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Post by nycrusader2010 on Apr 16, 2018 20:27:36 GMT -5
Spring is always the season of hope. Over the last few years I attended a few losing games and In my view there quite often seemed to be a noticeable disparity in talent between HC and our opponents most notably size, speed, talent and know-how, I was at the Dartmouth game in which PP was hurt. I'll never forget a play with HC on defense and the Dartmouth runner ran right over the smaller, weaker and slower HC tackler. I realized that barring some miracle we were doomed and thoroughly overmatched in that game. I was at that game too. Quite a solemn day as soon as Peter went down. Also hard to believe that Dartmouth team ended up winless in the Ivy that year after non-conference wins over UNH, Towson and Holy Cross.
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Post by rgs318 on Apr 17, 2018 9:09:21 GMT -5
Why did Holy Cross not play in the 1987 FCS playoffs? League didn't allow it. Dumb. I thought it was a decision by TPTB at Holy Cross. No?
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Post by southernsader on Apr 17, 2018 10:19:31 GMT -5
No. Colonial League (name changed to Patriot League in 1990) did not permit its champion to participate at the time. '87 was only the second year of the League, which was football only in the late 80's.
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Post by nycrusader2010 on Apr 17, 2018 18:07:13 GMT -5
League didn't allow it. Dumb. I thought it was a decision by TPTB at Holy Cross. No? See southern's response above. But I believe there was at least one season BEFORE our entrance to the Colonial / PL where we turned down a playoff bid because we would have had to cancel the BC game. Must have been 84 or 85.
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Post by hcpride on Apr 17, 2018 18:31:48 GMT -5
I thought it was a decision by TPTB at Holy Cross. No? See southern's response above. But I believe there was at least one season BEFORE our entrance to the Colonial / PL where we turned down a playoff bid because we would have had to cancel the BC game. Must have been 84 or 85. 85 was a pretty disappointing year in terms of W-L, so it would not have been '85.
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Post by 6sader7 on Apr 17, 2018 18:34:01 GMT -5
I was at the game and it was an exciting day at Fitton Field. The positive energy was palpable! As for the game the first thing was the kids played hard and with energy and excitement the whole day. As for performances, starting with the QBs. Emmett Clifford was the starter and was mostly ineffective as the offense really struggled to move the ball at all with him calling signals. He missed several wide open WRs and badly missed a sure TD to a wide open receiver down the middle of the field early in the scrimmage. Geoff Wade was by far the most effective QB as the offense moved the ball sometimes with him. But not consistent and he missed on a few passes as well. But the offense seemed most effective when he was in. The most intriguing guy to me was Connor Degenhardt. I thought he was clearly the second best QB at the game. He threw some nice balls that should have been caught. And when given the opportunity to step into his throws he threw the best ball of all the QBs. He showed some escapability in the pocket as well. Had a nice presence about him but the one issue I saw was he held onto the ball too long several times as he did not check off his reads very well. But I would slide him into more reps ahead of Clifford ASAP. The other QB was not very good in the scrimmage at all. The RBs were ok with Cozier far and away being the best RB of the three. Its a tie between the other two who struggled to hit the holes with any decisiveness. 4 yard gains versus trying to hit a home run every play is a skill they need to learn. Cozier did fumble away a good drive near the goal line however but hes very good. The WRs were actually ok. There were a couple of drops but to my recollection it was by the same two players. The WRs got open several times and QBs were unable to hit them. Overall on offense they were the best group. The OL was a bit disappointing but I must say the defense threw the kitchen sink at them so with a whole new offense and the familiarity of four weeks of practice against that new offense its hard to grade them. This new offense actually uses the RBs in the passing game and several times when blitzed they were wide open and the QBs didn't recognize and check down to them. If the QBs can learn to do that these blitzes would have been much less effective. Only other issue was there were more than several bad snaps from the center to the QB which also hurt a few drives. Overall, especially given the circumstances of the late OC hire and install, the offense moved the ball as well for a spring game as I can remember and there were way less mistakes in the turnover and penalty department. I swear last years game the offense had 15 illegal procedures called on them. I also think we will be able to run the ball better with the new OC and offense and I have full faith in Coach Chesney to coach to the players strengths and figure out a way to become if not a great offense at least a competitive offense. Defensively, I liked everything I saw. These coaches will figure out a way to play good defense. The kids were flying around. We do need to cover WRs a bit better but we were aggressive and didn't just sit and get killed in the same defense. Akeem Walcott played down in the box and to me was the MVP of the defense. He made plays everywhere. Brady was very good as well. Josh Hicks has the look of a shut down CB and our DL made plays as well. Kicking game? Not good. Needs a lot of work lets just say.... Bottom line is Coach Chesney is the real deal and will get Holy Cross turned around. Its not a matter of if but when.... Thanks for the re-cap. Defense always tends to be ahead at this point in the year and these games are a great measuring stick to see who should be getting more reps come summer, etc. Looks like we have our work cut out for us, interested in seeing what we're able to put together come September.
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Post by alumnusdad on Apr 18, 2018 14:04:18 GMT -5
"... No red faced insanity..." That's all I need to hear! I attended the game as well. Coach C's class and positive leadership were on full display. It was refreshing to witness. Indeed, the coach not only engaged the incoming freshmen and recruits, I noticed he was also "teaching" them on the spot. That's what coaches do. I am excited to see this team come together this fall.
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Post by timholycross on Apr 18, 2018 14:38:04 GMT -5
See southern's response above. But I believe there was at least one season BEFORE our entrance to the Colonial / PL where we turned down a playoff bid because we would have had to cancel the BC game. Must have been 84 or 85. 85 was a pretty disappointing year in terms of W-L, so it would not have been '85. It was 1984. The playoffs were moved up a week that year. And after HC decided to pass on them, they ended up moving the BC game BACK two weeks...9 days after Thanksgiving. Supposedly the players were in favor of playing BC vis-à-vis the playoffs. Not sure what record it would have taken to be invited, but the team was 8-2 exclusive of BC.
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