be no better organized at this point of the school year) but it may be as simple as a truism that seems incomprehensible in an age of constant communication: students didn't know much about it. In an age where "sleep is for the weak" and students are determined to do as much as they can, a thee hour sports break is not going to draw interest unless there is something "there". What's there?
Cooper Field is better than its spartan predecessor, sure, but that's a very low bar. There are no pre-game or in-game promotions, the pep band shows little pep, and student seating is an afterthought. No video board, no halftime events, nothing to see across the field. Other sports fare little better: on a campus of well over 5,000 resident undergraduates, volleyball averages 238 a game, women's soccer 429, and men's soccer 1,260, but almost a third of the season total comes from one game versus Duke. Its last two games drew 625 and 529, respectively. Add in Georgetown's traditionally poor job at marketing to local alumni, and it's a harbinger of what is to come for basketball season.
But how did the Hoyas draw 3,975 for Davidson last year?
(You got me.)
4. Around The PL:
Lehigh 35, Duquesne 21: With a minute to halftime, this was a tie game, but a late touchdown to close the first half and a touchdown drive on the opening possession of the third quarter led thee Engineers to the 35-21 win before 1,703 at Rooney Athletic Field in Pittsburgh. Lehigh quarterback Hayden Johnson was 17 of 24 for 335 yards and there touchdowns but it was Lehigh's defense stepped up, holding the Dukes to two third down conversions in 10 attempts.
Rhode Island 9, Holy Cross 7: With three losses by a combined seven points, the Crusaders are the best 0-3 team in the East, but one to which an at-large playoff bid will be largely out of its reach. This week, a late field goal and a defensive stop near midfield led Rhode Island to the 9-7 win before 14,127 at Fitton Field. The Crusaders crossed the URI 40 just twice all afternoon, as neither team could maintain consistency against their respective defenses. In the end, it came down to the field goal: URI hit there, HC missed one.
Bucknell 35, VMI 28: Ralph Ricker continued his aerial assault for the Bison, throwing for five touchdowns before 2,058 at Christy Mathewson Memorial Stadium. The teams combined for 767 yards in the air as Bucknell never trailed but could not shake the visiting Keydets.
Stony Brook 41, Fordham 18: The defensive woes of the Rams continued this weekend, giving up 28 unanswered points in the second half for a 41-18 loss before 5,79 at LaValle Stadium. From a 13-10 score midway in the third, the Seawolves scored on pass plays of 15, 19, and 93 yards, capped off by a 52 yard interception returned for the score.
North Carolina 41, Richmond 6: The Tar Heels got up early and cruised to the 41-6 win before 50,500 at Kenan Stadium, holding the visiting Spiders to 199 total yards. A pair of field goals in the final 90 seconds of each half amounted for the six points from UR on the afternoon.
Syracuse 66, Colgate 24: In their 69th all-time meeting, the Orangemen poured it on for the 66-24 win before 37,372 at JMA Dome. The Orangemen put up 447 yards in the air and six passing touchdowns, leading 38-3 at the half. It was the 18th consecutive win in the series for Syracuse since the 1950 season, a series last played in Hamilton in 1897, but Syracuse leads just 33-31-5 overall.
Friday, September 19:
Columbia at Lafayette, 6:00
Saturday, September 20:
Holy Cross at Yale, 12 noon
Georgetown at Brown, 12 noon
Fordham at Colgate, 1:00
VMI at Richmond, 2:00
Lehigh at Bucknell, 6:00