It was a week of separation in the CAA last weekend with a more defined top, middle, and bottom in the conference standings with several winners coming into their own.
Carter Peevy passed for 260 yards and two touchdowns and Rashawn Marshall added a career-high 141 yards and a TD on the ground as Maine extended its winning streak to four by beating Elon, 35-14. The Black Bears’ defense held the Phoenix to 231 yards, forced two turnovers and recorded five sacks.
Matt Vezza accounted for 379 yards of offense and three touchdowns to lead New Hampshire past William & Mary, 34-24. Myles Thomason added a career-high 130 yards and a TD on the ground and Caleb Burke had six catches for 153 yards and 2 TD’s as the Wildcats piled up 512 yards of offense.
Elijah Kennedy set a program record with a game-tying 96-yard punt return for a touchdown and followed with a game-winning 85-yard kickoff return for a score with 1:29 to go as North Carolina A&T rallied past Campbell, 28-24. Kennedy finished with 228 all-purpose yards for A&T, while White provided 133 yards through the air. Joshua Iseah made a team-best 11 tackles.
Roland Dempster rushed for a season-high 181 yards and two touchdowns on 40 carries as Stony Brook held off Towson, 27-19. Freshman quarterback Quinn Boyd passed for 176 yards and a TD in his first career start for the Seawolves.
Rodney Nelson ran for a career-high 233 yards and four touchdowns as Monmouth pushed its winning streak to five with a 28-10 victory at Hampton.
Pat McQuaide threw for 203 yards and a pair of touchdowns to Luke Colella as Villanova defeated UAlbany, 29-16, for its 20th consecutive home win. Colella had six receptions for 107 yards.
Devin Farrell passed for 272 yards and two touchdowns, and Gabe Winowich ran for a career-high 90 yards and 2 TD’s as Rhode Island pulled away for a 38-17 win over Bryant to remain atop the CAA standings.
I don’t think anyone will be kicking the ball to Elijah Kennedy anytime soon for the rest of this season.
After last Saturday, Campbell’s coach Braxton Harris can certainly testify that would be a fatal mistake. Trailing 21-14 midway through the fourth quarter to the Camels, A&T’s Kennedy changed the entire dynamic to tie the ballgame with an electrifying 97-yard punt return for a touchdown.
Just moments later with Campbell having taken the lead with a field goal with less than two minutes to play, Kennedy took a what appeared to be a safe short pooch kickoff at the 15-yardline, made one quick cut in traffic, and raced by everyone, untouched, on the way to a game winning 85-yard touchdown return. The Aggie defense then came up big, turning the Camels over on downs near midfield to seal A&T’s second CAA win of the year.
Going into the Campbell game, the matchup between the two teams was considered even odds, and this week’s contest with visiting Towson State promises to be more of the same. The Tigers come into Greensboro with a 3-5 overall mark and are 1-3 in the CAA, good for sixth place. The Aggies come in at 2-6 and are now 2-2 in conference play and tied for fourth in the league.
Towson had been relying on freshman quarterback Andrew Indorf (6-1,195) who has thrown for 1,502 yards, 9 TDs against 3 interceptions completing 59.7 percent of his passes. However, last week Indorf was ineffective in the first half in Towson’s loss to Stony Brook and was relieved by graduate Nathan Kent (6-2,200) who rallied the Tiger offense with 2 touchdown passes, scoring 16 points in the fourth to make it a game before running out of gas late.
No matter which quarterback gets the call, they will have to veteran and dangerous receivers to throw to in Jaceon Doss (6-0, 170) and John Dunmore (6-2, 185), both FBS transfers. Running the ball will be bullish Al Wooten (6-0,225, Sr.) who is a punishing runner with good speed. The offensive line is loaded with experienced starters and average 308 pounds up front. Towson is averaging 317 yards and 22.3 points per game.
Defensively, Towson hasn’t been as consistent as head coach Pete Shinnick had hoped for, but they still are a talented group with a solid linebacker corps and will send a lot of pressure in passing situations. The Tigers use a 3-4 alignment with tackles J.R. Stegall (6-3,295) and Wyatt Draeger (6-4,245), graduate linebackers Ja’Mez Drummer, Myles Turner, and CJ McClendon. The secondary depends heavily on All-CAA selections Myles Brodie and Xavier Terry. The Tigers are allowing 395 yards and 26.75 points pe game.
This game will also feature a pair of excellent place kickers with A&T’s Andrew Brown and Towson’s Camden Williams going head-to-head, both finalists for the Fred Mitchell Award as the top kicking specialist in all the FCS.
What are the keys to victory tomorrow? A&T has to repeat its performance of last week as they did against Campbell of not turning the ball over, the first time all year long. The Aggies must make sure they stay with Towson’s very talented receivers, not lose them in coverage and allow them to get deep behind the secondary.
The defense must once again be stingy against the run against a team that only averages 90 yards per game rushing. Towson excels in the passing game but likes to use it to spread out the defense to create running lanes and to set up short screens. Gap control is crucial because Towson can and will hit big plays if there is overcompensation to stop the pass.
Offensively, the Aggies must be able to run the football sufficiently enough to keep a proper balance against the Tigers 3-4 set. Towson will bring a lot of pressure and will often crowd the line of scrimmage much like Campbell did. If A&T can stay ahead of the chains on first and second downs, there will be some real opportunities over the top. Special teams must continue their level of play from a week ago, and punt protection will be at a premium as the Tigers have history of going after punt blocks.
A&T learned a valuable lesson on how to close out a game last week so now the challenge is to pick up the offensive end in the second and third quarters as not to be forced to play from behind late. Expect the Aggies to be aggressive on offense early to try to grab control and dictate tempo against the Tigers much like Stony Brook did. This is another 50/50 game, but I like playing with house money, especially at home.
N.C. A&T – 31
Towson State – 26
