Georgetown (DC) Hoyas

The Georgetown Hoyas football team represents Georgetown University in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision level of college football. Like other sports teams from Georgetown, the team is named the Hoyas, which derives from the chant, Hoya Saxa. They play their home games at Multi-Sport Field on the Georgetown University campus in Washington, D.C.

History
The first football team at Georgetown was formed on November 1, 1874, with the earliest recorded intercollegiate games dating to 1887. By the 1940s, Georgetown played in the Orange Bowl, where they lost 14–7 to Mississippi State.

As the college game became more expensive after World War II, however, Georgetown's program began to lose money rapidly. The Hoyas' last successful season was 1949, when they lost in the Sun Bowl against Texas Western.

After a 2–7 season in 1950, Georgetown attempted to salvage its program by softening its schedule, replacing major opponents such as Penn State, Miami, and Tulsa with Richmond, Bucknell, and Lehigh. The program was losing too much money, however, and on March 22, 1951 the University's president canceled the football program.

In 1962, Georgetown allowed its students to start a football program as an exhibition-only club sport. New games began in 1964, and their first drew 8,000 to see the Hoyas host another university with an unofficial program, New York University (NYU). Varsity football resumed in 1970 at what later became known as the Division III level.

Today, Georgetown plays at the Division I-Football Championship Series level (due to NCAA legislation forbidding Division I or II schools from playing football in lower divisions), competing in the Patriot League and perennially plays against Ivy League schools. Without the ability to add schoalrships, Georgetown's program fell on hard times in the 2000s. As of 2010, the team has not had a winning season since 1999, with the 2009 season yielding no wins.

Stadiums
Georgetown has played football at various on-campus intermural fields. From 1891 until 1893, the stadium known as Boundary Field played host to Georgetown football. Then From 1921 until 1950, Griffith Stadium played host to Georgetown football. Currently, the Hoyas play at Multi-Sport Field, which was upgraded from Harbin Field in 2003.

D.C. Cup Rivalry Game
The Hoyas have a defunct cross-town rivalry with Howard University (which also plays at the FCS level), for a championship known as the DC Cup (awarded by the mayor of Washington). Two DC Cups were held (2008 and 2009). The series remains tied at 1-1-0.

Conference Championships
Georgetown has won two conference championships.

Bowl Games
While in the Major College Division of the NCAA (what is now the FBS), Georgetown competed in two major bowl games (including a New Year's Day bowl game), one of which is today a BCS Bowl Game.

Polling
Georgetown was ranked in the AP Poll while a member of the Major College Division.

Hoyas in the NFL
Perhaps the football team's most accomplished athlete was Al Blozis, who would play for the NFL's New York Giants before being killed in action in World War II. Blozis's great athletic accomplishments, however, came in shotput and discus. He set the world indoor record for the shotput, throwing it 56 feet 4.5 inches in 1941. He was the national indoor and outdoor shotput champion in both 1942 and 1943.

"Big Jim" Ricca, an NFL defensive end and offensive lineman, graduated in 1949 and was the last Hoya to play in an NFL game.

Jim Schwartz, head coach of the NFL's Detroit Lions, was a four-year letterman at linebacker. He received Distinguished Economics Graduate honors and earned numerous honors in 1988, including Division III CoSIDA/GTE Academic All-America, All-America, and team captain.

In 2007, the Washington Redskins made Alex Buzbee a reserve player, becoming the first Georgetown player on an NFL team since Ricca retired in 1956.