Week 2 - Morrisville State Game Preview

The Hobart College Statesmen will take their first road trip of the season to face the (nearby) SUNY-Morrisville Mustangs. This is the second game of their series, with Hobart's impressive 62-24 win in Geneva being the first. That game was also Kevin DeWall '00's first victory as HC of the Statesmen. Hobart got the win partially due to (then) JR QB Ryan Hofmann going 14-of-20 for a career-high 239 passing yards and six TDs. He'd break that career record with 328 yards against Shenandoah the following week. Hofmann also broke a game record for quarterback rating, finishing the day against Morrisville with a 269.4 QBR, 0.3 better than Shane Sweeney 18's mark which he set at a game against Union in 2015.

The Mustangs would go on to finish 2018 with a 6-5 overall record, including a respectable 4-3 mark in the E8, losing a 56-48 shootout to Grove City in an ECAC bowl game. They returned six offensive and four defensive starters from that team, according to D3football.com, for the 2019 campaign.

Last weekend the Mustangs (1-0) upset what was supposed to be an impressive Bridgewater State (MA) team last Saturday by a score of 39-7. The Bears (0-1) were held to 268 total yards, including only 68 on the ground for a paltry 2.1 YPR average. Bridgewater State committed three turnovers as well, which helped the Morrisville offense capitalize on field position.

Scouting the 'Stangs

This season the Mustangs have some new faces in their offensive backfield as JR QB Bill Flatow along with SR RB Kinsey Williams and SO RB Michael Cirasuolo. Flatow had a solid game against Bridgewater, completing 15-of-25 passes for 190 yards and two TDs. Flatow added eight carries for 28 yards and one rush TD as well. Williams and Cirasuolo split 19 and 10 carries for 73 and 70 rushing yards, respectively. Each tallied a rushing TD as well. Cirasuolo, who's the bigger (5'10" 195 lbs.), stockier back of the duo, broke one run for 34 yards in the game.

Flatow's main target in last weekend's game was short but speedy SO WR Toure Hall who had six catches for 48 yards and two TDs. Hall also carried the ball four times for 16 yards. Hall does double-duty as a punt and kickoff returner also.

Morrisville has a BIG OL that helps give them an advantage in the trenches. Last week's lineup included JR RT Rudy Pablo (6'4" 284), JR RG Zach Hutchinson (6'2" 310), SO C Brian Mapp (6' 285), JR LG Tyler Elmor (6'2" 365!) and SO LT Chris Pawlowski (6'7" 300). JR TE Kyle Tuohy is used mostly as a blocker, but he did make three catches for 44 yards against the Bears.

Defensively the Mustangs run a 4-3-4 scheme that featured a host of tacklers last Saturday. Their current leader in the stat book is SO LB Ernesto Mitchell who tallied eight stops, one sack and one TFL. SR CB Sage Thomas and JR CB Deondrade Wells each had INTs last Saturday and SO LB Philemon Benjamin led the defense with two sacks and two TFLs.

On special teams Morrisville has a strong punter and KO men in FY PK Hunter Regels and SO PK Max Falkner. Regels averaged 36.2 YPP and Falker had a 51.6 yard KO average. Flatow actually booted one also, likely a quick kick, for 32 yards so the Hobart secondary will need to keep an eye out for that trick play.

Keys to the Game:

1. Win the LOS - The Hobart DL and LBs will be at a size disadvantage, so they will need to leverage their gaps and look for openings to crack the big Morrisville OL. On the flip side, the Hobart OL needs to protect SR QB Ryan Hofmann since it looks like the Mustang defense blitzed / supplied a lot of pressure en route to five sacks and eight TFL for -51 yards last Saturday.

2. Attack on Defense - Flatow is only making his second career start and is inexperienced. If the Statesmen OLB and DEs can get in his face, they could see some of the same results they got against SR QB Jason Hellwig last weekend. Hobart JR OLB Emmett Forde and FY ILB CJ Calero both got recognized by the LL for their outstanding play last weekend, and should factor in a big way, once again, Saturday. One of the keys to Morrisville's success against BSU was how they were so balanced offensively. If the Statesmen can make them one-dimensional, it'll be an easier win for Hobart.

3. Establish the Run - The Mustangs appear to have a stout rush defense and Hobart didn't exactly run the ball well last weekend. FY RB Rayshawn Boswell earned a conference honor roll mention for his role in the return game, but otherwise the Statesmen RBs averaged less than two YPC against Brockport. Hopefully those stats will go up this weekend.

Prediction:

While I think this year's Mustang squad is the underdog in this game, I don't see Hobart dropping 62 points on them again. The Statesmen need to avoid this as a potential "trap game", given the high of defeating Brockport and having two NJAC teams coming up in the next two weeks.

I trust Coach DeWall '00 and staff will have Hobart dialed in and ready, so I'll take Hobart to win this one 35-17.

Thanks as always for reading and go 'Bart!