Week One opponent Butler rallied late but came up on the short end of a 23-15 score against Western Illinois last evening. As expected, Butler started transfer Matt Lancaster at quarterback. He finished 16-for-35 with one touchdown and one interception and showed the ability to pull it down and run, gaining 46 yards on nine carries. Trae Heeter led the Bulldogs on the ground with 49 yards on 12 carries and through the air with four catches including a touchdown. Butler held the ball for just 22 minutes, 40 seconds but was pushing for a chance to tie late in the contest. Find a game story here and a box here.
Holy Cross had a challenge on its hands against No. 14 New Hampshire, dropping a 38-17 decision under the portable lights in Worcester. Kevin Watson, the Crusaders' fifth-year senior who takes over as starter this fall, completed 33-of-47 passes for 271 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns. Whether he will be able to run like the last two Holy Cross quarterbacks is hard to tell. He was credited with just 10 yards on nine carries. Mike Fess led the Crusaders with 10 catches for 85 yards. Eddie Houghton was the only running back to reach double figures, but 37 of his 48 yards came on one carry. New Hampshire piled up 531 yards of total offense. Find the Worcester Telegram story here and find the box score here.
So what did we learn? Not much about Holy Cross because there aren't many teams at the Patriot League or Ivy League level that are going to challenge UNH. Lehigh did it last year in Bethlehem, but that was a special Lehigh team. We did find out that Watson can and will throw the ball. A lot.
Butler, meanwhile, made that late run at Western Illinois, but the Leathernecks aren't expected to be very good this fall. They were projected ninth in the Missouri Valley Conference.
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Colgate's Nate Eachus is making it hard for the Kansas City Chiefs to cut him. After running for a team-high 98 yards against Seattle last week he gained a team-high 99 yards on 21 carries last night against Green Bay.
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Back at it today with stories on Green Alert Premium after each of the double-session practices.
