Defense Dominates Titans in 21-3 ECAC Bowl Win

Would you expect it to go any other way?

The Hobart College Statesmen completed their second consecutive 9-2 season behind an impressive defensive effort, defeating the Presidents Athletic Conference Co-Champions, Westminster College (PA), 21-3. The win is Hobart's second consecutive ECAC Bowl Championship, and first since the 2003 season.

You can read the Hobart recap here. 

The Statesmen defense forced three fumbles and an INT. SO/JR DB Blake Hansen had a career game, leading the defense with 12 total tackles along with a punt block / scoop and score to give Hobart an early 14-0 lead, which they never relinquished. Not surprisingly, Hansen was named the bowl game's MVP for his efforts. With some key players on this unit being lost to graduation, he will take an important role as a key leader of the defense in 2022.

Although the offense struggled at times, JR/SR QB David Krewson and SO/JR RB Tim Denham, Jr. combined for 190 rushing yards and 2 TDs. Ultimately, these two scores, plus the Hansen TD, was enough, as Hobart held Westminster to their lowest offense scoring total of the season. Only #4 Mount Union (11-0) held the Titans to less total yardage in a game this year.

I'm really happy for the five Hobart 5th year seniors plus the 4th year guys who won't be able to come back in 2022. While there are certainly a couple of "what if" moments from this season, you can't look back on 2021 and not view it as a major success.

The Statesmen were one of the youngest / inexperienced rosters in the Liberty League, the latter which had probably it's most competitive and best season since the mid-2000's. LL Champs RPI (10-1) has a shot to take down Empire 8 champs Cortland (11-0) next weekend and go back to the Elite 8 for the second time in three years. We all know who the one loss was to, by the way.

I'll post a season retrospective later this week. Congratulations to the team - the coaches, players and associated staff.

Thanks for reading and go 'Bart!

ECAC Asa S. Bushnell Bowl - Westminster (PA) Game Preview

The Hobart College Statesmen were selected by the ECAC to take on the Presidents Athletic Association (PAC) Co-Champions Westminster College (PA) yesterday on our In the D3FB Bowl Selection Show. This is the second consecutive postseason bowl bid for the Statesmen (8-2, 4-2), who defeated Cortland State, 30-10, in 2019 (the Red Dragons last loss) in the (now defunct) New York State Bowl.

Westminster (8-2, 8-1) earned the right to host in this battle of #1 seeds primarily due to their PAC Co-Championship. While I thought the Statesmen could host a game, I forgot the fact that the ECAC doesn't arrange their games like other bowls (e.g., in the Centennial/MAC series, the #1 MAC seed hosts the #2 Centennial seed and vice versa). This is the first meeting between the two programs. Kickoff is slated for 1 PM, I assume the Titans will provide a video feed link later this week (be forewarned, the Westminster feed isn't great). 

That said, the Asa S. Bushnell Bowl is basically the "main event" of the ECAC Bowl series and should be a great matchup of teams with similar strengths and weaknesses.

Scouting the Titans

Westminster is a tough, blue collar kind of team. They missed out on winning the PAC twice in the 2021 calendar year after claiming the conference championship by going 5-0 in the shortened spring season. They are a formidable team overall, and especially tough to beat at home, going 7-1 in Westminster in 2021 with their only loss to #4 Mount Union (10-0), 41-7, back in Week 1 of the fall 2021 regular season. 

The Titans are coached by Scott Benzel, a PA native who's gone 56-23 in his eight years at the helm of the Westminster program. The Titans boast a number of talented players, much like Hobart, and should be a challenging opponent.

Offensively Westminster is fairly balanced offensive team. They called 345 run and 309 pass plays over their 10 games, but have had more success via the air (227.8 YPG) than on the ground (111.7 YPG). 

The Titans are led by JR/SR Cole Konieczka who has gone 159-275 passing for 2,102 yards and 21 passing TDs compared to 13 INTs. While not a particularly big QB (5'9" 186 lbs.), Konieczka is a good athlete, but can be flustered into making mistakes.

His OL has struggled at times, allowing 15 sacks (basically 1.5 per game) over the course of the season. Westminster features a tandem of RBs, SO/JR Ryan Gomes and JR/SR Vincent Giles. They've combined for a total of 856 rushing yards and 8 TDs.

Konieczka's favorite target in the passing game is FY/SO WR Tylon Eliam who leads the Titans with 56 receptions for 813 yards and 8 TDs. JR/SR Denny Dennison has caught 28 passes for 430 yards and 2 scores, one of those being a critical 26-yard game winner over Grove City back in Week 4.

Defensively Westminster is led by JR/SR LB Ian Barr. Barr was our ITH Defensive Player of the Spring Season and he earned spring and preseason fall All-American recognition from D3football.com also. He has 62 tackles, 5.5 TFL and 1 sack this (fall) season. 

The Titans primary pass rusher is JR/SR DL Brayden Thimons who's another All-American caliber player. Thimons leads Westminster with 16 TFL and 9 sacks. The Titans secondary have been ball hawks this fall also, collecting 14 INTs. FY DB Kevin White and FY DB Brice Butler have 4 INTs each. Butler had a 3 INT game vs. Case Western in Week 3, including a 100-yd pick six. JR/SR DB Bryce Thomas has 2 INTs on the year, so basically opposing QBs have to be accurate when going after this secondary. The Titans allowed 184.9 passing YPG and 13 TDs this season. Westminster is tougher against the run, only allowing 82.1 rush YPG and 12 TDs.

On special teams SO/JR PK Joshua Byers handles KO and FG duties. He averages roughly 54.5 YPKO and has gone 6-8 on FG attempts with a long of 35 (one of his misses was a block). Byers is otherwise mostly automatic from up close, going 40-41 on PATs. The Titans have used a couple of punters over the season, but lately SO/JR QB Jason Hall has had the job, averaging almost 34 YPP. While I suppose a converted QB could be a threat to pass on a punt fake, the stats show Hall has only made one attempt all season.

Keys to the Game:

1. Establishing and Stopping the Run - Although Hobart will definitely have a size advantage over the Titans, Westminster is a scrappy team and has done well stopping the run all season. Hobart averages 242.6 YPG, Westminster allows 82.1 YPG. It's the old "something's got to give" in this matchup. In the Titans two losses, Mount Union and Carnegie Mellon averaged around 200 rushing yards on offense while their respective defenses held the Titans to under 10 rushing yards (combined!). Given this, the Statesmen defense should try to force Westminster into making them one-dimensional, which ironically, will probably be the same strategy I'd think Westminster will try work against Hobart. With no running game to speak of, Konieczka threw 3 INTs in the CMU game and the Statesmen would do well to try and repeat this same strategy in this ECAC game. On the flip side, Hobart JR/SR QB David Krewson has had his moments - the Union game being one of them - when a stacked box led to some opportunities to throw the ball deep. Krewson will just need to be extra careful as this secondary is stacked with athletes who can create turnovers and run it back. 

2. Contain Konieczka - When he's on (like he was against W&J going 26-35 passing for 278 yds. and 2 TDs) Konieczka looks really strong. When he's off, like he was against CMU, it's a totally different story. It'll be critical for Hobart to keep the pressure on him, via the blitz or other looks, to force him into mistakes. 

3. Play Smart - I'm beating a "dead horse" here, but turnovers and penalties are the biggest reason Hobart is 8-2 and not 10-0 overall. The Statesmen can't expect to win, against a conference championship team and on the road, no less, losing the turnover and penalties battle. It's not rocket science.

Prediction:

This is a game that Hobart can win. They are the bigger, more physical team. I think the competition and programs in the LL are above the PAC, even if not by that much.

The Titans will hit the Statesmen with everything they've got and will look to force Krewson into turning the ball over. I expect a steady dose of SO/JR RBs Rayshawn Boswell and LL OPOTY Tim Denham, Jr, at least until Westminster proves they can stop the run. 

The Hobart OL will need to take players like Thimonds out of the equation and overall the offense will need to just keep chipping away. On defense the Statesmen need to avoid letting up the big play while pressuring Konieczka all game.

In the end, I think it'll be a close one, but the Statesmen will hang on to edge the Titans 27-21 to bring the ECAC trophy home to Geneva.

Thanks for reading and go 'Bart!

Hobart Earns Top ECAC Bowl Bid, Will Face PAC Co-Champs Westminster (PA)

As we just announced on the In the D3FB Huddle ECAC Bowl Selection Show, the Hobart College Statesmen (8-2, 4-2) will be heading down to Western PA to take on the Co-Champions of the Presidents Athletic Conference (PAC) - the Westminster College Titans (8-2, 8-1).

The Asa S. Bushnell Bowl is the the ECAC's highest rated bowl game, meaning it pits the two best bids against each other. This is a tough draw for Hobart in a way, but an amazing opportunity to go into prime football recruiting country and win a major postseason D3FB trophy game.

I'll have more on this matchup later today.

Congratulations Statesmen! We're going bowling!

Hobart Rolls Rochester, 31-0, Awaits ECAC Bowl Selection

The Hobart College Statesmen earned a 31-0 win over Rochester Saturday, grinding out 314 rushing yards. SO/JR RB Tim Denham, Jr. eclipsed the 1,000 mark on the season with a 14 rush, 159 yard and 3 TD game. 

Hobart (8-2, 4-2) will await word from the ECAC on Monday to see if they will be granted a postseason bowl bid (I'm really confident they will).

While Denham, Jr. was certainly the star of the show, 5th year SR FS Cal Sullivan also had a capstone moment. He stepped in front of a UofR (3-7, 1-5) pass and returned it 86 yards for a TD! Such a great play!

FY PK Tobias Wefering added an impressive 43 yard FG, a career best, to cap off the scoring

SR OLB Emmett Forde and JR/SR Bryan Aguilar each added 8 tackles to lead the Statesmen D. Forde added a sack and 2 TFL.

The win wraps the season with Hobart tied for 3rd place in the LL with Union's stunning 19-17 loss to RPI (9-1, 5-1). Hobart at least knows they beat the league champs. 

Tune into In the D3FB Huddle Monday around 12:30 PM ET for the ECAC Selection Show. I have a feeling we'll be calling the Statesmen's name.

Thanks for reading and go 'Bart!

Week 11 - Rochester Game Preview

After what's been an up and down couple of years, we've finally reached the end of the 2021 regular season. This team has had some great moments and close calls. They've overcome adversity and injuries to have an excellent opportunity to post a second consecutive 8-win regular season.

While on one hand I feel like the Statesmen could be 9-0 going into this week, they very easily could have been 5-4. The Liberty League had one of it's most competitive seasons in decades, and unfortunately based on a (poor, in my opinion) decision to "keep" the home and away cadence as if 2020 happened by the conference, this young Hobart team lost out on what would have been critical home field advantages this season. I guess the good news is in 2022 we know we get Ithaca and Union at home and, in theory, parents will be allowed back in the stands at RPI once their beleaguered (and clueless) president, Dr. Shirley Jackson, is finally gone. 

To be fair, an 8-2 regular season by one of the youngest rosters in the LL and Hobart College history isn't anything to feel disappointed about. I also feel highly confident that the Statesmen (7-2, 3-2) will be selected on Monday to host an ECAC Bowl Game (I'll predict against whom at the end of this post). 

The William Smith Soccer team - who won the LL title over Ithaca over an amazing OT goal - is hosting the first round of the NCAA Women's Soccer tournament at Cozzens Field, so there is no conflict with having a football game at the Boz. While a berth to the NCAAs was the original goal, this additional, potential home (and trophy) game against a strong opponent is a really nice consolation for the team.

Scouting the Yellow Jackets

Former Statesmen QB and now UofR HC Chad Martinovich '94 has done a fantastic job rebuilding the Rochester program. This is a case where the extra year of recruiting and practice actually helped the Jackets (3-6, 1-4) get stronger and add depth; the latter they really lacked in 2019, having one of the smallest rosters in the LL, if not the East Region.

While I'm sure UofR would have liked to earn a few more wins, their early season contests were very close. It seems like they may be running out of gas going into the final weekend, however, having lost their Week 8 & 9 games to Union and SLU by a combined 50 points. They struggled to separate from Hartwick as well, but to their credit, ultimately got the win. 

The Yellow Jackets have used a few different QBs, but it looks like Hobart will likely see FY QB Ryan Rose this Saturday in Rochester. Last weekend he went 12-26 for 171 yards passing in a 42-28 win over Hartwick (1-7, 0-5).

FY/SO RB Daniel Papantonis led the ground attack with 20 carries for 93 yards and 2 rushing TDs (he has also caught 2 passes for TDs this season). He has run for 637 yards, a team high. He is paced by FY/SO RB Will Varney, who has less carries (90 vs. 139) and yards (394), but leads the team with 9 rush TDs.

Rochester seems to like to spread the ball around in the passing game, with 5 different receivers with double-digit catches. The team is led by JR/SR Noah Shinaman with 21 receptions for 288 yards and 1 TD. 

Defensively, UofR is led by JR/SR LB Caden Cole with 70 total tackles, including 7 TFL, 2.5 sacks and 2 FF. The Rochester defense has been giving up almost 28 PPG and I expect Hobart to pass that number mid-3rd quarter. 

FY DB Jack Yensel earned D3football.com TOTW honors for his strong game against Hartwick. The Yellow Jackets defense forced 6 Hawks' turnovers, including Yensel's 39-yard "pick six" which helped UofR gain a 28-21 lead in the 3rd quarter.

Special teams wise it looks like UofR has a pretty good punter in FY PK Alex Wing. He also earned TOTW recognition based on his 42.3 YPP average against Hartwick in Week 10. He was especially good at pinning the Hawks deep, getting 4 of his kicks downed inside the 20-yard line, a career high. Otherwise Wing has averaged nearly 40 YPKO. The Yellow Jackets need to find a better FG PK however, as they've only converted 1-5 FG attempts. They are good from close range though, converting 21-22 PATs.

Keys to the Game

1. Fluster the FY QB - Rose has only appeared in 4 games and attempted 69 passes in his young career. A steady attack by the Statesmen defense should cause him problems and potentially lead to turnovers. The FY QB has only thrown 2 INTs so far this season, but I expect that number will go up Saturday.

2. Air it Out - While I do expect the Statesmen to test UofR's rushing defense (ranked 6th in the LL, allowing over 165 YPG on the ground and 11 rushing TDs), I really see this game as a chance to work on the passing game, as Rochester has the worst passing defense in the LL. The Yellow Jackets allow over 235 YPG passing and have surrendered 21 receiving TDs.

3. Keep the Cup - While this "Centennial Cup" rivalry (which dates back to 1892) has been pretty one-sided with Hobart winning the last 9 in a row, including 2019's 51-20 victory, this is still a trophy game and should matter to the team. While the Statesmen may look back on a couple of games this season as "what if's", a dominating finish to 2021 is the right way to wrap up the year. 

Prediction:

I like Hobart to start strong and cruise to a 42-14 win. 

From there, the Statesmen will have to wait until Monday around 12 PM ET to see if they are selected to an ECAC Bowl Game. I think based on Hobart's strong resume (note I predicted they could appear in tomorrow's NCAA Regional Rankings - this link will be updated around 3 PM ET, Wednesday, give or take), they will get a bid.

I'll also predict that the Statesmen will host either a nearby E8 team like Utica (who should finish 6-4) or potentially Grove City (who should finish 7-3) from the PAC. While it's possible they could end up on the road at W&J or Westminster (who will both likely finish 8-2), I think the ECAC committee will send a NY (like Brockport, who Hobart scrimmaged in the preseason) or other team to PA for the Presidents and/or Titans to play. Ultimately, assuming they all finish 8-2, Hobart, Westminster and W&J will have the best overall resumes of the teams who've submitted bids, with the Statesmen grading higher than both PAC runners-up (and CMU could still lose to Case which would send Westminster to the NCAAs and CMU would end the year 7-3). 

Regardless, a win in Week 11 will help these teams avoid being road teams in Week 12, so getting that 8th win is critical, in my opinion. (Update - RPI just joined the fray, making it four potential 8-2 teams in the ECAC pool). 

For now, all Hobart can do is win Saturday and wait a couple more days to see if we get "bonus football". A bid would be a relatively new experience for Hobart. The last time the Statesmen appeared in an ECAC game (back then referred to as the "North Atlantic Bowl") dates all the way back to the 2003 season, a 34-18 win over Norwich. 

Thanks as always for reading and go 'Bart!

PS - don't forget to tune into "In the D3FB Huddle" Monday for our 2021 ECAC Bowl Selection Special!

Hobart Bowls Over Buffalo State, 45-21, Files for an ECAC Bid

The Hobart College Statesmen honored their (4th and 5th year) seniors Saturday in the final regular season game at the "Boz". According to the HWS Athletics Game Notes these Statesmen players were playing in their "last" home game (definitely the case for the 5th years, but whether or not that is correct for the others is TBD):

ILB BRYAN AGUILAR*
DL ISAIAH BOONE
WR GAVIN BUDA*
ILB CJ CALERO*  

PK ROB DIGREGORIO*

OLB EMMETT FORDE

OL CADE FRUCCI* 

OL CLAY JAMISON* 

DL NAJ JOHNSON* 

LB DANTE KIMBROUGH* 
OL DALTON KINDT* 

OL ETHAN KORNACKI* 

QB DAVID KREWSON*

WR ALEX LABELLA

DB JARED LEAKE

WR SHAHKYLE MATTHEWS*

DB JAY MCCOY*

OL LUDNER MERCY*

WR JAMES MIELE*
OL ANTHONY SEGUITI*

DE KYLE SPANO*

FS CAL SULLIVAN

DL SHANE WHITE

*(Student athletes who still have a year of NCAA eligibility left. It would appear as those decisions on whether or not these guys come back in 2022 will be made in the off-season. I have heard rumors on a few who are and aren't coming back, but won't speculate / report that for now. One omission of note was SR OL Kieran Paskewitz, Hobart's starting RT and arguably best OL. The fact he chose not to walk on Senior Day is a pretty good indication he'll be back). 

Back to last Saturday's game, Hobart (7-2, 3-2) fell behind early, allowing a 18-yard Buff State (0-9, 0-5) SR QB Thomas Dupee TD scamper with only 11:58 to go in the 1st quarter. The Statesmen shook it off and rattled off 45 unanswered points, however, gaining 465 total yards and six rushing TDs. 

You can read more about it here.

SO/JR RB Tim Denham, Jr. led the Hobart offense with 20 rushes for 213 yards and 3 rushing TDs. Defensively the Statesmen were paced by FY/SO OLB Jaimen Bliss with 8 tackles, adding 1.5 TFL/sacks.

The Statesmen will know prepare for their final week of the regular season and wait to see if and against whom they may have an opportunity to play in an ECAC Bowl Game on Saturday, November 20th. As you can see from the image below, Hobart has filed for a bid.

Selections will be announced on "In the D3FB Huddle" around 12-1 PM (give or take) ET (on our Facebook live channel).

I'll have more on the Rochester matchup later this week. Don't be surprised to see Hobart in this week's NCAA Regional Rankings either. Region 2 is down to a single undefeated team (Cortland) and the PAC is a mess after last weekend.

Thanks as always for reading (and for checking out the D3Blitzer show if you did so on last Saturday) and go 'Bart!

Week 10 - Buffalo State / Senior Day Game Preview

The Hobart College Statesmen will look to wrap up the 2021 season with two more regular season wins before seeing if a potential postseason bowl game opportunity is presented to them on Monday, Nov. 15.

In order to get there, Hobart needs to finish 8-2 overall. Next up for the Statesmen (6-2, 2-2) are the last place Buffalo State Bengals (0-8, 0-4) at Boswell Field.

This game will be the final home appearance for Hobart (especially since the WS Soccer team would get first dibs on Saturday, November 20 for a NCAA game, so it's likely the Statesmen would go on the road if they are selected into an ECAC bowl game - more on that soon) and will recognize the Class of 2022, as well as the five 5th year seniors (from l-r below, FS Cal Sullivan, DL Isaiah Boone, OLB Emmett Forde, DB Jared Leake and DL Shane White) on Team 127.

Speaking of Boone, he and I had a nice chat on the sideline of the Union game. Seems like a great person and I appreciated him going out of his way to say hello to me. It's been a real privilege to follow his and all of these great Statesmen players' careers. Thank you. 

What I guess we will have to wait and see is how many seniors listed on the roster (who, save for the 5 above, are all technically juniors in the eyes of the NCAA, but not every Statesmen student athlete will elect to use the extra year of eligibility and come back in the fall of 2022) will walk out for their final Boswell Field curtain call?

That to me is more interesting than this weekend's matchup, if I'm being honest....

Scouting the Bengals

There's not much to say about Buff State, they allow 32.4 PPG on defense and only average 10.1 PPG on offense. Their closest contest of the season dates back to Week 1, a legitimate 21-14 battle with Saint John Fisher (who is also not having a great season, sitting at 4-4, 2-2 in the E8). Don't be fooled by the 24-16 loss to RPI, either. It was 24-3 with only 2:39 remaining in the game when the Bengals scored a couple of TDs in garbage time.

The main bright spots for the Bengals offensively have been SO WR Tariq Nelson and JR WR Cam Crosier. They are tied 3rd in the LL with 36 receptions each. Nelson has more yardage (469-392) and 3 TDs, while Crosier has caught 2 TDs. Nelson had a 73-yd TD reception in last weekend's 41-16 loss to Brockport (6-2, 3-1).

Defensively, Buff State is led by big (6'3" 255 lbs.) FY LB Mike Glinski. He's tied second in the LL with 64 total tackles. 

Special teams wise the Bengals rank at or near the bottom of the LL in most kicking stats. They have been successful with FG tries, however, converting 4-5 attempts. To show you how bad this fall has been for the Bengals, the have only attempted 9 kicking PATs (Hobart is 31-32). They went for two both times they scored against the Golden Eagles.

Keys to the Game:

1. Celebrate the Seniors - I understand a call has gone out to the Class of 2020 to be included in this game but I am not sure how many guys will be able to make it back. Hopefully some of them do, because it was unfortunate how HWS handled them over the COVID shut down season. For the other seniors, this day is the culmination of years of hard work. Soak it all in and enjoy it, you've earned it. 

2. Keep Working on Being Better - I would love to see a game with little or no penalties called on the Statesmen for one week. As we all know it's been an issue all season, so hopefully Saturday we can have a game that's relatively "flag-free".

3. Play Everyone - While the priority should be on the seniors, hopefully all the players will get some valuable game experience Saturday. Selfishly I'd love to see #36 SO/JR RB Drew Walsh get another TD (he had one vs. Alfred in Week 1).

Prediction:

Hobart wins big, 45-7.

That's it for this week. Hopefully once I have more news on the ECAC bid front I can report back on that. 

Thanks as always for reading and go 'Bart!

Statesmen Push #12 Dutchmen to the Brink in 27-20 OT Loss

After a relatively easy September, the Hobart College Statesmen have had one of the most challenging October's since, well, 2019. For the second time this month, Hobart was on the brink of a huge Liberty League rivalry and road win, just to come up a play short in the end. The Statesmen had their chances, but ultimately it was Union who were a little more composed and came up with a bigger play here and there to hang on to win a very exciting 27-20 OT thriller on a cool, sometimes wet, day in Schenectady. 

To be fair, Hobart has also won their fair share of close ones (just ask RPI and SLU) this month also. It's just tough to swallow the fact this team could easily be 8-0 right now. To be fair, we could also be 4-4 based on how hard Weeks 7 and 8 were.

Nonetheless, more on this one below, ICYMI, you can see the HWS recap here.

In front of a packed Union Homecoming crowd the Statesmen (6-2, 2-2) fought tooth and nail to upset #12 Union College (8-0, 4-0), and nearly did. At the end of the day it was the little things - over 100 yards in penalties, a couple of special teams errors (e.g., a FG block and fake punt by the Dutchmen they converted into a first down) and drops - that led a potential season changing victory into a heart breaking loss.

The game box score shows two nearly identical teams from a statistical perspective with basically the same total yardage (370), plays (68 to 69), punts (5 to 4), turnovers (each QB was intercepted once), pass attempts (27 to 25), rushes (40 to 44) and sacks/TFL (0 to 1 and 5 to 4). 

The Statesmen pass defense made 2019 D3football.com All-East Region 2nd team and now 5th year SR QB Will Bellamy look pretty average, only allowing 9 pass completions on the day. Just like in 2018, 5th year SR Cal Sullivan got an INT on Bellamy, this time it was to close out the first half. Ultimately though it was the big 66-yard JR/SR Andre Ross, Jr. TD catch and run that seemed to push the momentum in Union's direction in the second half.

Credit JR/SR QB David Krewson and the Hobart offense however, they continued to battle to the bitter end. Krewson played his finest game of his career Saturday, connecting on several long passes to JR/SR WRs Alex LaBella and James Miele in key situations, he led team in rushing also, with 59 yards on 14 carries and 1 rushing TD. His heart and resolve was truly something special to observe up close.

I am not sure what happened to SO/JR RB Rayshawn Boswell, who reportedly wasn't 100% since earlier in the season, after the 80-yd KOR to open the game? The Statesmen not being able to get points after that big return was an ominous start, but Hobart kept fighting and only trailed 10-7 at the half. While Boswell did get the TD that resulted in that 3-point Union halftime lead, he only got 12 carries for the game and had a season low 33 yards when it was said and done.

On the other side, Union JR/SR RB Ike Irabor had a workman 121 yards on 36 carries and 2 rushing TDs. Ross Jr's big play was key, but I'd say once again the Dutchmen's MVP in a game vs. Hobart was Irabor. Special shout to out to Statesmen SO/JR LB Bryan Aguilar who stopped a lot of those runs. He led all tacklers with a game high 17.

Hobart will look back on this game (and ultimately) month with mixed emotions. While I was proud as an alumni how they played and overcame adversity Saturday, after the game it was the same narrative - penalties and minor mistakes - that lingered (basically what Cal first said to me when we met up after the game - see above).

The good news is I think we may still get to see Hobart in the post-season, as my ITH co-host Frank Rossi and I really encouraged HC Kevin DeWall '00 to look into an ECAC bowl game. We will announce the bowl bids / games again this year on Monday, November 15 after the NCAA bracket is revealed the day before. 

Assuming Hobart gets to the end of the regular season at 8-2, I don't see why they wouldn't have a shot at one more game, possibly against an E8 team like Brockport (6-2, 3-1) or Utica (5-3. 2-2), who've also put in bids. 

Or maybe a PAC team from Western PA like Carnegie Mellon (6-2, 6-1), Westminster (6-2, 6-1) or Washington & Jefferson (7-1, 6-1), depending on how their conference race finishes up?

It was great seeing everyone at the pregame tailgate and from the sidelines. Saturday's experience reminds me I need to get back to Geneva more often for gamedays. It's just a special environment and experience a video feed just can't convey.

I'll have more on the upcoming Senior Day / Buffalo State game a little later this week. 

Thanks as always for reading and go 'Bart!