Around The Horn, 10/2/2007

• Poor Hoyas. The grim 45-7 loss to the Big Red of Cornell once again left awfully few positives for Georgetown as the Hoyas got pummeled on both lines. The season statistics don't tell the whole story, but it's pretty telling: in five games, they've only gotten into the red zone ten times, converting eight of those tries. Defensively, they've only gotten two sacks. Against Cornell, a sad, familiar script: 15 carries for 11 yards in the first quarter, en route to a 21-0 halftime lead. And traveling to Penn this weekend may not be much help: after an excruciating 21-13 loss to Dartmouth in Hanover, NH, you've got to believe that they are going to be looking to put a major hurt on somebody, and the Hoyas seem like that team.
• Holy Cross, who had been crowing about their offense that can score whenever it wants to, met their match in Yale as junior RB Mike McLeod ran over the Crusaders 38-17. McLeod, aside from getting College Sporting News Player of the Week honors, tied or broke three Yale records: 256 yards rushing in a game (breaking the record set in 2002 by Robert Carr), 5 rushing TDs in a game (tying the record set in 1931 by Joe Crowley) and shattering Yale's touchdown record (set by John Pagliaro in 1987). As many accolades as McLeod justifiably got, just as much credit has to go to the Eli "O" line who physically manhandled the three-man Holy Cross front who was already stuggling with their starting nose tackle being hurt. Yale showed their future opponents exactly why they need to fear the "Y" this year, while also showing future opponents how to stop junior QB Dominic Randolph and the Crusader offense: namely, keep them off the field. By dominating time of possession 38 minutes to 21, Holy Cross never really could get back in it.
  
• Bucknell head coach Tim Landis, on the other extreme, seemed relieved to have an easy win over Marist, 38-7. "Heading into our six league games, this is what we needed," Bucknell coach Tim Landis said. "If we would have lost, it would have been hard to get our confidence level up." Nothing says confidence like sophomore QB Marcelo Trigg and senior QB Terence Wilson combining for 5 TDs and 140 yards rushing, cumulating on 362 yards rushing on the day for the team. Trigg got the short runs at the end of drives, while Wilson's TD came on a 42 yard scamper from midfield. Coach Landis' hope is that "the league can be crazy, just like last year, with some of the scores. It goes to show that anything can happen." With a good level of confidence going into Hamilton, NY, they have more than a chance.
• That's because puzzling Colgate got upset in a huge league game, losing to Fordham 34-31 in a game which was narrowly "won" statisitcally by the Raiders. The Colgate defense only netted 160 total rushing yards to the Rams, while junior RB Jordan Scott had another great day with 174 rushing yards and 2 TDs. But down 24-13 at the break, the Rams refused to follow the script: after the defense held Colgate to two first downs, and get a key interception by junior FS Matt Loucks to set up a big pass completion by sophomore QB John Skelton to sophomore WR Asa Lucas in the second of three unanswered TDs by Fordham. Colgate's last-gasp attempt to tie the game was a 37-yard FG attempt after the Fordham defense stuffed the Colgate offense on two straight plays. But to kick was blocked by senior CB Sam Orah to wrap things up. An unusually talkative Dick Biddle, Colgate's head coach, said he was "very uneasy" at halftime since Fordham was moving the ball against them, while Fordham skipper Tom Masella said he "has some weapons on offense and they're still learning." Colgate now faces a must-win next week to stay relevant in the title race, while Fordham, unfortunately, should we riding a wave of confidence. This week in the Bronx will be a huge test for both the Rams and Mountain Hawks.
• One more note about attendance in the Patriot League this year. There have been no excuses about the weather this year, with every game in the are being played in mid-summer, cloudless conditions (including this weekend's 74 degree, abundant sunshine day). But attendances are still not great. 9,103 watched the Harvard/Lehigh game, compared to 10,680 who watched Lehigh lose to Harvard last year. Other games's attendance: Marist/Bucknell, 2,465; Cornell/Georgetown: 3,184; and Fordham/Colgate: 3,231. The saving grace came from the Yale/Holy Cross game, where a good contingent of Yale fans packed Fitton Field: 11,826. Some of this has to do with teams not having bases that travel well, while Yale is nationally-ranked and does have one of the best fan bases in FCS. But it's hard to believe that confidence is so low in Hamilton, NY that only 3,231 showed up for a key conference game.