The Hobart College Statesmen go into their Week 3 bye with a 2-0 record, outscoring the opposition by a combined with a 58-19 margin. There's certainly a lot to be satisfied about, and while there are opportunities for improvement, it's been so far so good for the Statesmen. I plan to have more on what's gone well in a post later this week.
That said there remains a lagging concern over the amount and types of penalties Hobart has been getting flagged for, dating back to the 2021 season. As previously stated on this blog, the Statesmen led the Liberty League in penalties last season, racking up 84 flags for -711 yards. They also led the LL in penalties in 2021 also - 94 flags for -867 yards.
So far this season, Hobart has lost -214 yards on 17 penalties, a vast majority (12, I believe) having been personal fouls. The Statesmen currently rank 222nd of 227 active D3FB teams (the NESCAC and a few provisional/new D3 programs aren't included) in the NCAA's statistics website's "fewest penalty yards" category. To put it another way, only five other teams in the entire country have been flagged for more yards than the Statesmen.
This is not the kind of company we want to see our team be associated with. When you look at the LL as a whole, it does seem like local official crews are calling more penalties, however. Buffalo State has 18 for -189 yards, and Union, RPI and Ithaca have been flagged 14/15/15 times for 133-179 yards themselves.
The Empire 8 has five teams with over 12 penalties in two games, but the yardage totals are lower than most LL teams; ranging from 95-139 yards, meaning these teams are getting more of the 5–10-yard variety of calls.
The Statesmen are on pace for a -1,000+ yards season at this current rate, and you'd have to think this is something they'd really want to avoid. While penalties are always a part of the game, it's these 15-yarders that have really added up over the past two weeks.
Being ranked in the bottom 2.2% of the nation is not something to be proud of. Ironically the combined W-L record of Hobart and the bottom five most penalized teams is 8-4 overall and includes teams like #5 Hardin-Simmons (23-249), Lake Forest (defending MWC champs, 30-270) and MIAA contender Trine (22-225). The latter actually lost their Saturday night game because of a personal foul called on one of their OL with under 30 seconds left, taking them from inside the 20 to the 33-34 yard-line, forcing Trine to attempt a 48-49-yard FG, instead of a 33-34-yarder. They missed the kick and lost the game, 30-28.
The above situation is what can happen when your team isn't buttoned up.
The good news is there's still 8 weeks of the regular season left to get this under control. Hopefully the Statesmen, albeit and younger and inexperienced team in certain positions, can do the work to avoid these major flags in the future - especially during the biggest games of the season (which there are a few still coming up).
Thanks as always for reading and go 'Bart!
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