Some of the great defenses in football history—the New York Sack Exchange, the Steel Curtain—have one thing in common with the Georgetown Hoyas: a strong defensive line. A stagnant offense and porous secondary have negated the line’s effectiveness, but the unit remains the team’s strongest and the key to bouncing back against Colgate.
The defensive line is led by senior defensive end Ataefiok Etukeren, but their success, according to Etukeren, comes from a total defensive effort.
“I would say, overall, that the defensive tackles take on double teams [from the offensive line],” Etukeren said. “That frees up the offensive tackles for me to go one-on-one with, and I try to make the best opportunity out of that.”
Modesty aside, Etukeren has been a defensive standout and leads the team with 2.5 sacks and 6 tackles for a loss.
“He’s playing better, and he’s making more big plays which we asked him to do this year,” head coach Kevin Kelly said. “He was hurt most of the week in practice, and he came in and played the whole game. We’re proud of him for that, and we still expect to see him make a lot of big plays for us the rest of the season.”
Statistically, the defense has improved dramatically from last season. In four games, the defense has 11 sacks, more than double last year’s total of five sacks. The team has almost matched last year’s total of 36 tackles for a loss with 30 so far and has trimmed its allowed rushing yards per game from 261 to 156.5.
Still, the Hoyas are allowing 29 points a game and are currently 1-3. The Georgetown offense has been its defense’s worst enemy. The offense is losing the time of possession battle 34:43 to 25:17 and is forcing the defense to stay on the field longer. They have also relied on the defense to put points on the board—all of the Hoyas’ points last week came from interception returns.
“Football is a team game,” Kelly explained. “Sometimes statistics can only tell a part of the story, and this part of the story is that we’re not moving the football, so obviously [the defense is] on the field more.”
If they want to start winning the time of possession battle, the Hoyas will need to increase their meager 61 rush yards per game by adding some variance to the play calls. Etukeren and the defensive line will have the unenviable job of stopping Colgate’s all-time leading rusher senior Jordan Scott this weekend. Scott had 183 yards rushing last year against the Hoyas in Colgate’s 45-12 victory.
Kick-off against Colgate is set for 1:00 p.m. in New York.
