Holy Cross Set For Home Opener Against Colgate
Friday, September 25, 2015
Last time out
The Crusaders are coming off of a 29-26 loss on the road to Towson in which they were outscored 15-3 in the third quarter after taking a 16-7 lead into halftime.
The Crusaders now have a chance to get back in the win column at home.
Bouncing Back
The Crusaders are facing a crucial stretch of their schedule where five of their next six games are at home, including the next three straight.
With so many games at home over the next few weeks, this is really a make or break stretch for Holy Cross. They get things started against a Colgate team that is winless so far on the season but coming off a solid performance in a 29-28 loss to Yale.
Keys For a Holy Cross Win
Here are the keys to victory for Holy Cross as they look to get their home stand off on the right foot.
Stop the Run
The first thing the Holy Cross has to do to win the game is to tighten up their run defense and will have to do it against a good running team.
Led by John Wilkins, Colgate leads the Patriot league in rushing, averaging 174 yards per game.
In the Crusaders last game against Towson, they gave up 276 yards rushing and three touchdowns. Towson averaged six yards per carry.
The Crusaders run defense will once again be in the spotlight.
Turnovers
What Holy Cross did so well in the first game against Monmouth, they did not do so well against Towson and that is win the turnover battle.
Against Monmouth, the Crusaders forced four turnovers and scored 13 points off of them but against Towson, Holy Cross turned the ball over twice and Towson scored seven points off the turnovers. That seven points proved to be costly.
Holy Cross will look to do a better job of holding onto the ball in this game.
Get the Lead, Stay Balanced
For the better part of the first two games of the season, the Crusaders have used a pretty balanced offensive attack. Holy Cross has averaged 220 yards through the air and 134 yards on the ground to this point in the season.
If Holy Cross can get an early lead, they can continue to use that attack and be successful like they were against Monmouth. Falling behind by multiple scores would make them more one dimensional and put more pressure on quarterback Peter Pujals.
Home Stand
A critical stretch of games begins for Holy Cross.
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