cross99
Climbing Mt. St. James
Posts: 85
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Post by cross99 on Jan 9, 2023 10:37:04 GMT -5
I've been spending some time gathering my thoughts after watching the FCS championship game. The 2022 version of the Holy Cross football team was really, really good. How good? In my best estimation, the second or third best team in the country. This Holy Cross team had the eventual national champs on the ropes, I mean really on the ropes. If our all-everything kicker doesn't have an off day, HC is up 6 points early in the 4th quarter, and that lead might have been enough to hang on and win in some fashion -- momentum would have been clearly blowing our way...but alas, momentum shifted the other way and SDSU rolled 3 unanswered scores. If HC would've gotten the 7 seed, it could have been us against SDSU in the national championship game, not NDSU.
What does all of this mean for the 2023 football season? Honestly, I think our sights should be set on a National Championship - yes, I said it, and I think we should all say it. Think about it, minus Oliver, we are essentially returning our entire starting offensive lineup. Defensively we are losing some key pieces, but Dobbs will be back and healthy and ready to reign hell on offenses he faces. The biggest piece is that HC was able to keep Chesney in Worcester for at least another year. He, along with his staff, have brought in an insane amount of highly touted recruits, all of them will be fighting to get onto the field and make an impact.
Bottom line: The Patriot League "5-peat" should be the floor, while a national championship is the achievable ceiling.
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Post by KY Crusader 75 on Jan 9, 2023 11:11:47 GMT -5
Key issue to me: how many key linemen are we losing and how will we replace them
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Post by rgs318 on Jan 9, 2023 13:29:11 GMT -5
Bottom line: The Patriot League "5-peat" should be the floor, while a national championship is the achievable ceiling. Comment on that "bottom line." In our class notes (the great Class of 1967) they highlighted the THIRD Straight PL Championship when we know it was it was the fourth. Our class secretaries are usually on top of things like this, so if they do not know how many PL titles HC has won in a row, it does suggest that this has become a secondary issue. PS: I must remember not to try sending posts to Crossports when I am also working on high school notes (as in Class of 1963). Sorry for my major blunder!
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Post by sader1970 on Jan 9, 2023 13:34:32 GMT -5
Geez, I thought you were in the Class of 1967? How did I get that mixed up?!! I'm sending you back your Purple Knights questionnaire!
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Post by rgs318 on Jan 9, 2023 13:40:52 GMT -5
You are right. It is embarrassing to make such an error when I am pointing out an error in someone else's post.
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Post by sader1970 on Jan 9, 2023 13:42:49 GMT -5
OK, I'll keep your questionnaire. Now, help me get Ralph's. He hasn't replied (might still be pi$$ed at me for complaining about the black uniforms!).
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Post by DFW HOYA on Jan 9, 2023 14:19:52 GMT -5
Bottom line: The Patriot League "5-peat" should be the floor, while a national championship is the achievable ceiling. Given how poor the Patriot League is right now, and its continued trending toward Pioneer levels in the ratings, perhaps that's not a problem. The Sagarin ratings of teams below Holy Cross and Fordham: 223. Colgate 229. Lafayette 236. Lehigh 247. Bucknell 250. Georgetown
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Sertorius
Climbing Mt. St. James
Haters everywhere I go
Posts: 74
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Post by Sertorius on Jan 9, 2023 15:30:48 GMT -5
2023 is our year to beat Boston College.
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Post by HC92 on Jan 9, 2023 17:54:24 GMT -5
2023 is our year to beat Boston College. It’s probably the best chance we’ll have in any of our lifetimes. Still a longshot but not crazy.
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Post by efg72 on Jan 9, 2023 18:16:13 GMT -5
Not a long shot at all, if I predicted the score today, realizing so much can happen in the months ahead
Holy Cross 34 BC. 24
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Post by sader1970 on Jan 9, 2023 18:40:30 GMT -5
Think we would have had a very good shot this season had we played them early and before we lost some key players.
Anyone want to speculate on whether next year's Crusader team will be better/worse/or about the same as this past season? We are going to lose some nice 5th years and seniors but coming back will be our offensive wunderkind, Matt Sluka, and we fully expect to have the defensive equivalent, Jacob Dobbs, back. I'm guessing that the BC line (Army, as well) won't be any tougher than SDSU Jackrabbits lines. But, as usual, I'll defer to the experts on our Crossports "panel."
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Post by hchoops on Jan 9, 2023 18:46:49 GMT -5
2023 is our year to beat Boston College. It’s probably the best chance we’ll have in any of our lifetimes. Still a longshot but not crazy. See, you should have been born a few decades earlier.
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Post by efg72 on Jan 9, 2023 19:15:34 GMT -5
Think we would have had a very good shot this season had we played them early and before we lost some key players. Anyone want to speculate on whether next year's Crusader team will be better/worse/or about the same as this past season? We are going to lose some nice 5th years and seniors but coming back will be our offensive wunderkind, Matt Sluka, and we fully expect to have the defensive equivalent, Jacob Dobbs, back. I'm guessing that the BC line (Army, as well) won't be any tougher than SDSU Jackrabbits lines. But, as usual, I'll defer to the experts on our Crossports "panel." We play so many players each game I am thinking we have established depth on the offensive line with additional reinforcements coming into the program i think our returning DBs and DL are potential issues but more than a bit excited about our new LBs than seem very talented and versatile
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Post by Crucis#1 on Jan 9, 2023 19:16:26 GMT -5
92 was a wee lad when HC last beat BC. Too early in life for him to have been engaged in sader mania.😀
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Post by rgs318 on Jan 9, 2023 20:03:42 GMT -5
A question about the title of the thread..."we were good?" I believe these HC players WERE good, ARE good and WILL BE good in the future...but perhaps that is just me.
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Post by hcpride on Jan 9, 2023 21:28:05 GMT -5
My guess is we’ll be just as good next season and be favored in every single regular season FCS game we play (just like last season). Each PL contest will be a blowout (minus Fordham). And if we stay healthy, we will make another strong run in the playoffs.
Only concerns for me are kicker and running back.
Will we keep it close v BC? Nope. Beat Army? Yup.
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Post by cmo on Jan 9, 2023 21:30:11 GMT -5
What does 11-1 with a 3TD loss to BC get us seeded?
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Post by hcpride on Jan 9, 2023 21:33:27 GMT -5
/\ If Army’s any good at all we’ll get a seed. About the same as this past year. Our relative SOS may be the same (not so good) as last year.
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Post by sader1970 on Jan 9, 2023 22:05:48 GMT -5
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Post by cruskater31 on Jan 10, 2023 6:25:08 GMT -5
I have to analyze BC's roster for next year. See what transfers they are accumulating. I have to think we are favored and beat West Point. I think we should be no more than 7 point dogs against BC. Unless they bring in Stetson Bennett for a 7th year of football 🤣 we can win that game.
Think we do have a better shot at going 11-1 than 12-0, but think 12-0 is just about as likely as 10-2. Watch out for Yale! I think we are seeded at 11-1 (if FBS loss) and 12-0. They coups not keep us out of the top 4, imo, if we were 12-0 with 2 FBS wins.
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Post by hcpride on Jan 10, 2023 7:28:08 GMT -5
No doubt we may or may not already have someone on the roster (Palenzuela? Norris?) who will improve enough to fill the shoes (!) of Derek Ng. Or perhaps an incoming student. Hence the concern regarding a kicker. (Punter not a concern) Speed out of the backfield (a perennial issue), quality depth, and replacing 5th-year Peter Oliver comprise my running back concerns for next year.
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Post by nycrusader2010 on Jan 10, 2023 10:15:21 GMT -5
Lot of talk about getting a playoff seed and the season opener is still 8 months away.
Does everyone understand how difficult it is to earn a Top 8 playoff seed out of the Patriot League? It takes a perfect storm of things to go right for such an occurrence to take place, even with a great team. A PL team getting a playoff seed is basically the equivalent of a G5 team getting into a New Year's Bowl game in a world before the top G5 team was guaranteed a slot. Simply getting an at-large bid out of the PL is an immense challenge, typically requiring 9 wins bare minimum, but would be possible with 8 wins in a season where a team has 2 FBS losses.
In 2022, Holy Cross went 11-0 with an FBS win and got the last seed. And that was with the benefit of having a win over a legit Top 20 team in conference (Fordham). Really the only path for a seed out of the Patriot League is to go undefeated against FCS competition.
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Post by DFW HOYA on Jan 10, 2023 10:40:14 GMT -5
The PL is sufficiently weak that nine wins is the minimum for any at-large opportunities. Remember that this was a league where five of its seven schools combined for a non-conference record of 4-20, with two of those four wins coming against Marist.
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Post by newfieguy74 on Jan 10, 2023 10:57:12 GMT -5
Lot of talk about getting a playoff seed and the season opener is still 8 months away. Does everyone understand how difficult it is to earn a Top 8 playoff seed out of the Patriot League? It takes a perfect storm of things to go right for such an occurrence to take place, even with a great team. A PL team getting a playoff seed is basically the equivalent of a G5 team getting into a New Year's Bowl game in a world before the top G5 team was guaranteed a slot. Simply getting an at-large bid out of the PL is an immense challenge, typically requiring 9 wins bare minimum, but would be possible with 8 wins in a season where a team has 2 FBS losses. In 2022, Holy Cross went 11-0 with an FBS win and got the last seed. And that was with the benefit of having a win over a legit Top 20 team in conference (Fordham). Really the only path for a seed out of the Patriot League is to go undefeated against FCS competition. I think this is 100% correct. Thanks for the perspective.
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Post by cmo on Jan 10, 2023 13:11:47 GMT -5
I’m hoping our “brand” comes into play. “Holy Cross is back again” “they gave SDSU, the eventual national champ a scare”, etc.
Like RW being told “you’re not going to be a 16 seed again” after going toe to toe with Kansas.
Are committees supposed to just judge you on a year to year basis? Yes.
Do they? No.
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