In the third of our three part pre-season preview, some questions about the upcoming 2026 schedule.
1. What's The Biggest Change For The 2026 Schedule? Quality.
Georgetown's 6-6 finish in 2025, despite its usual November slide, was an accomplishment for one of the East's least productive programs. The record comes with a confluence of events which won't be easily repeated in 2026, however. Only three of its 2025 opponents had better than a .500 record last season, an unusual number in any season.
Among the most significant changes heading into 2026 is the non-conference schedule-- Georgetown was 3-1 in games versus teams below .500, and that accounted for half its win total. Wins against Davidson (2-10), Morgan State (4-8) and Wagner (5-7) gave Georgetown hope it could meet a .500 plateau in a down PL for 2025, but none will be around to play in 2026. The arrival of Villanova (12-3 in 2025) and William & Mary (7-5) has changed the calculus for Georgetown in the non-conference. Where once GU played five non-conference games a year against a mix of low-tier northeastern FCS programs, the Hoyas will now play 9 of 12 (or in GU's case, 9 of 11) games in-league. There is no room for error, and its two-non-conference opponents are not automatic in any scenario. Columbia (2-10) easily handled the Hoyas last season, while Cornell, a doppelganger for GU in the lower half of the Ivy standings, arrives at Cooper Field picked 5th in the Ivy standings.
Despite Coach Sgarlata's continuing interest in playing Ivy opponents, the Hoyas still cannot compete beyond Cornell and Columbia, which account for six of the seven Georgetown wins in 41 games against Ivy schools since 2003.
Trading wins with Davidson, Wagner, and Morgan State for likely losses to Villanova and W&M isn't a promising development for the schedule in 2026.
2. Can The Hoyas Get Off To A Good Start? It won't be easy.
Georgetown opens the season with four home games in its first five, but won't be favored in any of them. We should learn a lot more about this team in the opener versus Lafayette, which like Georgetown lost key offensive pieces to the transfer portal. If the Hoyas can play this game tough, they've got a chance to build something, but an early loss could set them down a slippery slope with Lehigh and Richmond to follow. Both Lafayette and Lehigh feature the run-heavy offenses that GU simply can't match defensively, especially with the losses of Cooper Blomstrom and Giancarlo Rufo.
There's a big difference between approaching mid-October at 2-3 versus 0-5. The Lafayette and Columbia games, both at home, offer the younger Hoyas an opportunity, but no sure thing, against programs it has shown it can compete among.
3. Any Hope Entering November? There's always hope, but...
Georgetown's cumulative record in November is lacking in many respects and downright deflating in others. Much of it is a function of depth--the team lacks the talent below the two-deep when called upon later in the season and they wither, as was the case in the 2025 finale versus Holy Cross. In contrast to the front-loaded home schedule, four of its final five games are on the road, including Colgate (where the Hoyas are 0-10 at Andy Kerr Stadium), the homecoming opponent to William & Mary (before an expected 13,000 at Zable Field), a Senior Day game at Fordham (GU is 1-11 all time vs. the Rams at the former Jack Coffey Field) and the beginning of a new tradition in the season finale at Villanova.
That game may not be close, but it's a start. As noted earlier at this blog: "In the last ten years, Georgetown has lost every single season finale, and by an average of 25 points. Only two of these have been by less than three touchdowns." In fact, Georgetown is 3-21 in the PL era in its league finales. Neither of these marks seem in jeopardy - this year, anyway -- against a Villanova team which enters the season ranked #8 nationally.
The lone home game in that stretch offers some hope at some revenge after some bad feelings following the loss at Fenway Park. Holy Cross opens with a four game gauntlet to open the season and will need some inspired play through a four game run in October where it will play at William & Mary, at Harvard, and home with Bucknell and Richmond. The Nov. 7 game will be the Crusaders' final road game of the season and it's a chance for the Hoyas to steal one late.
4. Why Isn't Georgetown Playing a 12th Game? Georgetown is not a place for candor, and neither Sgarlata nor athletic director Lee Reed are the kind of men who would be excessively glib about where Georgetown sits as a marquee opponent.
Absent a daily newspaper in Washington that could cover such things, it's complete guesswork on my part, but there are three suspects as to why Georgetown plays 11 games and its other nine PL schools play 12:
1. Expanded Schedule: The nine game PL schedule wreaked havoc with longer term plans, especially in the early weeks of the schedule and the needs of other PL schools (but not Georgetown) to maintain guarantee games. Georgetown hasn't opened the season with three consecutive PL games since 2001, another season where the league had to add a new school to the schedule matrix. It's not clear outside the coaching ranks what the relationships Georgetown has with the likes of Marist and Davidson under their new coaching regimes, but as these lower teams need to fill their schedules, the availability of Georgetown in weeks 2,4,5, and 10 didn't work.
2. Timing: A week two date (November 12) is an early bye for any team and not many schools have an open date this early, either due to guarantee games or, in the case of the Ivy League, its season has not yet started. Here's a remarkable stat: of 120 Division I-AA/FCS schools (less the Ivy League, who doesn't play in week two), 119 of the 120 are playing in week two. The only one that doesn't is... Georgetown.
Similarly, on its bye week of October 31, just seven other FCS teams have an open date. Who are they? Fordham (well, they play the Hoyas two weeks later), Jackson State, Long Island, New Hampshire, Northern Colorado, Prairie View A&M, and Valparaiso. The budget isn't set to travel to Greeley, Colorado or Jackson, Mississippi, and if GU wanted to avoid five road games in its final six, it needs a home game--and who is coming to Cooper Field? No one.
3. R&R: A thin team doesn't need an extra week on the field to get beaten up. If the bye week(s) give players time to heal up, it will be worth more than another game on the schedule.
5. What's The "Go-To" Game in 2026? Believe it or not, it's a game where Georgetown has the least chance to win: November 21 at #8 Villanova.
Georgetown has, as of August, a 4% chance in this one per the Massey ratings site, but playing the Wildcats for the first time on the gridiron in 76 years (yes, you read that correct) means something more. Short of a game with UConn, this game is likely to get more attention than Colgate or Lafayette or Columbia.
It also might lead to some discussions about how to better promote this game when Villanova returns to Washington in 2027. Institutionally, Georgetown University seems catatonic about promoting sports that do not involve a game in spacious Capital One Arena; yet, every other PL school seems to know know how to do so. Check out this link from Villanova announcing its promotions built around home games and ask yourself two questions:1) how will this atmosphere be to welcome Georgetown in November, and 2) why, why, WHY can't Georgetown do likewise?
In the meantime, here comes Lafayette.
