William & Mary's Move To The Patriot League (Part One)

 

It was not a year ago that news of the arrival of the University of Richmond to the Patriot League foretold a tectonic shift in the regional football landscape. If so, Friday's announcement of a ninth PL school is the first of two earthquakes to reshape the landscape of Eastern football.

But this took years. The move by William & Mary was, by contrast, mere weeks. What happened? And what does this mean for Georgetown?

"It was very obvious to me,” said former W&M coach Jimmye Laycock, "[that] it’s not the CAA that we used to know, and it’s not the Patriot League that we used to know.”

"Once upon a time, Patriot League members did not offer athletics-based financial aid and had little hope of competing nationally," wrote columnist David Teel. "[In 2012] the dinosaurs realized that athletic scholarships do not equate to academic decline, and their pivot to modern times enhanced Patriot League football, witness its subsequent playoff encounters with CAA programs.

"In the last 10 postseasons, Patriot teams are 5-5 versus the CAA. In 2015, Patriot champ Colgate defeated the CAA’s New Hampshire and JMU en route to the quarterfinals, and last year Lehigh rallied for a playoff victory at Richmond. This one week after the Spiders had routed W&M 27-0 to finish 8-0 in the CAA."

The word "Richmond" is at the center of this move.

In hindsight, Richmond's move to the PL was surprising but not altogether shocking. Despite its roots in the capital of the Confederacy, the school has longed looked north for students and within athletics. It left the Southern Conference in 1975 in search of a major college home and, finding none for the next decade, joined a league literally called the Yankee Conference. It joined the Atlantic 10 for basketball and most of its sports over 20 years ago, and seemed a more plausible fit for the PL's somewhat parochial view of college football at the time.

Richmond's move was years in the making. Twenty years earlier, UR alumni were in open revolt over a plan being floated to join the PL at the conclusion of the A-10's sponsorship of the conference.  "The decision came after a frantic week that began with a Richmond Times-Dispatch article that revealed that the board of trustees was considering...a move to the non-scholarship Patriot League," wrote the Richmond Collegian. "Within days, flyers had been posted, petitions had been circulated and the overwhelming opinion of the student body, alumni and supporters became apparent they wanted Richmond football in the CAA. According to a university representative cited in the Times-Dispatch article, the administration office received more communication about the proposed league change than the tuition increase."

"If the school does want to move to the Patriot League, it seems as if they are just trying to get rid of football in the long run," said Stacy Tutt, its all-conference quarterback.

Two decades later, no such opposition. Football scholarships made the PL model more palatable, as did a league wide move to FBS guarantee games (except Georgetown, of course) that was comparable to CAA football aspirations. The ongoing loss of rivalries that had dated to the Yankee Conference was no small factor: UConn, UMass, Delaware, and James Madison were gone, and the likes of Bryant, Campbell, NC A&T and Hampton were poor substitutes.

As stated above, this change took 20 years at Richmond but a matter of months or even weeks at Williamsburg. Why? An article in the Richmond Times-Dispatch offers some clues.

"I think it comes down to a couple of things for us," said W&M athletic director Brian Mann. "First is, we wanted to be connected to the University of Richmond and play them in football every year, and when we can do it the last Saturday before Thanksgiving with the hopes that that game will have some postseason implications, that’s a place where we want to be.”

Mann added the missing piece to the puzzle: by adding Richmond, the PL was, in his words,  "serious about becoming a nationally relevant football conference and building on the successes they’ve already had. And Richmond going in, without reducing anything that they were doing in football, we took notice of that. And so when the conversation started up not long ago, we had a different perspective on how the Patriot League was viewing their future.”

The Newport News Daily Press compresses the timeline even further. " As outlined by Mann, the Patriot-W&M courtship began only a few weeks ago, the process streamlined by mutual interest and a football-only focus. A quick and enthusiastic endorsement from Mike London, Laycock’s successor as head coach, made Mann’s sales pitch to other constituents even easier."

"For us it’s great because it’s the same number of conference games we’re used to playing,” Mann said, “and our (non-league) schedule is built that way for the next few years.”

In one sense, Richmond jumped into the PL pool and called over to the Tribe: "Jump in, the water's fine". This isn't the Patriot League that sneered at the playoffs, that eschewed scholarships, or would aspire to play nothing more than Ivy League teams in their off weeks. In the 2025 season, PL teams not named  Georgetown will play the likes of Air Force, Boston College, Northern Illinois, Oregon State, and Syracuse this fall, not dissimilar to Richmond playing North Carolina nor William & Mary at Virginia.  For a William and Mary program which also has games with Duke, Stanford,  and Wisconsin on its plate through 2030, this was an affirmation that a move alongside Richmond, preserving its signature rivalry, would not be in vain.

Conference moves are not easy, of course, because they affect the college as a whole, endure significant exit fees, and can be institutionally acrimonious. How did William & Mary pull it off? Someone did their homework. 

Yes, W&M is a member of the Coastal Athletic Association and has no interest, for now, in moving its teams elsewhere. The reported exit fee to leave the CAA is $1 million, a pittance compared to $30 million and 27 months advance notice for the Big East Conference and over $100 million in the power football conferences, but no small sum, either.

But CAA football isn't the CAA, at least not exactly. The CAA is a successor in interest to the conference previously sponsored by the A-10 and the former Yankee Conference and was always a separate entity, which allowed schools like Richmond, Villanova, New Hampshire, et al. to play football but not move all its sports there. A reported exit fee of just $250,000 for schools under the CAA football entity is more than manageable--a $420,000 guarantee fee for W&M's game at Virginia on September 13 covers the entire cost and then some.

What does a move offer William & Mary? Playoff opportunities, sure. Marginal savings on travel? Yes. What is really protects is 1) the Richmond rivalry and 2) a hedge against further instability in the CAA, where a house divided between the likes of Maine, New Hampshire and Rhode Island and a southern flank of Campbell, Elon, and NC A&T is increasingly unstable. 

If the proverbial ground shook the Tidewater region, rest assured it was felt in McDonough Gymnasium, too. The arrival of two very strong football programs to a league that has not changed in over 20 seasons does not go unnoticed, no less so for a Georgetown program that has long been in its own peculiar orbit for years. It's the school that aspires to be Penn State in one sport (men's basketball) but is closer to Penn in 29 others. It's the only non-scholarship football program within a Division I scholarship conference.

Some of this was tolerated to the fact that Georgetown was seen by some as an insurance policy of sorts to maintain a minimum number of PL schools for playoff consideration and that, while the Hoyas don't win very often, they play by the rules and are a nice addition to the annual schedules. But as the quotes above suggest, Richmond and William & Mary are coming to compete, and to win. It's raising the game for Holy Cross and Lehigh, Colgate and Fordham and at the very least, may be a walk-up call at Lafayette and Bucknell. How this changes Georgetown, if at all, bears watching.

More in part two of the series.

Week 9 Thoughts

 

A bye week can dull, but not the dim the opportunity lost in Georgetown's 43-6 loss to Lehigh.  It wasn't so much that they lost but how they did, and the recurring theme in the world that is Georgetown football.

Lehigh was a five point favorite entering the game, and that lasted about 15 minutes and 12 seconds. With Danny Lauter's interception on the first play of the second quarter, the progress of the 2024 season began to unravel before a crowd at Cooper Field who, if they have been to enough games, has seen this before.

One play, 7-0.

Three plays, zero yards, Georgetown punt to Lehigh. Three plays, 14-0.

Three plays, six yards, punt to Lehigh, 57 yards on second down, 21-0. 

A late field goal with 22 seconds to halftime and it's all over. Oh, there was still 30 minutes and two more interceptions to follow, but this has never been a comeback program and PL teams know it. When a Patriot League team has scored 24 points on Georgetown since 2001, their record is 85-4. When that team is not named Bucknell, it's 78-2.

As has been said for many years, the defense can't do it all. Danny Layer has thrown two or more interceptions four times this season. The run game, always a victim of underrecruiting, grinds down in November and can't threaten a defense which knows the Hoyas run short of options thereafter. Georgetown ranks last in the PL in points scored in conference games despite leading the league in first downs. When the Bucknell video announcer saw the score later that day, her remarked on ESPN+ that it seems that when the "bright lights" of PL play dawn every year, Georgetown just isn't ready. Looking in the mirror notwithstanding, that's the perception in other schools.

Two games remain on the schedule. If the Hoyas can't beat a 1-9 Fordham team, there's little chance against Holy Cross. A 6-5 mark versus 5-6 is a big deal, especially at a school which hasn't enjoyed a real football "moment"  among students or alumni in, well, when? 

Until then, it's more of the same.

A Letter To Students

 Dear Georgetown Students:

As you are no doubt aware, your University is always busy with acronyms and slogans. For every ICC, SFS, or GUASFCU out there, so too the slogans: cura personalis, interreligious understanding, community in diversity. As to the latter, I would suggest that a community is not defined simply by being diverse, however one defines it, but a true community is that where people gather and celebrate each other's accomplishments.

The next few days offer two opportunities to do just that, and it's something that has been frankly missing around the place in recent years.

Being a student in 2024 isn't what it was in your parents years, and that's not your fault. While an 18 or 19 year old of days gone by could celebrate the Hoyas winning an NCAA championship or marching en masse to Wisconsin and M when the Redskins won a Super Bowl, that's not the Georgetown you've been a part of. The COVID years and its aftermath have made large group gatherings less common, not as much for health reasons but that it isn't what people do as much now. 

If your candidate happens to win the general election next week, well, you have every right to march triumphantly to the White House as countless other eras of Hoyas have done, back when political parties respected each other and being a D or an R was simply how you voted, not your tribe. But many will keep to themselves and trade thoughts over their phones.

As this is a sports column, let me draw your attention to two upcoming activities worth your collective time and interest.

Saturday, Georgetown hosts Lehigh for a football game with some consequence. A win puts Georgetown two games from its first NCAA "tournament" appearance in football (otherwise called the playoffs) in school history, and marks its first winning season in 13 years. Yes, here are a lot of students who look down on football for not being good, when most don't know why that's the case. Without a history lesson, Georgetown University doesn't want to spend the money on football other schools do, and as such the team can struggle against schools with more resources. That doesn't make those players, your fellow students, any less committed to playing and winning--not for a scholarship or NIL money, but simply for being a team that wears the blue and gray, as students have done, more or less, for 150 years. 

Some students will tell you that football is not for "smart" schools. Ask your friends at Duke what it was like beating Clemson at home on national television. Ask your friends at Vanderbilt what it was like beating Alabama and carrying goalposts down Broadway en route to tossing them in the Cumberland River. These were not only great moments for the teams, but seminal moments for the student body, memories for a lifetime. 

No one is suggesting you to take the goalposts and deposit them in the Potomac, inasmuch as there is still one more home game. What is suggested is that you take the opportunity for you, your dorm floor, your housemates, to show up at Cooper Field at 12:30 Saturday and give them sixty minutes of support en route to a successful season against a team that has more resources than Georgetown and usually wins as a result. You can cheer, shout, sing, bang your shoes on the bleachers, do whatever, but your fellow students could use the support.

Four days later, another group of students welcomes your support as the men's and women's basketball team play in the first on-campus doubleheader in 20 years. Much has changed, unfortunately, in the intervening years, and while you are at Georgetown at the low point of college basketball on this campus, it doesn't mean you can't give these students the support needed to take the next step forward.

Yes, we get it. You won't have any memories of going to a Final Four, or that the President and Vice President shows up for a game one afternoon. Students are not going to march across downtown in the snow to defeat the #2 team in the nation. This is not the Georgetown of 10, 20, or more years ago. The steps forward begin this week, and playing on campus is a rare opportunity to skip the buses and the Ubers to soulless Capital One Arena for a walk down the hill to where basketball once meant a lot in the life of a Georgetown student. 

Support is lacking for these teams because there's a lot going on and, well, losing basketball games isn't fun. It's no fun for those that compete, either. It's no secret why a lot of names and faces from the last couple years aren't around campus anymore, but those that remain and 12 newcomers are less interested in past history and eager to begin some new history. Your support, for the men and women's, helps Georgetown begin the process of getting out of a ditch and take the steps necessary to remind people why Georgetown plays the game.

In the end, going to a game should be about fun. The world is a serious place and none moreso than Georgetown, where half the student body expects to solve the world's problems and the other half are worried they won't get the right job in New York. It won't hurt you to enjoy a sunny, 60 degree day at Cooper Field for a few hours, tell a few stories, and maybe see some really good football. Neither will these vagaries hold it against you if you put the cell phone down and see a basketball game from up close up, and leave the electoral minutiae for a couple of hours. 

Years from now, you won't remember how many hours you spend in the library or how often you checked your Instagram. Sometimes, it's as simple as remembering where you were and who you were with, and this week is a great time to do both. 

Together.

Week 8 Thoughts

 

Some thoughts following Georgetown's 21-20 win over Bucknell last week:

1. Five Plays: Yes, Georgetown-Bucknell games tend to be close outcomes (four of the last five by three points each) but this was an extremely tight game that legitimately could have gone either way, and nearly did.

The teams combined for 135 plays but five bear a second look:

Second Quarter: With 4:45 remaining and a 14-0 lead, Bucknell was on the verge of taking the game over. Following a Bucknell Punt and a 27 yard first down run by Savion Hart, the Hoyas ran Hart two carries for a combined two yards. On a third and eight at the Bucknell 40, the safe play was to have Danny Lauter scramble around for a short pass to Jimmy Kibble or Nick Dunneman, and certainly not to give it to Hart a fourth consecutive time. Surprisingly, this is what Georgetown did, and hart tore through the Bucknell line for 40 yards and the score. It awakened the Hoyas offensively and four minutes later they tied the score.

Third Quarter: With 1:16 remaining, the Bison had awoke from its third quarter slumber and drove into Georgetown territory. One a third and five from the Georgetown 46, Cooper Blomstrom broke up a pass at the Georgetown 35, and the Bison were forced to punt.  This was a drive that had points written all over it, and keeping them off the board bought the Hoyas some time.

Fourth Quarter: With 9:25 to play, Bucknell had drove to Georgetown five and a touchdown from QB Ralph Rucker had just been overturned by an offensive holding penalty. Still, the Bison had momentum, and Rucker's pass to WR Josh Gary in the end zone would have given Bucknell the lead. Gary dropped it, and the Bison had to settle for a field goal.

Fourth Quarter: 3:38 remaining: yes, the missed  Bucknell field goal was big, but perhaps an even more consequential play happened for the Hoyas on a third and two at the Georgetown 28. Fall short here, and the Bison get the ball back somewhere near midfield with three minutes (and two time outs) to get that winning score. Savion Hart rushes for two yards, and instead of kicking with 3:35 to play, the Hoyas get a first down and squeeze nearly two minutes off the clock for the Bison's last hope.

Fourth Quarter: With 24 seconds remaining, the Georgetown defense had withstood a pair of long incomplete passes, each of which could have conceivably won the game. On a  fourth and 10 inside the Georgetown 45, the defense simply did not allow Rucker to dial up a third pass play, and so saved the win.

Any of those four, any of them, go the other way, and it's a different game, and likely a loss. It's why coaches preach the need to focus on every play as the most important play of the game, because sometimes it's just that.

2. Good News On Attendance: With no fanfare, and even less promotion, home attendance through four games at Cooper Field bears some support. 

Through those four games, average home attendance is  3,262 per game. At many schools, this would be cause for widespread panic, but given the state of affairs at Georgetown, where parking is scarce, seating few, amenities lacking, and a student body that, post-COVID, doesn't experience a culture of athletic support, it's a good number; in fact, it's trending for the largest attendance since 1978, when games were held on the baseball field as Kehoe Field awaited the air rights under Yates Field House.

Two games remain, and there' s always room for more.

More on this Thursday.

3. Around The PL:

Holy Cross 34, Lafayette 28: The Crusaders have staked its claim to the driver's seat for the league's one (and likely, only) playoff berth, jumping to a  21-0 lead and fighting off two fourth quarter drives from the Leopards, the last one ending 16 yards short of the goal line. Crusader QB Joe Pesansky continues to be the most efficient signal caller in the conference: just 183 yards in the air, but eight of 12 on third down and no sacks surrendered. It's a tough loss for the defending PL champions, who are down two games to Holy Cross with three to play, traveling to Bucknell this weekend.

Merrimack 51, Colgate 17: No one saw this coming--the Warriors ran up 535  yards total offense on a Colgate team coming off its win over Georgetown. Colgate QB Jake Stearney was held to 155 passing yards and two interceptions as the Red Raiders were outscored  34-7 after halftime. The loss clinches a fifth losing season for the Red Raiders over the past six seasons.

Lehigh  33, Fordham 19: The Engineers are trending upward as they meet the Hoyas Saturday, taking a 31-3 halftime lead en route to the win. Fordham, winless at 0-8, was held to 98 yards rushing and allowed 246 while Lehigh scored on five consecutive possessions to end the first half. More on the Engineers Friday, but its rushing game was clicking Saturday. As for Fordham, they will host Colgate.

Week 7 Thoughts

 

Some thoughts following Colgate's 38-28 win over Georgetown Saturday:

1. Follow The Trend: It was disappointing, but not altogether surprising in perhaps the most one-sided rivalry in FCS.. It's not about trickery or even the Colgate "hoodoo" (that's a reference to its old rivalry with Syracuse), but a consistent theme Georgetown has faced over the years. Excepting Davidson, the Hoyas' defense can struggle with teams that run the football.

In 2024, Georgetown is 3-0 when opponents rush under 40 times a game and 0-3 when they go over 40. In the prior three seasons, it's 1-12 when teams loads up on the run like this.  For a Colgate team with mixed results in the passing game is this season, it was a smart move and one which set the course for the second half. Colgate got a lead and Georgetown had to play from behind. More often than not, that's a winning formula for the Red Raiders, and not for the Hoyas.

Apologies to those who saw the Pre-Game Report page and asked "where's Michael Brescia, the scheduled starting QB?" Brescia was apparently injured but that didn't stop the media notes from selling this start, much as Georgetown's media notes keep listing Naieem Kearney starting at running back when he hasn't played in the last two games. If he maintains the starting role, Jake Stearney will have his hands full to maintain a ground game, given that Colgate finishes the season with four road games in its next five against some solid rushing defense teams. 

Offensively, the Hoyas did not play poorly: 415 total yards, 5-11 on third down, 3-4 in the red zone. Danny Lauter's two interceptions could have been impactful had they succeeded, but neither were the cause for the loss. Simply put, very few teams can give up 24 points in a half and that's what Georgetown did. It's a cautionary note as they Bucknell, as the Bison got behind 24-0 in the first half of its game with Cornell and never contended thereafter.

First half or second half, Georgetown has traditionally allowed Colgate a lot of points. Over the past 20 seasons the Red Raiders average  32.0 points per game against the Hoyas, most of any PL opponent. This marks the fourth consecutive season GU has lost by 10 points to Colgate, but four losses nonetheless.

2. The Road Ahead: All that said, if someone told you in August (it wasn't me) that Georgetown would hit the home stretch of its schedule at 4-3 without major injuries, many fans would look upon that with no small amount of hope. And heading down the stretch, that's where the Hoyas are.

Four games remain over five weeks, there at home and one at Fordham where the Rams are enduring a winless season, though they can't be taken for granted. Five scenarios are on the table:

Win four, and Georgetown wins its first Patriot League title. Barring a crazy run by Colgate on the road, the Hoyas would own the tiebreaker on every other teams and earn a NCAA playoff invitation. Historic.

Win three, and Georgetown is in the mix for a PL co-championship. The league is unlikely to see an at-large invitation to the playoffs, but 7-4 would be an extraordinary accomplishment.

Win two, and Georgetown is out of the PL race but earns a long-awaited winning season, something it has done once in the last quarter century.

Win one, and it's another frustrating 5-6 finish.

Win none, and  that's even more frustrating.

Three opportunities at home are a rare one this late in the season. No one confuses Cooper Field with Sanford Stadium, but these are three games where the team won't be on a bus to Lewisburg, to Bethlehem, or to Worcester. 

It is, again, an opportunity. Let's start that journey on Saturday

3. Around The PL:

Lafayette 35, Sacred Heart 17: The Leopards returned to form in this non-conference game, rushing 56 times for 297 yards (after just 69 yards against Georgetown the week before) and thoroughly dominating the Pioneers. A key PL game with Holy Cross Saturday is likely to determine the front runner for the PL crown thereafter.

Harvard 35, Holy Cross 34: This one could fill up a couple of pages--with three touchdowns in the final 1:44, the Crusaders battled back from 27-14 down to tie the score with no time remaining, only to fall short on a two point conversion. Writes the Harvard Crimson of the late game heroics:

"Holy Cross refused to give up, quickly making its way down the field. As Holy Cross receiver Byron Shipman jumped up in the air and collected a throw from Pesansky in the end zone, shock initially filled the air in Harvard Stadium. However, a massive offensive pass interference call reversed the touchdown and left little opportunity for Holy Cross to tie the game. 

One play later, Pesansky threw up the ball for another Hail Mary attempt and watched as both teams juggled it. The pass was initially ruled incomplete but officials sought a replay review.

Harvard fans looked on anxiously as the decision came. The ruling on the field stood, but one second was put back on the game clock — just enough for one more Hail Mary attempt.  On his third try, Pesansky finally struck gold as the Crusaders found the end zone as the clock expired. But [Harvard] ensured that Holy Cross’ crusade ended one point short."

A mere 3-5, Holy Cross is still the team to beat in the PL, and its game Saturday will be memorable.

Yale 38, Lehigh 23: It's been a productive year for Ivy League teams versus the Patriot League, and was the case in this one, as the Bulldogs picked up two touchdowns in the final 3:07 of the first half and never looked back. Lehigh actually outgained Yale in this one but four turnovers proved monumental. At 3-3, the Engineers host Fordham this Saturday.

Cornell 34, Bucknell 21: An upset of sorts in this one, where the Bison went to backup quarterback Michael Hardyway following an injury to Ralph Rucker the week prior. Three fumbles proved Bucknell's undoing, as the Big Red led 27-7 in the second quarter and never looked back.

H. Daniel Droze Jr. (1936-2024)

(Archived from the front page, Oct. 22, 2024.)

From the Georgetown Gridiron Club account on Facebook, news of the passing of former Georgetown assistant football coach Dan Droze at the age of 88.

To Georgetown players and alumni, Droze was the defensive coach for 25 seasons from 1968 through 1992, a tenure on the Georgetown football sidelines matched by only one other man in school history, current head coach Rob Sgarlata. Droze's place in Washington sports predates Georgetown by over a decade, however.

Following the Supreme Court decision in Bolling v. Sharpe, 1954 was the last season of segregated schools in the District, which featured a "Division I" of seven all-white schools (Anacostia, Coolidge, Eastern, McKinley, Roosevelt, Western, and Wilson) and a "Division II" of the city's five black schools (Armstrong, Cardozo, Dunbar, Phelps, Spingarn). Despite the administration of all 12 schools under the Interhigh banner, games were not scheduled between the divisions until the following season.

Droze grew up in Southeast Washington and was an all-Met halfback at Anacostia HS. Anacostia won the 1954 Division I Interhigh championship, but it was what happened after the season that earned Droze a place in local sports history.

Droze was invited to a first-ever exhibition game featuring an all-Interhigh team to face St. John's, the all-white private school champion, at Griffith Stadium. With a team of 22 white players and 11 black players chosen across eight of the 12 high schools, it was the first integrated football game in DC history. Before a crowd of 8,800 at Griffith Stadium, it was Droze who threw a halfback pass late in the game to Cardozo's Dave Harris (a future football star at Kansas) for a 12-7 win. In stark contrast to the 1962 race riot at DC Stadium that ended public-private championship football games in Washington, the outcome of this game and Harris' game-winning catch did not lead to any violence at the outcome.

Following high school, Droze earned a scholarship to the University of North Carolina, playing three seasons for the Tar Heels. Following military service, he became an investment advisor in the Washington area and played semi-pro football with the Virginia Sailors, which introduced him to Georgetown coach Mike Agee and later, a fellow DC high school star who had also played in the ACC: Scott Glacken.

Droze and Glacken joined the Georgetown staff in 1968 as assistant coaches under Maurice Dubofsky, who succeded Agee when his job took him out of the area. Glacken became head coach two years later following Dubofsky's death at the age of 60. Droze's 25 years as an assistant coach was largely selfless, given that Glacken couldn't pay his assistants enough for the hours they devoted to the team. He retired after Glacken's dismissal as head coach in early 1993.

"Guys who played for Droze said he was tough, instilling them with integrity, discipline and strength," writes the Gridiron Club notice. "As a member of former head coach Scotty Glacken's staff, coach Droze worked with the defensive backfield, including all-America selections of Jim Chesley, Alex Poulos, and Jim Corcoran...Twice in those years, the Hoyas finished in the top ten of the best small college teams in the East. The 1978 team finished 7-1, the best showing by a Georgetown team since 1939-1940, and came within a single point of finishing the season undefeated and qualifying for the Div. III playoffs.

"If not for the selfless contributions of Dan Droze, Georgetown football would not have survived and prospered as it did. Rest in Peace, Coach. Hoya Saxa."

Week 6 Thoughts

 Some thoughts following Georgetown's 17-0 win over Lafayette:

1. The Power of Turnovers: Georgetown's first shutout ever against a PL opponent and its first shutout on the road since 2004 was fueled by defensive intensity and four key turnovers. 

It's been said that a turnover is a net 4 points in possible scoring and Lafayette gave up four of them with two offering serious scoring potential of its own:

1. First quarter: a pass picked off by Zeraun Daniel at the Georgetown 20;

2. Third quarter: A midfield INT from Cooper Blomstrom (with the assist from Kolubah Pewee) that set up a Georgetown touchdown;

3. Fourth quarter: an alert play from Zeraun Daniel picked off the pass in the Georgetown end zone;

4. Fourth quarter: a midfield pick that ended Lafayette's hopes to get this closer.

If Lafayette gets those two scores instead, a 17-14 score in the fourth quarter is a completely different ball game. 

While the Lafayette TV announcers were a little down on QB Dean Dinobile for the throws, only the last one was particularly errant--the Georgetown run defense sufficiently closed the door on RB Jamar Curtis (14-53) and held a quarterback  averaging 70 percent completions after five games a mere 10 for 38: outstanding.

Keeping the Leopards on zero also had a cumulative effect.  When the scores are to and fro, such as they are in the SEC of late, no lead seems too large and nearly anyone can mount a comeback in the final five minutes. This never seemed to be the case with the Leopards, who seemed to wane early in the fourth quarter, having never entered the Georgetown red zone..

We are unlikely to see a repeat as such (Colgate's last shutout at home was to Villanova in 2001) but  if the Hoyas can control the Red Raiders on the ground (where they are second in the PL to date), the secondary can go to work while the GU offense can test a Colgate secondary currently ranked last in the PL.

The prospects are encouraging.

2. Learning To Win: One of the meaningful by-products from a game such as this is the ability for a young team (and yes, it's young) to learn the time-tested adage in sports: one has to learn how to win before they can be a winner. For too long at 37th and O , that hasn't been possible.

The upperclassmen on this team didn't get that. The Hoyas lost more than a season when the University  passed on the 2020 season, it lost continuity with the  2018 and 2019 teams that were making headway with the standings. Yes, many players returned in 2021, but it wasn't the same.

The 2024 Hoyas are learning the lessons: protecting the quarterback, third down conversions, defensive agility. It's allowed the team to play looser and not go into a box when behind, as was successful with Columbia, and to play with confidence with a lead, as was successful with Lafayette. It takes a certain confidence to have just one first down in the last 21 minutes of the game not go into a panic, because they know what they needed to do, and just as importantly, what not to.

Georgetown's not running the table, but the ability to put itself in a position to win late in the season where it traditionally does not (we spoke of this before) can be transformative.

3. The Reverse Curse Of Fisher Stadium: There's no good answer for why Georgetown plays as well as it does at Lafayette's Fisher Stadium, and I'm sure there are a few Leopard fans who ask themselves the same question. 

Of the six Patriot League road locations, Lafayette is the only one where Georgetown has a winning record: 6-5, three consecutive, and five of the last seven. There's no magic there, inasmuch as the games are usually played in mid-October (where the Hoyas are stronger than at end of year), the games are almost always in good weather, and for the most part, the teams have been more competitive than, say, Georgetown and Holy Cross.

Still, it's a noticeable difference between a  game in Easton (or Lewisburg, where GU is  5-7 versus Bucknell) versus Colgate, where colder weather and the long bus rode north tend to take their toll, as Georgetown is 0-9 versus the Red Raiders at Andy Kerr Stadium. Much as Georgetown finally broke through at Lehigh's Goodman Stadium, a win Saturday in Hamilton would be another significant step forward for this program.

4. Around The PL:

Holy Cross 19, Fordham 15: One of only three games in the Patriot League last week, Holy Cross' eighth consecutive win in the Ram-Crusader Cup series said a lot about both teams.

A Homecoming crowd of 10,223 at Fitton Field saw a much better game than those eyeing Fordham's winless record might suspect. The Rams (0-7, 0-2) had three first half possessions ending in Holy Cross territory but managed only a pair of field goals, controlling the first half with a 6-3 lead. The Rams led 13-6 midway in the third when Holy Cross quarterback Joe Pesansky led the Crusaders (3-4, 2-0) on drives of 65 and 75 yards to gain the lead with 6:14 to play, and close the Rams down in the final 1:03 for the win. The win elevates HC to the team with the momentum for the top of the league standings, while Fordham, off to its worst start since 2005, is seeking answers with an otherwise talented lineup. While Holy Cross travels to Harvard, Fordham enters the bye week.

Pennsylvania 31, Bucknell 21: Ralph Rucker continues to make his case as the top quarterback in the PL, going 13-13 to open the game and 26-34 overall, but the Quakers (2-2) put this game away after halftime with 21 unanswered on the Bison (3-3, 1-0) . Penn got  146 yards from RB Malachi Hosley while holding the Bison to just 115 yard on the ground. A crowd of just 2,054 ranks among the smallest in memory at stately Franklin Field for this one. Bucknell returns home to host Cornell this weekend,