Sluggish Start Turns Super Under the Saturday Night Lights for Statesmen, 43-10

The Hobart College Statesmen looked a little sluggish coming off their Week 3 bye, allowing an opening 12 play, 78-yard TD drive to the visiting Keystone College Giants in last night's game at Boswell Field. It was the first time this season Hobart had trailed in a game and the home crowd remained uneasy, after the Statesmen's response was only a 41-yard JR PK Tobias Wefering FG.

The Giants would extend their lead to 10-3 early in the second quarter, but after that it was all Hobart. The Statesmen ran off 40 unanswered points; scoring 6 TDs before the start of the 4th quarter. 

JR QB Johnny Columbi notched his first, second and third passing TDs of the season - finding SR WR Peyton Cayea, SO WR Ahmad Crowell and JR WR Rane Daramola for 21-, 12- and 19-yard scores. Columbi punctuated the game win with a 48-yard rushing TD to boot. Give that QB a game ball for that excellent effort. 

Wefering's 41-yarder was a career best and maybe like getting a hole in one in golf, his excitement got the better of him for a bit, as he missed a couple of PATs right after, but ultimately finished the night going 4-6 to tally 7 points.

Getting in on the fun was FY RB E.J. Taylor who helped Hobart (3-0) tie the game in the second quarter thanks to his first collegiate rushing TD and SR RB Rayshawn Boswell scored his 30th rushing TD, the 34th of his great Statesmen career, in the third. 

JR OLB and Co-Captain Jamien Bliss led the Statesmen defense with 12 total tackles, including half a sack and 1.5 TFL. Overall, the Hobart defense held the Giants (2-2) to 266 total yards (78 of those coming on the first drive). You can read more about the game in the HWSAthletics.com official recap here.

We all know what's coming up next, the Liberty League conference opener against the #21 Ithaca Bombers (2-1). There have already been three major losing streaks snapped this season, along with several high-profile upsets in Week 3 and this past weekend. Hobart will hope they can be the fourth and latest upset special, as they are 0-17 all-time down at Butterfield Stadium. 

Thanks as always for reading and go 'Bart!

Before I go, I'd like to send a special "Happy Anniversary" to my good friend and "In the D3FB Huddle" co-host, Frank Rossi, on today being our show's 15th anniversary. More on this game and the 87 others from this weekend coming up on our next episode.

Week 4 - Keystone (Saturday Night Lights) Game Preview

The Hobart College Statesmen come off the bye week to one last out of conference test before the Liberty League opener in Week 5.

This weekend has the added bonus of being a rare regular season night game at the "Boz" against the Keystone College Giants, who moved conferences - from the ECFC to the Landmark - over the off-season. 

Keystone (1-2) has played Hobart (2-0) the past couple of seasons now. The Statesmen have had little difficulty with the Giants, winning by an average 61-10 margin. That said, Keystone is steadily improving. While they have lost two in a row (a 31-21 loss to Hartwick in Week 2 and a 35-20 loss to Saint John Fisher last weekend), they have dropped their defensive PPG allowed from 41 to 24 from 2022 to 2023. 

Scouting the Giants

Last weekend FY QB Demiko Suggs actually had a statistically great game, going 15-21 for 192 yards and 1 TD. He was only sacked once by the SJF defense. So far, he's completed 61.9% of his passes (26-42) for 341 passing yards with 3 TDs and an INT on the season.

JR RB Mujaheed Muhammad is off to a good start as well, rushing for 241 yards on 55 carries. He's scored 3 rushing TDs, but interestingly has not caught a single pass out of the backfield so far this season. 

Suggs has spread the ball around to 10 different receivers. His favorite targets seem to be SR WR Jorden Cook (5 receptions for 99 yards and 1 TD) and SR WR Michael Bond (7 receptions for 94 yards and 2 TDs). Cook did not play against SJF, so he may be injured and/or out for the season. In Cook's absence, JR WR Jayson Nami led the Giants with 4 catches for 58 yards but was only one of the 8 receivers who caught at least one pass last weekend. 

That said Keystone is a run first offense, having attempted nearly twice as many rushes (115) as passes (63). Scoring wise, however, the Giants offense has scored the same number of passing and rushing TDs (5 each). They are +3 in turnover margin (TOM), so they are pretty good at protecting the ball. They don't struggle with penalties as badly as Hobart, averaging -61.67 YPG in penalties.

Defensively Keystone is led by SR SS CJ Riccobono with 21 tackles. SR DL Elijah Washington has good size (290 lbs.) and leads the team with 2 TFL and 1 FF/FR. 

The special team's unit is led by SO PK Jeremiah Ortiz and SR LB/P Zac Cost. Ortiz has averaged 41.4 YPKO and Cost has netted about 39 YPP. In the return game, previously mentioned Bond and Nami have handled punt and KO returns, respectively. Bond has averaged just under 7 yards on PRs and Nami averages an impressive 19.5 YPKOR.

Keys to the Game:

1. Stick with What Works: Keystone is giving up 238 YPG rushing and has allowed 7 of their 11 TDs on defense to the running game. Hobart should stick to its strength, which has been averaging 261.5 YPG rushing. 

2. Test the Waters: JR QB Johnny Columbi needs to start connecting with his receiving corps more, especially a week before the big Ithaca game. The Giants only have two sacks on the season, and so the OL shouldn't have much difficulty with this pass rush. I think it's important for Hobart to use this game as an opportunity to balance the offense a little more and build chemistry between Columbi and his receivers before LL play.

3. That Said, Don't Look Ahead: The Statesmen will need to stay in the moment, especially with the added bonus of this game being under the lights at the "Boz". There should be a nice crowd to support the team, especially with a good forecast for the weekend (clear and cool). While Hobart has had it's way with the Giants the last two seasons, Keystone is getting better and can make some plays if the Statesmen aren't focused. Speaking of focus, it would be great to see less than 100 yards of penalties for a week. It's time. 

Prediction:

I think Hobart will lean on its strengths and have an opportunity to give a lot of players an opportunity to get into the game. I do think it'll be more competitive than the past two years, but the Statesmen should win comfortably, 42-14.

Thanks as always for reading and go 'Bart! 

Looking Back at the (Early) Bye Week

The Hobart College Statesmen are off to a 2-0 start and go into Week 3's bye as a team that's putting together their identity. Built around an attack-minded defense and power running game, Hobart has soundly defeated their first two opponents and are a heavy favorite going into Week 4's matchup against Keystone (1-1, with a Week 3 game vs. Saint John Fisher on Saturday).

Given Ithaca's (1-1) recent struggles, and the general lack of data points being just two weeks (1/5 or 20%) into the season, I'd say any number of contenders, including Hobart, can win the Liberty League championship. 

To start, let's look at the DEFENSE:

While certainly undersized up front on the DL, the strength of this team starts with their speed, quickness, power and most importantly, the ability to allow the Statesmen's very talented LB corps to get free and make plays. 

JR LBs Peterson Monexant and Anthony Romano have combined for 30 tackles, 3 TFL, 2.5 sacks and 2 FFs already on the year. Emerging stars such as SO LB Mike McGhee have made a big impact also, recovering a FF and an INT in the win over Morrisville. Co-Captain and JR OLB Jamien Bliss is tied for the team lead with 2 INTs after that game to go with nine tackles. 

The secondary is off to a great start also as SR DB Abdoulaye Diallo leads the team with 3 PBUs and had a 44-yard "scoop and score" for a TD back in Week 1. SR DB Joe McCoy has tallied 2 INTs and overall, the Statesmen have tallied an impressive nine PBUs. 

If we dive into the numbers, we see that Hobart is second in the LL only allowing 9.5 PPG. The only reason they aren't first is because Union (2-0) has pitched two shut outs against two programs that have been historically down and one that's just getting started. 

The Statesmen's rush defense is allowing only 62.5 YPG and is tied for second place in the LL with Rochester (1-1) for allowing only one rushing TD. Hobart's pass defense has been a little "bend but don't break", is the most opportunistic in the LL so far. While they've given up the second most amount of yardage (367 total yards or a 183.5 YPG average), Hobart has only allowed one passing TD and leads the league, and is tied for fourth in the nation, with 6 INTs. The Statesmen also leads the LL with six sacks and have held opponents to a 34.6 third down conversion percentage.  

The numbers tell the story that the Hobart defense is for real and an excellent unit. The Statesmen are ranked in the Top 20 scoring defenses in the nation and are getting stronger each week. They just need to clean up the penalty issues we've already discussed, and when they do, this could shape up to be another special year for Hobart on the defensive side of the ball. 

Now let's pivot to the OFFENSE:

No surprise here as SR RB Rayshawn Boswell is off to a great start, ranking 13th in the nation with 243 rushing yards on 35 carries. He's scored four rush TDs (which is tied with four others for 2nd in the nation) and is tied for the team lead in receptions with four catches for 19 yards. 

The Hobart OL is off to a great start, helping the Statesmen average 261.5 YPG on the ground (second best in the LL). They've only allowed one sack over two games and have opened up substantial running lanes for SR RB Tim Denham, Jr. also. He's carried the ball 34 times for 140 yards and two rushing TDs. A pleasant surprise has been the productivity of FY RB E.J. Taylor who's made the most of his opportunities, rushing for 56 yards on 14 carries (4.0 YPR).

JR QB Johnny Columbi now has two career starts under his belt and is clearly being eased into the system by the Hobart coaching staff. While his individual statistics are at the bottom of the LL as far as yards (186), YPG (93), TDs (0), INTs (2), longest pass plays (28 yards), and efficiency rating (85.5), he's just getting started and has plenty of time to grow into the role. He does have a positive completion percentage of 20-37 (54.1%) which is fifth in the LL and only a few points behind the fourth and third placed passers in the completion category. 

To his credit, Columbi distributes the ball well. He's completed at least one pass to eight different Statesmen receivers already. At least six of these passes have gone for over 12 yards also. I think it'll be just a matter of time and more reps until he's finding JR WR Rane Daramola, who's tied for the team lead in catches with four and a team high 37 receiving yards, for longer and more significant pass plays. 

Overall, he's lead Hobart's offense to two wins (the most important stat there is), 29 PPG and 354.5 YPG which are both fourth in the LL in their respective categories.

Let's wrap it up with SPECIAL TEAMS:

JR PK Tobias Wefering has done a great job handling KOs, punts, FGs and PATs for Hobart to open the season. He's averaged 61.3 YPKO, 38.25 YPP, gone 3-4 on FGs (with a long of 36 yards) and 7-7 on PATs.

SR RB Rayshawn Boswell has returned four punts for 18 yards, with a long of 9. The KO return team has featured FY RB E.J. Taylor (2 KOR for 58 yards), FY RB Caleb Nicolas (1 KOR for six yards) and JR RB Andres Duran (1 KOR for four yards) so far this season. 

LOOKING AHEAD:

The Statesmen will get a rare Saturday night home game against Keystone next weekend. After that, the conference season starts. Hobart has yet to win a game at Ithaca, but they'll will look to break that streak in Week 5. 

I'll plan to do another review like this about Week 6 which is effectively the season's halfway point. Only 20% in, there are several positive trends starting but certainly areas for improvement. Overall, I'm optimistic Hobart will continue to improve and evolve as the season progresses.

Thanks as always for reading and go 'Bart!

Hobart's Penalty Problem

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!

Never Forget

On this 22nd anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001, I wanted to recognize former Hobart College football player and alumnus Andy Glokin '93 as well as fellow grads Scott Rohner '01 and Michael Simon '83, P '11 who lost their lives that unfortunate day.

HWS did a nice piece on their website commemorating and remembering this tragic event back in 2021.

I'd also like to recognize the Toyen family, who lost their daughter and sister Amy in the attacks. She was the younger sister of my Avon High School classmate, Heather.

Never Forget.

Opportunistic Statesmen Flip the Script, Tame Mustangs, 27-10

On a bit of a dark and damp Upstate NY day, the Hobart College Statesmen got some sweet revenge on last season's turnover plagued 24-13 loss to Morrisville. Hobart (2-0) forced the Mustangs into 5 takeaways to propel them onto a big 27-10 win.

JR LB and Co-Captain Jamien Bliss tallied 2 INTs and the dynamic duo of SR RBs Rayshawn Boswell and Tim Denham, Jr. ground out a combined 37 carries for 211 yards and 3 TDs today for the Statesmen. JR PK Tobias Wefering added six points on two short FGs in the first quarter and went 3-3 on PATs to rack up nine total in today's win. 

SO LB Mike McGhee had a big game recovering a forced fumble and getting an INT as well. While Morrisville (1-1) scored with about 10 minutes left in the 4th quarter, the Statesmen offense ground out a long drive to close out the game. 

For the second straight week, this was another chippy game that the officials had way too much interaction in. Both teams were flagged a total of 15 times for a combined -160 yards. 

JR LBs Anthony Romano and Peterson Monexant led the defense with six tackles each. SR DB Joe McCoy had two tackles and the fourth and final Statesmen INT of the day.

Next week the Statesmen will take an early bye week and will be back in action for a Saturday night game at the Boz in Week 4 vs. Keystone College.

I'm going to do some research on some questions Ted and Dave sent my way at the tail end of today's broadcast. More on that over our bye week review.

Feels good to be 2-0. Thanks for reading and go 'Bart!

Week 2 - Morrisville State / Home Opener Preview

The Hobart College Statesmen host Morrisville State this Saturday at Boswell Field in a bit of a revenge game after last season's shocking 24-13 loss to the Mustangs. It was Morrisville's first ever victory over the Statesmen after losing the first three games in the series by an average of 31 points. 

The Statesmen committed two critical fumbles that were returned for TDs by the Mustangs. Hobart will do well to protect the ball on their home turf this weekend. Last weekend Morrisville (1-0) went on the road and beat Kean University of the NJAC, 24-14.

As you can see from the below photo, the Mustangs got key plays from SR WR Jarrell Chaney (6 rec., 97 yds., 1 TD), JR DB Anai Brake (2 tkl., .5 TFL, 1 PBU) and JR PK Owen Cole (1-1 FG, 3-3 PATs, 43.1 YPP, and 60.8 YPKO). Big SO OL Quentin While helped SR QB Steven Frerichs have a big game, going 18-29 for 235 pass yards and 2 TDs as well as rushing for 52 yards on 16 carries and 1 TD. 

Scouting the Mustangs

Morrisville used a balanced offensive attack and stout defense to corral the Cougars last weekend. They called 64 total plays (29 passes and 35 runs) and had success with both. Frerichs was efficient completing 62% of his pass attempts, averaging an impressive 8.1 yards per pass. The run game ground out a solid 3.5 yards per rush average, but like Hobart (1-0) last Friday, they struggled a bit on 3rd down, converting only 4 of 13 attempts (30.7%). 

Morrisville controlled the clock, limiting the Cougars (0-1) to under 24 minutes of possession and 55 plays. Neither their run nor pass game accumulated over 100 total yards. The Mustangs led 17-0 at the half and save for one strong drive to open the second half, Kean was kept in check up until what was basically "garbage time" in the final minutes of the game.

JR LB Evan Salvaggio led the Morrisville defense with 9 total tackles. The Mustangs "D" didn't get any sacks on the day, but totaled 5 TFL, 1 FF, 5 PBU and 2 QBHs.

Overall, points will be at a premium, as last season Morrisville only allowed 10.8 PPG. Sure, Kean got that late TD to give them 14, but really if Morrisville kept their foot down, they probably would have only allowed 7. 

Keys to the Game:

1. Run the Ball - Even though they only mustered 96 yards, Kean did average over 4 YPR against the Morrisville defense. With the 1-2 punch the Statesmen have in the backfield, I would try and match or best that number. Last Friday, Hobart ran the ball 45 times and nearly averaged 5 YPR against Alfred (0-1).

2. Frazzle Frerichs - It doesn't take a defensive genius to figure out the Mustangs QB is the centerpiece of their offense. He accounted for 86.7% of the Morrisville offensive stats last Saturday in NJ. The Statesmen defense needs to blitz and rattle him into making mistakes BUT must be way more conscious of the whistle and how they go in to get a hit on the QB. The word is clearly out on Hobart's aggressive style of play and the officials aren't having it. At this point the "Hobart Way" has to be about playing smarter, because based on last Friday's (and last season's) penalty stats, this is a team that needs to get under control.

3. Home Sweet Home - The Statesmen have a decided home field advantage and amazing record when playing at the "Boz." Hobart is 9-1 at home over the past two seasons and it would be great to get win #10 this weekend. 

Prediction:

I think the Statesmen will get their revenge against Morrisville in a hard fought, defensive struggle. Hobart may trail early, but sticking to their strengths of a stout run game and tough defense I think the Statesmen can come away with a 17-13 victory.

Thanks as always for reading and go 'Bart!