Sloppy Statesmen Spoil Homecoming Comeback, Drop Another to Ithaca, 27-20

What could have been.

The Hobart College Statesmen saw another slow start, falling behind 17-0, less than five minutes into the second quarter, while also committing nine penalties for -92 yards, take away what could have been a big win on Homecoming yesterday in Geneva. The Statesmen have only scored three points in the first half in their last three games. It's hard to win when you can't score. 

Due to these offensive struggles and defensive mental errors, Ithaca (4-1, 3-0) was able to keep their drives alive, especially in the second half when the Statesmen (2-3, 0-2) needed to get the ball back. The Hobart rally eventually happened, just like last week at Utica, but the mistakes helped the Bombers dominate TOP (37-23 minutes) and keep the Statesmen at bay.

Hobart was held to under 100 rushing yards again, and while SO QB Jeremy Weiss did set a Statesmen record with a 99-yard TD pass to JR WR Johnny Harding, it was too little too late as the penalties killed Hobart in the fourth quarter and let the Bombers steal another win, their 33rd out of 39 tries in this lopsided series.

Ithaca SR QB Michael Reed was a very efficient 21-27 for 178 yards and a fantastic play by SR WR Nick Lang boosted the Bombers to that previously mentioned 17-0 advantage after an earlier Hobart miscue (either a bad call and/or badly executed lateral play from the Hobart 27 which counted as a fumble against Weiss that Ithaca recovered at the Statesmen 21). Lang would finish with seven catches for 84 yards.

Defensively, Hobart was led by FY LB Tyler Cumming, who was a bright spot in an otherwise disappointing day for the Statesmen defense. He led all tacklers with nine stops, including two TFL and a sack. To be fair, if not for a few stops here and there, the score could have been worse. The Hobart defense did hold Ithaca to two FGs and 6-14 on third down. Unfortunately the Statesmen offense just couldn't get going, missed a makeable FG on the first series, went 5-12 and 0-2 on third and fourth downs in the game. 

This leaves Hobart out of the NCAA playoffs again and they will need to get back up off the mat to deal with a Union College (3-2. 2-0) squad that's on a three=game winning streak. The Dutchmen are another key rival that HC Kevin DeWall '00 has a losing record (3-4) against. The good news is Union hasn't won a game in Geneva since 2008.

I'll have more on that big game early next week.

Thanks for reading and go 'Bart.