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Post by Ignutz on Jan 18, 2020 14:59:05 GMT -5
I really don't want to play Merrimack anytime soon...sorry, not sorry. I’m with you on both points.
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Post by timholycross on Jan 18, 2020 15:13:02 GMT -5
I think JMU scheduled them to have a practice game before the playoffs. It's their 11th game next year. Seems like Bama and a few others do it similar to that (i.e., schedule an FCS team before Auburn).
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Post by gerry on Jan 18, 2020 16:00:08 GMT -5
I don't necessarily want to play them either, but options are limited at this point, especially for local opponents. Their hoop team is very good in their first year at the D1 level. Kind of a shame they aren't eligible for the conference title as they would have a shot of winning it
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Post by hc2020 on Jan 18, 2020 16:46:16 GMT -5
Anyone have an idea when we can expect HC to fill that remaining spot on the 2020 schedule?
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Post by purplehaze on Jan 18, 2020 17:16:19 GMT -5
No
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Post by nhteamer on Jan 18, 2020 18:36:05 GMT -5
LIU Merrimack Sacred Heart
Please make it stop
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Post by hcgrad94 on Jan 18, 2020 18:59:13 GMT -5
World has changed hombre.
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Post by Crucis#1 on Jan 18, 2020 19:16:14 GMT -5
I would not be surprised to see Merrimack as the 11th game this year. Options are limited at this point.
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Post by jkh67 on Jan 18, 2020 21:03:20 GMT -5
LIU Merrimack Sacred Heart Please make it stop I'm no doubt missing something, but I don't know what the magic of an eleventh game is (assuming that the PL champ doesn't need to play eleven games) if we can't find an opponent that makes sense. It's not as though we're likely to attract a school that will fill Fitton. If it's even a home game. (For many years now, HC football schedules have had us playing more than 50% of our games on the road every year. What's up with that...especially considering that Fitton is 15th by size on the national list of FCS stadia and a venue with a long, long tradition and track record!?!) We need to remember what we've been over many, many decades and what we hope to become yet again under Coach Chesney. That means eschewing schools like LIU, Merrimack, Sacred Heart and numerous other Eastern schools I could mention. Playing such institutions only confirms that HC is a has been in college football. It means...and it means emphatically...continuing to schedule schools comparable to HC...not only academically but in terms of football history and current commitment to the sport. We're looking to move up and none of the schools mentioned to fill a one Saturday gap will help with that in any way. In saying that, I don't mean to disparage any of those schools in any way. It's just to say that, despite recent travails, HC has an estimable long term track record in the upper echelons of Eastern college football that we shouldn't piss away by playing down. If we can't identify an appropriate opponent for the eleventh game in 2020, let's just forget an eleventh game.
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Post by longsuffering on Jan 18, 2020 21:37:01 GMT -5
I was melancholy when we scheduled Monmouth, Towson, Sacred Heart, Central CT instead of Rutgers, Navy, Yale and UConn - neighbors of those schools that we used to be football peers of. But turning down a Merrimack would mean spreading all the FB expenses over ten revenue games instead of eleven and would be discordant with our upward trajectory under Coach Chesney.
Insist on a home game and tee up the pigskin.
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Post by Crucis#1 on Jan 18, 2020 21:52:43 GMT -5
I am of the same thought, we cannot leave the 11th game revenue off the books.
Besides, I don’t want to be raking leaves on a Saturday when I should be sitting at Fitton Field or another venue watching the gang in Purple.
Interesting that you mentioned UConn. before the creation of the 1A/1AA designations, UConn was in the College Division, (Yankee Conference, etc.) while HC was in the higher, University Division. The face of College Football has changed in the last 40 years. Realize that programs that were not on the map have made significant investment to be strong programs today. From a fan standpoint Duane Stadium at Merrimack is a better venue to watch a game than the still to be completed Cooper Field. Names from the past are history, and may not be be best for us to play in 2020 in order to build a winning culture. We must continue to take careful, well planned steps, not react and start running just to trip and fall flat on our face.
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Post by longsuffering on Jan 18, 2020 22:25:18 GMT -5
UConn, Northeastern and BU used to be fairly reliable wins back in the 1970s when we were recovering from the Hepatitis debacle. Along with HC, the four schools have all gone in different football directions. Merrimack seems to be on an upward trajectory and will possibly develop into a good Catholic rival on the fields, courts and ice only an hour's drive away. Good for the environment if nothing else.
A much shorter trip than American or Loyola, although perhaps not as highly ranked academically.
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Post by Crucis#1 on Jan 18, 2020 22:43:54 GMT -5
The same can be said for Sacred Heart, which is now the second largest Catholic University in New England. Most here also do not realize they sponsor more athletic programs, last time I checked, 31, than the team in the ACC, as well as the other nearby Big East schools that have dropped programs recently.
Sacred Heart is a far different school than the one that I first heard of in 1968 when a cousin of mine announce he was going to attend. At that time Sacred Heart was a five year old institution.
When Stanford or Dartmouth plays a team, do you honestly think they care where a team ranks academically? Remember when Stanford played UC Davis, a 1AA team. Pretty sure that the Stanford AD at the time, Ted Leland, was not considering UC Davis’s academic standing. Ted Leland was previously the AD at Dartmouth, so he was use to dealing with the academic elitism that really has no relevance to the play on the gridiron.
Living in the past does not position you for victories into the future.
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Post by lehighowl on Jan 18, 2020 23:15:07 GMT -5
LIU Merrimack Sacred Heart Please make it stop I'm no doubt missing something, but I don't know what the magic of an eleventh game is (assuming that the PL champ doesn't need to play eleven games) if we can't find an opponent that makes sense. It's not as though we're likely to attract a school that will fill Fitton. If it's even a home game. (For many years now, HC football schedules have had us playing more than 50% of our games on the road every year. What's up with that...especially considering that Fitton is 15th by size on the national list of FCS stadia and a venue with a long, long tradition and track record!?!) We need to remember what we've been over many, many decades and what we hope to become yet again under Coach Chesney. That means eschewing schools like LIU, Merrimack, Sacred Heart and numerous other Eastern schools I could mention. Playing such institutions only confirms that HC is a has been in college football. It means...and it means emphatically...continuing to schedule schools comparable to HC...not only academically but in terms of football history and current commitment to the sport. We're looking to move up and none of the schools mentioned to fill a one Saturday gap will help with that in any way. In saying that, I don't mean to disparage any of those schools in any way. It's just to say that, despite recent travails, HC has an estimable long term track record in the upper echelons of Eastern college football that we shouldn't piss away by playing down. If we can't identify an appropriate opponent for the eleventh game in 2020, let's just forget an eleventh game. Holy Cross must find an 11th opponent for the 2020 season. If Holy Cross has serious playoff aspirations playing a full 11 game schedule of D1 opponents is extremely important for numerous reasons. Should they drop a league game and finish 8-2 or 7-3 they will not get the benefit of the doubt since they willingly decided not to COMPETE for an 11th time like other potential at-large candidates did. If Holy Cross has a great season it would also prevent the Crusaders from garnering a seed consideration. If it was common knowledge that the PL Champion (aka the Patsie League) or PL at-large contender opted not to play an 11th game because they were "too good" for the D1 options available the HC football program and athletic department would look beyond foolish. With that said, there is kinda-sorta precedent for the 10 game line of thinking. Colgate dropped Bryant in 2016 following their 2015 playoff run and failed to find a replacement. They ended up playing 10 games and finished a fitting kissing your sister 5-5. After starting the season in the Top 15, 2016 ended up being a major disappointment for Colgate in many ways. "Enschewing" schools by not scheduling schools like Merrimack, Sacred Heart, LIU, Central Connecticut State etc because of some ridiculous unearned sense of superiority is just the most off the wall whacky thing I've read all week. Especially given Holy Cross's track record in 1-AA/FCS the last 25 years, the Patriot League's current place in the FCS pecking order and the fact the top programs in FCS schedule those programs. The current OOC slate of Brown, Harvard, Yale and BC is solid but certainly not going to garner Holy Cross a tremendous amount of respect nationally unless Yale or Harvard turn out to be a legit, widely regarded Top 10-15 level Ancient 8 team. If I'm a HC fan I would certainly like to see a quality CAA, MVFC, SoCon or Big Sky team added to get a better idea of where their chips stack up nationally. If that's not an option then a NEC or PFL team will have to do. The NEC and PL are basically about the same competitively at this point anyway. Plus, there's a reasonable chance the PL and NEC champ meet up in the playoffs. It happened in 2012, 2013 and 2014. This is a big year for Holy Cross and Chesney. Winning the PL and getting to the playoffs was nice but now can the Crusaders build off of it with a legitimately good Top 25 team that's capable of winning a game or two in the playoffs? Getting back there is no sure thing. Colgate will likely be there to pounce if Holy Cross produces another 2019 type season 2020. I'm big follower and supporter of PL and FCS football. Right now Holy Cross looks like the league's best hope to save face nationally because they have the best coach. The window with Chesney is simply not big so this year or next could be the all chances you get until he bolts. Need to make the most of it. I do think an 8 or 9 win To 25 level season is possible if Holy Cross takes a significant step forward in 2020. It's hard to envision the PL overall being much better in 2020. Still a lot of dumb rules, bad coaches and indifferent administrations imo. My fingers are crossed there's at least more than one team that finishes the 2020 campaign with a winning record.
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Post by hchoops on Jan 18, 2020 23:25:48 GMT -5
Sounds very knowledgeable and logical. But I hope his thoughts about the Chesney widow of success being narrow are erroneous.
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Post by bfoley82 on Jan 19, 2020 2:15:03 GMT -5
I shot the Merrimack and CCSU game last year and the Warriors had some talent. They lost by three on a last second field goal and that CCSU team made it just as far as Holy Cross.
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Post by hcpride on Jan 19, 2020 6:15:43 GMT -5
Umm, no. Except for some 1-AA/FCS years in the 1980's, we really haven't been very good [undefeated or one or two loss seasons] at all in terms of football in the last 70 years or so. We may have barely broke .500 in the 50's, but did we even have an overall winning record in the 60's, 70's, 90's, and this century? (Ironically, some folks have pointed out that getting walloped in the woefully one-sided BC game two years ago is scientific proof we are a football 'has been' and that the game was a sad exhibition of such.).
I could see Notre Dame or BC fans making such an argument if there was a discussion of scheduling Merrimack, etc. in football. We are certainly not Notre Dame or BC. (Although BC was willing to play us.)
Of Course. Obviously UNH and JMU didn’t think they were ‘too good’ to play Merrimack next year so why the heck would Holy Cross? And Lehigh and URI had no issues playing them this past year. Ditto for Villanova and South Dakota State (both played NEC’s other newbie LIU this year.)
(Remember when a couple of completely wrong folks thought playing Monmouth was somehow beneath HC?)
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Post by longsuffering on Jan 19, 2020 6:28:45 GMT -5
I'm no doubt missing something, but I don't know what the magic of an eleventh game is (assuming that the PL champ doesn't need to play eleven games) if we can't find an opponent that makes sense. It's not as though we're likely to attract a school that will fill Fitton. If it's even a home game. (For many years now, HC football schedules have had us playing more than 50% of our games on the road every year. What's up with that...especially considering that Fitton is 15th by size on the national list of FCS stadia and a venue with a long, long tradition and track record!?!) We need to remember what we've been over many, many decades and what we hope to become yet again under Coach Chesney. That means eschewing schools like LIU, Merrimack, Sacred Heart and numerous other Eastern schools I could mention. Playing such institutions only confirms that HC is a has been in college football. It means...and it means emphatically...continuing to schedule schools comparable to HC...not only academically but in terms of football history and current commitment to the sport. We're looking to move up and none of the schools mentioned to fill a one Saturday gap will help with that in any way. In saying that, I don't mean to disparage any of those schools in any way. It's just to say that, despite recent travails, HC has an estimable long term track record in the upper echelons of Eastern college football that we shouldn't piss away by playing down. If we can't identify an appropriate opponent for the eleventh game in 2020, let's just forget an eleventh game. Holy Cross must find an 11th opponent for the 2020 season. If Holy Cross has serious playoff aspirations playing a full 11 game schedule of D1 opponents is extremely important for numerous reasons. Should they drop a league game and finish 8-2 or 7-3 they will not get the benefit of the doubt since they willingly decided not to COMPETE for an 11th time like other potential at-large candidates did. If Holy Cross has a great season it would also prevent the Crusaders from garnering a seed consideration. If it was common knowledge that the PL Champion (aka the Patsie League) or PL at-large contender opted not to play an 11th game because they were "too good" for the D1 options available the HC football program and athletic department would look beyond foolish. With that said, there is kinda-sorta precedent for the 10 game line of thinking. Colgate dropped Bryant in 2016 following their 2015 playoff run and failed to find a replacement. They ended up playing 10 games and finished a fitting kissing your sister 5-5. After starting the season in the Top 15, 2016 ended up being a major disappointment for Colgate in many ways. "Enschewing" schools by not scheduling schools like Merrimack, Sacred Heart, LIU, Central Connecticut State etc because of some ridiculous unearned sense of superiority is just the most off the wall whacky thing I've read all week. Especially given Holy Cross's track record in 1-AA/FCS the last 25 years, the Patriot League's current place in the FCS pecking order and the fact the top programs in FCS schedule those programs. The current OOC slate of Brown, Harvard, Yale and BC is solid but certainly not going to garner Holy Cross a tremendous amount of respect nationally unless Yale or Harvard turn out to be a legit, widely regarded Top 10-15 level Ancient 8 team. If I'm a HC fan I would certainly like to see a quality CAA, MVFC, SoCon or Big Sky team added to get a better idea of where their chips stack up nationally. If that's not an option then a NEC or PFL team will have to do. The NEC and PL are basically about the same competitively at this point anyway. Plus, there's a reasonable chance the PL and NEC champ meet up in the playoffs. It happened in 2012, 2013 and 2014. This is a big year for Holy Cross and Chesney. Winning the PL and getting to the playoffs was nice but now can the Crusaders build off of it with a legitimately good Top 25 team that's capable of winning a game or two in the playoffs? Getting back there is no sure thing. Colgate will likely be there to pounce if Holy Cross produces another 2019 type season 2020. I'm big follower and supporter of PL and FCS football. Right now Holy Cross looks like the league's best hope to save face nationally because they have the best coach. The window with Chesney is simply not big so this year or next could be the all chances you get until he bolts. Need to make the most of it. I do think an 8 or 9 win To 25 level season is possible if Holy Cross takes a significant step forward in 2020. It's hard to envision the PL overall being much better in 2020. Still a lot of dumb rules, bad coaches and indifferent administrations imo. My fingers are crossed there's at least more than one team that finishes the 2020 campaign with a winning record. Lehigh had a bit of a spurt at the begining of the PL season last year. Any grounds for optimism for '20?
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Post by Non Alum Dave on Jan 19, 2020 8:04:09 GMT -5
Geez, if some of you guys were Crossports administrators, I wonder if State College Dave would even be allowed to post 😂
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Post by hcpride on Jan 19, 2020 8:08:32 GMT -5
Sounds very knowledgeable and logical. But I hope his thoughts about the Chesney widow of success being narrow are erroneous. I think in terms of retaining Chesney, if he has one or two more excellent (1 or 2 FCS losses) seasons going forward his thoughts may be very much on target. But, if that happens, we'll benefit from the future performance of Chesney's quality recruits, attract another up-and-comer coach, and perhaps sustain a level of FCS success for years to come. Although not exactly the same, after Carter's tragic death his top quality recuits (Lockbaum, Wiley, McGovern, McCabe, etc.) carried Duffner' s early teams to great success.
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Post by sader1970 on Jan 19, 2020 8:16:11 GMT -5
Oh, WAIT?!!! You didn't go to Holy Cross?!! Is that what the "Non Alum" in NAD means? The prior Dean must have given you a waiver to join! How very ecumenical of him! I guess we'll just count you as a Crossports dreamer and let you stay.
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Post by thecrossisback on Jan 19, 2020 9:11:38 GMT -5
I wish we would play independent Umass.
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Post by nycrusader2010 on Jan 19, 2020 9:42:54 GMT -5
Schedule BC and Navy - people conplain.
Schedule local upstart FCS programs like Bryant, CCSU and Merrimack - people complain.
Such is life on Crossports.
I'd rather play New Haven or Stonehill than not play an 11th game. Such speculation is ridiculous. I thought it was embarrassing when Colgate chose to play a ten-game schedule 4 or 5 years ago (they inadvertantly played another in 2018 when Furman game was cancelled b/c of a hurricane).
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Post by gks on Jan 19, 2020 9:42:58 GMT -5
I really don't want to play Merrimack anytime soon...sorry, not sorry. Merrimack will be better than HC in athletics across the board within five years. What is the problem with playing them? Maybe force a hockey series out of it.
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Post by nycrusader2010 on Jan 19, 2020 9:46:53 GMT -5
LIU Merrimack Sacred Heart Please make it stop Sacred Heart is like 7-0 in the Patriot League the last 5 years.
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