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Post by longsuffering on Nov 4, 2023 17:50:45 GMT -5
How often does an FCS team get a second chance like this? After just missing a generational opportunity to beat ancient rival FBS BC, and knowing we were good enough to do so, Holy Cross gets a chance to beat another ancient FBS rival Army that just may vault us into the playoffs.
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Post by rgs318 on Nov 4, 2023 20:40:18 GMT -5
It is possible at this point.
Massey has Army as a 7 point favorite (27-34) with a 66% chance for the win.
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Post by cruskater31 on Nov 4, 2023 21:02:50 GMT -5
Can't reiterate how impressed I was with our defense today. After the first series (and then short field which they did convert to make it 14 pts on the board), we buckled down. The 129 passing yards allowed are the fewest this season and rushing yards 2nd lowest to Colgate. Now I know the opponent had a lot to do with it but Lehigh has given teams (including Fordham) fits. The D without Dobbs was very resilient and I loved what we saw from our linebackers as well as Spence.
We could be looking at a shootout on Saturday. All schools except Delaware State easily had over 100 yards rushing vs Army and with the exception of the monsoon vs BC, tons of passing yards allowed. Sluka and Pesansky make a nice wrinkle in gameplanning for Army. I do pray that Dobbs and Sluka can play. (I felt like I saw Dobbs holding his arm/shoulder following the blocked FG at Buckey as well---same play Haskins was hurt on).
Offensively we match up very well vs Army. How will we spy the QB on defense? That will probably be a difference maker. Daly had a lot of underthrown balls vs UMass and LSU, so it will be interesting for sure. They threw for 40 yards on Saturday vs AF
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Post by hchoops on Nov 4, 2023 21:23:48 GMT -5
Against Air Force today Daly had 170 yards on 36 carries . The next highest had 37. Our defense might find that defending Daly may be similar to defending Matt.in practice. Passing he was 4-9 for 40 yards. Army had 213 yards rushing on 51 carries Time of possession Army- 32 minutes AFA- 28. AFA- 6 turnovers. 2 interceptions, 4 fumble recoveries. I watched some of it, Army gang tackles and works hard at stripping the ball away. Army- 0
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Post by cruskater31 on Nov 4, 2023 21:42:14 GMT -5
Against Air Force today Daly had 170 yards on 36 carries . The next highest had 37. Our defense might find that defending Daly may be similar to defending Matt.in practice. Passing he was 4-9 for 40 yards. Army had 213 yards rushing on 51 carries Time of possession Army- 32 minutes AFA- 28. AFA- 6 turnovers. 2 interceptions, 4 fumble recoveries. I watched some of it, Army gang tackles and works hard at stripping the ball away. Army- 0 like we said after BC, Harvard, and to a lesser extent, vs Laffy, protect the rock! You make a great point about defending Sluka. Daly runs to contact but not as hard as Matt nor as fast as DePrimA
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Post by hcnj on Nov 4, 2023 23:22:18 GMT -5
Can't reiterate how impressed I was with our defense today. After the first series (and then short field which they did convert to make it 14 pts on the board), we buckled down. The 129 passing yards allowed are the fewest this season and rushing yards 2nd lowest to Colgate. Now I know the opponent had a lot to do with it but Lehigh has given teams (including Fordham) fits. The D without Dobbs was very resilient and I loved what we saw from our linebackers as well as Spence. We could be looking at a shootout on Saturday. All schools except Delaware State easily had over 100 yards rushing vs Army and with the exception of the monsoon vs BC, tons of passing yards allowed. Sluka and Pesansky make a nice wrinkle in gameplanning for Army. I do pray that Dobbs and Sluka can play. (I felt like I saw Dobbs holding his arm/shoulder following the blocked FG at Buckey as well---same play Haskins was hurt on). Offensively we match up very well vs Army. How will we spy the QB on defense? That will probably be a difference maker. Daly had a lot of underthrown balls vs UMass and LSU, so it will be interesting for sure. They threw for 40 yards on Saturday vs AF you're not concerned about their rushing game against our run D?
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Post by cruskater31 on Nov 5, 2023 10:09:51 GMT -5
Can't reiterate how impressed I was with our defense today. After the first series (and then short field which they did convert to make it 14 pts on the board), we buckled down. The 129 passing yards allowed are the fewest this season and rushing yards 2nd lowest to Colgate. Now I know the opponent had a lot to do with it but Lehigh has given teams (including Fordham) fits. The D without Dobbs was very resilient and I loved what we saw from our linebackers as well as Spence. We could be looking at a shootout on Saturday. All schools except Delaware State easily had over 100 yards rushing vs Army and with the exception of the monsoon vs BC, tons of passing yards allowed. Sluka and Pesansky make a nice wrinkle in gameplanning for Army. I do pray that Dobbs and Sluka can play. (I felt like I saw Dobbs holding his arm/shoulder following the blocked FG at Buckey as well---same play Haskins was hurt on). Offensively we match up very well vs Army. How will we spy the QB on defense? That will probably be a difference maker. Daly had a lot of underthrown balls vs UMass and LSU, so it will be interesting for sure. They threw for 40 yards on Saturday vs AF you're not concerned about their rushing game against our run D? of course I am, but they haven't dominated TOP, 33-28 to Air Force and Sluka/Pesansky don't need much time to drive down the field. BC put up 200 on us with an inexperienced D on the field and BC then dominated the LOS vs Army with both Garwo and Castellanos gaining over 100 each. Daily had over 100 and was their leading rusher against BC. With our reps playing rushing QB's, including Castellanos and Sluka in practice, I'm not as concerned as others on here. I can see us giving up 200 rushing and winning the game.
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Post by cruskater31 on Nov 5, 2023 10:33:43 GMT -5
Computer sims are what they are but I did find these two, circled results interesting. Outliers? I can't fathom this Army team putting up 60 (they scored 57 on a very bad Delaware St coming off a D2 loss) and I can't believe we would ever put up an 80 burger on anyone especially with the new clock rules. Just interesting!
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Post by drjack on Nov 5, 2023 10:47:29 GMT -5
I wonder if the sim where we dropped 80 had Coker just consistently beating the DBs over the top for long TDs?
Would be fun to see the imaginary box score for that game.
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Post by cruskater31 on Nov 5, 2023 11:57:58 GMT -5
I wonder if the sim where we dropped 80 had Coker just consistently beating the DBs over the top for long TDs? Would be fun to see the imaginary box score for that game. impressed with the way Joe P feathers it in there on those deep balls when Coker gets free. Had me thinking...I would like to obviously have both Jake and Matt for Army and I don't want to rely upon Laffy stumbling again, do I would play them. IF you haf to pick one to play, who would it be? I would take Jake to help the D and let Joe P own the Army secondary. That being said, the opposite is more likely. I like a two QB wrinkle against Army. BC is extremely intelligent and crafty with personnel so we'll see who is playing Saturday on a blue bird day on the banks of the mighty Hudson.
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Post by sader1970 on Nov 5, 2023 12:33:00 GMT -5
FWIW, the weather channel has Saturday weather in West Point mostly sunny (24% chance of rain) and temp range 51-32 degrees.
I really don't want to sit in another rain storm.
Also praying Matt and Jake are back - our two best players on either side of the ball. On the above question, if I could only have 1 back, prefer Jake as he is more critical to defense than Matt is on offense, IMHO, as Joe P is a better replacement than anyone we have substituting for Jake on D.
Please, Lord, BOTH back 100% Saturday!!
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Post by hcpride on Nov 5, 2023 12:47:03 GMT -5
If our goal is PL Championship (and auto -bid), Georgetown is the more important game.
Don’t know if that has any bearing on how much Chesney uses Sluka and Dobbs v West Point.
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Post by Sons of Vaval on Nov 5, 2023 12:54:10 GMT -5
I think our goal is the playoffs by any means at this juncture.
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Post by sader1970 on Nov 5, 2023 13:09:32 GMT -5
The hill is a lot, lot steeper but I think our goal is still national championship, though no one wants to say that out loud. So, yes, that only happens with a spot in the playoffs and it'd be a feather in the team's cap if they were to win the PL championship. But, let's focus on and beat Army.
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Post by steve81 on Nov 5, 2023 22:24:27 GMT -5
It is possible at this point. Massey has Army as a 7 point favorite (27-34) with a 66% chance for the win. We were 10 pt under dogs and beat Army. It can be done! Best wishes.
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Post by cruskater31 on Nov 6, 2023 6:25:10 GMT -5
Apropos of nothing...how about a helmet Saturday with either a stars and stripes HC logo (could wear the white helmet) or a camo HC logo to honor Veterans' Day at Michie? I appreciated the camo endzones at LSU for the Army game (and then they demolished them). I think a nice touch going into West Point. Here is Chattanooga's from Sat:
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Post by efg72 on Nov 7, 2023 13:42:34 GMT -5
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Post by Sons of Vaval on Nov 7, 2023 13:52:08 GMT -5
Army isn't likely to play in a bowl this year. Should they finish 6-6, they'd have two wins against FCS programs (only one win counts towards bowl eligibility). However, if there aren't enough bowl eligible teams to fill out the myriad of games, I think they might be able to sneak in the back door.
All that said, no player on Army's roster has experienced a losing season. They will need to win out (HC, Coastal Carolina, Navy) in order to finish 6-6.
I expect them to come out extremely motivated. This is going to be a supremely difficult challenge for our guys.
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Post by hc1996 on Nov 7, 2023 14:06:00 GMT -5
If our guys play with the same fire they brought to the field at BC, I am very confident we win this game.
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Post by cruskater31 on Nov 7, 2023 14:31:40 GMT -5
Army isn't likely to play in a bowl this year. Should they finish 6-6, they'd have two wins against FCS programs (only one win counts towards bowl eligibility). However, if there aren't enough bowl eligible teams to fill out the myriad of games, I think they might be able to sneak in the back door. All that said, no player on Army's roster has experienced a losing season. They will need to win out (HC, Coastal Carolina, Navy) in order to finish 6-6. I expect them to come out extremely motivated. This is going to be a supremely difficult challenge for our guys. Bowl selection also happens to take place after the Navy game. They would first need a waiver for the 2nd FCS wins. The Army guys are talking about it on their message board. They are focused on beating Navy.
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Post by lou on Nov 7, 2023 14:34:55 GMT -5
Coach Monken: I coached FCS, I know there are very good football teams. Preparing for BC we watched a lot of the HC game. I think they could have won that game. And commenting on Sluka, said he made a heckuva TD pass at the end of the 1st half vs Lehigh
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Post by Sons of Vaval on Nov 7, 2023 15:24:01 GMT -5
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Post by hchoops on Nov 7, 2023 15:54:46 GMT -5
If this is your thought, Kevin, I disagree. It is a must win since we cannot presume that Lafayette will lose either of their last two games. If they do not, this is a must win.
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Post by drjack on Nov 7, 2023 16:00:45 GMT -5
If this is your thought, Kevin, I disagree. It is a must win since we cannot presume that Lafayette will lose either of their last two games. If they do not, this is a must win. 100%. We cannot just assume that Laffy will lose and things will magically go in our favor. We absolutely need to treat this as our 3rd straight playoff game if we want to keep playing this year.
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Post by hc1996 on Nov 7, 2023 16:02:43 GMT -5
What specifically did Sluka injure? He's well enough to run head first into numerous 300 pounders the last couple weeks but not well enough start. I'm assuming he wasn't able to pass. Army will be prepared for a Sluka ground attack for sure. For this game, even if Sluka is 100%, does it make more sense to go with Joe P?
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