Georgetown University Hoyas Football

From a Hilltop kickabout to the Orange Bowl

The programme traces its first game to 1 November 1874, although the university only counts its official record from 1887. For the first half of the twentieth century Georgetown was a serious football school. It belonged to the South Atlantic Intercollegiate Athletic Association from 1907 to 1921 and won that conference four times, in 1912, 1915, 1917 and 1919.

The high-water mark came under Jack Hagerty. His 1940 side went 8–2 and carried a 23-game unbeaten run into a meeting with Boston College on 16 November 1940, which it lost 19–18. Georgetown was still invited to the Orange Bowl, where on 1 January 1941 it went down 14–7 to Mississippi State. That team finished thirteenth in the final Associated Press poll, which remains the only ranked finish in the programme's history. Guard Augie Lio was named a first-team All-American by Collier's Weekly and the New York Sun and was later inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. Tackle Al Blozis went on to the New York Giants.

A second bowl trip followed a decade later. Georgetown lost the 1950 Sun Bowl 33–20 to Texas Western. Within a year the money had run out. The university shut the programme down after the 1950 season, citing financial difficulties, and did not field a varsity team again for almost two decades.

The long road back

Football returned as a club sport in the early 1960s and regained varsity status in 1970, but on a far smaller scale than the pre-war years. Georgetown competed for a time without a conference home before joining the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference in 1993, where it won titles in 1997 and 1998. In 2001 it moved to the Patriot League, the Football Championship Subdivision conference of Bucknell, Colgate, Holy Cross, Lafayette and Lehigh, and has played there ever since.

The Patriot League era has been lean. The best season in that stretch was an 8–3 record in 2011. The programme's alumni list is eclectic rather than long: Jim Schwartz, later head coach of the Detroit Lions, played for the Hoyas, as did comedian Jim Gaffigan, a wide receiver in 1985.

The home ground has also been rebuilt. Cooper Field, on the university's campus above the Potomac, was completed in 2020 and opened to spectators in the autumn of 2021 with a proper concourse beneath the bleachers. It is a compact venue by Division I standards, with all-bleacher seating and a capacity in the low four thousands.

The Sgarlata era and the 2025 season

Rob Sgarlata is in his thirteenth season as head coach in 2026, an unusually long tenure for a programme that has not won its league in this century. The most recent full season, 2025, ended 6–6 overall and 3–4 in the Patriot League, which the university lists as a fifth-place finish.

That campaign began well. Georgetown won 51–14 at Davidson on 30 August 2025 and beat Wagner 31–20 at home a week later. It then lost 42–37 at home to Lafayette on 13 September and was shut out 48–0 at Brown on 20 September. The middle of the season brought three straight wins, over Morgan State, Colgate and Bucknell, before a 41–0 defeat at seventh-ranked Lehigh on 1 November. The Hoyas closed with a 14–0 home win over Fordham on 15 November and a 42–7 loss to Holy Cross on 22 November in a game staged at Fenway Park in Boston in front of 13,674 people, roughly ten times a typical Cooper Field gate.

Home attendance across 2025 ranged from 1,131 for the Lafayette game to 2,345 for Colgate on 18 October. Those numbers set the scale of what Georgetown football is now: a team that plays in one of the most famous college-sport brands in America, but in front of crowds closer to a good high-school fixture.

A new league shape and a staff reshuffle

The Patriot League changed materially for 2026. With William & Mary and Villanova joining Richmond as associate football members, the conference reached ten teams for the first time, and on 2 January 2026 it announced a nine-game round-robin league schedule. Because nine is an odd number, half the teams host five league games and half host four. Georgetown's six home dates at Cooper Field this autumn include Ivy League visitors Columbia and Cornell alongside league opponents.

Sgarlata also rebuilt his staff. New coordinators Nolan Givan and Sharrif Floyd were announced ahead of the season, with Jack McDaniels returning. Floyd's appointment as defensive line coach, confirmed by the university on 7 July 2026, is the headline hire. An All-American at Florida, he was a first-round pick of the Minnesota Vikings in the 2013 NFL Draft and later worked as an assistant defensive line coach with the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Commanders. Sgarlata said Floyd brings knowledge from the highest level of football to the Hilltop.

Five captains were named for 2026: cornerback Wedner Cadet, safety Braylon Wise, defensive lineman Chigozie Oge-Evans, offensive lineman Mosiah Talanoa and quarterback Jacob Holtschlag. Oge-Evans, a senior, earned preseason All-Patriot League recognition after 27 tackles and four sacks in 2025.

How the 2026 season has started

The opener against Lafayette on Thursday 27 August 2026, a 7 p.m. kick-off under lights at Cooper Field, never reached a result. Prolonged lightning across the Washington area forced a delay of roughly two hours, and the game was called after half-time with Georgetown leading 13–7 and Lafayette due to receive the second-half kick-off. The Patriot League ruled it a no contest on 28 August. Because the two schools' bye weeks do not align, it will not be replayed.

The first completed game went badly. On Saturday 5 September 2026 Lehigh, ranked tenth in the Stats Perform poll, won 45–14 at Cooper Field. Running back Luke Yoder scored Lehigh's first four touchdowns, three on the ground and one through the air, on his way to 120 rushing yards from 17 carries. Quarterback Hayden Johnson completed 16 of 19 passes for 271 yards. Lehigh lost three fumbles and missed a field goal yet scored on each of its seven other full possessions.

Georgetown's points came from a Michael Bonsu fumble-recovery touchdown, set up by a forced fumble from Brian Allen, who made 14 tackles, and a four-yard pass from Jack Johnson to Jonathan Alexander for the game's final score. Johnson and Holtschlag shared quarterback duties, combining for 12 completions from 25 attempts. Sgarlata said afterwards that the offence never found a rhythm but that he was proud of how tough the team played. The Hoyas sit 0–1 overall and 0–1 in the league and travel to Richmond on 19 September before hosting Columbia on 26 September.

Match day at Cooper Field

A Georgetown home game is a small, campus-bound affair. Most Saturday kick-offs are at 12.30 p.m., with games streamed on ESPN+, and tickets are digital only and must be bought online beforehand. Homecoming this year falls on 3 October against Cornell.

Stadium Journey's Gregory Koch, reviewing the ground on 4 December 2022, scored it 3.86 out of 5. He described all-bleacher seating that can get uncomfortable but offers clear sight-lines because the front rows are elevated, a single concession stand inside the entrance selling hot dogs, burgers and pretzels at six to seven dollars, and adult tickets at ten dollars. A small pep band plays during breaks rather than marching on the field. Parking in the adjacent garage costs between 15 and 25 dollars depending on kick-off time, and the Washington Metro does not run to the Georgetown neighbourhood, so most visitors arrive by bus, taxi or on foot. The reviewer noted that despite the small capacity the bleachers are nearly full most weeks.