Reflections on the Statesmen's Season to Date Going into the Bye Week

Last Saturday the Statesmen suffered yet another loss this season, and their fifth in a row on the road in Schenectady against Union College, 33-16. Hobart's record at the bye week is 1-5, 0-3, easily the worst mark in 30 (or more years) of Statesmen football. What's gone wrong and can Hobart turn the tide to avoid their first losing season in 30 years?

No offense, but it's the Offense

Back in the preseason, I was very bullish on the upcoming Hobart Football season given all the depth and experience the Statesmen had coming back on offense. The entire OL, a 1,000-yard RB, a deep WR and TE corps and a QB who had appeared in over 10 games. It didn't take long for that strength to develop some weaknesses as the three OL starters were lost by midway through the Alfred game in Week 1. The QB competition turned into a three-man rotation who just couldn't really run the offense the way I assume HC Kevin DeWall '00 hoped. These issues compounded with a terrible third down conversion rate (14-65 or 21.54%) and only 14.33 PPG scored. This left the defense hung out to dry (opponent's TOP has averaged almost 31 and a half minutes per game) and while they acquitted themselves well for the first five weeks of the season, they eventually began to break, allowing 36 and 33 points in the last two weeks.

Injuries

A rash of injuries unlike anything I've seen in almost 35 years of watching Hobart Football has taken its toll this season. For the Union game, 26 players sat out of practice the week of and only about a group of 45 travelled to the game. While I thought the lacrosse team was the only one to have this kind of issue (it's been a problem for about five years there), it appears that whatever strength and conditioning is doing isn't working now for football also. This is probably due to having Division I experienced people working at the DIII level. The feedback I've heard through the grapevine is not positive to say the least, and I really hope someone at the College looks into this problem for the sake of the student athletes.

Just bad luck

To be fair, the Statesmen were only a few plays away from winning the Alfred, Brockport, and Ithaca games. That DPI no call in the game against the Bombers was the difference between it being a 13-7 Ithaca win and a 14-13 Hobart one. While maybe Hobart would have still dropped the RPI and Union games, sitting at 4-2 would feel a lot better than this current predicament. 

 

Looking Ahead

The good news for Hobart fans is that the bye week will give this banged up squad a chance to recover and get some key players back into the lineup and continue to practice improving execution on offense and defense. The Statesmen should be favorites in three of the last four games, so they have a good chance to win them. The big question mark is whether or not they can shut down a resurgent Rochester (4-2, 1-2) team at home in Week 9.

So here we are, it's an unfamiliar place for Hobart fans who's seen this program average 7.55 wins a season dating back to 1995. The Statesmen have only finished the regular season with only five wins three times in the last 30 years. While it's been a rough year, there should be hope that Hobart can end this year on a strong note.

We're here for it. Thanks for reading and go 'Bart!