Week 10 - Buffalo State / Senior Night Game Preview

Welcome to November football, Statesmen fans!

It's been an interesting ride this season, but the Hobart College Football squad has a chance to finish 2019 with the best record the program has had since the 2016 season. They could even potentially match that 9-2 overall record, assuming they receive the LL bid the second ever New York State Bowl game.

In the past I've broken down the opposing team for games this season, but for this week, I am going to focus primarily on the Class of 2020.

These 12 SR Statesmen will be playing in their final home game Saturday night under the lights of the "Boz":

2019 Hobart Football Roster

NO			NAME	POS	CL	HT	WT	HOMETOWN	HIGH SCHOOL
6			Ray Conley	WR	SR	6-1	190	Lyndhurst, N.J.	Don Bosco Prep
9			John DelliSanti	WR	SR	6-2	200	Wilton, Conn.	Fairfield Prep
10			Ryan Hofmann	QB	SR	6-3	205	Lindenhurst, N.Y.	Lindenhurst
12			David McCarthy	OLB	SR	6-1	200	Ronkonkoma, N.Y.	Sachem North
15			Jake Catalioto	WR	SR	6-0	203	Ringwood, N.J.	Lakeland
16			Andrew Koonz	FS	SR	6-3	200	High Falls, N.Y.	Rondout Valley
20		C	Jayson Prince	CB	SR	6-1	200	New Rochelle, N.Y.	New Rochelle
22		C	Brian Haeffner	RB	SR	5-9	210	Garden City, N.Y.	Garden City
27			Josh Walker	ILB	SR	5-10	200	Fort Washington, Md.	Blair Academy/The Potomac School
79			Reid Crobok	DT	SR	6-1	315	Hoosick Falls, N.Y.	Troy
82			AJ Perlino	TE	SR	6-6	245	Holland, N.Y.	East Aurora-Holland
94			Collin Hudgins	DE	SR	6-0	240	Boynton Beach, Fla.	Atlantic

Each of these student athletes have had solid careers as Statesmen and are a big part in why Hobart is beginning to turn the corner to returning to the top of D3FB. While I'm sure most, if not all, of these young men would have liked to have had better than a 27-11 record over the past four seasons, they certainly should be proud of the accomplishments made to date and look forward to the post-season recognition many will receive in form of conference and other team and individual awards.

Scouting the Bengals

While it might be easy to assume Hobart should have no trouble with a 1-7 team, there are a few players on the Buffalo State Bengals squad that bear mentioning and should be taken seriously by the Statesmen.

SR RB Martin Bailey (pictured above) is currently 5th in the LL averaging 3.8 YPC and nearly 50 RYPG. He's thrown four times this season, completing three of those including 1 passing TD to go with 3 rushing scores.

Like most LL teams, the Bengals are mostly a passing team offensively. They are led by SR QB Zak Ciezki who's completed nearly 61% of his pass attempts, throwing for 1,744 yards, 11 TDs compared to 8 INTs. His primary target has been SR WR Jordan Evert, who's caught 66 passes this season for 841 receiving yards and 9 TDs.

The OL is a younger group, mostly made up of FY and SOs, but SR OL Tre Smith has both size (6' 1" 290 lbs) and experience at the tackle position.

Buffalo State runs a 4-3-4 style defensive scheme and the Bengals are led by SR S Gino Bonagura with 95 tackles, including 3.5 TFL and 3 INTs. JR LB Devin Delmont is second on the team with 70 tackles and 7 TFL.

JR PK Zachary Sajdak handles punting duties and a 31.34 YPP net average. SR PK Tommy Carr has gone 3-5 on FGs this season with a long of 33 yards. Carr has also averaged over 53 YPKO also, but has split time with JR PK Merrick Sproule.

Keys to the Game

1. Keep on Running - The Bengals defense has allowed nearly 200 RYPG this season, including 20 rushing TDs. Last weekend we saw the Statesmen running attack achieve a season high 315 rushing yards and 3 rush TDs.

2. 4-Down Territory - Don't expect the Buffalo State offense to always punt on 4th down. The Bengals have gone for it 24 times this season (basically three times a game on average), but have only converted 7 of those attempts. This high risk approach could benefit Hobart depending on field position.

3. Home Sweet Home - The Statesmen can finish the season 6-0 at home with a win on Saturday night. The Boswell home field advantage is a real thing. Of the 27 wins the Class of 2020 has earned, 18 have been at the Boz. In fact, they've only lost 3 games in the past four seasons when playing in Geneva.

Prediction:

I think the Hobart defense will flex it's collective muscles and cause a couple of turnovers and the offense will cash in several times in what I expect will be a 42-14 win.

Thanks again for reading and go 'Bart!