By LeMont Joyner
After suffering another bad loss 25-45 at the hands of New Hampshire, the 2008 Hofstra football season is lost. The season began on a horrendous note when starting senior quarterback Brian Savage suffered a season-ending injury before Hofstra even played their first game. This propelled junior quarterback Corey Christopher into the starting lineup. He played very effectively leading Hofstra to a 3-3 record until he broke a bone in his hip ending his season in week 7. The offense is now in the hands of a talented but young freshman quarterback named Steve Probst.
Filling in for Christopher, Probst was impressive in his debut against Maine as he completed 60% of his passes and threw three touchdown passes, including two in overtime. However, since the game versus Maine, Probst has shown promise but a lot of youth at his position.
Due to the lack of stability at the quarterback position, the rest of the offense has been suffering as well. From game to game you never know what you’re going to get from the Pride offensively. One week the Pride scores 43 points and you think the offense is ready to get on a roll, but the next they are shutout and held to zero.
The same scenario can be seen on the defensive side of the ball. Due to injuries at many key positions, Coach Cohen is forced to start many freshmen and sophomores, who like Probst, show talent, but are just very young. One week the defense can hold a team to three points, and the next, give up 56 points.
“The number one thing we need to do is get healthy. And after that we have to gel together as a team and play as a team,” starting fullback Everette Benjamin says, “This season is not looking to good, but its important to finish strong.”
Hopefully the Pride can finish strong. Out of the three remaining games on the schedule, two are against teams with records of 6-3, and both of those teams are currently on a hot streak, each winning their last two games. The Pride’s next opponent, Richmond, is coming off of a thrashing of Georgetown where they destroyed the Hoyas 48-0.
The Spiders scored all six of their touchdowns on the ground, putting up an impressive team effort of 54 carries for 300 yards. They also had four different players score a touchdown. This is bad news for Hofstra who could not beat Delaware two weeks ago. Delaware came into the game without a starting quarterback and were still able to run the ball effectively against Hofstra even though the Pride were concentrating on the ground attack all game. The only game where Hofstra is not the underdog is versus Northeastern who is 2-7, but at 3-6, Hofstra should not take any opponents lightly.
“We’re down, but not out,” Corey Christopher stated, “Hopefully the team can rally behind Probst and finish at .500.”