Don’t look now but William and Mary is beginning to look like the W&M of 2022 when they went to the quarterfinals of the FCS playoffs and they ae now hitting on all cylinders. William & Mary (4-1, 1-0 CAA) rolled up 632 yards of total offense, including 434 yards on the ground, as the Tribe topped Hampton (3-2, 0-1 CAA), 49-7, in the conference opener for both teams. W&M quarterback Darius Wilson was 16-of-19 passing for 198 yards and a TD and ran for 82 yards and a score.
Richmond’s defense forced three turnovers, highlighted by a 55-yard pick six by Quantraill Morris-Walker, and recorded three sacks as the Spiders (3-2, 1-0 CAA) defeated Elon (1-4, 0-1 CAA), 27-17, for their third straight win. CJ Fraser had nine tackles, a forced fumble and an interception for UR.
Campbell was more lucky than good as they squeezed out a last second 44-41 victory over Delaware State.The Camels trailed 21-10 in the second quarter, but Campbell got TD catches from Aiden Valdez (5 yards) and Brown (57 yards) and a pair of Connor Lytton field goals to go up 31-28 early in the fourth period. DSU went ahead 41-37 with 1:56 to go before Campbell drove 79 yards in five plays for the go-ahead score. The Hornets missed a 49-yard field goal in the final seconds.
One thing is clear is that Villanova is not the offensive juggernaut that it once was but instead gone to a “ground and pound” approach in 2024 that depends heavily on a strong defense. Freshman David Avit rushed for a career-high 160 yards and a TD as Villanova (4-1, 1-0 CAA) topped LIU, 24-10. Isaiah Ragland added a pair of scoring runs as the Wildcats piled up 264 yards on the ground.
After going 0-10 a year ago, and 1-21 over two years, Stony Brook has found the magic potion. Roland Dempster ran for 158 yards and 3 TD’s as Stony Brook (4-1, 1-0 CAA) pushed its winning streak to four for the first time since 2018 with a 22-3 victory over Morgan State. The Seawolves’ defense held MSU to 259 yards, tallied nine tackles for loss and forced two turnovers.
Friday, October 4
New Hampshire at Harvard
7:00pm
NESN/ESPN+
Saturday, October 5
Bryant at Brown
12:00pm
ESPN+
Delaware at Monmouth
1:00pm
FloFootball
UAlbany at Cornell
1:00pm
ESPN+
North Carolina A&T at Richmond
2:00pm
FloFootball
Rhode Island at Hampton
2:00pm
FloFootball
Villanova at Stony Brook
3:30pm
FloFootball
NC Central at Campbell
4:00pm
FloFootball
William & Mary at Towson
6:00pm
MNMT/FloFootball
While S.C. State asserted its experience and considerable depth down the stretch to pull away midway in the second half from N.C. A&T to win 45-25 in Orangeburg last Saturday night, the undermanned Aggies showed a lot of bright spots and improvement offensively despite missing 3 key components to their arsenal.
A&T established that their passing game behind grad transfer Justin Fomby was actually very effective and has the potential for explosive plays when things are properly executed.
Fomby performed well enough going 16-29 for 205 yards and 3 TDs against only one interception in his first start of the season. Fomby connected with 8 different receivers on the night with the biggest targets being redshirt freshman Jayvonne Dillard with 4 catches for 73 yards, junior Ger-Cari Caldwell with 3 grabs for 4 yards and 2 TDS, and reserve sophomore tight end Anthony Rucker 2 catches with 3 and one touchdown.
With star running backs Kenji Christian and Wesley Graves out indefinitely with leg injuries, the Aggies are relying on a multitude of freshmen to fill those roles. One young back that sprung to the forefront was red shirt freshman Naval Academy transfer Cameren Dalrymple who ran for 93 yards on just 11 carries (8.3 yards per carry) against the Bulldogs in his first extensive action of the year.
Overall, the offense seems to be improving by putting together some long drives mixed in with a few more explosive plays while making many of the adjustments that were needed to meet the talent of its new personnel.
The defense has been really spotty when it comes to keeping people out of the endzone and especially so in the redzone. Between the 30’s it hasn’t been great but it’s been adequate. But it has been the underperforming red zone defense and a penchant for giving up far too many third down conversions that has been the real killer, the exact opposite of the problems in 2023 statistically speaking.
Still there was a degree of improvement in the defense despite giving up its third straight game of 40 points or more allowed. The pass rush has improved demonstratively behind the play of ends Javon Armstrong-Grady, Henry Daniel and Josh Hardy who each came up with sacks last week. That same group also accounted for 6 tackles for loss. Senior corner Janaz Sumpter was in the right place at the right time with 2 pass pickoffs on the night.
Still with the improvements that are being made on both sides of the ball, the underdoing of the Aggies last week had more to do with untimely turnovers and mental mistakes, and gaffes in special teams play. Season ending injuries to key personnel certainly exasperates the situation but everyone is dealing with that same problem.
It’s the battle over controllables that the Aggies have conquer now. For A&T to play a complete game they will have to somehow avoid those three aforementioned areas of self-destruction – turnovers, mental errors, and special team breakdowns. If they can do that the Aggies can give themselves an even chance for the rest of the season going forward.
N.C. A&T – 21
Richmond – 31
