Fordham has dropped decisions to Holy Cross and Assumption over the past two weeks by yielding both ground and time to balanced offensive schemes (see below). You’d expect the Lehigh brain trust to take note and to employ a game play that promises to yield similar results.
Fordham has………
given up far too many first downs of late, for example:
Holy Cross: 32
Assumption: 26
and loss the Time of Possession battle to both:
Holy Cross 32:25 to 27:35
Assumption 43:39 to 16:21
Our "D," worn down by Villanova and UNH, could use such a break on Saturday.
while allowing teams to employ a balanced offensive attack:
Holy Cross rushed the ball 42 times and passed it 45
Assumption rushed the ball 42 times and passed it 39
and come up short on passing defense:
Holy Cross: 327 yards on 30 for 44 attempts
Assumption: 279 on 27 for 39 attempts
That’s a combined 606 yards (76 yards per quarter of play) with a passing accuracy of 68.7%. You can see why Chris wants back into the game this weekend.
With the return of (a) sanity to our schedule (CAA opponents – the likes of UNH and Villanova – are no match for us or any other PL member as the league is presently constituted), (b) Chris Lum under center (remember he did beat out both Colvin and JB Clark for the job), and (c) 5th year senior co-captain, Al Pierce, calling the shots behind our defensive line, I see Lehigh in control of this game and winning comfortably by 10 to 14 points.