Dickinson Game Preview

If the seventh ranked Hobart Statesmen want to achieve another run to the playoffs, their first step (and obstacle) is beating the Dickinson College Red Devils.   Dickinson returns a decent amount of players, particularly on offense, from a 4-6 (4-5 in conference) season in 2012.  Their offense is looking to take the hard knocks learned in 2012 (ranking near the bottom of D3 in total offense at #222) towards a better year in 2013.

There is a good deal of optimism in Carlisle, even if the Centennial Conference Coach's Poll assumes otherwise (predicting them to finish eighth out of 10 CC teams this fall).  Preseason previews for Dickinson can be found here and here.  What jumps out to me in these previews are:

1. QB Cole Ahnell is the key cog in the Dickinson offense and stopping him is paramount for a Hobart win Saturday
2. OL/DL depth and size - the Devils are inexperienced and a bit undersized on the line which should play into the Statesmen's favor.  Still, Coach Breaux is very pleased with his FY recruiting class, so there may be some surprise players for the Hobart OL/DL to contend with (especially with no film on these FY players to review prior to game time)
3. Their defense has strong LB corp but the team really needs to improve on last season's 32.1 PPG allowed stat to have a better season in 2013

Hobart's preseason preview from HWSAthletics.com was published today.  You can check that out here if you haven't seen it yet.  It gives some great color on the potential two deep roster, but also had some bad news.  SR LB and Co-Captain Tom Elder is out for the season with a leg injury.  This is a big loss for sure, but I expect SR LB Cory Davis to fill in well.  This injury may also give some younger players an opportunity to get valuable playing time early in their careers.

Keys to the Game:

1. Stick to the run - the Statesmen will debut a QB(s) and 2 new, but SR, starting OL in Saturday's game.  I expect Hobart to test the young (and smaller) Dickinson DL with a lot of running plays.  Coach DeWall will call a pass on occasion just to keep the Devils from stacking the box all game
2. Strive for Deja vu on D - while it will be very difficult to repeat last season's stifling defensive performance (31-0 shutout and only 54 total yards allowed), the Statesmen have played the Devils enough times to know their offense and plan accordingly.  The key will be to cover gap assignments and not get beat to the outside, forcing the undersized (5'7") Ahnell to have to pass (he only completed 3 of 14 vs. Hobart last year)
3. Forget 2012 - if you base this game on last season and thus the preseason rankings, this is a match up featuring #7 vs. #129.  Is this Hobart team 122 places better than Dickinson?  I don't know that, but I do know both teams are 0-0 coming into this game and the all time series between the two schools is an almost dead even 11-10-1.  While I do think the Statesmen will win, don't expect to see a 40+ point blowout

Prediction:

Hobart may start slow, but will wear down the Devils in the end.  I'll predict a 35-10 victory for the Statesmen this Saturday.  Tune into www.weos.org at noon and follow me @ITHuddLLe for tweets during the game and for a run down of our guests on the 9/8 edition of "In The HuddLLe".  Thanks for reading and go 'Bart!