#24 Fordham at #8 Holy Cross Game Thread

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

This is the biggest PL game in years! Worcester/Fitton Field have not seen an event with so much on the line in 3+ decades. Should be 13k+ plus in attendance which will make for a great atmosphere!

- Holy Cross needs a win to keep their hopes for a seed alive
- A loss could make the Rams nervous come selection day

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

HC defense forces a 3 and out....great start for the Crusaders...

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

TD Holy Cross! Wow, was that easy!

Crusaders 7-0 12:52 1Q

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

Fordham puts together a nice drive but it only nets 3 points...

HC 7-3 9:09 1Q

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

Another HC touchdown! They are having their way with the Ram defense. The Crusaders seem poised to hang "half-a-hundred"....

HC 14-3 5:26 1Q

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

Fordham responds! #4 with a ridiculous TD catch! The Crusader's pass defense is being lit up pretty good. Even so, Fordham's defense looks sooooo bad. HC is making the Rams grind a bit....

HC 14-10 1:33 1Q

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

TD Crusaders!

Holy Cross 21-10 5:50 2Q

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

TD Fordham! They might have gotten away with offensive PI....

HC 21-17 3:45 2Q

[Chalupa Batman]

Very entertaining game so far. Huge defensive series here before halftime for Fordham as HC will get the 2nd half kickoff.

[UNHWildcat18]

Horrible call on HC, Fordham jumped over and made contact. Still shame on chesney for getting 15 added on

[Catbooster]

That bad call hurts now - and coaches shouldn't be adding to the penalty.

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

TD Fordham! DeMorat is putting on a show! Crusaders pass defense is getting lit up. I'm surprised HC has not been able to assert their physical will more on both sides of the ball.

Rams 24-21 0:38 2Q

Fordham has FBS, P5 level, skill guys....

[Chalupa Batman]

Horrible call on HC, Fordham jumped over and made contact. Still shame on chesney for getting 15 added on

Sluka was leaning forward a little bit so I can see how they called that, though I doubt the DL that jumped who was looking straight down at the ball saw that.

[UNHWildcat18]

Battle of the Swiss cheeses

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

Ng misses a 45 or so yard FG to conclude the first half. As bad as Fordham's defense has been, it has done just enough to force HC into some missed opportunities. DeMorat and the Ram offense are beastly. Great crowd/atmosphere in Worcester. This really is PL football at its finest. Take note Lehigh....

Fordham 24 Holy Cross 21 Half

[Fordham]

Oh boy! Typical scenario for this game. We go into halftime up and get blown up in the second half. Do we rewrite the script?

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

TD Rams! Really impressive drive! The fact Fordham has been the more physical team is shocking...

Rams 31-21 3:30 3Q

Can the Rams keep close this out or will their propensity to choke pop-up late?

[Chalupa Batman]

HUGE drive coming up here for Holy Cross. They don't want to give Fordham the ball back trailing by 10.

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

HC immediately responds! TD Crusaders...

Rams 31-28 2:09 3Q

HC had to waste a timeout on the XP then Ng misses the kick! wow...Penalty? Second attempt and its good. That was the weirdest XP sequence ever....

[ngineer]

Exciting game. Back and forth! Fordham now 31-28

[Chalupa Batman]

HC immediately responds! TD Crusaders...

Rams 31-27 2:09 3Q

HC had to waste a timeout on the XP then Ng misses the kick! wow...

Fordham was offsides on the miss and then Ng makes it, that XP could end up being huge later on.

[ngineer]

I don’t think HC used anTO

[UNHWildcat18]

I don’t think HC used anTO

yeah announcers were wrong at first. They took the delay of game

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

yeah announcers were wrong at first. They took the delay of game

10 4...good catch...

[Chalupa Batman]

It seemed like Fordham panicked a little on that drive. They throw 3 bombs down the field that all went incomplete, giving Holy Cross the ball back right away.

[UNHWildcat18]

It seemed like Fordham panicked a little on that drive. They throw 3 bombs down the field that all went incomplete, giving Holy Cross the ball back right away.

a very big head scratcher. If HC drives down and scores a TD it’s a total momentum switch

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

HC has to settle for a FG

31-31 13:06 4Q

[Chalupa Batman]

I've been impressed with both teams. HC probably isn't going to drop as far as you might think and Fordham might even bump up a couple spots or at least stay about the same in my poll.

[UNHWildcat18]

TD Fordham. HC running defense is horrible.

[Chalupa Batman]

This game is going to come down to OT or one of these teams going for 2 in regulation.

[UNHWildcat18]

TD Holy Cross, this game is going to come down to the final possession

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

TD Crusaders! This is wild!

38-38 8:11 4Q

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

TD Rams! DeMorat and company make it look easy...

Fordham 45-38 5:48 4Q

[UNHWildcat18]

TD Fordham 45-38. God neither of these teams can stop each other. Wild game

[ngineer]

45-38 Rams!

[BNiche]

TD Fordham. With the way these teams are scoring, wife just told me this could be a 2 for 1 for Fordham. Couldn't agree more, ha.

[Fordham]

Let’s step up D!!! Someone make a play!

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

That was a helluva play by #12 for Fordham on 3rd down....

[Chalupa Batman]

HC has to go for it here

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

Rams get a 4th down stop!!

[Fordham]

What a catch by Coker. Great effort but nice series by our D

Can’t go into a shell here. They know we’re gonna run. We took our foot off the gas v Ohio

[UNHWildcat18]

2-10 for Fordham. Two big plays for HC to keep the game alive

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

What a catch by Coker. Great effort but nice series by our D

Can’t go into a shell here. They know we’re gonna run. We took our foot off the gas v Ohio

Extremely conservative....

[UNHWildcat18]

3-9. This is the game for HC right here

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

That was an awful series by Fordham...my goodness...

[UNHWildcat18]

HC going to get the ball back, 3 min to work with yo try and bring this game to OT

[BNiche]

What a catch by Coker. Great effort but nice series by our D

Can’t go into a shell here. They know we’re gonna run. We took our foot off the gas v Ohio

Exactly what we did. Ughhh.

[Chalupa Batman]

Huge stop for the Crusaders. If they can score a TD here they may very well go for 2.

[centraljerseycat]

Either one of these teams would beat Villanova handily. It's good to see Patriot League schools be competitive. Geez these two are light years better than the rest of the Patriot. Maybe their success will prompt Lehigh to want to be good again and make a real coaching change at years end.

[Chalupa Batman]

Wow what a throw and what a catch!!

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

2 plays and HC is inside the Fordham 20...

[Chalupa Batman]

That call is 10 ply

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

How is that a penalty?!?!

[Fordham]

This will get overturned. Awful call

[ngineer]

This is nuts! HC at the Rams 18. Now a huge penalty call on HC OT for unnecessary roughness. Under review. I don’t see a violation

[UNHWildcat18]

Yeah awful call, I hope it’s overturned. Let’s get that OT going 😂

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

The penalty still stands?!?! What the hell is going on? TD Counts too...

[ngineer]

That was a political decision!

[Chalupa Batman]

WTF kind of call was that? That was just the refs knowing they couldn't overturn the horrible call so they just said "let's make the personal foul AFTER the TD" lol


HC scored too quickly. How good is Fordham's kicker?

[Fordham]

Crazy call!!! Shouldn’t have been called but wasn’t reviewable so they made it up with imagination

[ngineer]

I agree that there was no penalty. Since “unreviewable” they can only say it came “after the play” which it did not

[ngineer]

OT it is!

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

Heading to OT! Fordham with two conservative approaches to end the 4th quarter....

[Chalupa Batman]

Fitting that this game goes to OT

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

Fordham scores a TD on their first play of OT!

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

HC responds! Going for 2!!

[Chalupa Batman]

Holy Cross going for 2!! Huge call here.

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

HC wins!! wow!! great call and execution!!

Congrats Crusaders!!

[Chalupa Batman]

What a play!!! Looked like the Philly Special but he just ran it in because it was wide open.

If Fordham doesn't lose another game I really hope they make the playoffs, they earned a bid today in my book.

[UNHWildcat18]

HOLY **** WHAT A PLAY FOR 2!!!! FCS GAME OF THE YEAR!

[Fordham]

http://nesn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/jeternephew.gif

[BNiche]

Terrible loss for Fordham. Literally lost that game within the last five minutes of regulation with awful conservative playcalling.

[Son of Eli]

Chesney is the best coach in the FCS. He quickly turned that program around. Will be interesting to see how far he takes them in the playoffs. I think it will be at least the semifinals.

[Chalupa Batman]

Chesney is the best coach in the FCS. He quickly turned that program around. Will be interesting to see how far he takes them in the playoffs. I think it will be at least the semifinals.

I wouldn't go that far. Wouldn't be surprised to see them make the semi's but I'm not expecting it. Definitely a quarterfinal team, getting further than that would depend on the matchup they get.

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

Terrible loss for Fordham. Literally lost that game within the last five minutes of regulation with awful conservative playcalling.

Absolutely! When the game was on the line Chesney vs Conlin is a miss-match. Fordham is more talented than HC imo but the Crusaders have one of the best coaches in D1 football...

[BNiche]

Absolutely! When the game was on the line Chesney vs Conlin is a miss-match. Fordham is more talented than HC imo but the Crusaders have one of the best coaches in D1 football...

100%. As a Yankee fan, I compare him with Boone in my head. I don't trust Boone to use his talent in a way that makes the most sense when it matters the most. Same with Conlin.

Fordham wins despite their head coach. Hope they win out and make the playoffs, but still. You have that O-line, Tim Demorat, a great two-head running attack, and super athletic and talented receivers with Ryan Greenhagen and THIS is what you get?

[Son of Eli]

Too bad Holy Cross isn’t scheduled to play Boston College this year.

[caribbeanhen]

Chesney is the best coach in the FCS. He quickly turned that program around. Will be interesting to see how far he takes them in the playoffs. I think it will be at least the semifinals.

I agree on Chesney

[MUHAWKS]

sick game fellas-- watched it on the side as i watched my hawks get throttled. IMO Fordham earned a playoff berth assuming they win out. HC ad Chesney fun to watch too. 2 very good teams in a well played exciting and meaningful game. Great for FCS football.. and I think good for FCS is 2 patriot makes it..

[KPSUL]

Chesney is the best coach in the FCS. He quickly turned that program around. Will be interesting to see how far he takes them in the playoffs. I think it will be at least the semifinals.

The Cross will start and end in the 2nd round.

[NY Crusader 2010]

Chesney is the best coach in the FCS. He quickly turned that program around. Will be interesting to see how far he takes them in the playoffs. I think it will be at least the semifinals.

Holy Cross still has yet to advance past the round of 16 in our postseason history. Our only quarterfinal appearance was in 1983 when we lost to Western Carolina. I believe only a 12 team field then.

If we obtain a seed and earn the bye to the Round of 16, we'll definitely be in for a tough game out of the gate.

[NY Crusader 2010]

The Cross will start and end in the 2nd round.

Certainly possible. I think winning a Round of 16 game would be huge for this team as we've never done that before. Seeded or unseeded it will be a major accomplishment for this squad. The Colgate team in 2018 that earned a seed had to win a white knuckler in Hamilton against JMU to advance to the quarters where they were obviously completely outclassed in Fargo.

[crusader11]

The Cross will start and end in the 2nd round.

Certainly possible.

Curious who they may get in the second round.

Winner of the NEC / CAA at large type game?

[crusader11]

More thoughts on the game tomorrow, but will say I was impressed with how well Fordham traveled. They looked to have a few thousand on the visitors side of the field.

Fitton was electric today. Largest crowd since probably the early 90s.

[Go...gate]

Outstanding game! Both squads are far and away the class of the Patriot League this season.