During the men’s basketball team’s exciting 83-54 romp over Savannah State, I wonder how many Hoyas realized there was another game going on, one more important and conclusive than anything happening at Verizon Center on Saturday afternoon. Our football team was battling Lehigh in the final game of the regular season, with both the Patriot League title and an FCS playoff berth on the line.
Many people were probably aware of it. The question is: Did they care?
Although we ended up losing the game 34-12, it was a step in the right direction. In fact, the last two years have been two steps in the right direction. In a school that loves to ridicule the woes of its football team, the recent success of our program is a sign that things are finally starting to turn around. When passing MultiSport Facility, Blue and Gray tour guides can no longer make a joke about the ineptitude of Georgetown football.
Last year, we started the season 3-1 and then embarrassingly lost six of our last seven games. A 4-7 record is nothing to be excited about. But our positive start was a glimmer of hope, especially because we had fewer than four wins in the previous three seasons combined. It seemed like the coaching changes made in 2010, including the hiring of new Offensive Coordinator Dave Patenaude, had the desired effect. After all, you can’t go from 0-11 to 11-0 in a single year; real change takes time.
This year’s 8-3 record and second-place finish is a far cry from 2009’s winless campaign. We beat quality opponents and our offense looked explosive at times. Rebuilding a miserable program starts with winning, which paves the way to better recruiting classes and builds momentum for the following seasons.
Winning is also supposed to get the attention of the student body. But has it? Do people care more about Hoya football after an 8-3 season? Did attendance rise on Saturdays at MultiSport Facility?
Probably not. Since August, the talk of the town has focused on our basketball team and its new freshman class. Even when the football team started winning, students were more concerned with the news of Big East realignment. More people might have shown up to the games, but by how much can the home crowd swell when the home bleachers only hold 2,000 fans? And can most people even name a single starter on the football squad?
This doesn’t mean that we don’t love our team. I’m certainly happy that the guys who worked hard and practiced since the summer have finally found some success on the field. They have represented Georgetown well, and I appreciate that.
But that doesn’t mean that I — or many of my fellow Hoyas, for that matter — care too much about their record at the end of the year. I am happy for them, but their success doesn’t really make me any more excited at the end of the day. I guess I’m sort of indifferent to it all. If they went 2-8, I would probably feel the same as I do now.
Why? Here’s the plain truth: Georgetown is and always will be a basketball school. It doesn’t matter whether we have any star players, what our record is, how we’re performing or who we’re playing. The spirit of Georgetown is deeply ingrained in our basketball team. It’s evident in our reverence for JTIII, our memories of great alums, our love for Jack and our journeys to the Verizon Center through feet of snow. There’s a reason why “attending a basketball game” is always on top of the to-do list in the New Student Guide.
No matter how the other sports teams perform, they will always be overshadowed by the celebrity status of Hoya basketball. So while we give credit to Georgetown football for a terrific season, our attention span is short when it comes to the gridiron. The sound of the buzzer, the swish of nylon and all the grandeur that comes with tradition already has us under a spell.
Nick Fedyk is a sophomore in the School of Foreign Service. DOUBLE NICKTWIST appears every Tuesday.
