Also, before we start, congrats to Ali Marpet '15 on getting his first win as a Tampa Bay Bucs player on MNF. Hearing Jon Gruden repeatedly say "Hobart College" was pretty neat!
The stats on the Statesmen so far this season are interesting, if not telling, showing their strengths in certain areas and needs for improvement in others.
The Good:
The Statesmen rank third in total offense and defense in the LL, gaining an average of 416.5 YPG on O and allowing 303.3 YPG on D.
Hobart is the top ranked passing offense due to the outstanding play of JR QB Shane Sweeney. He's completed 60.6% of his passes for 2,011 yards and 20 TDs. He's on pace to set / break several passing records. His current passing yard totals rank him third in the nation and his 335.2 YPG average ranks ninth in DIII.
JR WR Brandon Shed ranks first in the LL with 664 receiving yards and 10 TDs. These same numbers were good for 10th nationally in receiving yards and tied for second in receiving TDs.
Teammates and SR WRs Sean Cunningham and Jack Pfohl are ranked fifth and sixth in the LL with 380 and 348 receiving yards to go with three and four TDs, respectively.
The Hobart OL has done well in pass protection, only allowing five sacks in six games.
JR PK Rio Schmidt is having an All-Conference type of year, leading the league in Net/P with 39.1. 12 of his 28 punts have gone for touchbacks or have been fair caught. Opposing teams have averaged less than a yard on returns, which shows how well he's performing his job.
JR LB Almamy Conde and FY LB Jedh Downey are ranked third and seventh in the LL with 53 and 50 total tackles, respectively. Downey has been a bright spot on a Hobart defense that has not performed as well as prior seasons and, at the moment anyway, has fairly average, if not mediocre stats ranking fifth in scoring defense (22.8 PPG allowed), sixth in rushing defense (178.5 YPG allowed), seventh in rush TDs allowed (12), and sixth in opponent third down conversions (40%). To be fair, the Statesmen defense did a solid job keeping RPI (4-2, 2-1) in check and held the Engineers below their season averages for rushing and scoring. Hobart also held RPI to two of 13 on third downs but ultimately it was the special teams mistakes and penalties that cost them the game.
On the other hand, the Statesmen secondary is the second best passing defense in the LL, allowing only 124.8 YPG and five passing TDs. The only knock against this unit is the fact they've only managed to haul in two interceptions, which ranks last in the LL. One must also keep in mind the fact that Hobart hasn't really played a strong passing team save for Brockport. All three LL opponents played to date average less than 100 YPG passing.
On the DL, SR DE James Hedger and JR DE Brandon Ball are ranked first and tied for third in the LL with five and four sacks each. Ball is tied for fourth with 7.5 TFL and tied for second in forced fumbles with two.
The Bad:
The Statesmen are last in rushing offense, averaging only 81.3 YPG. This in turn has kept the defense on the field for an average of nearly 34 minutes per game, ranking next to last in the LL.
Hobart is the most penalized team in the LL, getting flagged 48 times for -493 yards for an average of -82.2 YPG. It should be noted however that Statesmen opponents have been flagged 38 times for -394 yards so maybe penalties beget penalties? Nationally Hobart is in the bottom 15% of D3 teams (210 out of 244) as far as penalties go.
While he's done a good job overall and leads the team in tackles, RPI targeted Conde in the passing game and had success in beating his coverage. This will be an area that DC Kory David will need to work on and/or adjust his schemes accordingly.
On special teams Hobart is ranked next to last in FG conversions and PATs, going three of six on FGs and 21 of 25 on PATs. The Statesmen are sixth in KO return coverage (38.8 net average) and are next to last in KO return average (16.1). The former really hurt them against RPI last weekend.
Midseason Team MVPs:
Offensively it's pretty obvious Sweeney is the MVP. We knew Shed would have a good season but I will say Pfohl and Cunningham have played outstanding as well, the latter having some of the best games of his career in recent weeks.
Defensively I'm going with JR DB/OLB Tommy D'Antonio as MVP. In spite of his error on the roughing the kicker penalty in the RPI game, D'Antonio has stepped up big time filling in for an injured SR OLB Marcus Jemison and making plays like the two point conversion interception and run back which was a huge momentum shifter in the USMMA game. A close second would probably be Ball who has done very well as a first year starter, both statistically and in general.
Downey is the MVP for the Class of 2020 as I don't think many FY players, save for FY WR Isaiah Hill, have had significant PT so far.
Midterm Grade:
Offensively I'd say Hobart earns a "B" given an A+ passing game but kind of a "C- / D" when it comes to running the ball. Still, the Statesmen can quickly put up points, so you know they'll be able to be in every game down the stretch. Sweeney's ability to stay calm and make plays in close games has been outstanding also, which they'll probably need in match ups against Springfield and SLU.
Defensively I'll say Hobart earns a "C" given larger point and yardage numbers yielded than we thought they'd have going into the season. The Statesmen rush defense remains a particular concern, especially given the types of offenses they'll face in the final four games. The other concern is the lack of turnovers generated such as interceptions which hopefully will go up with two of the top passing offenses in WPI and SLU yet to be played.
Special teams gets a "C-" given the coverage and kicking issues. Punting and punt returns have been very good thanks to Schmidt and Cunningham, the latter of which has earned a STPOTW award from the LL.
The above averages out to a "C / C+" grade at the break, which is not great, but not bad either. One could argue it should be higher given five wins and a Top 25 ranking for a few weeks. I'll stick with that grade though because of preseason expectations (picked by Coaches to win the LL), especially when factoring in the penalties and mental mistakes Hobart made in the RPI game (and in the other league games). Would it have been higher if Hobart hung on to beat the Engineers? Maybe, but not by much. This team has yet to pull together a complete game, which they are capable of, and will need to do so in order to go 9-1 and make the playoffs. Otherwise we can expect another 7-3 or maybe an 8-2 season as a best case scenario (don't get me started on the unwillingness to file for an ECAC post season "bowl game").
Over the bye week, the Statesmen will need to shore up it's rushing defense with Springfield (3-2, 2-1) coming to town. The Pride runs the same triple option offense as USMMA (3-2, 2-1) that Hobart needed a lot of help to defeat in Week 5. The Pride handed Hobart it's first LL loss in four seasons, literally running away with a 35-13 victory last year in Western MA.
I'll have more on that game around this time next week.
Thanks for reading and go 'Bart!
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