Postseason - Cortland State / New York Bowl Game Preview

The Hobart College Statesmen will travel to Cortland State Saturday for the second New York Bowl game. Hobart (8-2) will look to match their 2016 overall record with a win. While I had the best intentions of doing a full game preview, life kind of got in the way. Also, when I saw the Cortland (8-2) game notes press release, I realized they already have done a more thorough job than I possibly could have, recapping the all-time series and key players from their side.

That said, I still have a few items to focus in on that I think will play a big role in the outcome of this game.

Keys to the Game:

1. Hobart's OL / RB vs. the Cortland DL/LB - Cortland has allowed an average of 3.8 YPR against Hartwick and Ithaca in the past two games. I think the Hobart OL can open up some running lanes for SR RB Brian Haeffner, FY RB Rayshawn Boswell and FY RB Tim Denham, Jr. This three-headed attack can be the best defense controlling the clock and keeping Red Dragons SR QB Brett Segala on the sideline (which is basically what Ithaca did running the ball 51 times from zone read formations and plays, leading to about a 45 minutes TOP advantage in the Cortaca game at MetLife Stadium last Saturday).

2. Fuel to the Fire - I probably wasn't the only one who noticed SR QB Ryan Hofmann was effectively snubbed in the LL all-conference awards. This was the first time since 2015 that a Hobart QB didn't get included on the LL awards list. While Hofmann has struggled with accuracy at times during the season, he has led to the Statesmen to many wins since his first career start in Week 11 back in 2017. He will end up in the Top 5, or very close to, in the all-time record books in a number of statistical categories. Saturday will be his and his 11 SR FB classmates final game as well. Hopefully he goes out with a showing similar to what we saw against Rochester. Cortland's secondary has allowed an average of 9 YPC through the air and 4 passing TDs in the last two games.

3. Turnovers - Both Hobart (3 INTs, 1 FBL) and Cortland (3 INTs, 2 FBL) had turnover issues in their respective losses this season, so it goes without saying the team that wins the turnover battle Saturday will likely be raising the silver cup after the game.

4. Special Teams - The Statesmen have one of the better KOR games in the East and Cortland has blocked several (like 10) FGs this season, running many of them back for TDs. Along with turnovers, Hobart needs to play heads up in the ST unit to not give Cortland any advantages there.

Prediction:

I think the Hobart run game will end up being the difference here, along with a couple of defensive plays that will keep the Dragons at bay. Given the cold, I think it'll be a slightly lower scoring affair, but I like the Statesmen to win the NY Bowl trophy by a score of 24-20.

Thanks for reading and go 'Bart!