After three straight losses to open the season, the Hoya faithful have already written off yet another Georgetown football season as a disappointment, even before midseason. Keeping in mind all the hustle, bustle, and boozing of Homecoming Weekend, the upcoming game against Howard seems to be just an afterthought in the minds of the campus community.
Despite the team’s 0-3 record and last week’s loss against Yale, the season might have taken a turn for the better with the emergence of freshman quarterback Isaiah Kempf. In his first career start against Yale, Kempf threw for 339 yards on 32 of 59 passing with two interceptions.
“Obviously I was excited and honored to start for our team our third week in the year,” Kempf said. “I felt overall as an offensive unit we moved the ball up and down the field [well]…[we] showed a lot of promise and that we can play against a pretty good Yale team.”
Kempf led the Hoyas to a season-high 355 yards in total offense in his first week as a starter. Before the game, the Hoyas had only amassed 382 total offensive yards in their first two games combined.
He also showed a big-play ability that the Hoyas have lacked recently. He completed a 68-yard pass to senior Robert Lane and a 38-yard pass to sophomore Dishon Hughes.
Still, Kempf and the Hoya offense were not able to produce on crucial possessions in the red zone. The Hoyas were one for four inside Yale’s 20-yard line last game. The offense scored only once, on a 30-yard field goal from senior Jose-Pablo Buerba in the second quarter.
The Hoyas’ only touchdown came on the defensive side of the ball, on a fumble return for a touchdown by junior Paul Sant’Ambrogio.
To make matters even worse, the Hoyas have failed to score an offensive touchdown since their first possession of the season against Holy Cross.
“We never really scored in the red zone…our efficiency was one of four, and that was just a field goal,” Kempf said about the Yale game. “So moving forward to the next week, that has been our main concern in practice—just working on our red-zone efficiency so we can put points on the board.”
Kempf knows that in order to start putting points on the board in the red zone, he will have to help rejuvenate the offense.
“Dishon Hughes and Brandon Floyd … they’re both great receivers and a couple of times I overthrew them in the end zone,” Kempf said. “[In practice this week we’ve] just been working on our timing, especially on fade routes and spot throws. I think it’s definitely going to help us against Howard this week.”
Like the Hoyas, Howard is winless, but they’ve lost to two tough programs in Rutgers and Florida A&M. Howard is also a more athletic team than the one Kempf saw last week against Yale, so he will be facing more man coverage than he did in his debut. In order to be successful, he’s going to need to find mismatches early and often to counterbalance Howard’s athletic superiority.
By starting out 0-3, the Hoyas have put themselves in a must-win position. Last season, they beat Howard 12-7, but needed to score nine points in the fourth quarter to pull off the feat.
As the Hoyas try to end their skid, the key will be to score in the red zone. Hopefully, the freshman quarterback can help the Hoyas finish.
Kickoff is at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday at Multi-Sport Field.
If you interview Kempf again ask him what he thinks of Patriot league trash talking compared to his other football experiences.