Some thoughts following Lehigh's 45-14 win over Georgetown Saturday:
1. Disappointing: There wasn't much of an expectation Georgetown would be able to go toe-to-toe with Lehigh when it counted, but the performance of its offense raised more questions than it should for an opening game.
Of course, that opening game should have been Lafayette, where the Hoyas showed early promise on offense and held its own in the first half, now since negated. None of this was on display Saturday. Georgetown combined for three first downs on each of its first four drives, all ending with a punt. It crossed the 50 yard line just twice all afternoon, and held the ball for just 19:41. No defense is going to survive long versus Lehigh by being on the field for 41 minutes as a result.
Lehigh made the adjustments and Georgetown did not. Clay Ash rushed for 15 yards on the opening two series and a combined seven yards thereafter. Excepting Jack Johnson's unexpected run of 38 yards and some late carries by Bryce Cox in the final two minutes, the Hoyas had no ground game to speak of. Its inexperienced offensive line cannot open up holes for the backs and must assume a defensive position for its equally inexperienced quarterbacks.
Jacob Holtschlag and Jack Johnson completed 12 passes for just 124 yards. The Engineers held senior Hassan Mahasin in check (one catch. -1 yards) and while relative newcomers Jayvin Pyle-Thompson and Jonathan Alexander picked up some good catches, there was no real game film on them before... but there is now. With Nick Dunneman sidelined, the Hoyas just don't have many options offensively, and opponents will take advantage.
Defensively, well, Lehigh did what good teams do. It speaks for the velocity of the Engineers that Georgetown forced three red zone fumbles and still gave up 45 points. This isn't the high-octane offenses of the Pete Lembo era than once rang up 49 points on the 2002 Hoyas by halftime, but if Lehigh can address its defensive gaps they figure to be the favorite this season over a still-erratic Villanova team.
Overall, Lehigh had 11 drives in the game, Take away the three fumbles, and they were:
Touchdown
Touchdown
Touchdown
Field goal
Touchdown
Missed field goal
Touchdown
Touchdown
Such results dropped the Hoyas to 113th of 116 FCS schools in total defense and 115th or 116 in pass efficiency defense--an early sample, of course, but two areas to watch as the season progresses.
The Hoyas didn't help themselves with some inopportune penalties, but penalties didn't lose this game. The better Lehigh team won, again, and now Georgetown must adapt and adjust for the games to come.
2. Past As Prologue: The loss was Georgetown's 23rd in the past 25 meeting dating to 2001, and the 13th by three touchdowns or more, including three straight. Look no further than the offensive line.
A total of 33 different Lehigh players have received first team All-PL commendation on its offensive line; by contrast, Georgetown has not earned a single first team All-PL selection since joining the league and just nine second team selections.
Granted, the PL tends to hand out lots of first team awards to the top teams, and Lehigh has had its share in that category. But as an army marches on its stomach, and offense marches on its O-line and Georgetown's record in this category has been incomplete. It's a narrow door when a school is trying to recruit impact lineman without football scholarships, a given. Going forward, a healthy and experienced line opens opportunity for the right QB and the right backs to excel.
3. Why A Bye? How many FCS schools have a bye after one week? There's only one.
Georgetown is notoriously close-mouthed about its scheduling habits but the changes in the 2026 PL schedule to accommodate a nine game rotation turned this week into a anomaly--Georgetown is the only FCS school nationwide without a game this week. It's not known if any of the usual non-conference, non-Ivy opponents sought a game with the Hoyas but each of them was previously booked for September 12: Marist at Lafayette, Davidson hosting Division III Dickinson, Wagner and Sacred Heart picking up guarantee games at James Madison and UMass, respectively. With Georgetown as one of just six FCS schools in a FCS scholarship conference that has no guarantee game this season, filling that schedule is no easy task, especially this season, and the NC with Lafayette has reduced it to a 10 game schedule.
Bye weeks are a chance to recover from the schedule and set a course for the remaining games, and both are limited with a break so early. With Georgetown due for games over the next six Saturdays thereafter, it will be interesting to see if it produce something productive out of the early schedule mess.
And about next season's schedule? No comment, of course, but those two non-conference Ivy games, if they continue, will both be on the road and put pressure on GU to schedule a 12th game. Who and when, stay tuned.
4. Last Week's Results:
Colgate 35, Holy Cross 10. The Red Raiders are off to a good start, one which the Crusaders were unable to match before 3,059 at Andy Kerr Stadium. Colgate scored touchdowns on five of its first six possessions and never looked back. Both schools head to the Mid-American Conference for guarantee games this Saturday: Colgate at Central Michigan, Holy Cross at Miami (OH).
Connecticut 56, Lafayette 7: The Leopards' re-opener was a rough one, giving up three touchdowns in the first 11 minutes and trailing 35-0 at the half before 31,381 at Rentschler Field. The Huskies rang up 671 yards in total offense en route to their season opening win. Lafayette returns to Easton for its home opener versus Marist.
Villanova 17, Bucknell 14: An unexpectedly close game for the Wildcats, which needed a blocked field goal in the final two minutes to escape Christy Mathewson Memorial Stadium with the win. Both teams finished with 305 yards apiece, with Bucknell WR Sam Milligan catching 13 passes for 135 yards. Villanova travels to Louisville for a Friday night game, while Bucknell will be at VMI on Saturday.
William & Mary 22, Delaware State 15: Six Del State turnovers powered the Tribe to the win before 8,410 at Zable Stadium. W&M led comfortably in this game, 22-0, but survived a late fourth quarter run. A final drive by the Hornets was halted at midfield as time expired. W&M travels Saturday to Lehigh in a key early season PL matchup.
Richmond 28, Howard 21: The Spiders led 20-0 at halftime before battling past the homestanding Bison before 3,674 at Greene Stadium. Down seven in the fourth quarter, the Bison were held in each of their three drives of the quarter without crossing midfield. UR travels Friday to North Carolina State.
North Dakota State 38, Fordham 0: All gas, no brakes for the Bison, now playing in the Mountain West Conference, who shut down the Rams before 15,212 at the Fargodome. The Rams were held to 19 yards rushing and crossed midfield just twice, turning the ball over each time. Fordham returns to action Saturday with a guarantee game at Coastal Carolina.
