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
