Week 10 Recap, Week 11 Game Preview and ECAC Bowl Game Stuff

It was a successful Senior Day for the Hobart Statesmen who shellacked a relatively hopeless (and winless) Hilbert Hawks squad by a score of 65-0. You can read all about that one here.

SR RB E.J. Taylor scored three rushing TDs and keeps moving up the all-time record book. Even JR DL Billy Brosko scored a TD off a seven-yard pick six. I felt for Ted and Dave trying to keep the conversation interesting on the broadcast as the action was so lopsided. The win improved Hobart to 6-3 overall and 4-2 in conference play. RPI won the LL with a 14-10 victory over Ithaca, so it looks like the Statesmen will lock in third place this season.

Looking ahead, the Statesmen take on Buffalo State (1-8, 1-5), whose only win is against Hilbert. This should be another lopsided win for Hobart, who will wait to see who they will draw in the ECAC Bowl series. Kickoff for Saturday's game will be at 1 PM. Make sure to listen to Ted and Dave's call on WHWS.com.

Frank and I plan to reveal the ECAC Bowl bids live Monday, November 17th at noon eastern. We will do a live 30-minute show on X and our Facebook channel. 

At this point, assuming Hobart finishes 7-3, they are almost a lock to be selected. The main question is whether they will get to host a team or have to hit the road - pending Week 11 results, playoff and other conference-affiliated bowl bids. 

We will have to see. Last year the ECAC aligned teams based on identical W/L records, so if that's the case, SJF, Grove City and the loser of Montclair vs. Rowan are our best bets as all of them are predicted to end up at 7-3.

Enjoy the game Saturday and we'll have more to come Monday.

Thanks for reading and go 'Bart!

Week 10 - Senior Day / Hilbert Game Preview

The Hobart College Statesmen will honor 15 seniors this Saturday when they take the field for their (potentially) final home game of their college careers. The Hilbert Hawks (0-8, 0-6) probably won't offer much of a challenge, so it'll be nice to send these guys off with a win.

The Class of 2027 is an interesting one, made up mostly of Statesmen from NJ (six), along with student athletes from NY (four), CT (two), OH, PA and LA, respectively (one each). This makes me wonder when was the last time we had more players from a state outside of NY? 

Regardless, here are your senior Statesmen by numerical order:

#0 SR TE Tru Styles

#5 SR CB Zeshan Dixon

#5 SR WR Marcus Peterson

#23 SR LB Nicholas Gaffney

#35 SR RB E.J. Taylor

#36 SR WR Callum Letters

#56 SR LB Jack Ligarzewski

#57 SR DL Matthew Seo

#67 SR OL Alexander Ciesielski

#76 SR OL Ruston Bennett

#83 SR PK Luke Monteyne

#89 SR TE Timothy McKeever

#92 SR DL Hunter Vos

#93 GR PK Vicente Lyon

#98 SR DL Adekunle Fakorede

Congratulations to these outstanding student athletes on their commitment and hard work over their Hobart football careers. They've helped the Statesmen win 28 out of 41 games to date, including a Liberty League Championship and playoff berth, two postseason bowl bids and the James Lynah Bowl Championship. Hopefully two more wins and another bowl game title will follow. 

Senior Day is set to kickoff at 1 PM ET. You can find all the links to hear Ted and Dave call the game on HWSAthletics.com.

If you want to keep track of the ECAC Bowl bids, you can do so here. In a perfect world, I'd love to see a matchup between Hobart and either Saint John Fisher or Montclair State. Maybe Allegheny could be interesting also, but I'd have to check how the PAC's agreement with the OpenDorse Bowl takes priority. 

Time will tell.

In the meantime, thanks for reading, congratulations to the Class of 2027 and go 'Bart!

Statesmen Swat Yellow Jackets to win 15th Straight Centennial Cup Game, 38-7

The Hobart College Statesmen racked up 504 yards of offense while limiting the University of Rochester to 180 yards and only 10 first downs yesterday at the Boz in a commanding, 38-7, win over the Yellow Jackets.

The Statesmen (5-3, 3-2) were led on offense once again by SR RB E.J. Taylor who racked up 169 rushing yards and three TDs in the game. SO QB Aidan Conrath was an efficient 17-23 for 220 yards, and his OL didn't allow him to be sacked on the day. JR RB Tristan Reynolds made the most of his touches, scoring two rushing TDs to go with 11 carries for 77 yards. JR WR Johnny Harding led the receiving corps with seven catches for 93 yards.

The only complaint I had with yesterday's game on offense was the Statesmen's struggles on third down. Even though they controlled the game, Hobart was held to five of 12 on third downs, and at one point it was one of seven. 

Defensively the Statesmen were led by FY LB Tyler Cumming who is probably in line for another ROTW award from the Liberty League after a 10-tackle performance. Hobart sacked Rochester's QB Shawn Bellenger five times and picked him off twice.

You can read more about the big win here.

Hobart will celebrate their seniors next Saturday at the Boz against Hilbert.

More on that and some thoughts regarding potential bowl matchups based on what we saw in Week 9 and what could happen in the next two weeks.

Thanks as always for reading and go 'Bart! 

Week 9 - Centennial Cup / Rochester Game Preview

This Saturday, the Hobart College Statesmen will face off against their oldest rivals, the University of Rochester Yellow Jackets for the 118th time. This series dates back to Hobart's first season of 1892, and this game was renamed the Centennial Cup for the 100th game back in 2007. Hobart (4-3, 2-2) will host Rochester (3-4, 2-2) in the 16th annual Tackles and Touchdowns game, which raises funds for the Ability Partners Foundation in Geneva.

This event was originally conceived by former Hobart OL and Captain Jarrid Blades '12. You can make a donation via the link in the HWSAthletics.com article above if you're interested in supporting this wonderful cause. I know I will.

Last season the Statesmen narrowly escaped Rochester with a 28-21 win, seeing a 21-7 halftime lead chipped away by a couple of late TDs by the Yellow Jackets. Hobart needed OT to come away with the victory, their 14th straight over Rochester. This recent run by the Statesmen has given them a 62-38-7 lead in the all-time series.

Scouting the Yellow Jackets

Rochester has improved under the guidance of former Hobart QB and graduate Chad Martinovich '94, but has struggled of late, losing back-to-back games to Ithaca and RPI by a combined 77-7 margin.

The Yellow Jackets are a run first team, leaning towards the rush 68.8% of their offensive play calls. That may be by design, or the fact that they tend to be turnover prone when they throw the football, getting picked off 14 times in seven games this season.

JR RB Cole Raux (shown above) leads Rochester with 707 yards on 121 carries this season, scoring five rushing TDs. He did not play last week, however, so it remains to be seen if he'll be active for this Saturday's game or not. 

SO QB Shawn Bellenger has played in six games this season, going 76-131 passing for 829 yards, eight TDs, but with 11 INTs. His favorite targets on the Yellow Jackets receiving side are SO WR Justin Rizzo-Troxell (21 catches, 350 yards, TD), SR TJ Shifflet (18 catches, 229 yards, 4 TDs), and SO WR Corey Wang (14 catches, 155 yards, two TDs). 

Defensively Rochester has been led by big (6' 2" and 235 lbs.) SR LB Jack Diggins. He has 67 total tackles and is dangerous in the backfield, collecting 11.5 TFL, five QB hits, 2.5 sacks and an INT. 

SR PK Kyle Brainard covers all aspects of the special team's game, including punting (38.07 average), KOs (56.1 average), and FGs. The Yellow Jackets have only attempted two FGs all season however, and one of those was blocked, so unless they are really close in the red zone, I don't think we'll see Brainard attempt one. 

Keys to the Game:

1. Another Quick Start (and Don't Let Up): We finally saw the Statesmen score some TDs in the first half last week against SLU. A healthy SO QB Aidan Conrath absolutely picked apart the Saints pass defense and he should be able to do the same Saturday against Rochester. I do think we need to give SR RB EJ Taylor his fair share of carries, but staking out to an early lead would be a great way to get things started. Once we have the lead, we need to remember last season and not take our foot off the pedal. 

2. Turnovers: The Yellow Jackets have a -8 TOM this season, so the Hobart defense should have opportunities for a couple of takeaways. 

3. Keep the Streak: The win against SLU was Hobart's 15th in the series and they have a chance to notch their 15th straight win against Rochester. Let's keep it going. 

Final Thoughts:

I apologize if this comes out crass, but this is the final test for the Statesmen this regular season. A win here sets them up for two very winnable games against Buffalo State and Hilbert who are a combined 1-13 overall (and Buff State's only win was against Hilbert last weekend). 

Then it'll be a waiting game to see who the Statesmen draw in a potential ECAC Bowl game which Frank and I will once again announce around noon on Monday, November 16th on our In the D3FB Huddle Bowl Selection Show. 

That's all for now. Let's hope we can keep these winning streaks going.

Thanks, as always for reading and go 'Bart!

Statesmen Shut Out Saints, 41-0

The Hobart College Statesmen's offense and defense had its best game of the season, scoring four TDs in the first half and notching their first shut out of the season, in route to a 41-0 win over Saint Lawrence. 

The Statesmen (4-3, 2-2) outgained the Saints (2-5, 1-3) 481 to 184 total yards. SO QB Aidan Conrath came back into the fold and had an impressive 21-27, 324 yards and four passing TDs performance. SR RB EJ Taylor rushed for 69 yards on 15 carries, scoring his 39th and 40th career rushing TDs. SR WR Marcus Peterson led the receiving corps with three catches for 103 yards and his first TD of the season. 

Defensively, Hobart was led by SO DB Latrell Bonaparte with five tackles. The Statesmen defense held Saint Lawrence to only 75 rushing yards. 

You can read more from the HWSAthletics.com recap here. 

Up next is the annual Centennial Cup clash against Rochester. I'll have more on that one early next week.

Thanks as always for reading and go 'Bart!

Week 8 (Post Bye) - Saint Lawrence Game Preview

The Hobart College Statesmen got a much-needed bye week after a big win in Week 6 over the defending Liberty League Champions, Union College. While the 2026 season hasn't panned out how we hoped it might, things are certainly better than last year when the Statesmen (3-3, 1-2) were 1-5 after six games.

While it appears the NCAA playoff berth will go to the winner of the Ithaca-RPI game, Hobart still has designs on getting back into the postseason, especially if they can end the year with seven wins. That mark puts them in good shape for a potential ECAC Bowl bid.

The first step as always is going 1-0 this week, as the Statesmen hit the road for what will be their longest trip of the season so far. Up next are the Saint Lawrence University (SLU) Saints this Saturday for a 1 pm kickoff. Last season Hobart took care of the Saints early, with the Statesmen scoring 35 unanswered points in the first half on the way to a 49-17 rout. Then SO QB Jeremy Weiss had one of his best games of the 2025 season, going 13-17 for 329 yards and four passing TDs. 

Hobart and SLU's series is an old and long one, with the Statesmen having a 58-36-2 record against the Saints, going back to 1901. Saturday will be the 97th edition of this rivalry, with Hobart enjoying a 14-game winning streak that dates back to 2010.

Scouting the Saints

SLU has struggled this season, earning a 2-4, 1-2 record so far. The Saints wins have come against Norwich (3-3, 1-2) and Hilbert (0-5, 0-4). SLU has losses to two teams Hobart beat, Alfred (31-7) and Union (49-7), and were blanked by Ithaca, 66-0. They also dropped a 30-10 decision to Saint John Fisher back in Week 2. 

The Saints made a QB change midseason, giving JR QB Sean Miles the top job after JR QB Oliver Cheer started the season as QB1. Miles seems like a versatile athlete, having passed for 256 yards and two TDs to go along with 83 rushing yards (the net of his 143 of gains vs. 60 in TFLs or sacks) and three rushing TDs.

Regardless of who's throwing the ball, SLU's top receiver is JR WR Cole Phelan. He has 24 catches for 292 yards and three TDs so far this season. SR TE Ben Chapman has been used mostly as a blocker, but he scored a TD in the Hilbert game.

The offense, which leads toward the run (206 to 148 plays) is led by SO RB Caeden Perreault, who missed a few games this season, but logged two 100+ yard rushing games in the three he's played in. He rushed 15 times for 179 yards and a TD against Hilbert.

The Saint's defense is led by SO LB Luke Robillard with 34 total tackles and two TFL. Classmate SO LB Drew Lazcano has been good at getting into the opposition's backfield, leading the team with 3.5 TFL, three sacks and two FFs. 

On special teams, SLU has two PKs, the first being JR PK Aidan Morris who handles FGs. He's missed as many as he's tried (4-8) with a long of 37 yards. JR PK Rory McGuire handles punts and KOs, averaging 37.42 YPP and 58 YPKO this season. SR DB Jack Finnegan has been the primary punt returner, and it appears as though Perrault has had the best success of any Saints player in the KOR side of things.

Keys to the Game:

1. Get Off to a Good Start - The Statesmen's road woes have been well documented, so I don't want to dwell on it that much. Hobart is simply an average road team, and while they will be heavily favored to beat SLU, it would be nice to see them come out looking sharp and executing well in the first quarter. Hobart still hasn't scored a TD in the first half going back to Week 2, so yeah, that would be a nice thing to erase off the ledger on the opening drive.

2. Turnovers: The Saints defense has forced eight turnovers this season, including six INTs. SLU has given up 233 YPG and 12 TDs through the air this season, so I could see Hobart wanting to challenge that secondary, but they will need to be smart about it.

3. Business Trip: The Statesmen know the key ingredients of successful Hobart Football at this point - run the ball, stop the run on defense, and play with poise. I'm looking for a clean, well-executed game by all three units, without any silly penalties. 

Final Thoughts:

Saint Lawrence hasn't beaten us in 14 tries, and Hobart is clearly the stronger side, but the Statesmen can't take anything for granted. We saw several higher rated teams lose to lower ranked conference opponents in Week 7 across D3FB.

Here's to hoping we see a polished and focused Hobart team coming out of the bye ready to finish the year on a nice long winning streak. 

Thanks as always for reading and go 'Bart!

Statesmen Rally to Defeat Dutchmen, 18-12

The Hobart College Football team got their first Liberty League win of the season yesterday against long time conference rivals and defending champions, Union College. SR RB E.J. Taylor capped off an 11-play, 64-yard drive with a five-yard TD run with 52 seconds left to give Hobart (3-3, 1-2) a hard-fought victory over the Dutchmen (3-3, 2-1).

Although the Statesmen's first half offensive scoring struggles continued (they were shut out for the fourth straight week in a row), FY LB M.J. Wells read and intercepted a JR QB Luke Sheehan pass and returned it 42 yards to give Hobart an early 7-0 advantage. FY PK Owen McNulty struggled a bit on Saturday, going 1-3 on FGs, but the one he did make gave the Statesmen a 10-0 lead with 6:38 remaining in the first half.

Union would score after SR DL Jordan Black forced a JR QB Jeremy Weiss fumble which was cashed in on by Sheehan and SR WR Gil Rivera, his first of two receiving TDs on the day. The second TD would give the Dutchmen their only lead of the game, 12-10 (Union missed both PATs) with 11:13 remaining in the game. 

You know the rest and can read more about it here from the HWSAthletics.com recap.

The win gave HC Kevin DeWall '00 his 56th career victory at Hobart, making him the third winningest coach in Statesmen Football history. More importantly, it gave Hobart some needed confidence after three weeks of struggles. While the team showed grit and determination, they failed to find ways to win games until this weekend. 

Hobart goes into its bye week with an even mark, and a good chance to finish the year with a 7-3 regular season record. The Statesmen's final four opponents are currently a combined 5-19. This gives Hobart a great chance to earn another ECAC bowl bid and potentially host it. Time will tell but in a season of tough breaks, it was nice to see one go the Statesmen's way this Saturday in a tough, all-around effort. 

Congratulations again to the team and Coach DeWall on the big win over Union. I'll have a midseason review up later next week.

Thanks, as always for reading and go 'Bart!