By Nicholas Thomas
Heartbreak.
That was the mood in Williamsburg after Georgetown quarterback Gavin Beard found his wide receiver Hassan Mahasin in the back of the end zone on fourth-and-goal to knot the game up at 27-all. Despite being iced, kicker Thomas Anderson split the uprights to convert on what ended up being the game-winning extra point.
When W&M quarterback Winston Watkins threw his third interception of the evening on the first play of the Tribe’s potential game-winning drive, any hope left of winning the game had been snuffed out. The Georgetown Hoyas won 28-27.
Moving The Chains
Heading out of this game, I still found some positives. Previous margins of loss were by 24, 25, 55, and 27 points. Saturday’s loss was at least by a respectable margin against a Georgetown team that has found new life with freshman quarterback Gavin Beard under center. He has started in all three games that the team won this season.
I also noticed that a good amount of W&M’s scores came off long, sustained drives, something that the offense has struggled with in the past. However, Coach Mike London, understandably, still isn’t satisfied.
When assessing the third-down conversion rate, he noted, “We’re 5-for-15…that’s not good enough…”
The long scoring drives are a foundation to build off of, but Coach London’s comments reflect that there is still room for improvement if the team wants to start scoring more points.
There were also two drives late in the game that included double-digit plays each, but both ended in short field goals. If either one of those had ended with seven points instead of three, the Tribe defense would have been in a much better position heading into that game-winning Georgetown drive.
Backfield Shift
Another item of note is the emergence of Jah’Kei Chavis in the run game as the contest went on. The game started with a 68-yard rushing touchdown by Andrew King on the first offensive play by either team. However, after this score, King saw fewer and fewer carries while Chavis saw his snap count increase. By the end of the game, Chavis had 19 carries to King’s 11. He has seen an increase in carries in every game he’s played this season, so we could be watching a changing of the guard at the RB1 spot on the depth chart.
I’m a fan of Chavis. Many will see the long touchdown in the box score for King, but Chavis nearly had a long rush of his own near the end of the first quarter before the last tackler he had to beat got a piece of his cleat and sent him to the turf.
The Air Attack
Winston Watkins has been a great dual-threat option at quarterback for the Tribe this season. We saw him rush the ball very efficiently in the second half of this game and in past contests. Unfortunately, the passing game was a weakness on Saturday.
Watkins didn’t seem quite himself, throwing a season-high three interceptions which more than doubled his year-long total. Two of these picks came off underthrown balls across the middle, a risky proposition with a lurking linebacker waiting in zone coverage.
However, I am a firm believer that Watkins is a great quarterback for the system W&M runs and that Saturday was a mere anomaly. Additionally, Georgetown was running some great defensive schemes that played a major role in shutting down the passing game.
As for the opposing quarterback, Gavin Beard showed veteran poise in his third-ever college start. Going 21-of-36 for 265 yards, four touchdowns, and only one interception is highly impressive and I tip my cap to him. On that game-winning drive, Georgetown found what works: having a receiver run a fade into the end zone, throwing up a 50/50 ball, and watching them come down with it or draw a defensive pass interference. In the end, it was that disparity between team passing attacks that decided who came out on top.
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The stakes of this game were not lost on Coach London, who acknowledged that the Homecoming loss is “a tough deal.”
It’s even more heartbreaking knowing that this loss likely eliminates the Tribe from playoff contention.
But, like I said, there is a foundation there. I truly believe that the team looked improved from that four-game losing streak in September and early October. W&M had more yards on the ground than Georgetown, with the historically struggling run defense bottling up Georgetown to only 151 rushing yards, the fewest they’ve allowed in a game all season.
If everything can come together and complement each other in one game, this is a good Patriot League team.
Go Tribe!
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Your assessment seems much too generous to me. This Tribe defense is seemingly unable to keep Patriot League teams from moving easily down the field, but very significantly, you made no mention of the terrible punting exhibition, which actually measured only an average of 35 yards per puint. TERRIBLE!! Georgetown’s winning touchdown drive began on the 50 yard line, because the punt preceding their drive was another pathetic effort by the Tribe punter. If you really believe that Mike London is going to turn this Tribe program around in the Patriot League, he MUST recruit student-athletes who actually know how to tackle, and a punter who is truly ready to punt in a collegiate, [not a high school] football game. Without doing so, Tribe football will continue to lose most of its games. This year, Tribe football could easily be 4-8, or 3-9.