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Holy cross preview

The Yale Bulldogs kickoff their season against the Holy Cross Crusaders on Saturday at 1PM at the Bowl. ESPN+ will be streaming the battle for those not at the Bowl.

Holy Cross is a quality opponent with two games under their belt. They opened their season with a difficult matchup versus Navy and Navy’s triple option offense exploited their speed advantage over Holy Cross’ front seven en route to a 45-7 victory. The Crusaders bounced back in their second contest beating New Hampshire 13-10 in a defensive struggle as they scooped and scored with under two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. Holy Cross had a bye week this past week, so they have had ample time to draw up a gameplan for the Elis.

The Crusaders’ offense has not been particularly explosive to date, but they have a solid quarterback in Connor Degenhardt that can make the Bulldogs pay if coverages are blown. Degenhardt has completed 58% of his passes to date this season and isn’t afraid to stand in the pocket long enough to spot an open receiver. The top two running backs are averaging just 3.3 yards per carry, however, the top three receivers are averaging 9.3, 11.7 and 21.4 yards per reception. Holy Cross has racked up twenty first downs on passing plays compared to just seven first downs on running plays. This should prove to be an early litmus test for our secondary. The offensive line has strength and size, yet has not impressed in their first two outings against very stiff competition.

Safety Joe Lang is the star of the defense and has already racked up 14 solo tackles thus far, while his fellow defensive back Chris Riley has notched 16 total tackles. Freshman linebacker Josh Dobbs leads the defense with 18 total tackles overall. The linebacking corps as a whole is very young with two sophomores and a freshman in the mix. This will be a very favorable matchup for our stable of talented running backs and our veteran offensive line. The Crusaders’ defensive line has yet to register a sack and simply could not keep containment against Navy.

Yale leads the series 28-5, but second year coach Bob Chesney is 1-0 versus Reno.

Here are some lingering questions that we will hopefully have answered by 4:30 PM on Saturday:

Will Rawlings and Dudek be able to bounce back from the injuries that derailed their last campaigns?

Will the revamped offensive line be a more cohesive unit?

How will Reno distribute the ball with so many playmakers at running back and wide receiver?

Will defensive backs play the ball in the air and take proper angles to catch up to ball carriers?

Has the tackling improved from last season?

How will our special teams fare with a new kicker and snapper?

Stay tuned to find out. Let’s go Bulldogs!

2 replies on “Holy cross preview”

A little off-topic, but has anyone out there who is a season ticket holder failed to get their tickets? We have not gotten ours and have now been told we have to go to the ticket office tomorrow morning to pick them up, along with our parking pass.

Just wondering. Does the NH Register actually cover Yale sports anymore? Maybe the actual paper is better then the online edition? I know they never, or hardly ever, send reporters on the road anymore. Just what I want to see, the AP short version on Sunday. I can get that in any out of town paper.

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