The Hobart College Statesmen dropped their first game of the season, 24-14, in the Liberty League opener at #16 Ithaca. The Bombers used Hobart's (3-1, 0-1) mistakes to their advantage, along with a powerful running attack to wear the Statesmen down. You can read the official HWSAthletics.com recap here.
Hobart had its chances, and even looked good early as SR RB Tim Denham, Jr. scored his first to two TDs and the Statesmen enjoyed an early 7-0 lead midway through the second quarter. The Statesmen defense did what I hoped (see the prior Week 5 preview) and kept Bombers SR QB A.J. Wingfield in relative check. While Wingfield did tie the game, 7-7, with an 8-yard TD pass, he had a relatively quiet day overall, going 13-21 for 137 yards. Hobart picked him off once, namely SO DB Mekhi Rodgers who had his first of the season, it was Wingfield's first INT of the season also.
Unfortunately, the Statesmen gave up 7 more points in the final 90 seconds of the first half, a bad punt snap that was covered up for a Bombers TD. I understand Hobart has a new LS this season, but not sure how you overshoot a 6' 6" kicker. There's no excuse for mistakes like that on the road in a big game.
The second half continued the defensive struggle and Ithaca had to settle for a FG late in the third to make it 17-7. Hobart would respond and make things interesting, after JR QB Johnny Columbi connected with Denham, Jr. for a 4-yard TD pass with 9:31 remaining in the game. This capped a 12-play, 85-yard drive that took nearly six minutes to complete.
Unfortunately, the ensuing drive the Bombers SR RB Jalen Leonard-Osborne broke a 79-yard run for TD to make it 24-14. Neither team could find the end zone after that, and Ithaca improved to 18-0 all-time against Hobart at Butterfield Stadium.
As most people know, I was covering another game on Saturday, so I was not able to follow this game as closely as usual. If you look at the box score the stat that stands out to me is this:
39 rushes for 218 yds (5.6 YPR average) for Ithaca
If you take out the 79-yarder, that's 38 rushes for 139 yards (3.65 YPR average). The latter is more acceptable, but still shows the Bombers had faith in their OL to control the LOS and take advantage of Hobart's smaller DL.
The Statesmen played a relatively clean game otherwise, only being flagged three times for -20 yards, which is one of the best performances in that category for a long, long time. Unfortunately you can't spot a nationally ranked and conference foe "free" points like that. Without that error it's 7-7 at the half and there's more pressure on the Bombers coming out for the second half.
Regardless of this game, I believe Ithaca will lose this Saturday on the road to RPI (4-0, 0-0). That will keep the Statesmen's LL title hopes alive. More good news is with two games against teams with a combined 1-7 mark, Hobart has time to improve and tune up before having to face Union (5-0, 1-0) in Week 8.
I'll have more on the upcoming game this weekend in another day or so.
Thanks for reading and go 'Bart!
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