WORCESTER, Mass. - One of the biggest reasons the Holy Cross football team was able to go toe-to-toe with Boston College in a 31-28 loss on Saturday was the Crusaders' depth.

Holy Cross plays seven to nine offensive lineman during a game, and they roll a fresh four defensive lineman out like a shift change in hockey. They also have a lot of young talent that is stepping up, like true freshmen Stu Smith and Brice Stevenson. 

"It's huge just the mindset we have with coach Zarkoskie is just play every snap as hard as you can," said offensive tackle Pat McMurtrie. "And when you know you have guys that can come in and do just as good as you and play just as hard, it makes it easier for all of us in terms of just go play hard as you can.  That's huge and that's something that's been huge for our success as an o-line."

"Yeah it's unbelievable  especially up front," said quarterback Matthew Sluka. "Those are big guys up there and they get tired, so just being able to have some fresh legs, fresh minds too, just not exhausted from what's going on in the game. Having different running backs come in, some speedier guys some heavier guys, having fresh people out there that are ready to go it's huge."

Holy Cross continues their season Saturday on the road against Yale.