The Georgetown football team has come out of the gates strong this season, leaving them in first place in the Patriot League. With conference games on the horizon, the Hoyas will look to keep their momentum going on the back of two consecutive home wins.
The Hoyas (2-1, 0-0 Patriot League) started the season with a loss on the road against Davidson (3-1, 0-0 Pioneer Football League). The Hoyas’ offense took a while to get off the ground, not scoring until the third quarter. That quarter, however, Georgetown was firing on all cylinders, scoring 20 points with the help of three turnovers from the defense. Unfortunately, it was not enough to secure the win, as Georgetown lost 20-27.
The Hoyas rebounded quickly, returning home for two dominant performances against Marist (1-2, 1-0 Pioneer Football League) and Catholic (0-3, 0-0 NEWMAC). The Hoyas won these games by a combined 112-3 thanks to a 43-3 victory over Marist and a subsequent 69-0 victory over Catholic.
Against Davidson, the Hoyas had struggled to stop the run, surrendering 355 yards on the ground. Since then, the Hoyas’ run defense has been strong, giving up just 52 yards against the Red Foxes and -8 yards against the Cardinals.
Georgetown began using two quarterbacks against Marist and continued to do so against Catholic. Senior quarterback Gunther Johnson played the full game against Davidson, but has since had to sacrifice some snaps to junior quarterback Joseph Brunell. Averaging 56 points per game in those games, the decision to play both quarterbacks seems to be paying off after only being able to score in one of four quarters at Davidson. Time will tell whether the Hoyas choose to stick to this unconventional system or revert back to playing just one quarterback.
The box score shows a variety of players for the Hoyas with standout performances out of the gates this season. The Hoyas have three rushers with over 100 yards on the season, including Johnson and sophomore running back Herman Moultrie III, who has taken the majority of the carries. In the air, yardage has been fairly evenly balanced between the two quarterbacks when they both play.
On the receiving end, yardage and touchdowns have been well balanced among five players who each average above 25 receiving yards per game. The Hoyas have been stingy on defense thus far, forcing seven turnovers and getting to the quarterback five times. Sophomore defensive end Ibrahim Kamara leads the team with two sacks.
Georgetown is now in sole possession of first place in the Patriot League with two games left before conference play begins against Fordham (1-3, 0-0 Patriot League) on Oct. 12. The Hoyas will play both Columbia (1-0, 0-0 Ivy League) and Cornell (1-0, 0-0 Ivy League) on the road before conference play begins in two weeks. Georgetown lost to Columbia by a small margin last year, 15-23, and will look to defeat the Lions this year.
The Hoyas are off to a stronger non-conference start than last year, especially in comparison to other teams in the Patriot League. A year ago, the Hoyas started the season with a win before losing their next four games. Despite their rough start, they finished third in the Patriot League with a 4-2 conference record.
Georgetown’s toughest conference loss last year came against Colgate, who finished their great season 10-2 and 6-0 in Patriot League play, eventually winning the conference. The Hoyas were shutout, losing 38-0. Fortunately for the Hoyas, the Big Red appear to have fallen off, starting this season 0-4. Georgetown’s other conference loss last year happened in the last game of the season and was only by a one-point margin against Holy Cross, who ended up with a 5-6 record, including going 4-2 in Patriot League play. Holy Cross is off to a better start than Colgate, with a record of 1-2, but the seemingly improved Hoyas should be able to turn last season’s loss into a win. The Patriot League is open for the Hoyas’ taking and will be interesting to watch as the Hoyas compete for the top spot and a place in the FCS Playoffs.
