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Post by hc4life on Oct 23, 2022 7:55:03 GMT -5
Well that was a Houdini escape if there ever was one. 3 phases to the game and we needed big plays from each in order to escape a tremendous game plan from Lafayette.
Lafayette clearly used the 2 weeks to game plan for HC. Their defense stunted, blitzed and controlled the LOS throughout. They have a good d-line and LB'er group that made it their mission to stop Sluka. Additionally, our O-Line played very poorly and looked confused with what they were seeing from Lafayette's defense.
On defense it was obvious how much we miss Jake Dobbs. He is a tackling machine and is strong up the middle with the speed to scrape outside and tackle sideline to sideline. Lafayette was averaging 2.9 YPC coming in and gutted us at times. Additionally, they got the edge which is a by product of Anderson having to move to the middle with Dobbs sidelined. Our young LB'ers are getting baptism by fire but as you would expect it is tough to replace an All-America player.
Fordham will present a different challenge this week. They are a quick strike offense which will attack HC both vertically as well as horizontally. I see HC trying to possess the ball and wear out Fordham's D and preserve ours. The key will be whether our Ends and LB'ers can get pressure. Dan K and Jake R will need to have their best games. I assume coach James will employ a few slot blitzes to try and get quick pressure.
7-0 is not easy as evidenced by the fact only 5 teams remain undefeated in FCS. Survive and advance and I expect a fired up HC squad with a great atmosphere at Fitton!
Go Cross GO!!!!!!!
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Post by rgs318 on Oct 23, 2022 8:03:17 GMT -5
Massey has HC as a 7 point favorite (38-31) with a 67% chance for the win. My error...thanks for pointing it out.
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Post by crusader1970 on Oct 23, 2022 8:12:38 GMT -5
Massey has HC as a 7 point favorite (38-31) with a 41% chance for the win. I guess I don't understand odds.
If you are a 7 point favorite shouldn't your chance of a win be above 50%, maybe even closer to 70%?
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Post by rgs318 on Oct 23, 2022 8:13:04 GMT -5
Thanks. It was my error. The percent chance (according to Massey) is 67% - I'll correct it above.
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Post by cmo on Oct 23, 2022 10:52:39 GMT -5
Couple rainy days coming in Woo. Should be out of here by Wednesday night. Partly cloudy, mid 50’s Saturday. Perfect football weather.
Get there and bring 10 friends.
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Post by HC92 on Oct 23, 2022 11:55:31 GMT -5
We seem to be really pushing for attendance in a lot of different ways. Should be a very large crowd in the 15K-20K range.
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Post by cruskater31 on Oct 23, 2022 13:26:13 GMT -5
College Gameday should be coming to worcester. But they are going to visit Prime Time for an FCS gameday...Southern at Jackson St. Some SWAC implications as both teams are division leaders.
Bring everyone you know to the Fordham game! Let's get the biggest home field advantage in 30 years
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Post by hchoops on Oct 24, 2022 9:34:46 GMT -5
We seem to be really pushing for attendance in a lot of different ways. Should be a very large crowd in the 15K-20K range. That # would greatly surprise me.
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Post by crusader1970 on Oct 24, 2022 10:00:04 GMT -5
We seem to be really pushing for attendance in a lot of different ways. Should be a very large crowd in the 15K-20K range. That # would greatly surprise me. Keep in mind, it's Family Weekend too.
I bet we get 15,000+ if the weather is good.
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Post by cruskater31 on Oct 24, 2022 10:31:26 GMT -5
Tale of the Tape for the game:
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Post by hchoops on Oct 24, 2022 11:03:29 GMT -5
Thanks , skater Wow, Fordham is last in pass D. We have to protect Matt so he can have time to shred that D. Fordham’s rushing offense is not bad, We must limit DeMorat with a fierce rush and defend the run as well. Not an easy task. Their O line allows very few sacks. Of course our stats are against a tougher/much tougher schedule. They turn it over frequently. We are last in Def TDS. Why aren’t blocked punts for TDS included ?
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Post by Ignutz on Oct 24, 2022 11:48:24 GMT -5
Thanks , skater Wow, Fordham is last in pass D. We have to protect Matt so he can have time to shred that D. Fordham’s rushing offense is not bad, We must limit Morat with a fierce rush and defend the run as well. Not an easy task. Their O line allows very few sacks. Of course our stats are against a tougher/much tougher schedule. They turn it over frequently. We are last in Def TDS. Why aren’t blocked punts for TDS included ? My understanding is that Demorat is not a scramble QB, and is this not a threat to tuck the ball and run. If true, our run D should be enhanced. We’ve certainly seen some QB runners this year, but has Fordham faced the likes of Sluka?
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Post by cruskater31 on Oct 24, 2022 12:11:14 GMT -5
Thanks , skater Wow, Fordham is last in pass D. We have to protect Matt so he can have time to shred that D. Fordham’s rushing offense is not bad, We must limit DeMorat with a fierce rush and defend the run as well. Not an easy task. Their O line allows very few sacks. Of course our stats are against a tougher/much tougher schedule. They turn it over frequently. We are last in Def TDS. Why aren’t blocked punts for TDS included ? Good question! There is no category for it on NCAA.com I just research the stats from their and include them in my Tale of the Tape. There is a category for blocked kicks and punts as well as blocks allowed but not a category for blocked for a TD. www.ncaa.com/stats/football/fcs/current/team/693 On another note: I've had difficulty finding Fordham highlights short of pulling up the entire games on ESPN+ (I guess i'm not too lazy to pull together stats but too lazy to sift through highlights!) I know Fordham's run D and their running game are not too shabby. I am a little worried about their pass rush, but they don't have a pass rusher like Hamm who caused so much issue. Sluka couldn't run a draw up the middle because the A and B gaps were generally stopped and Hamm seemed to come outside or crash off-tackle C gap I think. Sluka was contained. I imagine their gameplan would call for pressure to keep the pressure off their DB's. I believe they did improve their corners, but they are still well below average for fcs. We should try and mix in some different runs and screens to negate the pressure. It is hard to run a sweep or toss with Hamm crashing, but I imagine we would have more success against Fordham. If we protect Matt better than last week, we should have time to dismantle their secondary. Fordham sacked the Ohio QB 3 times (according to the box score) and DeMorat was sacked once. The Bobcats rank 53 in sacks and 68 in sacks allowed. I think we might have better lines than Ohio (for what it's worth). On the other side of the ball, they seem to protect DeMorat pretty well and we are 66th in sacks. I do like the pressure we brought in the 2nd half of the Buffalo game, against Yale, and against Harvard (those stand out). We were able to get pressure on the Harvard QB Charlie Dean so he couldn't get the ball out to speedy #1 Kym Wimberly (who ironically went to a HS called Holy Cross) this pressure was at the same time we were stopping RB Borguet. Hopefully that is a good plan for the Fordham game. FYI...our overall stats and ranks did go down after the Lafayette game with few exceptions. I think that was an anomaly and due to the return of their QB as well as strong pressure from All-American talent on defense.
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Post by cruskater31 on Oct 24, 2022 12:45:29 GMT -5
Fordham at Ohio:
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Post by hcnj on Oct 24, 2022 13:37:53 GMT -5
I don't know whose coverage it is but three times Anderson moved wide to blitz and all three we got burned. Lot of stopped runs where RB just waited behind the pileup and stepped out. Good wakeup call to close some holes in our D game. I also don't mind 4 yd gains, we seemed to constantly take a gain and then pass down field forcing long thirds. Oliver, Fuller and Matt should be able to tear off 3-5 regularly if the pass game struggles. I have no idea how last week's D can put pressure on DeMorat.
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Post by hchoops on Oct 24, 2022 13:49:52 GMT -5
The defense from the previous six games may be able to.
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Post by longsuffering on Oct 24, 2022 14:30:27 GMT -5
Our offense will have to fight fire with fire against their offense to some degree. I was thinking HC could burn clock with the running game in an attempt to keep DeMorat off the field but he doesn't need much time to score so if HC features the run it's imperative to score on possessions not just control the ball.
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Post by nycrusader2010 on Oct 24, 2022 14:44:10 GMT -5
Thanks , skater Wow, Fordham is last in pass D. We have to protect Matt so he can have time to shred that D. Fordham’s rushing offense is not bad, We must limit Morat with a fierce rush and defend the run as well. Not an easy task. Their O line allows very few sacks. Of course our stats are against a tougher/much tougher schedule. They turn it over frequently. We are last in Def TDS. Why aren’t blocked punts for TDS included ? My understanding is that Demorat is not a scramble QB, and is this not a threat to tuck the ball and run. If true, our run D should be enhanced. We’ve certainly seen some QB runners this year, but has Fordham faced the likes of Sluka? DeMorat is only a threat to run in the sense that coverage will be at an absolute premium so there will be plays where he'll be able to turn nothing into something only because you have to respect his accuracy and double team his top targets (Fotis). The two backs from Fordham are very good. It's a prolific passing offense but also a well-rounded offense. I honestly believe it's the best offense I've seen in the Patriot League in 17 years.
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Post by hchoops on Oct 24, 2022 14:53:14 GMT -5
Ciaccio and Wiley were earlier and certainly compared to or were better
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Post by longsuffering on Oct 24, 2022 15:10:55 GMT -5
Fordham definitely has the best offense that has never won anything. Yet. Saturday's game is a match-up for the ages.
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Post by cmo on Oct 24, 2022 15:17:09 GMT -5
FOR*HAM
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Post by sader1970 on Oct 24, 2022 15:30:27 GMT -5
An indication of how crowded, a Clasmate asked how he could get a garage parking ticket. I passed his request to my contact in ticketing and the response:
“Sadly we completely sold out of all lots for this game. We are finalizing alternative parking plans and running shuttles from alternate sites! If you already have game tickets, you will receive updates on alternative sites in the next 24 hours.”
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Post by sader1970 on Oct 24, 2022 15:31:40 GMT -5
45, get there early to avoid confrontations with the garage guards!😉😂
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Post by efg72 on Oct 24, 2022 15:41:50 GMT -5
Thanks , skater Wow, Fordham is last in pass D. We have to protect Matt so he can have time to shred that D. Fordham’s rushing offense is not bad, We must limit DeMorat with a fierce rush and defend the run as well. Not an easy task. Their O line allows very few sacks. Of course our stats are against a tougher/much tougher schedule. They turn it over frequently. We are last in Def TDS. Why aren’t blocked punts for TDS included ? Quick release to wide open receivers we need to hit DeMorat without penalties, and force him out of the pocket to throw off timing Don’t mind giving up 35 for the day as long as we have 36
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Post by Crucis#1 on Oct 24, 2022 15:49:22 GMT -5
HC have contained Fordham throughout the DeMorat years so far. No doubt we need to clean up the penalties, especially the late hits, and the possible ones for taunting. Need to stay focused on the ultimate game plan, have more point on the board than them, by any means necessary…..offense, defense, and especially special teams.
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