Holy Cross Game Predictions

[LU65Participant]

Good News / Bad News. First the good, should Lehigh "win-out" and the Leopards defeat the Raiders of Colgate on Saturday over in Easton, we’ll be playing a game on Saturday, November 28th in Round 1 of the FCS Championships. Now the bad, it’s has little to no chance of happening. But, as a fan and loyal alum, what else is there to do but dream. Two things are for certain, however. One, I’ll be there (Section WE/Row 14) sipping my Kool-Aid in support of the players and two, the team will go all out on Family Weekend to prove they belong on the same field as the nationally ranked Crusaders of Holy Cross. What happens after that is anyone’s guess.
Looking over the numbers below, however, it would seem our only hope – besides heavy rains and gale to hurricane force winds – is for us to out-dual the Cross thru the air. Crazy as that may sound, it may be true. That, coupled with superior Special Teams play (Kennedy and Zurn, we need you to give us good starting field position; Cribs, a pick or two would be nice), limited penalty yards (three minor infractions – just like last week up in Hamilton – would be fine), a three sack day (that is, after all, our average) and a + 2 turnover margin day with a gift touchdown thrown in for good measure and we might just send the Crusaders home wondering what hit them. Who knows, maybe Gang Purple will be looking ahead (a trap game if there ever was on e) to hosting Lafayette next weekend in what everyone seems to think will be "The Game" to decide the PL this year. I prefer to think that contest comes on the 21st when Lafayette pays a visit to Lehigh. So, as much as the "book" may say that Lehigh should run the ball to eat-up time on the clock and to keep Dom on the sidelines, I really don’t see that happening. Harvard did it in their game against the Cross earlier this year, winning the time of possession game (31 to 29 minutes) while running and passing the ball each 37 times. They still loss the game! People seem to forget HC’s Rushing D is nothing to sneeze at, giving up a mere 101.1 yds/game this year. Yup, it’s the "Brown University" way – – bombs away. In that game (HC’s only loss), Brown put the ball up 61 times and completed 46 for 431 yards. You want "Air Lehigh?" You’re going to get "Air Lehigh." Sit back and enjoy the fireworks. It’ll be fun.

Holy Cross’ Passing Offense (great)
# 3 nationally / # 2 in the PL @ 320.75 yds/game
vs
Lehigh’s Passing Defense (good)
# 5 nationally / # 1 in the PL @ 143.28 yds/game

Lehigh’s Passing Offense (fair)
# 73 nationally / # 5 in the PL @ 178.88 yds/game
vs.
Holy Cross’ Passing Defense (poor)
#112 nationally / # 7 in the PL @ 275.00 yds/game

[ngineerParticipant]

Nice dream. I’ll take whatever you’re tokin’ I agree that we may have trouble running, but we really need to balance in order help Clark pass. Also, CUT OUT the STUPID PENALTIES! We had TWO major ones last week that had major implication on outcome. The late hit by Newton that gave ‘gate a first down and good field position. And then the holding penalty that basically put the kabosh on the late drive deep into Colgate territory. Red Zone efficiency is another. We kicked two FGs rather than get TDs when down deep. Bright side is we were able to kick FGs. Gotta keep HC under 30 for us to have a shot.

[lee-82Participant]

31 28 Lehigh in a shocker !!!

[ngineerParticipant]

"lee 82" wrote: 31 28 Lehigh in a shocker !!!

On a Peery FG as time expires…I’ll take it

[LU65Participant]

Good morning, Guys. Glad to finally see some action on this Board leading up to our biggest game of the year. Where are you RichH, hawkineer, lex and van? Perhaps we’ll never rival the chatter / posting seen on CrossSports but it’s refreshing to see some of us awake this Saturday morning.

I like your spirit, lee82, and believe you’ve hit on another important aspect of this game, engineer – that of not taking stupid penalties. They’ve become drive stoppers and have cost us more than one game this year.

I’m still inclined to think our only hope of a victory is to follow the Brown blueprint in their victory over HC on October 10th. They passed, passed, and passes some more. 61 times to be exact. And, the vast majority of their strikes were of the 3, 5, 7, 9 variety (check the drive chart). QB Kyle Newhall found his receivers open across the middle and underneath the protection. Don’t get me wrong, they didn’t abandon the run (actually rushed it 21 percent of the time) but move the chains nicely through the air time and time again. They were able to win the time of possession battle (32:12 to 27:48) – not by running the ball but by oddly enough by the passing it safely, securely and over short ranges. Their drives were a thing of beauty (plays / yards): 10/65, 8/56, 11/71, 9/80, and 10/57. I’m not saying it’ll be possible for us to duplicate that but it may be worth a try.

As for the margin of victory today, a spot check of the Holy Cross Board would seem to indicated anywhere from 14 to 38 points – all in HC’s favor. I like the confidence, however, express in us by RGS318 and Kycrusader. They had their Crusaders winning by only 11 and 10 points, respectively. Sagarin calls it HC-13. Seems fair, but like lee82, you gotta believe. What’s the fun of going to the game, if you don’t?

[colorless-raiderParticipant]

Good luck Engineers! Your D can hold them down and I agree with LU65 on passing. Clark can get it done.

[RichHParticipant]

Ah, cr a voice of optimism crying in the wilderness. . Agree that we should be able to put up some numbers today passing, will that result in points :roll: .
mymantraforthis game is "Randolph FLU" I just keep repeating it.

[Author]

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