Homecoming weekend for Holy Cross is here.
It’d be the perfect time for the Crusaders to get their first win at Fitton Field this season when Fordham comes to Worcester on Saturday.
Holy Cross lost a one-point heartbreaker to UNH in the home opener and then two weeks ago, Dan Curran’s team came up just short against the two-time defending Ivy League champs, Yale in a 38-31 shootout. The Crusaders have a quirky schedule this season with only five home games and seven on the road, which means after this tilt with Fordham, HC will only have two more chances to earn victories in front of the home fans in 2024.
The Crusaders knows it’d be big to win this one for obvious reasons, but mostly just because it’s the next league game on the schedule.
“I think it’s always great to get a win at home, especially in front of your home fans. Particularly on homecoming…I don’t want to give you the coach’s talk, but the reality is this one is the most important one because it’s the next one,” Curran said on Tuesday.
“That’s just who we are as a program. You’ve heard me talk about it early in the year, really treating this season like 12 one-game seasons. That’s how it is. We enjoyed that bus ride home from Hamilton, NY. It’s a whole lot funner on q 4.5 hour ride home after a really convincing, good win. But, we’ve already turned the page and strictly trying to beat Fordham.
“The fact it’s in front of our fans on homecoming, that’s extra motivation, but really, every week is always the most important week because it’s the next one.”
The good news is that this is absolutely not the same Fordham team that was here for an all-time FCS classic in October of 2022, a 53-52 overtime win for the Crusaders that ultimately clinched another league title. The Rams are dead last (0-6, 0-1) and have not scored 30 points in a game yet this season.
For the Crusaders, this might be more about them than the Rams this week.
Curran talked about lessons learned in those first two losses at home and what he’d like to see change with this opportunity at Fitton.
“Finding ways to make every possession count is really important. You’re going to see moments in both of those (home) games where we had momentum and probably could have put both teams away,” he said.
“You’ve got one team that’s a veteran group in UNH that’s a Top-20 team, so they’re not just going to go away. You’ve got to put them away. Certainly, Yale was the Ivy League champs with a veteran staff…you’ve got them on the ropes, you’ve got to put ’em away.
“I think the other piece – no disrespect – don’t ever leave it in anybody else’s hands. You have a couple calls that don’t go your way at the end of both of those games I’m still not happy with. But, that’s on us for leaving it ins someone else’s hands. To me, teams that close it out when they have teams on the ropes, they leave no doubt. That’s how we end our pregame talk…don’t leave any doubt. When you leave any doubt, you’re leaving it up to the gray…to other people’s hands and we don’t want to do that.
“I think the ability to make every possession count and making those possessions really matter. Not just in the second half or the end of the game, but from the jump. Leaving it up to no one else but us in that locker room. If we do that, we’re going to be in a pretty good spot.”