Fresh off their 24-16 win against Columbia last week, the Georgetown football team (2-2, Patriot League) returns to action this weekend when they travel to face the defending Ivy League champion, No. 24 Harvard (2-0, Ivy League), Friday night at 7:00p.m. The Hoyas will look to snap the Crimson’s 16-game winning streak, which dates back to the 2013 season, in their first ever trip to Harvard Stadium.
“Every team we play is a good team… We’re just worried about our progression as a team,” said Georgetown Head Coach Rob Sgarlata before getting on the team bus Thursday morning. “I think we took a big step forward in the Columbia game taking advantage of the opportunities they gave us. We had a good week and had a good run-thru this morning. We’re excited to get up there and play against a good team on a Friday night. It’s going to be an exciting weekend.”
The players, such as senior offensive lineman Kevin Liddy, share the same internal focus as their coach. They’re not caught up in the recent dominance of Harvard.
“We’re not really intimidated by that at all. We don’t think about that,” said Liddy. “We take this thing week by week and we look at this opponent like any other opponent. I think we’re going to have a good shot to do some things against them.”
In their last game against Columbia, the Hoyas offense, especially, came alive after a turnover-laden performance in their loss against Dartmouth the week before. In particular, senior quarterback Kyle Nolan, who had three turnovers against Dartmouth, rediscovered his form. Nolan completed 21-of-32 passes for 264 yards and two touchdown passes, both to junior wide receiver Justin Hill. Nolan also rushed for 41 yards and a touchdown.
Sgarlata thinks Nolan is one of the best players in the Patriot League, a belief affirmed by Nolan’s work ethic and leadership.
“What you love about Kyle is he’s a lead-by-example guy. He came into the work week for Columbia extremely focused and he knew that he made a couple of mistakes that aren’t usual for him,” said Sgarlata of Nolan. “I think he worked really hard during the week to get himself ready to have a consistent game. If you look at what he did throwing the ball, it was impressive. More impressive is how he managed the game, especially at the end for us, to get us a win up there. As he goes, our offense will go. The more efficient he is, the better we’re going to be.”
As the Hoyas’ last non-conference opponent, the Crimson will provide an opportunity for the Hoyas to get a gauge on where they stand entering the start of their Patriot League schedule.
“We got to come out and see what we can do, “ said senior fullback Troye Bullock. “So next week we can go back and look at all of our mistakes and get them perfected so we can execute and win every game.”
When the Hoyas have taken the field from the locker room for games this season, one of the players leads the charge, with his hand holding high a ring with multiple keys latched on. The key ring is a symbol of the hard work the Hoyas’ offense put in preparing for each week’s game.
[pullquote]We’re not really intimidated by that at all. We don’t think about that.[/pullquote]
“The key is to unlock your potential. The way you do that is work hard every week in practice,” said Liddy. “And throughout the week guys will earn their key. Eventually the entire offense earns their key.”
The player who the coaching staff feels did the best job in preparation earns the right to carry the ring of keys on to the field. Bullock earned the honor for the Marist game earlier this year.
“Each person has to come out and be mentally focused, physically focused, and practice hard,” said Bullock. And if you do that, you earn your key each day.”
Weather will certainly be a factor for Friday’s night game with heavy rain forecasted. The Hoyas did some wet ball drills during the practice during their walk-thru on Thursday morning in order to prepare. But rain or shine, the Hoyas are just ready to play.
“We try to play like nothing bothers us. We’re not fazed by things like that,” said Liddy. “We’ve played through everything in camp. We’ve had good days of weather and bad days of weather. We’ve seen it all. We’re not really fazed by that.”
Weather forecasts aside, Bullock and his teammates know that Harvard presents a difficult test, one that they’re ready to meet.
“They’re aggressive. They do what they’re supposed to,” said Bullock. “They always execute and that’s why we have to come out and execute. It’s going to be a battle but I think we can do it if we execute.”
