The Georgetown football team suffered its first setback of the season last Saturday, losing on the road to Lafayette, 24-6. The team will need to address its offensive woes in order to repeat its D.C. Cup success, but they will have a tough time of it this weekend as they travel to Connecticut to take on Yale.
Last week, the Hoyas were as competitive as they’ve been against Lafayette during head coach Kevin Kelly’s three-year tenure—the team lost by 21 and 30-point margins in the past two years. Despite evident defensive improvement, Georgetown will need to put points on the board to stay with Yale. That responsibility will rest heavily on the shoulders of the team’s quarterbacks, freshman James Brady and sophomore Keerome Lawrence. Kelly is still discerning how best to utilize the dual quarterbacks, but the two have the potential to pose a versatile threat later in the season.
“As a defensive coach for the past 20 years, it’s difficult to make a call based on who the quarterback’s going to be,” Kelly said. “It’s difficult to know, [because] we don’t do it by series, we do it by play—who’s going to be in the game at the next particular play.”
Brady has been an effective passer thus far, throwing for 272 yards and a touchdown in the first two games—good enough to earn him the honor of Patriot League Rookie of the Week. The freshman’s success may be a surprise to some, but Brady was able to watch half of the team’s spring practices and spent a session here this summer, allowing for a smooth transition into the college game.
Lawrence is the more mobile of the quarterback duo and allows the Hoyas to run a spread offense package featuring options and draw plays. Lawrence has rushed for 80 yards and a touchdown so far.
The Hoyas failed to score in the first quarter of either of their games so far this season, a statistic that Kelly has made a point of addressing. The team’s motto for the week is “Start fast and finish strong.” Kelly also stressed the importance of avoiding the procedural and holding penalties that have helped stall the offense.
But the biggest challenge for the Hoyas this week will come on the defensive side of the ball. Senior tailback Mike McLeod rushed for 157 yards and all four touchdowns against Georgetown last year, leading Yale to a 28-14 victory. The key for Georgetown’s defensive front in stopping McLeod is to make him run east-to-west instead of north-to-south, a style in which the smash-mouth McLeod is not as effective. The defensive line is one of the strongest areas for the Hoyas, but the unit is coming off a game in which they gave up almost 200 yards rushing.
Saturday is the season opener for Yale. Kelly hopes that having two games behind them will give his players an advantage when they take the field at the Yale Bowl.
“The first game you go in, it’s kind of blind, because you’re not real sure what you have,” Kelly said. “It’s like Christmas. You open up the gift, and you don’t know what’s inside.”
Saturday will certainly have a Christmas morning feel for Kelly if his team can knock off an Ivy League opponent. Kick-off is slated for 12:30 pm.
