Monday Morning Quarterback - Geneva Game GBU, #14 ranking and other thoughts

This weekend was a whirlwind of activity for my family and I so unlike prior weeks I wasn't able to get my thoughts / recap of the Geneva game up on Saturday afternoon.  I spoke about it a little bit last night on ITH (www.inthehuddlle.com if you missed it and want to listen to the archive), but I had mixed emotions about the Geneva game.

HWSAthletics.com posted the following recap you can check out here:

http://www.hwsathletics.com/news/2012/9/8/HFB_0908122847.aspx

Here is my "Good, Bad and Ugly" regarding last Saturday's game:

The Good:

Hobart is 2-0 and is now ranked #14 in the Nation by D3football.com pollsters (http://www.d3football.com/top25/2012/week2).  This is the highest ranking the Statesmen have ever received and it is very nice recognition of the program.

The defense and special teams are playing lights out.  Hobart's punt return group has blocked 4 punts in their last three games (including the playoff game at Wesley) and effectively all four blocks have resulted in touchdowns.  The Statesmen are currently ranked fourth in all of Division III in total defense allowing a paltry 115 YPG.

JR OLB Devin Worthington, last year's Liberty League (LL) Defensive Player of the Year, came back with a venegence Saturday, leading the Hobart defense with seven total tackles, four and a half tackles for loss (TFL) and two sacks.

This year's FY class is already contributing.  FY DE Mark Guarino-Hyde was named the LL Rookie of the Week for his seven tackle, one and half sack debut against Dickinson in Week 1.  Last Saturday FY RB Conner Hartigan (who I profiled back in a post on 4/15/12) ripped off a 40 yard run against Geneva and ended up as the Statesmen's leading rusher in the game with 66 yards on seven carries.  FY PK's James Hull and Josh Neuss have done well in their point after, field goal and kickoff duties.  Hull is third on the team in scoring with 11 points.

The Bad

The rain on Saturday certainly didn't help but the offense (who would have though the old mudders of the Boz would evolve into a finesse offense?  Just kidding, sort of...) still seems like it's getting it's bearings.  Take away the punt blocks and the PPG average drops to 19 which isn't very prolific.  Some tough games loom on the schedule, the first being Utica College (2-0) which so far has easily defeated LL teams by an 85 to 24 point margin.  The Pioneers' offense has thrived under QB Andrew Benkwitt to the tune of 307 passing YPG and eight TD passes.   The Utica OL has enabled their rushing attack to gain 170 YPG on the ground.  Their defense has been pretty strong as well only allowing 119 rushing PG and 216 YPG through the air.

The game Saturday will be at Utica under the lights and could be a defining win for a Pioneers program that has been improving over the past several years.  Hobart is still the clear cut favorite but I worry about this game.  SR QB Nick Strang has been accurate, completing over 60% of his passes, but that number would be better if the inexperienced receiving corps didn't allow a number of throws to hit them in the chest or bounce off their fingertips.  The offense will need to post better numbers to defeat a strong QB and defense like Utica's.

The Ugly

At one point during the Geneva game Hobart had been flagged for five personal fouls.  Now to be fair, although a Christian college, the Tornadoes were fairly chippy (whatever happened to turn the other cheek?).  That said  the Statesmen have racked up 18 flags in the first two games for 185 penalty yards.  It's one thing to get flagged when clearly in control of a game, but a personal foul call could really impact a close contest, and the 10+ penalty per game habit Hobart has needs to improve.

That's all I have for now.  Will be back later in the week to discuss Utica in more detail.  This will be a great final OOC test for the Statesmen before the LL schedule kicks into gear.

Thanks for reading and go 'Bart!