It was a light week of CAA action as four teams enjoyed a bye week after hitting the midway point of the 2025. For those that did play last Saturday, there weren’t any real surprises as the favorites won out in each contest.
Villanova built a 49-0 halftime lead as quarterback Pat McQuaide threw a career-high five touchdown passes and ran for a sixth, and the Wildcats cruised past Hampton, 56-14. It was VU’s fourth straight win and 19th consecutive victory at home.
Matt Vezza threw a touchdown pass and ran for a TD in the fourth quarter as New Hampshire rallied for a 24-10 victory at Campbell. The Wildcats’ defense held the Camels to seven first downs and 225 total yards.
Tyler Hughes passed for 190 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 30 yards and a score as William & Mary battled past Elon, 26-21, to improve to 4-0 at home.
Derek Robertson threw three first-half touchdown passes, and the Monmouth defense recorded five sacks and forced four turnovers as the Hawks remained unbeaten in CAA play with a 49-21 victory over Stony Brook.
Devin Farrell completed 19-of-20 passes for 333 yards and four touchdowns as Rhode Island moved to 4-0 in CAA play with a 58-17 triumph at UAlbany.
The Campbell Camels and the N.C. A&T Aggies have had more than similar seasons. They could almost be considered nearly identical in how this year has progressed. Both teams have had their share of games where they have started slowly in and finished with a flurry but still falling just short in the final moments or have dominated for three quarters before collapsing in the fourth because of turnovers on offense or blown assignments on defense.
Both teams have struggled with their running games, Campbell averaging just over 130 yards and A&T with 111 yards per contest. Both offenses have been far more effective with the pass as a first option with A&T averaging just under the 200-yard mark and Campbell just over it.
Campbell’s defense is 12th in the nation in turnover margin and second in the CAA with a +13. These numbers could be a bit deceiving because despite that high positive turnover margin the Camels are near the bottom in every other meaningful defensive category. Campbell surrenders 438 yards in total offense to its opponents (308 passing, 137 rushing) and 40.3 points per game.
The Camels have been an opportunistic bunch scoring 88 percent of the time inside the red zone with 65 percent of those possessions ending in the touchdown variety. Defensively they haven’t been nearly as proficient giving up touchdowns inside their zone 78% of the time. For a game, they averaged 325 yards in total offense.
Conversely, A&T has very compatible numbers – 423 yards and 40.1 points allowed defensively while on offense scoring at a 23.3-point clip and 310 yards of total offense per outing. If there was ever a more even match-up going into a game, this would be the one.
These two squads have both been shell shocked throughout the season by giving up big plays or committing late game changing turnovers that have either put them in a big hole early or have led to tough losses late.
This will be the first of two back-to-back home games that the Aggies will have to finish out the month of October. After three straight close losses in games that the Aggies frankly should have won, last week’s bye week couldn’t come at a better time.
It has given A&T time to mend quite a few players who have been banged up and to also give themselves some down time to recharge their mental batteries. After all it has been a grueling seven weeks not to mention the five previous weeks of fall camp along with the additional stress of keeping up with their daily classroom work.
The Aggies would have had two weeks to prepare for Campbell and an extra week of rest to boot. It allowed for an additional week to work on the basics and to see if A&T can finally get a handle on some focus and mental mistakes that seem to crop up at the most inopportune times.
Campbell is very much in the same boat as the Aggies, still searching for that one complete game, that one solid win, that can set the tone for a successful remainder of the season. Now is as good of a time as any.
N.C. A&T – 27
Campbell – 21
