Yale will host the 2-4 Holy Cross Crusaders on Saturday at 1 PM ET. You can catch the game on the Ivy League Network at that time. Holy Cross lost an overtime thriller to Dartmouth three weeks ago after electing to go for a two point conversion for the win instead of kicking the extra point.
Holy Cross has had a disappointing mid-season stretch with three straight losses after a promising start to the season. In the season opener, Holy Cross lost to UCONN by only a touchdown and would go on to demolish Bucknell and New Hampshire in weeks 2 and 3. Since the Dartmouth loss, Holy Cross has dropped two straight home games to Lafayette (10-7) and Monmouth (48-36).
Keys to Victory:
- Stay aggressive
Dartmouth’s historic comeback last week may not have occurred if we did not take our foot off the pedal in the third quarter. This week we need to put points on the board in a hurry and keep throwing downfield until time expires. Holy Cross has the offensive firepower to erase a huge deficit in minutes. C-Lo and TE Jaeden Graham have been phenomenal this season and we need to keep feeding them the rock to keep Holy Cross’ defense honest.
- Shore up the secondary
Holy Cross QB Peter Pujals threw for over 500 yards last week to 13 different players. We can expect to see the Crusaders target our secondary after the dismal defensive back play in the second half of the Dartmouth loss. The secondary needs to regroup this week to have any chance of making a run at the Ivy title. The blitzing this week will need to be more creative as the blitzing against Dartmouth put our defensive backs at a disadvantage against talented wideouts.
- Cut the mental mistakes
From high snaps and holding to late hits, penalties killed any chance of clinging onto a win last week. The offensive line was the biggest offender and crippled several drives with mental errors and penalties. On defense, personal fouls will need to be cleaned up as Tyler and Balter were cited for such penalties last week. Rawlings will have to study extra game film to see which routes the Holy Cross cornerbacks like to jump. Correcting the mistakes starts with the coaching staff, so Reno and company will have their work cut out for them this week.
5 replies on “Holy Cross Preview”
Good to be back at the bowl. Glad its a OOC game. Ball control to keep the HC NFL QB prospect on the sidelines most of this game. Good game to work on things, get healthy before starting the big push next week until the end of November. Weather looks great. Go Bulldogs !!!
This game will be a lot tougher than some people think. Last year Tim Murphy sat out his first stringers in order to rest them for an upcoming Ivy game and played mostly reserves, which resulted in a rare Holy Cross victory over Harvard. Don’t get any ideas, Tony!
The worst part of the Dartmouth loss was that the Ivy League was wide open for the taking. Now we have the tall task of winning out just to share a title. Columbia and Dartmouth will lose games, but angry Princeton and Harvard teams may start dominating everyone in their paths.
Went to the Holy Cross Football Blog , crossports. Seems as though fans are extremely confident about this game. All the while lamenting on past triumphs in 67 an 2005.?
Also Yale Bowl being a very shabby and decaying facility.
I hope they enjoy a pleasent ride home with a very resounding loss.
Go Bulldogs
Holy Cross was lucky that Dowling missed the game in 1967 with a broken wrist