Week 10 Thoughts

 Some thoughts following Lehigh's 41-0 win over Georgetown:

1. Five Phases: Yes, another 60 minute beating in this series. College football has an uncanny way where rivalries follow to form even when they shouldn't, and with two exceptions, each Georgetown game versus Lehigh has been an annual beating. 

At a distance, it's not like Lehigh particularly gets "up" for this game in the same way it might be up for, say, Lafayette. Nor does Georgetown take this game somehow for granted. But as far as games at South Mountain go, they're just not competitive. Lehigh has won 11 of 12 games at Goodman Stadium by an average of 27 points.

As for this game, it was as a complete a win as Lehigh has put together all year, and not just because it was its first shutout since, oh, well...2009, versus Georgetown.

Coaches like to talk about winning all three phases of the game. I'll go two better: they won all five phases.

Offensively, the Engineers did what they needed to do and never looked back: touchdowns on three of its first four drives. The first two of these were methodical, well executed ten play drives, the third, a defensive breakdown and a  41 yard run to the end zone.  The rush game averaged six yards a carry, and the Lehigh offensive line did not allow a sack; in fact, Georgetown got just one tackle for loss all afternoon. It's highly unusual for a run-focused team to be held to under 28 minutes time of possessions and still dominate the scoreboard as they did. 

Defensively, Lehigh was in rare form and Georgetown had no chance. The Hoyas' running game, which has been banged up all year, couldn't make progress, with just one running back carry of more than seven yards. A pair of 18 yard scrambles by quarterbacks Dez Thomas and Jack Johnson weren't going to change the outcome, and the Lehigh rush forced six sacks and a pick-six. Lehigh held Georgetown to fourth down stops on the each of the last three series of the game. 

The Hoyas got just one red zone opportunities all day and failed, and that speaks to defensive coordinator Rich Nagy and a defensive that does not settle for less than its very best.

The special teams were a one-way street for the Engineers. Its four punts averaged 49 yards with three touchbacks and a single yard of return, a huge difference in field position which gave the Hoyas nothing in the way of opportunity. Lehigh punt returner Nick Peltekian accounted for 90 yards in four returns, accounting for an average of an extra 22 yards on every kick.  A blocked PAT was the only mark against a straight flush by the Lehigh special teams in this game.

The fourth phase: coaching. This coaching staff has Lehigh believing in big things, and no one, no one was looking past Georgetown with three weeks to Lafayette. It also caught the Hoyas flat-footed on a fourth down play early in the game. 

With 10:43 in the first, Lehigh faced a 4th and two at the Georgetown 25, and lined up in a wildly unbalanced formation: seven men on the line far to the left of the QB, with nothing but a center, a guard, and a running back. Georgetown seemed confused at the start, as if this was just some effort to draw them off side or to force a penalty. If the staff had seen something, a  time out was in order. Instead, Lehigh handed it off to RB Matt Michalik, who ran for four yards despite a line of one blocker. Three plays later, Lehigh scored and never  looked back. 

This was not a trick play, this was a line placed in the sand that Lehigh basically said "come and stop us", and Georgetown was unprepared. I'm not naive to think that had Georgetown stopped them, the outcome would be any different, nor that the Georgetown staff had drilled the defensive on any such maneuver. Instead, it was a Lehigh coaching staff that was so confident in its men that it dared GU to make a defensive stop, and the Hoyas could not do it. Message sent.

The fifth phase: the program. Teams win games but programs win championships. Lehigh has won 13 PL titles with five different head coaches, Kevin Cahill among them.  Players come to Bethlehem to win, not to try to. Whatever shreds of doubt that Lehigh wasn't at the top level under Tom Gilmore were quickly flushed after Cahill's 2023 season and Lehigh hasn't looked back since. In a season when people in the PL were worried about "What Will  Richmond Do?", it lost sight, perhaps, that Lehigh wasn't going away.

Georgetown continues to be the (pre-Diego Pavia) Vanderbilt of the Patriot League: a good school that doesn't spend like the other schools do, is a nice place for players and their families to visit, a stadium that will always be friendly to road teams, and a fan base that holds no expectations of progress. Recruits to Georgetown may say they're coming to win a PL title, but no one has. Recruits to Lehigh say they're coming to win a PL title, and they do. 

Remember Nick Saban's quote? "The only place you're going to play in the SEC that's not hard to play [is] Vanderbilt. When you play at Vanderbilt, you have more fans there than they have, and that's no disrespect to them, it's the truth."  Until Vanderbilt's offense punched Alabama in the mouth and carried the goal posts to the Cumberland River, that is.  

Georgetown is nowhere close to doing the same. 

And as Saban also observed, "Dominant teams rarely are outplayed or outclassed, but they sometimes beat themselves. Just because you are dominant does not mean you are infallible. Remember that dominance does not mean perfection; a lack of focus for even a short period of time can cost you. Do not relax when you are far ahead or dominating your marketplace. That is the time to push even harder." 

So far, Lehigh is doing just that.

2. Around The PL:

Lafayette 21, Holy Cross 13: Another late game lapse by the Crusaders, falling to 1-8 before 16,583 at Fitton Field. Despite three early turnovers, this was a one point game entering the fourth quarter and the Crusaders were marching to the tying score with under a minute to play. On a fourth and  six at the Lafayette 12 with 29 seconds to play, quarterback Dominic Campanile was sacked 10 yards behind the line of scrimmage. The Crusaders fell to 4-11 over the last two years in games decided by eight points or less.

Richmond 17, Fordham 14: Despite its own 1-8 record, Fordham's defense is playing opponents tougher than anticipated and such was the case in this one, where the Spiders managed just seven points after halftime and held oft the Rams late before 4,847 at Robins Stadium. Fordham QB Gunnar Smith was held to 91 yards and two interceptions by a  Richmond defense which gave up just 161 yards all afternoon.

Colgate 23, Merrimack 20: The Red Raiders needed overtime to steer past the Warriors in a non-conference game, 23-20 before 2,713 in Hamilton. Merrimack tied the score on a 47 yard field goal with no time left, but threw an interception three plays into its first overtime possession, which Colgate dutifully converted with a field goal and the win, its fourth in the last six weeks. 

This week's games:

Holy Cross at Lehigh, 12:00 noon

Colgate at Lafayette, 12:30

Bucknell at Fordham, 1:00

Richmond at Georgetown, 1:00

Week Nine Thoughts

 

Some thoughts following Georgetown's 31-24 win over Bucknell:

1. There's Something About Bucknell: What is it about these two teams that always seem to lead to a close finish? Players come and go over the years but Georgetown continues to do well with Bucknell in ways they do not, for example, with Lehigh or Holy Cross. What is a possible explanation?

It's not finances or scholarships. Bucknell is no longer the seventh of eight in the category of best funded program in the PL (that's actually Lehigh) .It offers close to, if not right at,  the 63 FCS ceiling. It gets solid recruits on both sides of the ball, and competes well out of conference. One feature about the Bison opens itself up to competitive games with a Georgetown offense that is limited in firepower: pass defense.

Through nine games Bucknell is giving up 35 points a game.  In the five full seasons prior, the numbers are 30.3, 33.7, 28.8, 37.9 and 32.4. This keeps teams competitive with Bucknell and prevents the Bison, even when they had Ralph Rucker at QB, from running away with games. The Hoyas play well with teams that mix it up in the air (Bucknell, this year's Colgate squad, Lafayette), and less so with teams that pound it with the rush game (older Colgate teams, Lehigh, Holy Cross). 

Last week, Georgetown didn't outgain Bucknell in the air but had better yards per catch than the Bison did (9.0 to 7.4) , and were more efficient with the defensive sets they were given. This game was literally a coin-flip at the end, but no quarterback can throw a sideline pick with 18 seconds left in a game, they just can't.

Georgetown's 27.7 points per game allowed in PL play won't win many games, except if you're playing a team in Bucknell that is giving up, on average 40.5. Georgetown didn't get 40, but they only needed 31 in what has become a series that must be confounding to Bison fans. However, as long as Bucknell's defensive sets allow this level of points, they'll need to keep games high scoring to stay with opponents. For Georgetown, at least, it's worked out for them.

2. Revisiting The "Rule Of 22": From time to time, I've noted an informal statistical trend on the Hoyas which speaks to its limited offensive throughout over the years. It's called the "Rule of 22", which, simply put, is the record that Georgetown has in the Patriot League when allowing opponents 22 or more points in a game.

It's a startling number.

Entering the 2025 season, Georgetown has played 154 games where it allowed 22 or more points to any opponent. It has won seven of them.

Seven. That's 7-147, or 0.045. GU once lost 68 consecutive games allowing 22 or more from 2010 through 2023. Here are the seven:

10/13/2001: Georgetown 26, Davidson 24

10/26/2002: Georgetown 32, Bucknell 31

9/11/2010: Georgetown 28, Lafayette 24

9/18/2010: Georgetown 28, Fordham 24

9/24/2011: Georgetown 52, Marist 28

11/11/2023: Georgetown 50, Bucknell 47

8/31/2024: Georgetown 46, Davidson 24

The good news, sort of, is that in 2025 the Hoyas are a 2-2 in such games, with losses to Lafayette and Brown and wins over Morgan State and Bucknell, two in the past three weeks. (The Bison now account for three of the nine wins to date.) 

Practically speaking, Georgetown's lack of program budget prevents it from maintaining the depth to compete in high scoring games. Saturday's game with Lehigh is illustrative. The Engineers have played the Hoyas in 24 games since 2001, and have surpassed 22 in 19 of them, and are 19-0. 

When Lehigh was held to 21 or fewer, Georgetown is a more than respectable 2-2.

This may be a meaningless statistical anomaly, but as a pair of strong offensive teams arrive to the PL in 2026, depth will become an even bigger concern for teams like Georgetown going forward. This season's offensive effort shows that, given opportunity and experience, the Hoyas can compete, whic h is a hopeful sign.

3. About Lehigh:  Some thoughts from this week's Pre-Game Report on what Lehigh has accomplished under third year coach Kevin Cahill:

"After a downturn in the four years under Tom Gilmore, Kevin Cahill has the Engineers back on track to sustained excellence in the Patriot League, and setting up Lehigh among the upper tier to which Richmond, Villanova, and William & Mary aspire to join. In his second year, Cahill took Lehigh to a 9-2 regular season mark and an upset of then-CAA entrant Richmond in the first round of the NCAA playoffs before losing at #8 Idaho a week later. In 2025, Lehigh is one of three undefeated teams in the subdivision and faces Georgetown and Holy Cross at home before road games at Colgate and Lafayette. The Engineers could be undefeated entering Fisher Stadium for the first time in 25 seasons on November 22, but only if they do the work in the next three weeks.

Lehigh enters the game first in the PL in offense, thanks to steady play from sophomore QB Hayden Johnson, who threw for a career best 267 yards last week at Fordham. More valuable than mere yards has been an accurate arm (62 percent completions) a paucity of turnovers (just three interceptions, none in the last six games), and a means of composure in difficult situations. Johnson is ably assisted by two of the PL's most productive backs in junior Luke Yoder (126-840-7 TD), ninth nationally in yardage, and sophomore Jaden Green (95-583-6), who combined for 132 yards against the Hoyas last season in Washington. Lehigh has gained 100 of more yards in each of its last 28 games dating to the 2023 season, so it's no surprise where Lehigh will get to work Saturday."

The weather outlook for Saturday's game features windy conditions (10-20 mph westerly winds, which would blow across the stadium) and 57 degrees. Look for the run to be front and center for Lehigh to move on.

4. Around the PL: A quiet week with only three games, two outside Georgetown and Bucknell:

Lehigh 27, Fordham 6: Hayden Johnson passed for 267 yards as the Engineers won with relative ease before 4,893 at Moglia Stadium. Lehigh scored the first 24 points before the Rams got on the board with a field goal late in the third quarter. Fordham fifth year LB  James Conway had 16 tackles in the game, setting a new career mark for tackles in the FCS subdivision with 555.

Colgate 29, Holy Cross 28: Another tough defeat for the Crusaders, as Colgate rallied from 18 down in the third period to score the game winner with 2:35 to play before 9,725 at Fitton Field. Colgate QB Jake Stearney threw for 216 yards and two touchdowns,  the latter a nine yard pass after Holy Cross missed a field goal six minutes earlier that would have increased HC's lead to eight, 31-23. At 1-7, the Crusaders have now lost four games by a combined 14 points and have clinched its first losing season since 2018, which was Bob Chesney's first season at Mt. St. James. Chesney is currently 7-1 at James Madison and could hear his name mentioned in those end-of-season carousel of coaching moves at major colleges.

This week's games:

Georgetown at Lehigh, 12 noon

Lafayette at Holy Cross, 1:00 pm

Merrimack at Colgate, 1:00

Fordham at Richmond, 2:00

Week Eight Thoughts

 

Back from the bye week: some thoughts following Georgetown's 21-17 win over Colgate:

1. Threading The Needle: A competitive college football game often comes down to two or three plays which are determinative to the outcome of the game. Saturday's Alabama-Tennessee game was an example of this: Zabien Brown's interception and touchdown to end the first half turned a potential 16-14 halftime score to 23-7 and Tennessee never recovered. While determinative plays aren't generally that stunning, they made a difference.

That said, my nominees for the three impact plays from Saturday's game:

Jimmy Kibble's 43 yard first quarter reception  (13:20):  Following the season ending injury to Colgate's Treyvohn Saunders, Kibble may be the most dangerous receiver in the PL right now. He's not the quickest or the tallest, but he makes plays, and this catch in Georgetown's opening drive was one of them.  The Hoyas are not a comeback team by nature owing to its lack of depth, so getting an early score sets the tone for the game and this is exactly what Georgetown needed against a very capable Colgate defense. 

Brian Allen's third quarter interception (13:02):  Conversely, the Hoyas have struggled against possessions to open the second half. Lafayette, Brown, and Morgan State each scored on one of its two opening drives of the third quarter. This defensive stop ended a points drive that, in a  defensive minded game, would turned the tide to the Red Raiders. 

Brian Lloyd's fourth quarter stop  (3:20): Lloyd's late interception to seal the win may be more memorable, but ending this drive was even more important. The Red Raiders had completed three consecutive passes to the Georgetown 31 and, at the very least, an extension to the drive runs down the clock and puts Colgate in a position to win the game.  The pass defense in this set of downs was superb and forced three consecutive incompletions for the first time all afternoon. The Hoyas didn't seal the win on the following drive but left only 50 seconds from which Colgate could work with. 

It's an unfortunate fact that Georgetown does not have the firepower of its fellow PL schools, a subject that has been discussed here to some detail. There are no games on the league schedule to which Georgetown can expect to win on sheer talent or overwhelming strength, and thus plays like those above provide the opportunity on the margin to get a win that, on any given Saturday, Georgetown would likely not get. More than most teams, to play for Georgetown means every play counts, because it must count for Georgetown to win at this level. The sheer imbalance of this series, with Saturday's game being only the second win by a Georgetown team over Colgate since joining the PL, is  testament to the need to win plays on the margin.

2. Let's Play Two: Saturday's game was an unusual confluence of seasons for Georgetown, in that the afternoon game with Colgate preceded a exhibition men's basketball game  at George Washington. Were I in the area, I definitely would have attended both games.

That said, there are occasional scheduling issues where football is up against men's and women's soccer, or adjacent to them on the schedule that day. Not much can be done about that, of course, given that football is almost exclusively a Saturday sport and soccer needs weekend games for travel purposes, particularly in the Big East. 

It raises this idea: can Georgetown consider selling "all-day" passes to allow those who come to the football game to attend the soccer game that evening, or vice versa? The school is not making much money on these games, and yet, parents and alumni have little reason to stay around if it involves an extra ticket.  Students can go back and forth with ease between games; though, to be fair, they seem as disinterested in ever. Men's soccer attendance over the last five games averages just 6943, women's soccer for the season averages only 415. Adding a few extra fans of either sport to Cooper Field is a win-win.

It also opens some strategic opportunity for next year, as yet undisclosed, football schedule. In addition to a opening week game against an opponent to be named later, a return game with Columbia follows--, yes, apparently the Lou Little Cup lives again. With the move to nine PL games next year, home games await with Bucknell, Holy Cross, Lehigh and either Villanova or William & Mary. As opportunities warrant, offering the ability for one's football ticket to serve as admittance to the soccer game and vice versa raises the opportunity for better attendance for everyone, and if a basketball exhibition is scheduled one of those weekends, even better.

Georgetown does a poor job at promoting games across all sports, largely as a combination of a lack of staff and a lack of institutional commitment.  For many years, the University's culture was that men's basketball was the only sport worth its collective attention, but a decade of poor performance and a soulless customer experience  has hollowed out that value proposition. Why not devote some initiative to making a weekend game on the Hilltop, regardless of sport, a destination and maybe, just maybe, some fun?

To paraphrase an old proverb, the best time to build a culture was 20 years ago. The next best time is today.

3. Know Your G: This week's Georgetown Football social media reference. Who knew the Scotty Glacken-era football logo is still remembered?

Worth a shot. 🤷‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/7XJh7Xm4N9

— Nebraska Men's Basketball (@HuskerMBB) October 21, 2025

4. Around The PL:

Oregon State 45, Lafayette 13: For one half, the Leopards were the toast of the late night CW network , giving the Beavers all they could handle and taking a 13-10 lead into the break before depth took over and Oregon State earned its first win of the season before 27,735 at Reser Stadium. Lafayette managed just 50 yards after halftime in what was otherwise a solid effort against a Pac-12 school.  Lafayette received $500,000 and 300 complimentary tickets for the game. 

(Did you know that all but one PL school plays games such as this? Of course you did.)

Holy Cross 28, Richmond 22: The Crusaders won its first game of the 2025 season with a hard fought win before 5,419 at Robins Stadium. A 43 yard run by RB Justin Clerveaux put the Crusaders up for good midway in the third quarter and a fourth quarter stop late in the game proved the difference.

Dartmouth 30, Fordham 13: From a 6-6 tie, the Rams could not contend in a second half where Dartmouth pulled away before 3,418 at Moglia Stadium. Fordham QB Gunnar Smith threw for 238 yards but was sacked three times. 

Cornell 30, Bucknell 20: The Big Red earned its first win of the season at Lewisburg, with a pair of third quarter touchdowns to steer past Bucknell before 4,205  at Schoellkopf Field. Bucknell's running game was held to 67 yards, although the official scorer waived 20 yards in sacks and TFL's and gave Bucknell 87 instead. Backup QB Chris Dietrich passed for 220 yards but the defense was not up to par, allowing Cornell 27 unanswered points following an early 7-3 Bucknell lead.

This week's games:

Georgetown at Bucknell, 12 noon

Lehigh at Fordham, 1:00

Colgate at Holy Cross, 1:00

Week Six Thoughts

 

I've written stories about Georgetown football for 31 years and been an active supporter since 1994, and still have that "Pay the Toll: MAAC Football 1994" sweatshirt sitting in a box somewhere.

Saturday's game, and particularly its finish, was an all-timer.

The coverage of Jimmy Kibble's touchdown is as much coverage as Georgetown football has received in that time, maybe going as far back as when Georgetown dropped major college football in 1951. How big is it, and is part of it (or soon, was) an opportunity lost?

First some thoughts on the game itself.

For 59 minutes or so, this had the trajectory of one of the more discouraging  Homecoming games in recent memory, played before an alleged crowd number that was the smallest at that event since 1987. (More on that next week.)  Georgetown scored on its first two drives and had one red zone appearance for the rest of the game, missing two field goal attempts and losing the ball at midfield with 1:25 after three consecutive sacks.  

Defensively, despite allowing scoring plays on four consecutive full possessions ending the first half and entering into the second, the Hoyas held Morgan State without a first down for the final 9:55 of the game. But with all that, the Bears could have all but run off the clock had they not concocted one of the all-time head-scratchers with 35 seconds to play, opting for a pass on fourth down which saw the Hoyas gain 15 seconds on the clock and 15 to 20 yards. 

Fifteen seconds in college football is not more than two plays: one to Brock Biestek to the Morgan 49, and one to Kibble to close the game. It's unlikely either of those takes place if the Bears had played the percentages: simply run the play clock down to 20 seconds, take a five yard penalty, position a pooch kick that rolled around inside the 20, and left the Hoyas with 85 yards and no time outs with nine or 10 seconds remaining. 

For what its worth, Dez Thomas threw two incompletions to open the series. Were he to have done that starting at 15, third down was an 85 yard ask with four seconds left, and that wasn't going to happen.

In a post game interview with HBCU Sports.com, MSU coach Damon Wilson did not assign blame on either QB Kobe Muasau or Apollo Wright, his offensive coordinator. 

"We had a situation where we were trying to melt the clock down and [punt] on fourth down,” Wilson said. " We didn’t handle situational football well at all at the end."

Fortunately for Morgan State, the fan base won't run Wilson out of town. Losing to Georgetown isn't a big deal in the HBCU world, and the less said within the MEAC, the better. They've already reset expectations to a big Homecoming win this Saturday against the vagabond team known as Virginia University of Lynchburg, a private, non-NCAA HBCU of 128 full time students that plays teams like Morgan State for guarantee money.  

A full page announcement on the MSU web site announces general admission tickets begin at $40 for the game, with reserved tickets for $50 against a Lynchburg team who is 0-46 all time versus Division I teams, with a 67-10 loss to Valparaiso as its only Division I opponent to date this season.  

And while we're not quite sure how many saw this game in person, we do know how many saw the last play. A lot.

Jeremy Huber's call of the play reached 72,000 views on Twitter and a reported 4.4 million viewers between the NBC halftime report and ESPN's coverage during SportsCenter, per industry metrics. Granted, most of those were during halftime of the Ohio State-Minnesota game and there were some viewers who use halftime as a bathroom or snack break, but it's evident that more people heard the name "Georgetown football" this weekend than in any time in the last 60 years or more. Better still, none of the announcers remarked that they didn't know Georgetown played football.

A ten second ad for Georgetown on Saturday's NBC prime time football would have cost the University about $30,000. Instead, that 10 seconds of coverage could do a lot more for the program.

Will it?

Yes, it earned coverage in FCS circles, include a nice NIL placement for Thomas and Kibble as the Cheez-It Players of the Week. It also received, as Thomas attested, a lot of texts from family and friends. All that aside, the play was a great promotional opportunity for Georgetown University and Hoya football, though its long term effects will fade. What was done to take advantage of this publicity?

Georgetown Athletics has an increasingly difficult time promoting anything these days, a confluence of indecision for non-basketball promotions, institutional gridlock over the vacant seat at 2nd Healy, the belief in some development circles that promotion is a waste of money, or simply that people in McDonough are just too busy to give it too much time and effort.  It's less than a month to the opening game for men's and women's basketball, and single game tickets haven't even gone up for sale. If your focus is trying to get more than 4,000 people to show up at Capital One Arena to see Morgan State basketball in three weeks time, what happened to Morgan State last week pales in comparison.

Sports promotion is not a zero-sum game. Promotion of Georgetown basketball has been an uphill slog for over a decade because it has not been a fun experience for the players, the coaches, or the fans in a long, long time. There's no Midnight Madness anymore (presumably, it costs too much) and Ed Cooley has gone radio-silent about his plan for thousands of students along the baselines downtown. Consistent promotion of Georgetown football is moribund, as is every other sport.

But when there is something worth celebrating that's not about basketball, whether it's a touchdown catch on Homecoming or a record breaking miler or even momentum on that elusive boathouse, let's not keep it locked away on GUHoyas.com. It's appropriate to celebrate these accomplishments and use them to reengage and build new relationships with recruits, players, parents, alumni and donors going forward. If someone wanted to be Georgetown's version of Stanford's Brad Freeman, let's not have someone tell him he needs to give to the Humanities Quad instead. 

Georgetown won't have many moments like this for the remaining six weeks of the football season. Let's enjoy it, and better yet, remember it.

Around The PL:

Lehigh 31, Yale 13: The #8-ranked Engineers continue to dominate in the first half of the season, pulling away in the third quarter for a 31-13 win before 4,364 at Goodman Stadium. Luke Yoder (108 yards) outrushed the entire Yale backfield while Lehigh's defense forced two second half turnovers that kept the game out of reach for its first 6-0 start in 13 seasons.

Bucknell 33, Richmond 28: Ralph Rucker threw for 284 yards as the Bison won its first game ever versus the Spiders, 33-288.  Despite gaining 494 yards on the afternoon, three Richmond turnovers, including consecutive interceptions within the final five minutes of the fourth quarter, preserved the Bucknell win.

Colgate 41, Cornell 21: The Red Raiders' annual climb up the standings is underway, gaining its second straight win before 12,142 at Schoellkopf Field. Colgate forced four Cornell interceptions, including two in the first four minutes of play, and held the Big Red in check despite allowing 458 total yards.

Harvard 59, Holy Cross 24: Dreams of the Crusaders clinching an eighth consecutive PL title November 22 at Fenway Park continue to dim, falling to 0-6 for the first time since 1994 in its loss before 15,549 at Fitton Field. The Crimson led 38-3 at the half and put up 528 yards against the Crusaders, who gave up points on eight consecutive Harvard drives. 

Lafayette 24, Fordham 10: The Leopards built a first half lead and maintained it in the win at Fisher Stadium. The quarterbacks enjoyed a busy day in the air, with Fordham's Gunnar Smith throwing for 354 yards and Lafayette QB Dean DeNobile for 314.  The Rams were just 3 of 16 on third down thanks to a confident Lafayette defense.

This week's games are below--three teams are on an open week (Fordham, Georgetown, and Holy Cross):

Lehigh at Columbia, 12 noon

Bucknell at Lafayette, 12:30

Richmond at Colgate, 1:00

Week Five Thoughts

 

Some thoughts following Columbia's 19-10 win over Georgetown Saturday:

1. Driving On Ice: It's just the first week of October and already there are some signs this season is starting to get away from the coaches and players. Some of it is beyond their control, but so is any accident. A setback at Homecoming sets this team on the skids heading into Patriot League play

The last two weeks have been both disappointing and concerning for an offense to whom Brown and Columbia will be the least of its comparison set entering the conference race. Danny Lauter is not Ralph Rucker or even Dean DeNobile, but Lauter was able to put Georgetown into contention when the ground game was sluggish. Yes, Lauter made his mistakes, but he elevated the game.

After avoiding it in the Brown pre-game, Georgetown finally admitted Lauter was out of action in the Columbia media notes, and the reported diagnosis of a shoulder injury puts a lot of question marks on the season going forward.

Georgetown being Georgetown, they won't speak as to the severity of Lauter's injury, whether a simple sprain or something as serious as a rotator cuff. In Thursday's media call with Jeremy Huber, head coach Rob Sgarlata, not one to look too far down a depth chart when it comes to quarterbacks, alluded to all five quarterbacks on the roster as needing to play at a high level to execute the offense. This is a team which rarely discusses below the second string, but the strings may be played out if things continue to wither with offensive execution.

Dez Thomas' last two games have been rough: 16 for 48, 161 yards passing,  five INT's. His running talent surprised Davidson and Wagner, absent game film to the contrary, but teams have now adjusted and they have put pressure on him to settle for the run or make bad decisions in the pocket. It doesn't help that options like Savion Hart, Bryce Cox, and Nick Dunneman are banged up, but in the end, it's up to the quarterback to make good decisions. 

Thomas needs a good game Saturday or the coaching staff may be forced to do something that GU has avoided since the awkward quarterback rotations of the 2008 and 2009 seasons; namely, use the bye week to open the door to elevate one of three untested players (Jacob Holtschlag, Jack Johnson, and Aiden Krause) to take over the reigns, especially if Lauter's downtime remains an issue. With both Lauter and Thomas as seniors, it could be a season-defining decision.

Depth is an issue all over the offense and it won't end well if people don't get healthy. Jayden Sumpter was another player with limited game film for Columbia to study but expect Morgan State and especially Columbia to adjust. If Georgetown gets further down the two-deep at running back, there's nothing in the passing game that can compensate for it.  

2. A Name From The Past: Earlier this year, we discussed the return of former Georgetown coach Kevin Kelly to the college coaching ranks, taking over a new program debuting this season at New England College in Henniker, NH. A recent article in the Concord Monitor introduced its readers to the 65 year old coach, who was head coach at Georgetown from 2005 through 2013.

Since leaving Georgetown for a job with Pete Lembo at Ball State in 2014 that lasted only two seasons, Kelly returned to the wandering life of an assistant coach: a brief stay at Wyoming Seminary (PA), then Bryant, then a assistant coach's role with the New York Guardians XFL franchise before COVID folded the league for two seasons. An assistant's job at Division III Salve Regina (RI) in 2022 appeared to be his last stop until he read about the new program an hour north and applied for the head coach at NEC. It's the 20th stop on a career which began in 1981.

After four weeks, the results are what Kelly probably expected: the Pilgrims are 0-4, and one statistical service ranked NEC 767th out of 768 NCAA schools across all three divisions. A 55-0 loss to MIT was a low point, and last week's 34-21 loss to Nichols College (coached by former Kelly assistant Vinny Marino) proved an example of the hill any first time program must climb, even in Division III.

"I talk to them ahead of time, tell them that we’re going to have adversity, and then look at the positives, not always the negatives,” he said.

"We’re playing older teams, so it will be a challenge every week. The positive is that they’re going to be juniors and seniors in three or four years, and that will be the barometer of the program at that time.”

Some of Kelly's nomenclature follows that of Georgetown. What Rob Sgarlata calls the "Four for 40" mantra, Kelly calls the "Four for 44". He's built a leadership council among the players to build team unity. He lists four outcomes for his program: academic success, professional development, football experience and an investment in education. And, like his old Hilltop home, he is recruiting on the promise of a better facility.

"Kelly wants his fans, players and his staff invested in the program’s roots that will only continue to grow," writes the Monitor. " The team, which currently plays on a converted rugby field, will have a new multi-sports turf field with a stadium by next season. A new addition to the athletic center will include football locker rooms, new office spaces, classroom facilities and a modernized weight room."

Kevin Kelly famously did not get his Multi-Sport Facility at Georgetown, and here's hoping that New England College can give him the tools there to succeed.

3. Around The PL: 

Lehigh 44, Penn 30: Since its opening week win over Richmond, Lehigh is cooking, and its win over Penn before 8,430 at Goodman Stadium puts the Engineers at the top of the PL race heading into October. Despite a wild 31 point fourth quarter between the teams, Lehigh's 539 yards of total offense allowed it to address very Penn drive and maintain its distance on the scoreboard.  Luke Yoder led all rushers with 173 yards, as the Engineers held the Quakers to just 29 yards on the ground for the afternoon. 

Bucknell 30, St. Francis 23: The farewell tour of Division I football at St. Francis moves on from the PL, as the Bison needed a late touchdown and an interception at the goal line at the conclusion of the game to win before an astonishing low 887 at Christy Mathewson Memorial Stadium. Ralph Rucker passed for only 168 yards as the Bison won the game on the ground, led by a 10 carry, 95 yard effort from RB Tariq Thomas. The Bucknell defense gave up 377 yards in the air and that will be a point of emphasis as league play dawns. 

Richmond 13, Howard 12: Despite the Bison holding over 42 minutes in time of possession, a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns carried the Spiders to the win before 6,293 at Robins Stadium. A pair of interceptions late in the third and early in the fourth quarter opened the door to Richmond to fight back for the win.

Fordham 26, Holy Cross 21: The Crusaders dropped to 0-5 for the first time since the 2004 season despite a 21-20 halftime lead. A pair of Fordham field goals were the only points scored after halftime as the Rams won its first game versus HC since 2016 before 2,039 at Moglia Stadium in New York. Fordham was just 1 for 10 on third down conversions in the game.

Princeton 38, Lafayette 28: The Leopards fell behind early and never caught back up in the loss at Fisher Stadium, its 46th loss in 54 meetings versus the Tigers dating to 1883. Princeton scored touchdowns on each of its first three possessions and never trailed.

This week's games:

Richmond at Bucknell, 12 noon

Yale at Lehigh, 12:00

Fordham at Lafayette, 12:30 pm

Morgan St. at Georgetown, 1:00

Colgate at Cornell, 2:00

Harvard at Holy Cross, 2:00

Week Four Thoughts

 

Some thoughts following Brown's 46-0 win over Georgetown Saturday:

1. The U-Word: 

"We did not do the things you need to do to earn the result we set out to accomplish. I give Coach Perry and his staff credit. They outplayed us in all three phases. We have a great opportunity to review this game and learn from the experience as we take the next step in the 2025 journey. I love this group of players and coaches and I am looking forward to this upcoming week." - Rob Sgarlata

The words you didn't hear? "We were unprepared."

Put aside Georgetown's generally poor record in long bus rides beyond New York (a combined 1-12-0 all time in Connecticut, Rhode Island and New Hampshire, with its last win in Massachusetts in  2013), or Brown's well promoted 100th Anniversary of Brown Stadium fete, despite drawing just 3,949, or even its traditional woes versus any Ivy opponents: the Hoyas looked unprepared right from the start and it continued for the next 60 minutes on the field. 

Brown opened up last year's game with an 87- yard touchdown pass, a clear slap at Georgetown's secondary preparation. This year? A 36 yard pass. What, did GU think they wouldn't do it again? 

When I was a kid, there was an armed robbery at a Safeway up the street, which cleaned the place out and was the talk of the neighborhood. The police investigated it carefully and went back to work. The next morning, the same robbers returned at the same time and cleaned it out again! Aside from the fact that the next day, half of the Richardson, TX police force was waiting in the parking lot, the thieves were never caught, but that's a testimony to utter confidence to pull the same job 24 hours later.

Brown was a confident team. Georgetown was not. The two kickoff fumbles, eight sacks from an good but not great Brown d-line, the unnecessary penalties which extended two Brown drives into the end zone, missed tackles, even five players standing and failing to stop a runner before he took off for the end zone, all communicated to the viewer that the Hoyas were not ready for this game. This was not a game played in stormy conditions or a hostile crowd. This team was flat and the coaches didn't prepare them.

The unexplained absence of Danny Lauter probably didn't help things, but when a team has 32 yards passing at the half, having not made a single attempt to its all-PL wide receiver, that raises questions, especially versus a team ranked last in the Ivy League in defense. From its opening drive, the Hoyas had no first downs in the first half until the second to last play of the  frost half. 

Maybe Dez Thomas was thrown in to the lineup under short notice. Maybe the offensive line was banged up. Maybe the play calling went out the window down 14-0, it doesn't matter. It was a poor effort throughout and did little to assuage those that, once again, thought that Georgetown carried some momentum out of its generous scheduling of Davidson and Wagner.  Instead, against a 3-7 Brown team from 2024 in its first game of the 2025 season, perhaps headed to another three or four win season, it was more of the same.

The next two weeks continue to offer opportunity, but once PL play begins, there are no easy opportunities. 

2. Some Other Rankings: Late last night, the US News college rankings debuted for 2025-26. Ten schools with an FCS football team were ranked in the top 40 universities nationally, but only two outside the Ivy League: Georgetown and UC-Davis. 

That's still a very good place to be, and should be more of a plus in recruiting, though it hasn't been a driving force that it might be at, say, UC-Davis, coming off an 11-3 season last fall and ranked #9 nationally this week.

How did the other Patriot League schools (now and in 2026) fare?

National Universities:

#46: Lehigh

#51: William & Mary

#57: Villanova

#97: Fordham

Liberal Arts Colleges:

#22: Colgate, Richmond

#22: Richmond

#27: Holy Cross

#30: Bucknell, Lafayette

3. Around The PL:

Lafayette 38, Columbia 14: After three weeks on the road, Lafayette returned to Fisher Stadium with a convincing 38-14 win before a crowd of 4,206 or a rare Friday night game in Easton. As was the case with many PL games this week, the first half score was reasonably close (Lafayette 17-14) before the Leopards pulled away in the second half.  The Lions were held to just 91 yards on the ground and allowed 51 carries for 232 yards.

Yale 28, Holy Cross 10: After three games where the Crusaders fell maddingly short at game's end, such was not the case in New Haven, where Yale opened its season with a decisive win before 4,469 at the Yale Bowl.  From a 7-0 score at the half, Yale scored 21 unanswered points behind 127 yards and there touchdowns from RB Josh Pitzenberger.

Holy Cross is off to its first 0-4 start since 2012.

Colgate 44, Fordham 21: Another 0-4 team, Fordham, meets the Crusaders this week. Its 44-21 loss in Hamilton before 2,581 saw the Rams stay close through two quarters at 23-21, but the  Red Raiders owned the second half en route to 547 yards total offense and holding Fordham to just 101 yards after halftime.

Lehigh 41, Bucknell 24: The Engineers continued their winning ways thanks to 21 unanswered points after halftime before 3,143 in Lewisburg. Despite 291 yards in the air from Bucknell QB Ralph Rucker, Lehigh owned the ground game with 323 yards, an average of 7.9 yards per carry.

Richmond 38, VMI 14: A crowd of 7,244 at Robins Stadium saw the Spiders hold the Keydets to just 34 yards on the ground, while UR's 541 total yards nearly doubled that of its in-state opponent. Jamaal Brown led all rushers with 153 yards on 14 carries while Andrew King rushed for three touchdowns in seven carries for 100 yards.

This week's games are all on ESPN+:

Penn at Lehigh, 12 noon

Georgetown at Columbia, 12 noon

Holy Cross at Fordham , 1:00

Howard at Richmond, 2:00

Princeton at Lafayette, 3:30

St. Francis at Bucknell, 6:00

NFL: "Back In Old DC"

 

The Washington D.C. City Council has finalized the move of the NFL's Washington Commanders to a $3.7 billion facility on the present site of RFK Stadium.

In an 11-2 vote that survived some last minute amendments posed from a handful of council members, the Council's decision gives the team the green light to begin construction once the RFK facility is demolished, with a scheduled opening date of September 2030. 

It is with great pride that I can say we are officially bringing our Commanders home and turning 180 acres of land on the banks of the Anacostia, on the monumental axis, into jobs and opportunity for DC residents" said Mayor Muriel Bowser, less than two years after a similar move helped keep NBA and NHL teams at Capital One Arena. 

"The city's contribution to the project includes $500 million for stadium infrastructure, more than $350 million for parking garages, and $202 million for utilities and a transit study," wrote the Washington Post. "The city will also finance a sportsplex that will be run by the Department of Parks and Recreation and include an indoor track and other space for youth sports. And the city will raise and dedicate funding for transit improvements, including a possible expansion of the Stadium-Armory Metro station or a new station entirely."

The modern NFL stadium is not about eight home games a year, it's about hosting events for the rest of the year. The proposed 65,000 seat indoor stadium opens Washington to major events such as the Super Bowl, political conventions, college football playoffs, NCAA Regionals and the Final Four, NBA All-Star games, UFC fights, Wrestlemania, and other such events, but also to events closely related in the community. This also offers some long range opportunities for Georgetown, even if present day attendance for men's basketball, football, and soccer seem a world removed.

Georgetown's 1989 basketball game versus LSU at the Louisiana Superdome, a single game event broadcast nationwide on CBS, remains the largest crowd ever to witness a Georgetown sports event, with a paid attendance of 66,144. What about 2030 and beyond? A doubleheader with nationally prominent teams or a matchup with a top ranked team may seem distant to a program which has not posted a sellout at Capital One Arena in 12 years, but opportunities await in a showplace facility. Similarly, opportunities in soccer, lacrosse, or even football (which holds the distinction of the last scheduled sporting event at RFK Stadium in a 2017 game) wouldn't sell out the building but could be an interesting promotional and recruiting opportunity.

Howard? 

Villanova?

Navy?

For now, anyway, put that aside. Whether you call them the Commanders or still call them the Redskins, the NFL is headed to the District for the first time in nearly 30 years, and that's a big deal.