The Hobart College Statesmen will (finally) get to have their home opener at "the Boz" this Saturday against the SUNY-Morrisville Mustangs. Hobart (1-0) looked strong in a dominating 35-3 win over Alfred (0-1). Morrisville State, on the other hand, took a 48-14 beating at the hands of Union (1-0). The Statesmen's performance caught a few voters' eyes and they are now in the "Receiving Votes" category of the Week 1 D3football.com Top 25 poll.
The Mustangs (0-1) had 13 offensive series in Week 1 and the results weren't good: 8 punts, 1 turnover on downs, 1 INT, and the end of the game. Obviously two of the drives resulted in scores - FY QB Alek Britten had two TD passes - a 41-yard one to JR WR Jarrell Cheney and a 9-yard pass to FY WR Joel Chururgi. Otherwise Union's high powered offense pretty much had it's way - racking up 484 total yards - while the Dutchmen defense made the Mustangs really one dimensional, holding Morrisville State to only 68 net rush yards.
Defensively, the Mustangs didn't fare much better, as Union scored on 6 of their 12 offensive possessions. The Dutchmen only punted three times in the game and pretty much were unstoppable in the passing game (gaining 327 yards through the air) while adding 157 yards on the ground.
Scouting the Mustangs
Britten had a pretty good first career game as the Mustangs QB, going 19-34 (56%) for 230 yards and 2 TDs. He added 4 carries, but ended up with negative yardage due to the Dutchmen defense.
One of the more interesting aspects of the Union game was how many different ball carriers the Mustangs used, handing off to 9 different players. FY RB Frankie McFadden got the most work with 6 carries, but he only gained 5 yards. Morrisville's "leading rusher" was another rookie, FY RB Alex McBurnie, who ended up with 3 carries for 20 yards.
You saw above who caught the TD passes and not unlike the RB corps, 9 different receivers caught at least one pass last Saturday. Cheney led the way with 5 catches for 72 yards and 1 TD for Morrisville.
Defensively the Mustangs were led by JR LB Joe Miller and JR LB Ernesto Mitchell (ironically these two guys wear #1 and #2 by coincidence) with 11 tackles each. JR LB Philemon Benjamin (who happens to wear #4) had 2 TFL to go with 6 stops.
Keys to the Game
1. Stick With What Works - The Statesmen tallied 5 rushing TDs last Friday and really should have had 6 if not for a fumbled snap from the goal line. The run-pass differential in Week 1 was about 78% run, and while it appears the Mustangs are a team that Hobart can exploit through the passing game, I would expect the Statesmen will continue to do what worked so well last Friday night. The inexperienced Statesmen WR corps got their feet wet with 10 catches, and while I expect this number to go up in Week 2, I wouldn't be surprised to see Hobart grind out most series on the ground, especially in the first half, to set up some play-action passing later.
2. Attack On Defense - Morrisville State appears to be a young and inexperienced team on paper. The Statesmen's defense is the opposite. While Britten and the Mustangs' offense wasn't very turnover prone against Union, the Statesmen could really make the FY QB have a long day with pressure off the edge and up the middle. While the Mustangs OL is big, their backs aren't and so our LBs should have a size mismatch that could play well into the Statesmen's favor.
3. Fine Tune the Rougher Edges
If Hobart can jump out to a good lead like Union did, it should be a good opportunity for the 2nd and 3rd team guys to get some valuable experience rotating in. It is important for the Statesmen not to underestimate the Mustangs just because of the Week 1 result, however. Back in 2019 Hobart didn't have a TD lead until 11:56 remaining in the game. While I believe this year's matchup has the potential to be lopsided, Hobart can't afford to get complacent.
Prediction:
I like Hobart to grind out another strong performance, running the ball a fair amount but getting their WR corps a little more work, especially since it's possible JR WR Shahkyle Matthews' injury on Friday could keep him out of the lineup, unfortunately (more on that soon), but time will tell on how fast he'll be back on the field.
I'll take the Statesmen to run away (pun intended) with a 42-10 win. To be fair, I also think we'll see at least one, if not more, receiving TDs on Saturday.
Here's a great week of practice and I hope all the fans and families have a great fall Saturday in Geneva in just a few days.
Thanks for reading and go 'Bart!
No comments:
Post a Comment