Week 2 - Saint John Fisher Game Preview

What was supposed to be a Top 25 battle between two of New York's best DIII teams lost some of its luster as both Hobart and SJFC come into this key Week 2 game with a combined 0-2 record. This is still a huge game, however, as it's basically a potential playoff seeding contest, and neither team wants to open the year 0-2.

The Cardinals saw leads of 14-0 and 27-23 fade away in a Week 1 37-27 loss to the Washington & Jefferson Presidents (1-0). The SJF offense debuted a new QB and did well passing the football, throwing for 354 yards. They were held to only 86 rushing yards however, and the Presidents' defense forced three Cardinals turnovers. The SJF defense allowed 419 yards and collected three turnovers of their own, but eventually gave way to W&J who ground out 160 rushing yards at a 4.4 yards per carry clip.

Scouting the Cardinals

SO QB Joshua Michels is the new signal caller for SJF, and he attempted 57 passes in the W&J game, completing 26 of those to score three TDs. SR RB James Chambers led all Cardinal rushers with 41 yards, but was mostly bottled up by the Presidents' defense, carrying the ball 22 times and only averaging 1.9 yards per carry. Chambers had more success as a receiver, catching six passes for 90 yards and a TD. SO WR Dylan Harrington and big JR TE Wyatt Stehle also caught TD passes, combing for 11 catches and 119 yards.

SR WR Mike Collichio led the Cardinals with 7 receptions for 111 yards. Collichio, Chambers and Harrington each made catches over 27 yards.

SJF struggled in the kicking game, missing all three FG attempts. The only positive was JR PK Devin Dzikowicz was perfect (3-3) on his PATs.

SR LB Justin Rivera led the defense with 10 tackles, including a sack and a TFL. SR S Cameron Bellino and JR S Brennan Thompson each tallied eight tackles a piece, the latter added an interception and pass break up as well. JR CB Demarre Nelson also had an INT in addition to two tackles.

Keys to the Game:

1. Get Defensive - The Hobart defense let up (a likely program worst) 603 total yards to Brockport last weekend. If the Statesmen have any hopes of winning the Liberty League and returning to the playoffs this season, the defense will have to get better. The Hobart defense will also need to be prepared to play all four downs as SJF converted four of five 4th down conversion attempts against W&J.

2. Don't Abandon the Run - The Statesmen had to pass more after falling behind 14-0 to the Golden Eagles (1-0). Hobart attempted 21 runs and only gained 79 yards, a significant chunk of that came on a 21 yard gain by JR RB Tynard Barfield, who led the Statesmen with 66 yards on six carries. Fisher's defense eventually wore down in the 4th quarter of their Week 1 game, as W&J mixed short to mid-range passes with runs by SO RB Jordan West who finished with 27 carries for 154 yards and two TDs.

3. Reclaim the Boz - Last weekend was Hobart's first regular season home loss since RPI stopped a two point conversion attempt and hang on for a 21-20 win, back on October 24, 2015. The Statesmen need to reclaim their home field advantage, especially against a SJF program that has had a decent amount of success against Hobart of late. The Cardinals haven't lost to the Statesmen since the lopsided 56-20 game on September 24, 2011. The all-time series has Hobart with an 11-7 lead, but it should be noted that the Statesmen have lost five of the last six contests against SJF, the most recent one being a 27-6 decision to Fisher in the 2013 NCAA playoffs (which also happened to be at Boswell Field).

Prediction:

In 2011 I picked SJF over Hobart and the Statesmen proved me wrong. Big time. In 2013 I picked Hobart over the Cardinals, and the Statesmen came up short.

Given last weekend's defensive struggles it would be hard not to pick against the Statesmen in this match up given the Cardinals present a lot of the same offensive challenges that Brockport did, other than the fact it doesn't appear that Chambers is as good a runner as Justin Morrison. The Empire 8 teams went 3-0 against LL ones last weekend (#21 Alfred edged Ithaca 20-17 and Utica made SLU look pretty poor in a 20-7 win), which doesn't help.

The Cardinals have eight returning starters on offense, but only four defensive starters from 2016's 8-3 team. If Hobart can execute better on offense (e.g., do better than four of 12 on 3rd down conversions), they could best SJF in a shootout.

I'll take the Cardinals again, 35-31, but hope in doing so the Statesmen can channel their 2011 counterparts. I know former Statesmen like Jarrid Blades and Garth Muratori '12 know what beating Fisher can do for your season.

Looking forward to seeing a better performance by Hobart this Saturday.

Thanks for reading and go 'Bart!