Some thoughts (and grades) following Georgetown's 39-14 win over Marist Saturday:
1. The A's: This is one of those games where knowing your strengths (and your opponent's weaknesses) paid off in a big way. Marist didn't have the depth to stay with Georgetown and it showed. And unlike some years where Georgetown sunk into the mud playing the game Marist wanted, getting Gunther Johnson time to find his receivers opened this game up in a big way.
Defensively, Georgetown did all the right things, especially in holding Juston Christian, Marist's top receiver and arguably its best offensive weapon, to just one catch for eight yards.
Gunther Johnson's 369 yards is a career best and likely a season high. Defenses will adjust to the GU game plan, something Marist was conspicuous in not doing, and limit his ability to find receivers with ease. The offensive line did a great job of giving Johnson time to find receivers and best of all, kept him healthy.
Finally, a hat-tip for the early two point conversion. Too many times, these come at the wrong time for Georgetown and it opens the door back up, but 11-0 closed that door early and the third quarter points put the game away...and that's not a phrase that Georgetown fans hear a lot these days.
2. The B's: Georgetown's rushing defense, holding Marist to 61 yards on 30 attempts. Better yet, holding the homestanding Red Foxes under 25 minutes in time of possession and 4 of 14 on third down.
3. The C's: Georgetown's rushing game isn't very good, and there will be weeks where it will be even less than that, but it did what it needed to do Saturday after losing Carl Thomas in the second series. Thomas' availability won't be reported by Georgetown so we'll have wait until Saturday to see when or if he returns.
Two fumbles, one on the verge of a Georgetown score, and one which led to an easy Marist score, need some attention. Neither were vital to the outcome of the game but each was preventable and coachable.
4. The D's: Special teams. Two missed field goals and a blocked punt is clearly not the expectations placed on Brad Hurst as a team leader. He can do better, and must do so.
5. The F's. None. Breaking a 10 game losing streak was a team effort, and the team reflected that.
Future Schedules: Georgetown hasn't said much...OK, nothing about future schedules, but other Patriot League teams are. One of the attractive benefits of I-AA/FCS scholarship football is early September paychecks from I-A schools looking for the easy win. Such will be the case Saturday when Holy Cross heads east across the Mass Pike to play its old rivals at Boston College. Granted, no one on either team was alive the last time these two met, but BC will et its win and the HC fans can enjoy memories of a better time.
But i'm sure no one at Holy Cross would rather be playing Marist this week.
Here are the future schedules of major college opponents announced for other PL teams.
Bucknell:
2019: Temple
2020: Army
2021: Army
Colgate:
2019: Air Force
2022: Army
Fordham:
2019: Ball St.
2020: Hawaii
2021: Florida Atlantic
2022: Ohio
Holy Cross:
2019: Navy, Syracuse
2020: Boston College
2021: Connecticut
Lafayette:
2020: Navy
Lehigh:
Not announced
There are two responses to this list, either "How are they ever going to compete?" but maybe a better one is "What does this say about what kind of teams they'll have when they compete versus Georgetown?
We'll always have Marist, I suppose.
