2020 Schedule Release (and Reaction)

HC Kevin DeWall '00 posted the 2020 Hobart College Football schedule and it's pretty much as predicted from a month ago. The Week 2 home opener was confirmed as being SUNY-Morrisville and the remaining out-of and in-conference games fell into place. It's a great opportunity that both Union and Ithaca will be home games in 2020.

The one "surprise" I suppose was the addition of newly formed Keystone College Giants (this is not where the beer of the same name is from - that's Colorado), which added the sport of football in the spring of 2018 and has been preparing to open for their first active regular season game in over 70 years. Keystone is located in the town of La Plume, which is 11 miles northwest of Scranton.

The Giants are led by HC Justin Higgins and have been added to the Eastern Collegiate Football Conference (ECFC). Higgins knows the Statesmen pretty well given coaching stints at Utica and Morrisville State.

While certainly not world-beaters, Keystone ensures Hobart of a 10-game regular season, and more importantly, a Homecoming & Parent's Weekend opponent. The latter is an extra benefit because of the fact pretty much the entire team should see the field and it'll be a much easier "tune up" for conference play than Montclair State was a week before a huge game against Union last season.

While some D3 pundits may turn their noses up at this particular match-up, you can't blame the coaches for finding an opponent given limited options, especially when you consider last season and this fall teams like RPI and Union had and will have games against pushovers like Westfield State and Anna Maria, two New England teams that had a combined 4-16 record in 2019. Even "blue bloods" like Ithaca played a punchless St. Vincent squad last season that ended up going 3-7. The Bombers have a much tougher opener in 2020 however, as they will go up against John Carroll of the OAC, a rival of Mount Union. Lopsided match-ups happen in CFB all the time, even at the D3 level.

Overall I'm very happy for the Statesmen that the schedule came through as planned and am hopefully looking forward to seeing games in the fall. A lot has to happen between now and then, however, given the present uncertainty. While I haven't been impressed with the new HWS leadership's handling of the current situation, I am going to remain hopeful fall classes resume as planned and everyone is healthy and safe.

Thanks as always for reading and go 'Bart!