The football team’s 49-7 drubbing of the St. Lawrence Saints on Saturday has set the stage for a reprise of 2001’s final regular season game—a against the Hobart Statesmen with the UCAA title and likely an NCAA tournament berth on the line. RPI won last year; the Statesmen blocked a last-minute, game-winning field goal, but Mike Defilippi recovered the ball for the Engineers and ran it in for a touchdown.
Saturday’s game was over almost before it began. RPI scored a touchdown every time its starting offense took the field. By the end of the first quarter, quarterback Dan Cole had completed nine of 10 passes for 279 yards and two touchdowns to make the score 21-0.
Head Coach Joe King pulled his entire starting offense before the first half ended, at which point his team lead 42-0. Cole ended with four touchdown passes and a third straight game without an interception. Wide receiver Evan Cochran caught four balls for 120 yards and two scores, tying the school record for receiving touchdowns in a single season with 12. Flynn Cochran completed a hat trick with rushing, passing, and receiving touchdowns, and Danny Stephens and Ryan McGough also scored in the Engineers’ best half of the year to date.
Rensselaer’s second unit also performed well, playing even with the Saints in the second half. Sophomore Jimmy Motzkin completed a 49-yard touchdown pass to freshman Anthony Couture—a player that King says is one to watch for in future seasons. The Saints got their only score of the day on a fade to wide-receiver Tim Gavin.
The Engineers’ win is their 11th in a row over the Saints, and it leaves St. Lawrence with an 0-9 mark and 21 consecutive losses dating back to the 2000 season.
RPI now turns its attentions to Hobart, who are coming off of a loss to St. John Fisher last week that has put their post-season hopes in jeopardy. The Statesmen will also have last year’s game in mind and will likely present the Engineers with their toughest challenge of the year.
A victory for Hobart gives them the UCAA title outright, while an RPI win leaves both teams tied with Union for first in the conference—the Engineers would claim the title on tiebreakers.
More importantly, though, the winner of the game will be virtually assured of being chosen by the selection committee for an NCAA bid. There are seven spots available for Pool B teams—independents or teams in conferences, like the UCAA, too small to receive an automatic bid—and by the end of the weekend there will be at most five such teams that will have one loss or fewer. Both Hobart and RPI currently have 7-1 records.
Because of the dearth of unbeaten and one-loss teams, the loser of the game also has a decent chance of reaching the tournament. Only five Pool B teams currently have two losses: Brockport, Hartwick, Ithaca, Washington & Jefferson, and Westminster (Mo.). Westminster has the weakest schedule and is unlikely to get in, and Washington & Jefferson lost in the only real challenge they faced, making them a long shot at best.
Of the remaining three teams, Brockport (7-2) is very likely to get in, barring a loss to Wesley on Saturday—they have played relatively strong opponents and have a big win over Ithaca (7-2). The Bombers, in turn, edged out Hartwick (6-2) earlier this season and also played a strong schedule, leaving Hartwick hoping for an Ithaca loss to Cortland—a team currently tied with RPI for the top spot in the upstate poll—this weekend.
The upshot is that an RPI loss to Hobart leaves them vying with Ithaca for the last Pool B spot in the tournament. If the Statesmen lose, their win over Ithaca earlier this year gives them a good chance to make the tournament anyway. Losses by any of Brockport, Ithaca, or Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (Ca.)—all one-loss teams with weak schedules—would greatly improve the RPI-Hobart loser’s chances of advancing to the post-season.
