The Hobart College Statesmen return to a familiar, but difficult place to win, this Saturday when they take on the Brockport Golden Eagles. It's been a short series, but one that's covered many years, dating all the way back to 1949. After that initial game, the Statesmen didn't see the Eagles again until the 1970's (1974, 19977-79) and kept the series going for a bit in the 1980's (1980-82), until shutting it down for a few decades.
Hobart and Brockport's modern era really started in 2016 and went four years with the teams splitting the home-and-home schedule, 2-2. Overall, the Golden Eagles have a 7-5 advantage in the overall series, but Hobart did win the last match up pretty convincingly, 33-7.
This season this is a tale of two very different teams and programs. Last Thursday night in Week 1, Brockport (1-0, 0-0), steamrolled a hapless Buffalo State, 41-0. We know what happened with the Statesmen.
Hobart (0-1, 0-0) comes into this game needing a win, but they will be the underdogs.
Scouting the Golden Eagles
Offensively, the Brockport running game is the key for the Statesmen. The Golden Eagles SR RB Isaiah Simmons is the best RB in the Northeast not named EJ. He rushed for 174 yards on 25 carries and scored three TDs in Week 1. He is coming off a 2024 season where he rushed for nearly 1,500 yards and scored 19 rushing TDs.
Defensively, the Golden Eagles have run a version of the 3-3 stack for at least a decade now. Hobart has moved in that direction with 3 DL and having the flexibility to stack LB/DBs in different roles depending on what the offense shows them. Last week the Brockport defense was led by SR LB Luca Friedman with six total tackles. FY DL Jayden Ferrell had a nice debut, logging five tackles, two TFL and a sack.
On special teams, the Golden Eagles only punted twice so not much to report there. FY PK Connor Parker kicked one 59 yards and back up SO QB Anthony Vino apparently did a "quick kick" for 34 yards. JR PK Zach McGowan averaged nearly 61 YPKO, with two touchbacks. One KO rolled out of bounds.
Keys to the Game:
1. Stop Simmons: While Hobart can't sleep on the experienced and accurate JR QB Ben Gocella (10-12, 140 yds., 1 Pass. TD vs. BSU), Simmons is the key to the Brockport offense. Their big OL will look to establish the run early and keep Hobart on their toes. I do expect Gocella to take a few deeps shots (SO WR Nathan Williams was his favorite target in Week 1 to the tune of four catches for 75 yards and one TD), so we'll need guys like JR DB Zeshaun Dixon ready and playing better than we saw in Week 1. The Golden Eagles ran 40 times compared to 18 pass attempts against BSU, probably because they could, so you can do the math. If Hobart can create issues for them in the run game, that will help the Statesmen level the playing field.
2. Negative Plays: A big reason for the Hobart Week 1 loss was simple - three turnovers and seven penalties for 63 yards. Some of those penalty yards were unnecessary too, but the either the coaching staff didn't stress the new injury rules enough, or the players just made mental mistakes in not going down fast enough to avoid the flags. Once bitten, twice shy is what I hope we see this weekend. We can't afford many more injuries, obviously, but turnovers and negative yardage will kill Hobart against a team as good as Brockport.
3. Just Win: To say this is a must win game is an understatement. Utica (1-0) put up close to 600 yards of offense on PAC co-champions W&J in Week 1. The Statesmen need a get out of this OOC schedule with some positive momentum, especially with LL play starting at Ithaca in Week 4.
Prediction:
While I had some concerns about Hobart being a close to .500 road team, the reality is more than half (nine) of those 15 losses were to ranked teams, and eight of them to LL rivals (Ithaca, Union and RPI), which, when it comes to conference play, isn't a surprise. Almost all of them were also close (7-14 points, or less), save for one (and a lopsided loss to Ithaca in 2019), which was the 2018 Brockport game which was HC Kevin DeWall's debut with a young, inexperienced team against one that ended up in the final four, losing to the eventual National Champions.
The Statesmen can go on the road and win this game, but they will have to execute better than they did last week. I expect a low-scoring defensive battle that will come down to who rushes the football better and doesn't commit the most mistakes. I'll be optimistic and say Hobart can win this game, 24-21, because if they start 0-2, 0-3 and 0-4 likely follows and that's not the road we want to see this team go down.
LFG Bart. Time to win.
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