LFN: Preview of Lehigh at Holy Cross

[Lehigh Football Nation]

http://lehighfootballnation.blogspot.com/2008/10/preview-of-lehigh-at-holy-cross.html

Should be a great game Saturday.

[carney2]

You've become a shameless homer.xnonox So much for objective journalism.xlolx

[Lehigh Football Nation]

You've become a shameless homer.xnonox So much for objective journalism.xlolx

xconfusedx I have? It's not like I came out of the blue with a prediction for 38 Lehigh points: the Hawks did put up 44 on Fordham, and you could make the case that Fordham's "D" is a better unit.

Does emotion/intensity count in a game like this? I think for this Lehigh team it does. Maybe it's hard to tell as an outsider, but the drubbing Lehigh took last year was a watershed moment for this team. At least, it should be.

[LehighFan11]

xconfusedx I have? It's not like I came out of the blue with a prediction for 38 Lehigh points: the Hawks did put up 44 on Fordham, and you could make the case that Fordham's "D" is a better unit.

Does emotion/intensity count in a game like this? I think for this Lehigh team it does. Maybe it's hard to tell as an outsider, but the drubbing Lehigh took last year was a watershed moment for this team. At least, it should be.

Holy Cross does have the 2nd worst pass D in the country. Although Lehigh has about the 10th worst pass D. Expect 40s to be in play for both teams.

[LU73]

Holy Cross does have the 2nd worst pass D in the country. Although Lehigh has about the 10th worst pass D.

So, it may come down to the O vs. D matchups in the rushing game. Advantage..........Lehigh!!

[CrusaderBob]

LU Rush Offense - 100 yd/game (93rd in FCS)
HC Rush Offense = 118 (78)

LU Rush Defense = 72 (5)
HC Rush Defense - 75 (7)

Not sure I see an advantage there. :D

Regardless ... Take the over on total points scored!

[LU73]

Sorry Bob. That was just my gut reaction. Interesting stats, though. Is your rush defense really that good, or is your pass defense so bad that the opposition just doesn't bother to run? This was actually meant to be a serious question.

[CrusaderBob]

I think the run defense is actually pretty good, though becasue of the games we've been it, it's tough to tell. We're giving up just under 3.1 yards per rush though, is good for about #20 in the country. But the HC D has also faced the second fewest rush attempts in FCS, in part because of the types of games we've been in.

Here's the totals for each game. The only game where the opponent ran alot was Yale as they were up 21 - 7 at the half and despite the number of yards, the yards per attempt was still low.


UMass - 25 for 73 yards
Harvard - 28 for 106
Georgetown - 15 for 32
Yale - 48 for 135
Brown - 12 for 36
Dartmouth - 18 for 66

Heck, even throwing out the Georgetown game, we're keeping opponents below 3.2 per carry.

So, throwing in all the qualifiers in the blender, I'd say our rush defense this year is not as good as the numbers indicate, but is definitely above average.