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Post by Sons of Vaval on Oct 17, 2023 11:43:18 GMT -5
Stats Perform...Lafayette 32 [votes] Fordham and Laffy are #26 and 28 in the Coaches poll respectively and 27 and 29 in the Stats Media poll. Both right on the cusp. They are getting respect. We knock off both off and we are likely back in the Top 10 in the Coaches poll and close in the Media poll. And if either beat us they will be firmly in the top 25. When is the last time the PL had 3 teams in the top 30 including one in the top 15 this late in the season? IDK. Guessing 2009. HC, Colgate, Lafayette.
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Post by hcpride on Oct 17, 2023 11:47:10 GMT -5
Weren't we favored by about the same amount over Harvard? I take Massey with several pounds of salt. Yes, but without the 5 turnovers we would certainly gave defeated Harvard Not so much the 5 turnovers (IMHO, although that is itself awful) but it was losing the turnover battle 5-0 that really killed us. Don't see that happening v Lafayette (wet weather or otherwise).
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Post by rgs318 on Oct 17, 2023 11:54:31 GMT -5
If HC can dominate the Pards offensive line (which we did eventually vs Harvard, and - more importantly - dominate their defensive line to establish our running game, HC should be fine. This one will be won or lost in the trenches IMHO,
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Post by Sons of Vaval on Oct 17, 2023 11:59:18 GMT -5
If HC can dominate the Pards offensive line (which we did eventually vs Harvard, and - more importantly - dominate their defensive line to establish our running game, HC should be fine. This one will be won or lost in the trenches IMHO, Respectfully disagree here. Harvard had their way up front on both sides of the ball. HC rushed for 148 yards on 36 carries (4.1 YPC). Harvard rushed for 209 yards on 49 carries (4.3 YPC). Most notably, they really bottled up Fuller and Purdy, who combined for just 65 yards. Harvard was also able to gobble up a lot of time on the ground in the 4th quarter on the ground.
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Post by cruskater31 on Oct 17, 2023 12:13:26 GMT -5
I wouldn't be quoting an account with 38 followers as gospel Who said anything about Gospel? I like promoting positive discussion and if it's a hot take about Georgetown's chances or something like that, let's see what the people say.
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Post by cruskater31 on Oct 17, 2023 12:25:27 GMT -5
If HC can dominate the Pards offensive line (which we did eventually vs Harvard, and - more importantly - dominate their defensive line to establish our running game, HC should be fine. This one will be won or lost in the trenches IMHO, Respectfully disagree here. Harvard had their way up front on both sides of the ball. HC rushed for 148 yards on 36 carries (4.1 YPC). Harvard rushed for 209 yards on 49 carries (4.3 YPC). Most notably, they really bottled up Fuller and Purdy, who combined for just 65 yards. Harvard was also able to gobble up a lot of time on the ground in the 4th quarter on the ground. I don't have the box score in front of me, but how much of that was Sluka and DePrima and how much the running backs? A lot of Harvard's yards on the ground were either broken plays or RPO's in which DePrima just used his speed to get the corner and go. I would bet around 45-50% of Harvard's rushing yards were DePrima. 55% or so was Sluka (although I remember he ran up the middle quite a bit rather than roll outs, broken plays, etc). Harvard's line played exceptionally well on both sides, I think we eventually got the D line squared away such that you couldn't go up the middle on us, but rather De Prima would burn us on the outside. Laffy has a fairly balanced attack. DeNobile has 107 attempts for 781 yards through the air, the RB Curtis has 109 attempts for 698 on the ground. From the games I've watched, DeNobile moves a bit but doesn't run necessarily. He has 143 yards on the ground and 3.0 per attempt.
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Post by sader1970 on Oct 17, 2023 12:40:23 GMT -5
Harvard game stats, if you want to go down this road:
DePrima 89 rushing yards of 209 total Harvard (43%), longest 29 yards
Sluka 83 rushing yards of 143 total HC (58%), longest 18 yards
Team average yards per carry: Harvard: 4.3 HC 4.0
Total rushing attempts: Harvard: 49 HC: 36
Here's the great surprise:
Total yards: Harvard: 360 HC: 468
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Post by dlshc27 on Oct 17, 2023 13:07:09 GMT -5
Harvard game stats, if you want to go down this road: DePrima 89 rushing yards of 209 total Harvard (43%), longest 29 yards Sluka 83 rushing yards of 143 total HC (58%), longest 18 yards Team average yards per carry: Harvard: 4.3 HC 4.0 Total rushing attempts: Harvard: 49 HC: 36 Here's the great surprise: Total yards: Harvard: 360 HC: 468 The Total Yards Stat actually makes perfect sense. Harvard dominated the field position battle. 5 TO's plus the Opening Kick returned to our 30 made for some short/shorter fields for them to Navigate. HC played an average to below average game and Harvard played a good to great game. Don't beat yourself! Unfortunately that day, we did!
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Post by dlshc27 on Oct 17, 2023 13:13:33 GMT -5
Here is one more stat for you guys...HC has lost 5 FCS games since the 2021 Fall Season, Harvard(2), Merrimack, SDSU & Villanova. In 4 of those losses HC threw a pick six. The only loss we did not was Villanova.
"Win the crowd and you'll win your freedom" Win the TO battle and you'll win the game!
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Post by midwestsader05 on Oct 17, 2023 13:27:38 GMT -5
You cannot good beat even average teams with that type of disadvantage in possessions (it was actually 6 total including the roughing the Punter which is the same as a TO) and starting field position. We would have lost to Bucknell with a -6 possession stat line! Let that sink in.
I may be in the minority here but after watching Lafayette, they are closer to Harvard from a talent perspective (at least in their starting 22 not in depth) The QB isn’t as fast or athletic as DePrima but throws a more catchable high % ball. The RB is smaller but shifty/quick and one of those guys that can hide behind a bigger OL and find a small crease. Harvard RB was avg IMHO. Harvard has a better OL and DL but not by as much as you might think, Laffy LB’s are better than Harvards. Olivias and #21 are studs and fly around all over the place.
Keep this receipt. If Sluka plays his game, we win. All of the Laffy pressure got to him last year. I was at the game. They stack the box and leave their DB’s exposed often in in Cover 0 blitzes. If Matt is on time and on target, we can pass on them and our WRs are more talented than their DBs.
A wet game would actually favor Laffy. It gets lost on folks but one reason we beat UNH so convincingly last year in that mess was as much to do with the play of Kuz, Reich and Liam up front. They were grown ass men that day. Prince & Reynolds on the second level played lights out as well. The OL and Oliver were outstanding but those guys on D played as much if not more of a role in that ass whooping.
By the way, all 5 of those guys were 5th year seniors last year. Notice something? We had 7 5th year seniors on D last year…7! We had 2 this year. Now one with Hask down. Just Dobber.
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Post by hc1996 on Oct 17, 2023 14:26:19 GMT -5
Yup, once the benefit of having fifth years goes away within a couple years, I'll be really curious to see how competitive we remain. Love what Chesney and the boys have done. Hoping for continued growth and success, but I do see some disadvantages reappearing.
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Post by KY Crusader 75 on Oct 17, 2023 14:33:41 GMT -5
Here's a look at how Holy Cross, Lafayette and their opponents have done in the Red Zone and beyond. I'll draw conclusions on some of the stats and be obliged if the many who know football better than I will correct me. While we know that "the game will be played on the field and not on paper" I still find it useful to do some analysis
RED ZONE SCORING
STAT HC------LAF
TD'S 25--------16 HC scored a TD 83% of time while it was 76% for Lafayette-- not a big difference but advantage HC
FG 2-----------1 NO PTS 3----------4 HC failed to score 10% of the time while Laf went scoreless 19% of the time: advantage Holy Cross
RED ZONE SCORING BY OPPONENTS
STAT HC OPPS-------LAF OPPS
TD'S 13-------------------12
FG 5-------------------3
NO PTS 2-------------------9 HC held opponents scoreless 10% of the time while LAF stopped the opponent scoreless 38% of the time. Huge advantage to the Lafayette defense
RED ZONE VISITS
Holy Cross 30 visits versus 20 for our opponents so HC= +10 Lafayette 21 visits versus 24 for their opponents so Laf= (3)
LONG TOUCHDOWNS (Offensive touchdowns that started beyond the Red Zone)
Holy Cross 10 touchdowns HC has a lot more runs and passes for TD's than Lafayette Lafayette 4 touchdowns
HC Opponents 6 Touchdowns Laf Opponents 2 Touchdowns :looks like Laf has the advantage here
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Post by newfieguy74 on Oct 17, 2023 14:34:23 GMT -5
Is it known whether Haskins is done for the year?
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Post by midwestsader05 on Oct 17, 2023 14:44:18 GMT -5
Is it known whether Haskins is done for the year? It didn’t look good.
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Post by efg72 on Oct 17, 2023 15:00:20 GMT -5
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Post by longsuffering on Oct 17, 2023 16:53:21 GMT -5
You have that right Coach Troxel. Meaningful football on Fitton Field late in October.
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Post by cruskater31 on Oct 17, 2023 19:37:07 GMT -5
Harvard game stats, if you want to go down this road: DePrima 89 rushing yards of 209 total Harvard (43%), longest 29 yards Sluka 83 rushing yards of 143 total HC (58%), longest 18 yards Team average yards per carry: Harvard: 4.3 HC 4.0 Total rushing attempts: Harvard: 49 HC: 36 Here's the great surprise: Total yards: Harvard: 360 HC: 468 thanks for posting! Very interesting stuff vis a vis the run game and QB run game. Will be interesting to see how much Matt runs this week.
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Post by cruskater31 on Oct 18, 2023 8:44:22 GMT -5
Here are the highlights from the Monmouth-Laffy game. I chose to look at this because it was also played in wet conditions. One thing that stood out from the UNH playoff game is the poor traction for UNH players and the good traction for HC on our beautiful Fitton field (I am not sure if cleat choice had to do with this but Lafayette plays on plastic like many of our competitors.) The Laffy QB throws accurate short balls on slants, crossings, outs, etc. With the wind forecasted, we might see a lot of these short passes from both squads. The RB as mentioned here previously is tiny but very fast and shifty. I noticed in this game and the Princeton game, that Laffy has a good DL but even better backers and safeties, the Monmouth line got enough of a push to get their RB 3-5 yards but the linebackers were there to stop anythinig else. I trust our OL to go to work this week and try to best that from Monmouth. Another tidbit: Malik Hamm was outstanding at setting the edge and forcing the pocket to collapse. He really bottled up Sluka and the outside run. They do not have that this year (Malik is playing OLB for Baltimore I think now) and it is possible to run outside on them. Hopefully this means more time for Sluka to go to work (just not holding on as long as the Harvard game---just run or throw it away gosh darnit!) www.google.com/search?sca_esv=574441619&rlz=1C1ONGR_enUS1024US1025&sxsrf=AM9HkKn1blE5bNJ3_nGJ0R-KbFuLQMEJfA:1697635289852&q=lafayette+football+vs+monmouth+university&tbm=vid&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjXs6Kj2P-BAxVMElkFHc-uAwEQ0pQJegQIUBAB&biw=1536&bih=803&dpr=1.25#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:281fa0b7,vid:7p-F8svAX34,st:0
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Post by DFW HOYA on Oct 18, 2023 9:10:18 GMT -5
I wouldn't be quoting an account with 38 followers as gospel Who said anything about Gospel? I like promoting positive discussion and if it's a hot take about Georgetown's chances or something like that, let's see what the people say. There is no at-large for the PL in 2023. FWIW, Georgetown went 8-3 in 2011 and had no real chance at an at-large opportunity. Same applies now.
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Post by Sons of Vaval on Oct 18, 2023 9:16:42 GMT -5
Who said anything about Gospel? I like promoting positive discussion and if it's a hot take about Georgetown's chances or something like that, let's see what the people say. There is no at-large for the PL in 2023.FWIW, Georgetown went 8-3 in 2011 and had no real chance at an at-large opportunity. Same applies now. I don't think you can be so definitive with that statement. 9-2 Lafayette or 8-3 Holy Cross (with a win over Army) would both be on the bubble, IMO. Lafayette's resume would look similar to Fordham's last season, and they got in at 9-2. Lafayette would need Monmouth and Princeton to have strong finishes to their season to bolster their resume. Georgetown beat Marist, Howard, Davidson, and Wagner (all teams under .500 who had a combined record of 17-27), and had two league losses. That's a very different resume than HC or Lafayette could potentially have. Plus, the playoff field was smaller in 2011 (20 teams then vs. 24 now)
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Post by efg72 on Oct 18, 2023 9:25:01 GMT -5
Fordham had DeMorat and WRs
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Post by midwestsader05 on Oct 18, 2023 14:52:00 GMT -5
Anyone got the NEFJ write-up this week? Looks Like Kevin Stone just posted. Can you post here? I'm refusing another subscription.
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Post by hartattack on Oct 18, 2023 15:17:09 GMT -5
No. 11 Holy Cross preparing for massive Patriot League showdown with Lafayette after bye
Posted By Kevin Stone on October 18, 2023
The first of several major tests for Holy Cross on their quest for a fifth straight Patriot League title takes place this weekend at Fitton Field.
The Crusaders (4-2, 2-0) currently sits in first, but both Georgetown (4-3, 2-0) and Lafayette (5-1, 1-0) are lurking behind. Fordham is also 5-2 and 1-1 in the league. After this Saturday’s game, Holy Cross faces Fordham, Lehigh, Army and Georgetown to end the season. A loss this weekend wouldn’t end the chances for a five-peat, but it would certainly make those final three conference games must-wins.
Coming off a bye at probably the perfect time, the 11th-ranked Crusaders need to start this final stretch off on the right foot against a Lafayette team that has completely turned things around after winning just four games a year ago. Before looking at the Leopards, the Crusaders used the week off like most teams do, to self-scout and figure out the best course of action for the second half of the season.
“I think the bye week was great,” Chesney said Tuesday morning. “A chance for us to kind of just dive back in to ourselves and figure out things we were doing well, things we weren’t and just finding what puts people in the best positions to be successful. I think a little bit more good-on-good throughout the week and then the second half of last week focused into Lafayette and now, here we are in game week. So, excited about this weekend and it’ll be good to be back in Fitton for the third time of the year I think.
“Glad to be back.”
The bye week not only served as a chance to get guys healthy and for coaches to reevaluate the team, but with a lot of new younger guys – particularly on defense – that are in the thick of the Patriot League chase for the first time, it served as an important week to slow things down and make sure they’re up to speed or just more comfortable with how things are going.
“Very,” Chesney said sternly when asked how important the week was for those younger players. “There’s times when we have guys out there defensively that there’s six or seven freshman on that field. I think them just continuing to get good experience out there is a big piece of it. Them continuing to increase their production, which increases their confidence and just continuing to put themselves in positions where they’ve seen themselves make those plays over and over again.
“A lot of the competitions we did all week, a lot of the stuff we did throughout the week really did focus on those guys getting back to fundamentals, removing some of the scheme and getting back to the fundamental side of football is what that bye week ultimately was about. So, for some young guys to go back to some camp thoughts and some camp drills almost I think was very helpful and I hope pays dividends when we come out here on Saturday.”
One other aspect of the bye week that often gets overlooked is just ow important recruiting is. It’s a 24/7, 365-days a year job now and frankly, the reason Chesney and the Crusaders have been able to establish such a run of dominance is their ability to recruit high level, high character players year in and year out.
“Well, everybody’s out on the road, so we had guys in Texas, Florida, Iowa, I mean, all over the place scouting. Guys were everywhere,” said Chesney. “We left Thursday morning practice, a lot of coaches left on Wednesday evening, then went out Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, caught a game or two and then just had a chance to evaluate some guys and make sure we had communication with the coaches with the guys where we have guys committed. Trying to make sure we maintain those commitments and just keep moving forward to fill the last couple spots that we have.”
This is no longer a Lafayette team Holy Cross fans can overlook, even coming off a bye week. In a matchup of the league’s top offense against the league’s top defense, something has to give. If the Crusaders want to remain in the driver’s seat for another league title, this is a critical game.
“The fact that they’re good,” Chesney said with a grin when asked what his biggest concern about Lafayette was this week. “That’s a concern there. No, they’re really good. They’re super aggressive. They do a great, great, great job. I mean, they are as dynamic as you can imagine on defense and they really put their guys in position to be successful. So, I think, again, we had a battle last year (24-21) and I imagine it’ll be very much the same when we go offense against defense, for sure.”
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Post by longsuffering on Oct 18, 2023 15:47:51 GMT -5
Yup, once the benefit of having fifth years goes away within a couple years, I'll be really curious to see how competitive we remain. Love what Chesney and the boys have done. Hoping for continued growth and success, but I do see some disadvantages reappearing. A few thoughts. Our opponents who cultivate five year tenures for FB players are vulnerable to the portal once a player has graduated but still has a year of eligibility. Maybe less than HC is with players eligible to graduate if they have grad school, but how much less? When the extra Covid year expires all players only have four full years of eligibility. So HC will have more scholarship sophomores, juniors and seniors, each on average with more experience than their peers on other teams where playing time is reduced for each class as they wait behind each season's fifth year players. An HC senior will have comparable game experience as an opposing fifth year and if he prepped a year like Sluka before matriculating, be the same age. HC made good use of the four year Covid exception to establish a solid football program, which should make recruiting easier whoever is the head coach.
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Post by gks on Oct 18, 2023 15:59:04 GMT -5
Yup, once the benefit of having fifth years goes away within a couple years, I'll be really curious to see how competitive we remain. Love what Chesney and the boys have done. Hoping for continued growth and success, but I do see some disadvantages reappearing. A few thoughts. Our opponents who cultivate five year tenures for FB players are vulnerable to the portal once a player has graduated but still has a year of eligibility. Maybe less than HC is with players eligible to graduate if they have grad school, but how much less? When the extra Covid year expires all players only have four full years of eligibility. So HC will have more scholarship sophomores, juniors and seniors, each on average with more experience than their peers on other teams where playing time is reduced for each class as they wait behind each season's fifth year players. An HC senior will have comparable game experience as an opposing fifth year and if he prepped a year like Sluka before matriculating, be the same age. HC made good use of the four year Covid exception to establish a solid football program, which should make recruiting easier whoever is the head coach. It's not about game experience. It's about giving young men an extra year to mature, get stronger, learn football, etc.
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