Undefeated Holy Cross football team earns No. 8 seed and first-round bye in FCS playoffs

WORCESTER — The undefeated Holy Cross football team celebrated its well-deserved No. 8 seed and first-round bye for the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs Sunday afternoon at the Prior Performing Arts Center, where the Crusaders gathered with family, friends and fans for the tournament selection show, but the merriment was brief. HC players had their scheduled lift, and were eager to get back to work.

“This is how we run our program,” junior quarterback Matthew Sluka said. “It’s what we do.”

On Saturday, Sluka passed for a career-high 301 yards and three touchdowns to lead Holy Cross to a 47-10 victory at Georgetown that capped an incredible regular season. For the first time since 1991, the Crusaders finished 11-0, a mark certainly worthy of a top-eight playoff seed, the next step in HC’s national climb.

“The momentum just continues to grow,” coach Bob Chesney said, “and I think that’s what’s exciting about this program.”

Holy Cross will face the winner of the first-round game between Fordham and the University of New Hampshire at noon Dec. 3 at Fitton Field.

HC defeated Fordham, its Patriot League foe, 53-52, in overtime Oct. 29 in one of the most memorable games of the year. It is the first time since 2015 that the PL earned two bids.

UNH shared the CAA regular-season title with William & Mary.

Preparation on both opponents will begin Monday, Chesney said.

The extra week should benefit the Crusaders, who were without six injured starters at Georgetown.

“Getting this bye is really big,” Chesney said. “To get those six starters back that we were missing this past weekend is really exciting. Hopefully we can get the full team back to full strength, manage this week properly and well, and then be ready to roll in two weeks.”

The other seeds in the 24-team playoff field are South Dakota State, Sacramento State, North Dakota State, Montana State, William & Mary, Samford and Incarnate Word.

Sacramento State (11-0) is the only other unbeaten team among the seeds.

“To earn a top-eight seed is something we’re really proud of as a program,” said senior wide receiver Ayir Asante, who had a season-high 137 yards against the Hoyas.

Holy Cross, which became the first school to win four straight outright Patriot League championships, is making its fourth consecutive playoff appearance. In 2019 and 2020 (spring COVID season), the Crusaders lost in first-round road games, at Monmouth and at South Dakota State, respectively, before hosting a first-round game last year and beating Sacred Heart for their first FCS playoff victory.

“It’s snowballing,” senior safety Walter Reynolds said. “We’re already in the second round. It’s exciting. Everybody is ready to compete and get after it.”

Holy Cross captured its 10^th Patriot League title. The Crusaders are the first PL team since Colgate in 2003 to finish the regular season undefeated.

“After that (Georgetown) game to say, ‘We’re 11-0,’ it is pretty awesome,” Asante said. “It felt good for that to come to fruition, but we just have to lock in and keeping going 1-0 every week.”

HC players said they received many congratulatory messages from members of Holy Cross’ 1991 and 1987 teams, which also went 11-0.

“It’s a very special feeling for all of us to see our hard work culminate into an undefeated regular season,” senior linebacker Liam Anderson said. “It’s something we’re all really proud of and that we’re going to cherish forever, but that wasn’t our main goal this year. It’s an added bonus that we’re all really thankful for.”

In addition to blowouts over Georgetown and Bucknell, the Crusaders had some thrilling regular-season victories, including Sluka’s Hail Mary to junior Jalen Coker as time expired at FBS opponent Buffalo, a come-from-behind triumph at Lafayette, and the OT game against Fordham, when Asante ran for the winning 2-point conversion on a trick play.

Additionally, the 2022 Crusaders won for the first time at Harvard since 2000, and defeated Harvard and Ivy League champion Yale in the same season for the first time in program history.

“To go 11-0 in the fashion we did, it’s just never easy,” Chesney said, “and you don’t want it to be easy. There are teams on paper you’re supposed to beat, and it’s not easy to do that, to show up and win every single game that you’re supposed to, and it takes a very disciplined group to be able to accomplish that feat.”

—Contact Jennifer Toland at jennifer.toland@telegram.com. Follow her on Twitter @JenTolandTG.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Undefeated Holy Cross earns No. 8 seed and first-round bye in FCS playoffs