It certainly wasn’t what most Bryant fans thought it would look like, but the first win of 2024 is all that matters.

The Bulldogs got that first win against D2 Franklin Pierce 21-17 in the home opener down in Smithfield on Saturday. Now, things get much, much tougher with an angry 0-2 Holy Cross team coming to town this weekend.

During Monday’s weekly CAA coaches call, head coach Chris Merritt acknowledged it wasn’t pretty, but a win is a win in college football, especially for a team full of new faces and guys getting D1 experience for the first time.

“We made the stops when we had to make the stops and made enough plays on offense to secure the win. They’re not all pretty, but we like wins,” he said.

What was particularly encouraging for Merritt and his staff is the fact that despite being out-played for three quarters by a less-talented team, his guys did what they had to do in the fourth quarter to find a way to pull out the W. Is the fourth quarter performance something he can bottle up and carry onward?

“Trying to stay positive. At the end of the day, we won,” said Merritt. “I don’t think anyone cares throughout the past of this sport how you won games, as long as you won them. Like I said, we put ourselves in some holes. Foolish penalties put us in 1st-or-2nd down-and-forever quite a few times. Three costly penalties in the red zone that backed us out of the red zone. So, it could have been worse. But, when it came time to perform, they didn’t crack under the pressure and they made the plays both offensively and defensively.

“We can build off of that. That’s what the message has to be. We’ve got to build off of it because we’re playing a playoff team for the last few years this weekend and we better be ready.”

Speaking of that playoff team the last few years, Holy Cross may be 0-2 under new head coach Dan Curran, but those losses came in the form of a last-second TD by URI and then a one-point loss to CAA powerhouse UNH this past weekend.

Merritt knows his young team will need to be nearly flawless to have the chance to pull out a victory.

“Physically, they’re solid up front, they’re a physical football team,” he added. “You watch the games against two CAA opponents that they played against Rhode Island and New Hampshire and they’re very stout, very strong up front. They’re a ‘flat back’ on offense which means their offensive linemen are in three-point stances. They’re going to try and control the line of scrimmage and they’re going to try and out-muscle you. They’ve got the bodies to do it. They’re grinders. The quarterback’s very good and they’ve been in two very tight ballgames that have come down to the final seconds against two very good CAA teams.

“We have our hands full and we know it and we’ve got to prep for them.”