Five Questions: The Schedule

 In the third of our three part pre-season preview, some questions about the upcoming 2026 schedule.

1. What's The Biggest Change For The 2026 Schedule? Quality.

Georgetown's 6-6 finish in 2025, despite its usual November slide, was an accomplishment for one of the East's least productive programs. The record comes with a confluence of events which won't be easily repeated in 2026, however. Only three of its 2025 opponents had better than a .500 record last season, an unusual number in any season. 

Among the most significant changes heading into 2026 is the non-conference schedule-- Georgetown was 3-1 in games versus teams below .500, and that accounted for half its win total. Wins against Davidson (2-10), Morgan State (4-8) and Wagner (5-7)  gave Georgetown hope it could meet a .500 plateau in a down PL for 2025, but none will be around to play in 2026. The arrival of Villanova (12-3 in 2025) and William & Mary (7-5) has changed the calculus for Georgetown in the non-conference. Where once GU played five non-conference games a year against a mix of low-tier northeastern FCS programs, the Hoyas will now play 9 of 12 (or in GU's case, 9 of 11) games in-league. There is no room for error, and its two-non-conference opponents are not automatic in any scenario. Columbia (2-10) easily handled the Hoyas last season, while Cornell, a doppelganger for GU in the lower half of the Ivy standings, arrives at Cooper Field picked 5th in the Ivy standings.  

Despite Coach Sgarlata's continuing interest in playing Ivy opponents,  the Hoyas still cannot compete beyond Cornell and Columbia, which account for six of the seven Georgetown wins in 41 games against Ivy schools since 2003.

Trading wins with Davidson, Wagner, and Morgan State for likely losses to Villanova and W&M isn't a promising development for the schedule in 2026.

2. Can The Hoyas Get Off To A Good Start? It won't be easy.

Georgetown opens the season with four home games in its first five, but won't be favored in any of them. We should learn a lot more about this team in the opener versus Lafayette, which like Georgetown lost key offensive pieces to the transfer portal. If the Hoyas can play this game tough, they've got a chance to build something, but an early loss could set them down a slippery slope with Lehigh and Richmond to follow. Both Lafayette and Lehigh feature the run-heavy offenses that GU simply can't match defensively, especially with the losses of Cooper Blomstrom and Giancarlo Rufo. 

There's a big difference between approaching mid-October at 2-3 versus 0-5. The Lafayette and Columbia games, both at home, offer the younger Hoyas an opportunity, but no sure thing, against programs it has shown it can compete among.  

3. Any Hope Entering November? There's always hope, but...

Georgetown's cumulative record in November is lacking in many respects and downright deflating in others. Much of it is a function of depth--the team lacks the talent below the two-deep when called upon later in the season and they wither, as was the case in the 2025 finale versus Holy Cross. In contrast to the front-loaded home schedule, four of its final five games are on the road, including Colgate (where the Hoyas are 0-10 at Andy Kerr Stadium), the homecoming opponent to William & Mary (before an expected 13,000 at Zable Field), a Senior Day game at Fordham (GU is 1-11 all time vs. the Rams at the former Jack Coffey Field) and the beginning of a new tradition in the season finale at Villanova. 

That game may not be close, but it's a start. As noted earlier at this blog: "In the last ten years, Georgetown has lost every single season finale, and by an average of  25 points. Only two of these have been by less than three touchdowns." In fact, Georgetown is 3-21 in the PL era in its league finales. Neither of these marks seem in jeopardy - this year, anyway --  against a Villanova team which enters the season ranked #8 nationally.

The lone home game in that stretch offers some hope at some revenge after some bad feelings following the loss at Fenway Park. Holy Cross opens with a four game gauntlet to open the season and will need some inspired play through a four game run in October where it will play at William & Mary, at Harvard, and home with Bucknell and Richmond. The Nov. 7 game will be the Crusaders' final road game of the season and it's a chance for the Hoyas to steal one late.

4. Why Isn't Georgetown Playing a 12th Game? Georgetown is not a place for candor, and neither Sgarlata nor athletic director Lee Reed are the kind of men who would be excessively glib about where Georgetown sits as a marquee opponent. 

Absent a daily newspaper in Washington that could cover such things, it's complete guesswork on my part, but there are three suspects as to why Georgetown plays 11 games and its other nine PL schools play 12:

1. Expanded Schedule: The nine game PL schedule wreaked havoc with longer term plans, especially in the early weeks of the schedule and the needs of other PL schools (but not Georgetown) to maintain guarantee games. Georgetown hasn't opened the season with three consecutive PL games since 2001, another season where the league had to add a new school to the schedule matrix. It's not clear outside the coaching ranks what the relationships Georgetown has with the likes of Marist and Davidson under their new coaching regimes, but as these lower teams need to fill their schedules, the availability of Georgetown in weeks 2,4,5, and 10 didn't work.

2. Timing: A week two date (November 12) is an early bye for any team and not many schools have an open date this early, either due to guarantee games or, in the case of the Ivy League, its season has not yet started. Here's a remarkable stat: of 120 Division I-AA/FCS schools (less the Ivy League, who doesn't play in week two), 119 of the 120 are playing in week two. The only one that doesn't is... Georgetown.

Similarly, on its bye week of October 31, just seven other FCS teams have an open date. Who are they? Fordham (well, they play the Hoyas two weeks later), Jackson State, Long Island, New Hampshire, Northern Colorado, Prairie View A&M, and Valparaiso. The budget isn't set to travel to Greeley, Colorado or Jackson, Mississippi, and if GU wanted to avoid five road games in its final six, it needs a home game--and who is coming to Cooper Field? No one.

3. R&R: A thin team doesn't need an extra week on the field to get beaten up. If the bye week(s) give players time to heal up, it will be worth more than another game on the schedule.

5. What's The "Go-To" Game in 2026?  Believe it or not, it's a game where Georgetown has the least chance to win: November 21 at #8 Villanova. 

Georgetown has, as of August, a 4% chance in this one per the Massey ratings site, but playing the Wildcats for the first time on the gridiron in 76 years (yes, you read that correct) means something more.  Short of a game with UConn,  this game is likely to get more attention than Colgate or Lafayette or Columbia. 

It also might lead to some discussions about how to better promote this game when Villanova returns to Washington in 2027. Institutionally, Georgetown University seems catatonic about promoting sports that do not involve a game in spacious Capital One Arena; yet, every other PL school seems to know know how to do so. Check out this link from Villanova announcing its promotions built around home games and ask yourself two questions:1) how will this atmosphere be to welcome Georgetown in November, and 2) why, why, WHY can't Georgetown do likewise?

In the meantime, here comes Lafayette.

Five Questions: The Defense

 

In part two of our pre-season series, five questions for the defense heading into the 2026 season:

1. How Deep Is The Defensive Rebuilding Effort? Very.

Georgetown returns just one starter, senior Chigozie Oge-Evans, from the 2025 defensive line and none of its starting linebackers. While not as potentially dire as the gaps on offense, it's something the staff needs to address at the start of the season.

The loss of lineman Cooper Blomstrom (47 tackles, 7.5 sacks) to Arizona is one setback, but the loss of linebacker Giancarlo Rufo in the transfer portal to USC may be even more impactful. Rufo anchored a Georgetown linebacker corps that was vital to keeping the Hoyas close in games last season and led the defense with 103 tackles, 57 solo, and that won't be easily replaced.

Only two underclassmen were on the two-deep at season's end on the defensive line: sophomores Jack Casey (eight games, 11 tackles) and Dean Mangiocavallo (12 games, 11 tackles, 1.5 sacks), with sophomore Folu Shobowale (six games, six tackles) and senior Mohammed Sow (seven games, four tackles) likely to compete for a starting role. Junior Isaac Saffold returns from an injury in 2025, appearing in all 11 games in 2024 with 24 tackles and 1.5 sacks.  

Experience counts, however, and the Hoyas need some game experience. Five of the 16 linemen on the roster are freshmen and another four had no prior game stats in 2025. 

Ten linebackers are competing for two starting positions, with senior Cody Pham (11 games, 40 tackles), senior Raden Waweru (nine games, seven tackles) and junior Joel Mireles (eight games, 13 tackles) as major contenders. After a strong start, the Hoya defense limped to a sixth place finish in rushing defense in 2025, and open the 2026 season with opponents that represented the top two PL rushing offenses from last year. Lafayette put up 289 yards on the ground against Georgetown last season, Lehigh 193 yards.  We'll see how the new lineup will fare early in the season.

Injuries notwithstanding, this figures to be a better defense at the end of the season than at the beginning, and the development of Casey and Mangiocavallo could be key in that growth. The first three or four weeks will feel some growing pains, however.

2. How Good Is The Georgetown Secondary? As PL teams go, very.

The Hoyas return all five secondary starters from 2025, including one perhaps less expected but no less valuable: senior safety Quincy Briggs. The honorable mention All-America selection (12 games, 33 tackles; five INT) entered the transfer portal at season's end, but found no home and resurfaced on the training camp roster in early August. He will provide leadership and impact speed on the corner and allow sophomore Chris Martin (12 games, 46 tackles), sophomore Damon Narcisse (11 games, 19 tackles), senior Braylon Wise (11 games, 32 tackles, two INT) and sophomore Bryan Lloyd (12 games, 28 tackles) to excel as the deepest starting five in the Patriot League. 

There are 11 defensive backs and safeties on the pre-season roster and three upperclassmen seeking that  run in the lineup: grad student Wedner Cadet, who lost eight games in the 2025 season to injury but  had 55 tackles over his first two seasons, junior Michael Bonsu (11 games, 11 tackles) and junior transfer Benjamin Bruce, a two year preferred walk-on at Texas A&M, Seven of the 16 secondary members are freshmen and theirs is a learning year in 2026, but the key returnees should be Georgetown's best path to improving upon its ranked fifth in the PL and fifth in defensive pass efficiency. 

3. What's An Area To Build Upon? Georgetown ranked 21st nationally in time of possession, and led the Patriot League. The defense generally did a good job limiting opponents on long drives and gave its offense a net of  61 more plays over the course of the season.

4. What's The Single Greatest Area For Improvement? Depth aside, the Hoyas ranked just 108th nationally in red zone defense, allowing points in 32 of 36 defensive possessions last season. Fifteen of those 32 possessions ended in a rushing touchdown, and  this illustrates the pressure the defensive line will face early this season.

5. How Will Special Teams Fare In 2026? It's difficult to say, but likely more of the same. The Hoyas hold up well on kick and punt returns, enjoyed a sterling 17 for 17 in PAT's in conference play last season on the foot of junior Thomas Anderson, but just 6 for 13 in field goals across the season overall, with misses in five of eight attempts beyond 40 yards. Three newcomers will join the team at kicker, but this is still a role for Anderson and  punter Josh Leff until further notice.

Coming next Friday: Expectations for the 2026 season.

 

Five Questions: The Offense

Nine months removed from its best season in 15 years, the 2026 Georgetown Hoyas should have a sense of momentum about it, having won a total of 16 games since 2023, the most in a three season run in 27 years. 

It doesn't seem that  way, and with good reason: the loss of 30 players to graduation and a half-dozen to the transfer portal, the arrival of Villanova and William & Mary to the  Patriot League, and a schedule that leaves nothing to chance, all seem to be land mines on the 2026 calendar for a Georgetown team which lacks the depth of its Patriot League brethren. 

Depth, or lack of it, is most visible on an offense that finished sixth of eight teams in the PL, but lost eight starters. That depth forms the basis for five questions heading into the season:

1. How Will A New Offensive Coordinator Meet The Challenge? Jack McDaniels takes over as offensive coordinator, just the third OC in the Rob Sgarlata era and is only third OC since 2003 who takes over the job without prior experience as a coordinator.

The career outlook for McDaniels is a bright one, and his succession of the retired Rob Spence brings both a sense of innovation as well as his awareness of the Georgetown system, having served as an assistant offensive coach for three seasons from 2022 through 2024 before a season at Central Michigan. 

For his part, Spence was best suited to the pass as reflected from his days working as the OC at Clemson under Terry Bowden from 2005-2008, but the Georgetown rushing game in 2025 exceeded expectations and allowed the Hoyas to remain in contention, at least until the all too familiar end-of-season slump sent their 5-3 midseason record into a tailspin. Still, the Hoyas led all PL teams in time of possession, and that may be a difficult number to repeat given the new names (and new games) which await. 

McDaniels is well suited to the two ingredients most needed for an OC this season: adjust and adapt. Some former OC's were slow in adjustments (Elliot Uzelac, for those that remember, or Jim Miceli, another) and that can only come with experience. The longer term changes, or adapting to the new PL, is a task he will address, and ride with it. Unlike seasons where Georgetown started off strong against the likes of a Davidson, Wagner, or Marist and then struggled to the finish, the Hoyas figure to be down early, with Lafayette, Lehigh, and Richmond forming the first three weeks of competition-- three teams that defeated the Hoyas last season. Adapting will be critical as the Hoyas face a grim October and November where four of its final five will be on the road, and provide the means to end the season with more than they entered with.

The first two games should provide a window into McDaniels' strategy for the season to come.

2. How Inexperienced Is The Offensive Line? Very.

Mosiah Talanoa returns for his fourth season having played in all 12 games last season. The remainder of the line must be rebuilt, having lost graduating seniors Trevor Swan, Josh Sauickie, Losini Maka, and Kaysen Mahuka-Kaawa. Even that experience wasn't enough to keep the Hoyas' quarterbacks safe (Georgetown was last in the PL in yardage lost to sacks, with 30 sacks and 201 yards lost over seven games), so McDaniels must seek to build a line over the next few weeks.

Only one returnee, second string guard Tyler Barrett, played in more than three games last year, so it's a group effort seeking to win the job. An army moves on its stomach, an offense moves on its line and this figures to be a group with a lot of changes early in the season. Juniors Rylan Filipe and Case Pickelman, and sophomore William Evans finished the season in the two-deep but played relatively little behind the nearly all-senior line in 2025. Their ability to come together as a team against veteran defensive outfits at Lafayette and Lehigh will be evident at the start, and with 19 offensive lineman on the roster, there's a lot of competition that won't necessarily end in late August.

3. Who Leads As Quarterback? Going back the last 15 years or so, Georgetown has followed a tried and true approach: it names a starting quarterback and unless injuries get in the way, more often than not it runs that quarterback to the end of the season. There have been exceptions (Clay Norris was benched for Gunther Johnson in 2017, for one) but these are outliers. 

The portal departures of Syracuse-bound Danny Lauter and Prairie View A&M newcomer Dez Thomas leave Georgetown without an true incumbent QB since Norris was named to the starting lineup in 2016.  Just two backups have any prior experience, and both on a very limited basis: senior Jacob Holtzschlag passed for 337 yards as a backup to Lauter as a sophomore in 2024 but no time at QB a year later. Junior Jack Johnson passed for 152 yards over the final four games of 2025. As with many of their predecessors, Georgetown has long favored drop-back passers and without a strong offensive line to protect them, that's a warning for both men.

Sophomore Aiden Krause has not cracked the lineup and 2026 may be his make or break year, with freshman Gavin Beard looking to move into contention. Beard threw for 2,629 yards, 36 touchdowns, and only five interceptions in 2024, and led Ft. Worth All Saints to an undefeared 14-0 record in 2025.

The final decision, though, rests on what kind of offense McDaniels aims to execute, and which man fits the bill. It's possible that as many as three of these QB's will rotate through the lineup in 2026, but it's dependent on how quickly the offense comes together. Georgetown last played three quarterbacks in 2017, losing 10 straight to end the season, so stability is vital.

4. Is There A Running Game? Georgetown has never been much of a running team, but Savion Hart's 852 yards in 2025 was sixth best for a runner in school history, and his 10 rushing touchdowns was fifth best all-time for a Georgetown back. Thanks to the portal, Hart will play at Georgia State this fall, but Georgetown does have a number of options to build back in 2026.

Junior Jayden Sumpter finished second on the team in rushing last fall with 352 yards, with a season's best 65 yards versus Morgan State. If Georgetown runs a one-back set, he figures to get his share of carries, along with returning senior Bryce Cox, who was injured mid-season but led the Hoyas in rushing in 2024.  Senior Udechukwu Enyerlbe saw action in 10 games in backup roles last season and could be a wide option if the play calls favor it. Junior transfer Clay Ash was well regarded for his efforts as a two year walk-on at West Virginia and rushed for over 2,000 yards as a senior in high school, so the potential is there at Georgetown.

Contrary to what you see in the Big 10 and SEC, the Patriot League still values the run. The Hoyas' first two opponents of 2026 each averaged more than 200 yards per game on the ground and ranked among the top 15 teams nationally in the category. Villanova (175.4 yards/game) and William & Mary (152.2 ypg) will also challenge on the ground this season, and it's dependent on the Hoyas to establish a ground game to prevent defenses from sitting back and daring a pair of inexperienced QB's in the passing game.  Rushing drives time of possession, where Georgetown's average of 31:21 was 21st best nationally in 2025.

If each can stay healthy, Cox and Ash form a interesting pair of options for the Hoyas in ground sets.

5. Who Is the Next Impact Receiver?  Since 2021, two men have owned the Georgetown receiver stats: Joshua Tomas (2021-2022) and Jimmy Kibble (2023-2025). Kibble's graduation opens up opportunities for two returnees to take over the mantle.

Senior Hassan Mahasin was second to Kibble in receiving yards in his first season at Georgetown, with 295 yards receiving and two touchdowns in a 2025 season dominated by Kibble. Mahasin took over the role that senior Nicholas Dunneman held in 2024, where he was third to Kibble with 447 yards and four touchdowns, but was limited by injuries in 2025. Beyond Mahasin, Dunneman,  and TE Isaiah Grimes (22-195-3 TD), no returning receiver had more than four catches all last season.

Mahasin and Dunneman are similarly sized at around 5-11 and played complementary roles over the past two seasons. The WR group for 2026 is very inexperienced and the Hoyas need a third option to provide options, but will rely on these two to carry the passing game. Injuries to one or both could be more than the Hoyas can absorb, however. In a preseason of question marks on offense, Georgetown needs a go-to receiver early and often this season, and one of these two must step forward.

Five questions, and no easy answers for a new coordinator.

Coming next Friday: five questions for the defense.