Week 6 Thoughts

So, where is Georgetown at the halfway point of the 2012 season? A really, really good defense and a really, really ineffective offense.

Courtesy of the Patriot League statistics page, here's where the Hoyas rank in the PL among major statistical categories:

SCORING OFFENSE		G	TD	FG	XPT	2XP	DXP	Saf	Points	Avg/G
1	Fordham	6	31	9	29	2	0	1	248	41.3
2	Lehigh	4	17	0	15	1	0	0	119	29.8
3	Lafayette	5	18	3	15	1	0	1	136	27.2
4	Bucknell	5	19	2	13	1	0	0	135	27
5	Colgate	5	11	8	9	0	0	1	101	20.2
6	Holy Cross	6	14	6	9	0	0	1	113	18.8
7	Georgetown	6	7	5	7	0	0	0	64	10.7
SCORING DEFENSE		G	TD	FG	XPT	2XP	DXP	Saf	Points	Avg/G
1	Colgate	5	10	6	7	1	0	0	87	17.4
2	Georgetown	6	13	5	12	0	0	1	107	17.8
3	Bucknell	5	13	3	12	0	0	0	99	19.8
4	Fordham	6	16	4	11	1	0	0	121	20.2
5	Holy Cross	6	21	3	18	0	0	0	153	25.5
6	Lafayette	5	15	7	13	1	1	0	128	25.6
7	Lehigh	4	21	4	16	2	0	0	158	39.5
TOTAL OFFENSE		G	Rush	Pass	Plays	Yards	Avg/P	TD	Avg/G
1	Fordham	6	1144	1826	454	2970	6.5	30	495
2	Lehigh	4	836	897	303	1733	5.7	16	433.2
3	Bucknell	5	808	1158	319	1966	6.2	18	393.2
4	Holy Cross	6	895	1334	422	2229	5.3	14	371.5
5	Lafayette	5	823	939	350	1762	5	15	352.4
6	Colgate	5	1135	585	322	1720	5.3	10	344
7	Georgetown	6	572	1016	392	1588	4.1	6	264.7
TOTAL DEFENSE		G	Rush	Pass	Plays	Yards	Avg/P	TD	Avg/G
1	Bucknell	5	579	908	319	1487	4.7	13	297.4
2	Fordham	6	869	964	405	1833	4.5	15	305.5
3	Colgate	5	767	884	333	1651	5	10	330.2
4	Lafayette	5	815	857	339	1672	4.9	15	334.4
5	Georgetown	6	1228	945	397	2173	5.5	11	362.2
6	Holy Cross	6	1173	1209	420	2382	5.7	20	397
7	Lehigh	4	995	1452	315	2447	7.8	21	611.8
RUSHING OFFENSE		G	Att	Yards	Avg.	TD	Yards/G
1	Colgate	5	220	1135	5.2	8	227
2	Lehigh	4	172	836	4.9	8	209
3	Fordham	6	224	1144	5.1	14	190.7
4	Lafayette	5	192	823	4.3	6	164.6
5	Bucknell	5	169	808	4.8	8	161.6
6	Holy Cross	6	215	895	4.2	7	149.2
7	Georgetown	6	179	572	3.2	3	95.3
RUSHING DEFENSE		G	Att	Yards	Avg.	TD	Yards/G
1	Bucknell	5	182	579	3.2	5	115.8
2	Fordham	6	232	869	3.7	6	144.8
3	Colgate	5	180	767	4.3	4	153.4
4	Lafayette	5	198	815	4.1	7	163
5	Holy Cross	6	250	1173	4.7	9	195.5
6	Georgetown	6	249	1228	4.9	8	204.7
7	Lehigh	4	155	995	6.4	9	248.8
PASS OFFENSE		G	Comp	Att	Int	Pct.	Yards	Avg.	TD	Avg/G
1	Fordham	6	142	230	5	61.7	1826	7.9	16	304.3
2	Bucknell	5	80	150	6	53.3	1158	7.7	10	231.6
3	Lehigh	4	75	131	4	57.3	897	6.8	8	224.2
4	Holy Cross	6	119	207	6	57.5	1334	6.4	7	222.3
5	Lafayette	5	92	158	7	58.2	939	5.9	9	187.8
6	Georgetown	6	109	213	2	51.2	1016	4.8	3	169.3
7	Colgate	5	59	102	2	57.8	585	5.7	2	117
PASS DEFENSE		G	Comp	Att	Int	Pct.	Yards	Avg.	TD	Avg/G
1	Georgetown	6	85	148	8	57.4	945	6.4	3	157.5
2	Fordham	6	90	173	5	52	964	5.6	9	160.7
3	Lafayette	5	68	141	3	48.2	857	6.1	8	171.4
4	Colgate	5	96	153	6	62.7	884	5.8	6	176.8
5	Bucknell	5	79	137	5	57.7	908	6.6	8	181.6
6	Holy Cross	6	113	170	4	66.5	1209	7.1	11	201.5
7	Lehigh	4	110	160	4	68.8	1452	9.1	12	363
PASS EFFICIENCY		G	Comp	Att	Int	Pct.	Yards	TD	Effic.
1	Fordham	6	142	230	5	61.7	1826	16	147
2	Bucknell	5	80	150	6	53.3	1158	10	132.2
3	Lehigh	4	75	131	4	57.3	897	8	128.8
4	Lafayette	5	92	158	7	58.2	939	9	118.1
5	Holy Cross	6	119	207	6	57.5	1334	7	117
6	Colgate	5	59	102	2	57.8	585	2	108.6
7	Georgetown	6	109	213	2	51.2	1016	3	94
PASS DEFENSE EFFIC.		G	Comp	Att	Int	Pct.	Yards	TD	Effic.
1	Georgetown	6	85	148	8	57.4	945	3	106.9
2	Fordham	6	90	173	5	52	964	9	110.2
3	Lafayette	5	68	141	3	48.2	857	8	113.8
4	Colgate	5	96	153	6	62.7	884	6	116.4
5	Bucknell	5	79	137	5	57.7	908	8	125.3
6	Holy Cross	6	113	170	4	66.5	1209	11	142.9
7	Lehigh	4	110	160	4	68.8	1452	12	164.7
KICKOFF RETURNS		G	No.	Yards	TD	Avg.
1	Lafayette	5	24	552	1	23
2	Colgate	5	13	264	0	20.3
3	Holy Cross	6	20	392	0	19.6
4	Georgetown	6	15	291	0	19.4
5	Fordham	6	21	330	0	15.7
6	Bucknell	5	9	140	0	15.6
7	Lehigh	4	22	324	0	14.7
PUNT RETURN AVG		G	No.	Yards	TD	Avg.
1	Lafayette	5	7	122	0	17.4
2	Holy Cross	6	5	66	0	13.2
3	Bucknell	5	10	116	1	11.6
4	Colgate	5	5	55	1	11
5	Fordham	6	14	148	0	10.6
6	Lehigh	4	5	50	0	10
7	Georgetown	6	6	14	0	2.3
INTERCEPTIONS		G	No.	Yards	TD	Avg.
1	Georgetown	6	8	122	1	15.2
2	Colgate	5	6	115	0	19.2
3	Bucknell	5	5	91	0	18.2
4	Fordham	6	5	79	0	15.8
5	Lehigh	4	4	97	1	24.2
6	Holy Cross	6	4	52	0	13
7	Lafayette	5	3	73	2	24.3
PUNTING		G	No.	Yards	Avg/P	Ret.	Avg.	TB	Net/P
1	Lehigh	4	19	795	41.8	8	0.4	2	39.3
2	Fordham	6	26	1051	40.4	93	3.6	1	36.1
3	Colgate	5	19	737	38.8	37	1.9	1	35.8
4	Lafayette	5	34	1342	39.5	123	3.6	2	34.7
5	Holy Cross	6	21	813	38.7	70	3.3	2	33.5
6	Bucknell	5	23	771	33.5	62	2.7	0	30.8
7	Georgetown	6	39	1591	40.8	276	7.1	6	30.6
KICKOFF COVERAGE		G	No.	Yards	Avg.	Return	TB	Net Avg.
1	Bucknell	5	25	1501	60	365	4	41.4
2	Holy Cross	6	24	1341	55.9	313	2	40.8
3	Lafayette	5	25	1375	55	353	1	39.9
4	Lehigh	4	21	1219	58	284	4	39.8
5	Fordham	6	45	2622	58.3	788	5	38
6	Colgate	5	24	1371	57.1	387	3	37.9
7	Georgetown	6	18	1056	58.7	307	3	37.4
SACKS BY		G	No.	Yards
1	Fordham	6	18	112
2	Bucknell	5	15	107
3	Georgetown	6	13	82
4	Lafayette	5	11	80
5	Holy Cross	6	9	47
6	Colgate	5	6	51
7	Lehigh	4	4	38
SACKS AGAINST		G	No.	Yards
1	Colgate	5	8	59
	Lehigh	4	8	70
	Holy Cross	6	8	51
4	Bucknell	5	11	83
5	Georgetown	6	13	119
6	Fordham	6	16	105
7	Lafayette	5	19	109
FIRST DOWNS		G	Rush	Pass	Pen	Total	Avg/G
1	Fordham	6	63	74	10	147	24.5
2	Holy Cross	6	53	60	9	122	20.3
3	Georgetown	6	35	54	13	102	17
4	Lehigh	4	46	45	10	101	25.2
5	Bucknell	5	43	50	5	98	19.6
6	Lafayette	5	41	43	8	92	18.4
	Colgate	5	62	28	2	92	18.4
OPPONENT 1ST DOWNS		G	Rush	Pass	Pen	Total	Avg/G
1	Lafayette	5	41	33	8	82	16.4
2	Bucknell	5	34	40	10	84	16.8
3	Fordham	6	43	45	11	99	16.5
4	Colgate	5	47	44	10	101	20.2
5	Georgetown	6	65	41	5	111	18.5
6	Lehigh	4	47	62	10	119	29.8
7	Holy Cross	6	74	57	3	134	22.3
3RD-DOWN CONVERSIONS		G	Conv.	Att.	Pct.
1	Holy Cross	6	46	92	50
2	Lehigh	4	28	61	45.9
3	Colgate	5	29	71	40.8
4	Fordham	6	33	81	40.7
5	Bucknell	5	20	58	34.5
6	Georgetown	6	25	85	29.4
7	Lafayette	5	20	75	26.7
OPP 3RD-DN CONVERT		G	Conv.	Att.	Pct.
1	Lafayette	5	15	71	21.1
2	Fordham	6	32	94	34
3	Georgetown	6	31	82	37.8
4	Colgate	5	25	65	38.5
5	Bucknell	5	32	78	41
6	Holy Cross	6	45	88	51.1
7	Lehigh	4	31	56	55.4
4TH-DOWN CONVERSIONS		G	Conv.	Att.	Pct.
1	Colgate	5	8	11	72.7
2	Lehigh	4	5	7	71.4
3	Lafayette	5	9	13	69.2
	Holy Cross	6	9	13	69.2
5	Fordham	6	5	8	62.5
6	Bucknell	5	2	5	40
7	Georgetown	6	4	13	30.8
OPP 4TH-DN CONVERT		G	Conv.	Att.	Pct.
1	Georgetown	6	4	12	33.3
2	Lafayette	5	2	4	50
3	Fordham	6	7	13	53.8
4	Colgate	5	7	11	63.6
5	Holy Cross	6	9	13	69.2
6	Bucknell	5	5	7	71.4
7	Lehigh	4	2	2	100
PENALTIES		G	No.	Yards	Avg/G
1	Holy Cross	6	28	243	40.5
2	Georgetown	6	33	261	43.5
3	Lafayette	5	36	266	53.2
4	Lehigh	4	22	216	54
5	Colgate	5	27	306	61.2
6	Bucknell	5	34	339	67.8
7	Fordham	6	48	503	83.8
OPPONENT PENALTIES		G	No.	Yards	Avg/G
1	Fordham	6	47	445	74.2
2	Lehigh	4	31	282	70.5
3	Georgetown	6	46	422	70.3
4	Bucknell	5	32	279	55.8
5	Holy Cross	6	35	321	53.5
6	Lafayette	5	25	250	50
7	Colgate	5	24	180	36
TIME OF POSSESSION		G	Poss. Time	Avg/G
1	Lehigh	4	127:20:00	31:50:00
2	Lafayette	5	155:17:00	31:03:00
3	Colgate	5	154:41:00	30:56:00
4	Fordham	6	184:38:00	30:46:00
5	Bucknell	5	148:16:00	29:39:00
6	Georgetown	6	174:09:00	29:01:00
7	Holy Cross	6	165:38:00	27:36:00
			Gained			Lost
TURNOVER MARGIN		G	Fumb	Int	Total	Fumb	Int	Total	Margin	Per/G
1	Georgetown	6	4	8	12	3	2	5	7	1.17
2	Colgate	5	1	6	7	2	2	4	3	0.6
3	Fordham	6	5	5	10	2	5	7	3	0.5
4	Lehigh	4	2	4	6	1	4	5	1	0.25
5	Bucknell	5	1	5	6	1	6	7	-1	-0.2
6	Lafayette	5	2	3	5	2	7	9	-4	-0.8
7	Holy Cross	6	2	4	6	6	6	12	-6	-1

Role Models

Thirty years ago, there were few basketball programs less heralded than the flagship school of the Nutmeg State, better known as the University of Connecticut. The Huskies were a perpetual also-ran in the big East, hardly the match of  Georgetown and Syracuse, Villanova and St. John's, Boston College and Pitt.  When Northeastern head coach Jim Calhoun succeeded Dom Perno in 1986, there were rumblings that maybe this Yankee Conference school wasn't cut out for a national stage.

The new coach quickly adopted an aspirant program for his Huskies: Georgetown. He would tell recruits  they would be playing Georgetown every year. Soon, he was beating Georgetown, and every other program that got in his way, from one of the least likely  sites to grow a national program: the rolling farmland of Storrs, CT.

Jim Calhoun wasn't trying to be Georgetown, he gave his Huskies something to aspire to. Remember that in the first eight seasons of the Big East Tournament,  UConn was a combined 0-8. You have to start somewhere.

And when it comes to college football, in from one of the least likely sites to grow a national program, you need an aspirant program. For Georgetown, it's isn't Fordham or Holy Cross or Lafayette. It's the school they meet Saturday, Harvard.

Rob Sgarlata isn't trying for Georgetown to be Harvard, because it's not happening. Harvard has a $35 million endowment--the interest alone would approach the top 40 of all American university endowments.  But he doesn't have to, either.

Teams aren't judged by endowments, but by results. With a program budget of $2.5 million, among the bottom 30 in all of Division I, and a restrictive academic admissions index second to none, coach Tim Murphy has led the Crimson to a 12 year record of 106-25 (.890). Among Division I schools, only Boise State, Oklahoma and Ohio State can claim as much. Harvard was won seven or more games across a ten game season nine straight years, and has lost just seven non-conference games in the last 11 years.

What is the Harvard secret, and how can Georgetown learn from it?

First, great programs have no secrets. Any coach will tell you that Harvard has a niche in college football and makes the most of it.

"Everybody thinks of recruiting as someone has to do a great marketing job," Murphy said. "But at the end of the day what recruiting is really about is evaluations. I think we've done an outstanding job of really evaluating the character of people."

"One thing is we don't change our systems. I may hire a new defensive coordinator, new offensive coordinator, new strength coach, but we keep our systems the same. It's a lot easier to teach our system to one person than to reteach 55 people or 100 people or whatever it may be."

Harvard's secret, if there is one is simple: success as constancy to purpose.

Harvard doesn't have a down year because its message is simple, constant, and ultimately  persuasive: playing football in Cambridge is not only an opportunity to compete and  excel on the field, but to do so within an extraordinary academic environment. Four years of football at Harvard is not the end of one's career, it is the crucible to build a lifetime of personal and professional opportunities.

And while Harvard could give Boston College or Army a better game than some would suspect, it doesn't need to win recruiting battles with LSU or Alabama to be relevant.  When it comes to the Ivy recruiting pool, Tim Murphy can make a compelling case to any Ivy recruit, and the results show it. When it comes down to Harvard or Cornell, Harvard wins. Harvard over Columbia, done. Brown, Dartmouth, Penn, and yes, more often than not, Harvard over Yale and Princeton, too. It's not for everyone, of course, but it doesn't have to be, and maybe that's the point.

Rob Sgarlata is trying to build a similar message at Georgetown, and it bears repeating: playing football at Georgetown  is not only an opportunity to compete and excel on the football field, but to do so within an extraordinary academic environment. Four years of football builds a lifetime of opportunities. All things being equal, when it comes down to studying at Georgetown or Lehigh, Georgetown should win. Georgetown over Lafayette.  Georgetown over Bucknell and Holy Cross.  Fordham and Colgate, too.

All things are not equal.

When it comes down to studying at Georgetown or Lehigh and Lehigh can offer a full ride, Lehigh wins.  Same for most Patriot League schools. For low-need kids, a full ride always beats a full house, and the results on the field reflect this. To some parents, ninety kids every year are going to get a full ride to a PL school, and #91 is available for Georgetown.

By contrast, Harvard doesn't suffer this fate because of a admissions policy developed among the Ivy schools which is paved with good intentions but which Harvard can exert its financial will over every other school in the league.

As stated on the Harvard admissions page,

"Our generous financial aid program—bolstered by the Harvard Financial Aid Initiative, which seeks to increase low- and middle-income students’ awareness of Harvard’s affordability—aims to make Harvard accessible to any student who is admitted.

"20% of our parents have total incomes less than $65,000 and are not expected to contribute." reads Harvard's admssions site. "Families with incomes between $65,000 and $150,000 will contribute from 0-10% of their income, and those with incomes above $150,000 will be asked to pay proportionately more than 10%, based on their individual circumstances. Families at all income levels who have significant assets will continue to pay more than those in less fortunate circumstances. Home equity and retirement assets are not considered in our assessment of financial need."

Try matching that.  Or maybe Georgetown should.

The University doesn't have the wherewithal to compete for every student on such a generous platform, but what about for football?  Could Georgetown engage in a more aggressive financial aid for the 15 or 20 kids a year who aren't getting a football scholarship, but could otherwise consider Georgetown if the aid was right?

Let's take a look at the criteria above.

Harvard's "net price calculator" on its web site returns a cost of $0 for an average family earning $64,000 a year. Georgetown's net price calculator (and again, these are web tools that are not specific to every family's needs), returns a self-help family bill of a little more than $10,000 for that same student. When Harvard's numbers for  a family approaching a household income of $100,000, it's about $10,000. For Georgetown, about 20,000.  At $175K, it's a little more than $17,000 for a year at Harvard, and that's remarkable. At Georgetown, a need candidate is owing about $27,000.

The ability of Georgetown to float an extra $10,000 of need to as many as 1500 students is not insignificant: that's over $15 million a year. An extra $10,000 in need in football for 25 recruits is about $250,000, or about what the Gridiron Club raises each year.

Coach Sgarlata isn't going to win the recruit who wants to sit on the scout team at Notre Dame.  A chance to be a preferred walk on at Texas or Florida still might be preferable to need based aid in Washington. And, in the financial times we live in, maybe a full ride at Bucknell really is good enough for some kids. But if Sgarlata can walk into a recruit's home, in the same house that hosted a coach from Dartmouth or Cornell or Brown, and can say that Georgetown can match the same need package that these schools do, it opens doors. Lots of them.

Georgetown doesn't need 60 scholarships to be a winner and it's no guarantee, of course. . But if it wants to win at this competitive level, it needs something. if Georgetown wants to compete and win recruits with Fordham or Colgate, it had better offer a comparable package. If its aims are more along the teams in its fight song, it need to make a statement that it does more than merely meet demonstrated need.

The Crimson lines provide a case study in this approach. And when Georgetown walks off the field after a hard fought game, maybe we should say, "there's a program we can be someday."

There's a way, of course. Next, the will to do so.

Week 5 Thoughts

Some thoughts following Colgate's 19-0 win over Georgetown Saturday:

1. Great Is The Enemy Of Good: There are many reasons to be disappointed about Saturday's outcome, and I suspect there are more of these ahead of the Hoyas this season. But let's put this team into some perspective: it is thin in depth, it is running a new offense, replacing many of its skill positions, and has an undeserved reputation as a  place where kids that couldn't get a scholarship ended up at.

Georgetown can't judge the 2014 team against the mirror of  Colgate, much less Fordham. There is no Jake Melville or Michael Nebrich on the Hoya sidelines,  even if the latter went to high school less than a half hour from the Hilltop. (Painful lesson to new fans: if you're local to Georgetown, you don't go there.) We have to view this team as a longer term rebuilding effort, one made difficult by the Patriot League's march to become CAA Lite, but not insurmountable.  

Playing 60 minutes of football, the kind of well prepared, well coached, and well executed effort that led the Hoyas over Brown, can and will pay dividends down the road, even if the road takes a few unforeseen turns.

"We had 12 possessions in the game.  In 11 of these drives we had an unforced error.," wrote coach Sgarlata in his weekly e-mail to the Gridiron Club. Did those 11 unforced errors cost the Hoyas the game? In its entirety, probably not, but if 11 unforced errors can become eight, six or four, suddenly this is a more competitive team in the Colgate game, in the Lehigh game, in the Fordham, game, and in the recruiting game.

Georgetown won't go undefeated the rest of the years, but if they can become the team that doesn't beat itself, it can hold its head high at any stadium in the league.

2. TV Coverage: When word that something called the American Sports Network was going to broadcast select games this season, I was a little skeptical, along the lines of that ill-fated FiOS contract that is still the stuff of derision in Lafayette College circles. (A long story for another time.)

Skepticism no more--the effort in Saturday's game was first rate, and the opportunity to watch it on TV and not a PC was a decided step up for fans nationwide who don't have the luxury of getting up a couple hours early and driving to Hamilton. Credit to the production team and to the assistance at Colgate to give Patriot league football some national attention.

3. A Word From Our Sponsor: The successful broadcast of the game on ASN does not excuse, however, the line crossed by analyst Ross Tucker.

Tucker, a former Princeton lineman who played parts of seven pro seasons across five different teams, is listed on his web site as a "Princeton All-American, NFL offensive lineman,  media personality, motivational speaker, and entrepreneur." (All-American really means academic All-American, but I digress.)

Amidst his various gigs for ASN, NBC Sports Network , YES, the Sporting News, and Sirius XM, Tucker owns a high school recruiting service called Go Big Recruiting.

"Hundreds of college coaching staffs specifically mention Go Big Recruiting as a preferred method of receiving profiles and videos," reads its web site. "Go Big was founded by a former All-Ivy player at Princeton University and 7-year NFL veteran [Ross Tucker], and a serial entrepreneur with online video expertise."

That's fine, I'd guess, though if Brent Musburger was running his own recruiting service while announcing football games, someone might be asking some questions.

The problem is not that Tucker has this job, but during Saturday's game he mentioned his work with Go Big not once, not twice, but three times in the broadcast. That's not an aside, that's unpaid advertising.

Tucker specifically mentioned Georgetown recruits as having used his service, and a web site called Recruiting 101 goes so far as to claim that "Syracuse, Princeton, Baylor and Georgetown are just some of the universities that have exclusively mentioned Go Big Recruiting.com in their mailings to recruits as the online way to submit game film to their university."

Lots of television analysts have off-season jobs. When he's not trying on headgear for College Gameday, ESPN's Lee Corso was a sales rep for a pencil manufacturer. Aside from a pencil in his hand during the broadcasts, nothing is said about it. Jay Bilas is an attorney when basketball doesn't get in the way, but he's not offering a 1-800 number during time outs. The always entertaining Bill Raftery owns something called "W.J. Raftery Associates", an event marketing firm. He doesn't talk up a side business during a broadcast.

And neither should Ross Tucker.

4. Goin' South: We'll discuss this on HoyaSaxa.com later this week, but Harvard's trip to Georgetown is a bit of a rarity in the long tradition of Crimson football.

Harvard has played a total of 1,274 intercollegiate games across its august history, and just 12 of them...twelve...were played outside of the Ivy league footprint, roughly from Pennsylvania North to New Hampshire. Of these, just four were played south of the Mason-Dixon line since 1945

November 11, 1947 at Virginia

November 7, 1981: at William & Mary

October 4, 1986: at William & Mary

September 25, 1993: at William & Mary

Other true road games for the Cantabs included the 1920 Rose Bowl versus Oregon, a pair of games with Michigan prior to 1942, an ancient series with Navy, and a 2013 trip to San Diego, but that's it.

So, in addition to being the last team left in the Georgetown fight song yet to play  the Hoyas, Harvard is making some history in sending the Crimson southbound this weekend.

5. Still Counting: Tuesday marked day 3,300 of the "temporary" suspension of construction at unnamed Multi-Sport Field.

No rant today, just a quote: "Some have forgotten, others will remind them."

Week 4 Thoughts

Some thoughts following Georgetown's  17-3 win over Brown Saturday:

1. Good Timing: One could not have asked for a better afternoon in September for four generations of alumni to return and celebrate fifty years of modern Georgetown football. The tailgate, the halftime presentation, the awards dinner, and yes, the game itself, were  shining examples of what Alumni Association Executive Director Bill Reynolds (C'79) would call "the best of Georgetown".

It was also a great opportunity for older alumni to meet head coach Rob Sgarlata,. Granted, he's been a part of the program for nearly half of the modern era, but getting visibility to an older cohort of alumni, the alumni that can exercise powers of persuasion and financial wherewithal was vital. Sgarlata is not Bob Benson, nor is he Kevin Kelly.  He's a different man, one whose sincerity and focus on the well being of the students under his care is heartfelt and deeply rooted. Coaching is in his roots, and he takes the responsibility very seriously.

Amidst all the discussions, talk about scholarships was largely muted. Saturday's game and dinner was more about the past than the future. There may come a time to rally the alumni, but in the end it's the university that has to figure out what it wants out of its alumni and its program. Like then unfinished field that debuted nine years ago this past weekend, it's not clear if Georgetown understands the road it needs to be on. As a former Providence Journal writer once wrote about Georgetown basketball in the 1960's,  the school wanted to have a good basketball team but had no sense in how to go about doing it.

Make no mistake, Georgetown wants a winning football team. How it goes about doing that seems a arduous and unnecessarily elongated task. If Sir Winston Churchill were around, he might say that "I cannot forecast to you the actions of Georgetown. It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma; but perhaps there is a key. That key is Georgetown's institutional  interest."

Coach Sgarlata enjoined the younger alumni in Saturday's dinner to be there when the program celebrates its 100th such anniversary in 2064. Of course, waiting for the future is no way to prepare for it.

2. The Perils Of Youth: Brian had clobbered Georgetown in each of its four previous meetings, and not be insignificant numbers. In the first halves of the prior four games, the bears owned a combined score of  81-17. So what changed?

Georgetown's first half numbers were not impressive, its third down conversions were poor and Kyle Nolan was hurried more than most in the backfield. But with 11 new starters in the offensive lineup, the debut was more than the Bears expected.

Two false start penalties in the first two series were a sign of a team that, for all its practices and pre-season scrimmaging, still needed time to adjust in a real game. In most seasons, a warm-up against Georgetown would be an easy task for a veteran team, but the Bears were anything but. Mistakes and missed opportunities (two red zone possessions in the first half, netting three points) combined with four turnovers to wear down the hopes of the Bears, and youth was not served when Georgetown caught fire defensively in the second half, giving its beleaguered offense an opportunity to step up. This was 17-3, not 37-3, and the Hoyas' offense won't win many games thereafter this season on 17 points.

We'll learn a lot more  about both teams this week when Georgetown travels to Colgate and Brown hosts Harvard as part of the school's 250th anniversary weekend. If Saturday's game is any indication, Brown has a long weekend ahead of it against a Harvard starting lineup as good as any in the East.

3. One To Watch: When Matt MacZura graduated in 2014, Georgetown lost one of its most consistent punters. His successor has been a strong entrant thus far. Through just three games, Harry McCollum is averaging 43.8 yards per punt, which would put him third all time at Georgetown for punt average...as a freshman. of his 25 punts to date, six have landed inside the opponent 20 and six have been for more than 50 yards.

4. Future Schedules: This is the last game on the calendar between the schools for the foreseeable future, with brown moving to a series with neighboring Bryant and Georgetown having signed deals with Columbia, Harvard, and Princeton for the first three weeks of the Ivy season through at last 2017.

Brown represents the kind of program Georgetown could emulate, however. The Bears don't have the financial punch of most Ivy teams and no one will confuse Brown Stadium with the Yale Bowl, but the school recruits well, is fundamentally sound on and off the  field, has continuity in the coaching staff and is competitive in the standings. That's not a bad combination at this level, and one to think about as Georgetown enters an uncertain time in its journey through college football.

Week 3 Thoughts

Some thoughts following Georgetown's 27-7 win over Marist this past weekend.

1. A Win, In Perspective:  A good win at a good time for the Hoyas, but let's not add too much, or take away too little, about the opponent.

Much like Davidson a season ago, Marist is struggling through a quarterback change and is not going be very good this season. From an 8-3 season last year under senior Chucky Looney, the 2014 Red Foxes might win one game the rest of the season unless its quarterback situation significantly improves.  At 1.6 yards per carry, the Red Foxes aren't likely to go very far on the ground, and a pre-game injury to WR Armani Martin neutralized any consistent passing threat in the game.

The Hoyas won every phase of the game Saturday night: the offense did what it had to do, the defense kept Marist in check throughout, and special teams were effective with the exception of that punt return which led to Marist's only points of the game. Overall, 20 of Georgetown's 27 points were generated by turnover, which says two things: 1) the defense remains the best hope Georgetown has down the road this season, and 2) the offense remains a liability to generate points on its own.

Marist is not Brown, Colgate, or Harvard. And that should be the focus of the Hoyas over the next three weeks.

2. More To Follow: Last week's column cited the fact that Dayton could not return its game to Washington until the 2020 season because the schedules could not identify a common opening date.

Future schedules from the Ivy league appear to lock in the Hoyas to three games annually through 2018, but assuming there are no major changes in the Patriot League,  the Hoyas need five non-conference opponents a year. Davidson and Marist would seem obvious given its competitive level (and Georgetown's), but remember it was Davidson that passed on a game with the Hoyas to earn an easy win. (Since then: losses of 35-7 and 52-24.)

Scheduling is an inexact science made years in advance. Bob Benson scheduled Richmond because he expected the Hoyas to be ready for them by 2008 and they were not. Kevin Kelly scheduled the Ivies in hopes the Hoyas would be ready for them and the jury is out, especially with a Brown team that has not scored fewer than 34 points on the Hoyas in any of its last four games in the series.

As long as the Georgetown programs slogs along in the competitive mindset (or is it minefield) it's in, there will always be a home for the Marists and Davidsons of the world on the schedules. Trouble is, there aren't very many of the Marists and Davidsons of the world around anymore.

3. Media Coverage: Maybe, just maybe things will change, but the idea of paying $9.95 for a Georgetown sport on video continues to be a nonstarter for 99.9% of alumni, especially with the glut of free football elsewhere. Not to be outdone, of course, Marist also charged $9.95, an old business model that needs to be shelved. If only 1,823 showed up at Tenney Stadium, how many paid to watch it at home?

On the radio, the WKIP announcers were easy to follow and entertaining, although after 20 years, one would think the announcers knew what the word "Hoya" means. Play by play announcer Geoff Brault said he heard it was from Latin, meaning "'fight on." USC references aside, if you don't know, don't guess.

And this quote from analyst Ed Weir, after noting that Georgetown was the only nonscholarship team in the Patriot League: " They're getting some commitments going, and I hear they're talking about joining the Ivy League at some point."  There's  some news!

As for the Georgetown radio broadcast, I couldn't get it because it too was behind the paywall.  

" No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket," wrote St. Matthew. Neither should Georgetown.

4. Opening Week: Brown University arrives at Georgetown Saturday for its first game of the season, while Georgetown (and most Division I teams) are on the third week of the calendar. Why is this?

"The Ivy League begins its regular season three weeks after everyone else for the simple reason that it doesn’t see itself like everyone else," wrote Stephen Tydings  at the Daily Pennsylvanian. But Tydings makes an important point that has been picked up in the Ivy collegiate press.

"Facing teams with more game experience provides more injury risk," he wrote. " Furthermore, playing teams like Villanova that are at a higher level can present more than a reasonable challenge and simply not give you usable experience moving forward."

Tydings argues to move the Ivy calendar closer to the late August opening of other schools. "It would allow for Ivy schools to have more flexibility in their schedules, either by adding a game or — the more likely possibility — creating a bye week.", he said.

The Harvard Crimson agreed

"Starting the season a week earlier would ensure warmer weather for the first night game, capitalize on back-to-school fan enthusiasm, and allow students to go to more games before their workloads reach cruising altitude," it argued. "Shifting the schedule would also mean inserting a bye week in the middle of the slate, as most other college and professional teams do. Adding a week off would fit perfectly with the conference’s stated priority regarding safety and health."

Brown returns just four starters, and none on offense. Would an extra game help their development? We'll find out more this week.

5. Win Or Learn. I hope that Georgetown football fans (and any other readers to the blog) are paying attention to the important work head coach Rob Sgarlata has been doing in linking the educational and athletic goals of the football program, bringing a number of speakers to the team to put their four years of football into larger perspective. It's important, and it's timely.

This weekend marks the 50th anniversary of the modern era of football at Georgetown, and as any alumnus since 1964 will tell you, the time moves by all too quickly. The ability to learn from a variety of individuals and put those efforts into practice and game time situations is an added benefit that distinguishes the Georgetown program.

Since training camp, the team has heard from former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue (C'62), former Secretary of Transportation Rodney Slater, brigadier general San Nichols, and community leader (and former Georgetown defensive back Marques Lucas.

Coach Sgarlata has called it "Win or Learn":

With this firm footing, the time will surely come when Georgetown can do both with equal fervor.