The Dan Curran era isn’t off to an ideal start, but none of it matters now.

Holy Cross learned a lot about itself during its 1-4 start, with three of those losses coming down to the wire. Young teams need to learn how to win, and while Holy Cross is the five-time defending Patriot League champion, this particular iteration of the Crusaders hasn’t done much of it yet.

Still,  it’s a brand new season when Holy Cross opens its Patriot League schedule this weekend with a game at Colgate.

Earlier this week, Curran talked about turning the page and focusing on this new task ahead.

“If you utilize those experiences the right way, that could serve you well as you get into conference play,” he said. “We start conference play off this week against a good Colgate team that won six out of seven last year, including beating Lafayette which was the conference champ and league representative in the playoffs. They have a bunch of guys coming back on defense and their place has traditionally been a tough place to play. We know it’s a big challenge, but our guys are excited to get into conference play and really looking forward to our opportunity on Saturday against Colgate.”

The good thing about not having a league game yet is Curran and his staff have been able to sort of get an overview of how the league appears to be shaking out. Right now, Bucknell sits up top with one league win over Lehigh, but every other team is just entering conference play this week as well. The Bison and Georgetown are both 3-2 on the young season, while Lafayette is 2-2 overall and both Colgate and the Crusaders are 1-4. In a bit of a bizzaro world scenario, Fordham is currently 0-5 after years of seemingly being neck-and-neck at the top of the conference with Holy Cross. Lehigh is also 3-2, but in last for now with the one loss to Bucknell.

In other words, the conference is as unpredictable as it’s been in a long, long time.

“This is probably the most wide open this conference has been since probably 2018 or 2019,” said Curran. “So, people that follow the league I’m sure would agree with that. Any given week anybody can win. A lot of people use that and it kind of sounds like coaches talk, but it really is the case this year. We kind of saw the league was trending in that direction too.

“I think it’s exciting for all the people that follow the conference and follow these teams.”

Despite also being 1-4, Curran knows Colgate is going to be a stiff challenge to open up the conference slate.

“So, I think for us with Colgate, it’s an opponent that’s got great tradition and history,” he added. “They have an alum at the helm that’s done a good job. You look at the momentum they built last year winning six of seven, beating Lafayette, coming in second in the conference last year. This year, they were one of three teams to get first place (preseason) votes because they’ve got a bunch of returners, particularly on defense.

“Offensively, I think the hard part to game plan for them is you almost have to have two separate game plans, They have one quarterback that’s a heavy run…more of a +1 type guy, a lot of QB run, QB Power and obviously he’s a problem in the run game with an extra hat at the point of attack. Then, the other quarterback is more spread it out, get the ball out quick, does a good job facilitating. They almost have the ability to play two different types of offense…I think we’ve got to have the ability to go into the game knowing we have to be prepared for both and certainly, on offense, we have to go a good job of wining the line of scrimmage knowing that’s where their strength is as well.

“I think it’s going to be a really fun, competitive game in a great environment. Two physical programs that have a great history, so it should be a great way to kick off conference play.”

Holy Cross is no longer 1-4. The squad in purple is 0-0 as far as everyone around the program is concerned and Saturday is simply an opportunity to go 1-0.

“You talk about conference play, it’a different animal,” Curran said. “There’s a lot of familiarity between the programs and the staffs. There’s rivalries, all those things exist. I think that’s what makes college football great. If you look at the season – I know you’ve heard me say this before – it’s 12 one-game seasons and an opportunity every single week to try and go 1-0. The ability to try and grow and learn from the experiences. The reality is, we know that with the exception of (Syracuse), that record could be completely flipped. But, it’s not.

“The way this group has looked at it, is ‘how do we have the ability to kind of utilize what we did going through that gauntlet of what we did the first five weeks?’ and can we use it to our advantage? I think they’ve done a really good job with that.

“We’re just trying to beat Colgate this week.”