Quinnipiac's opening two weeks of NIRA competition looked pretty imposing, one the road at Brown and Harvard.
You'd have easily forgiven the Bobcats for losing both of those games, but instead they came away with zero losses. OK, also zero wins as, astonishingly, Quinnipiac tied both games, locking up with Brown 17-17 and then tying the defending champs 20-20 this past Friday night.
Is this a harbinger of bigger things to come? Quite possibly. Quinnipiac gets a week off before traveling to Navy September 21, a game they could well be favored to win now. They follow that up with a non-conference game against Penn State, and then four games on the trot against Princeton, AIC, Army, and Dartmouth. They wrap up the regular season November 2 at Sacred Heart.
Is every fixture now in play? Probably. If they can tie a Harvard team that returns most of its 2023 NIRA-winning squad, in Cambridge, they could beat Princeton, Army, and even Dartmouth at home.
Now would be a good time to remember that the playoff matchups are decided through a Power Ratings system that takes into account strength of schedule. But it's still likely that the Quinnipiac-Sacred Heart matchup in November will be huge.
Quinnipiac Head Coach Becky Carlson wouldn't have it any other way.
"We have assembled a rockstar cast for this year’s NIRA show where our focus has been on the defensive end to really dial into our opportunities to capitalize on each of players’ strengths," Carlson told GRR. "Defensive line speed as well as our integrity surrounding the breakdown and cutting off the edges, were critical for us in the Harvard match, but more importantly will continue to be throughout the remainder of our schedule. We are laser-focused on being in the hunt in November."
In the hunt indeed. Bobcats are pretty good hunters.
