Week 2 was a much better weekend for CAA football teams as the league did extremely well in non-conference play going 9-6 with 4 of those losses coming against FBS programs. Campbell pulled off the upset of #17 Western Carolina 24-16 on the road up in Cullowhee.
N.C. A&T hit on a 31-yard field goal by Andrew Brown at the end of regulation to tie longtime rival Winston Salem State to force an overtime. The Aggies took the lead in overtime on a 15-yard run by Wesley Graves and then followed that with a gutsy defensive stand deep in the red zone to secure the 27-20 victory before a sellout crowd of 21, 500 in Greensboro.
Hampton overcame a 10-point halftime deficit with a big offensive explosion behind the play of running Back Elijah Burris to ease past Virgina Union 33-21. Burris ran for 145 yards and 2 TDs on the day.
Elon jumped on N.C. Central early and never looked back as they completely dominated the Eagles in Durham 41-19 behind an opportunistic defense that accounted for 3 interceptions and two fumble recoveries.
Towson State will wear the title as the king of Baltimore for another year as they outlasted Morgan State 14-9 in a game dominated by defense.
#5 Villanova looked every bit the part of a top five team as they muscled their way past stubborn Colgate 28-3.
Wofford snook up on #14 Richmond and delivered the knockout punch with a 26-19 upset win. Wofford capitalized on 4 Spider turnovers which helped the Terriers overcame a 9-point second half deficit to win going away.
Last Saturday’s thrilling 27-20 overtime win against Winston Salem State wasn’t pretty by any stretch of the imagination. It was too often a disjointed performance on offense coupled with a defense that was hamstrung with an ineffective pass rush and some very questionable officiating around the secondary play especially so in the second half. Style points were no way to be found still anyone in their right mind will take an ugly win over a pretty loss any day of the week.
What Saturday did show about the Aggies is that this team has a lot of tenacity and fight in them. After giving up the lead late in the fourth quarter, it would have been easy to hit the panic button and fold up. Actually, that scenario seem to had turned on the light switch as the Aggies executed an impressive 13-play 75-yard drive in the last 3:56 ending with Andrew Brown’s 31-yard field goal to tie the game as regulation time expired.
The offense then wasted very little time in scoring easily covering the 25-yard distance in just three plays which not only shocked the Rams but the 21, 500 who were in attendance. Equally rising to the occasion was the defense which forced enough pressure on WSSU Daylin Lee to force him to be badly off target while stopping the run game deep in the red zone to end the game.
There was a bit of growing up that took place last Saturday. Probably the biggest obstacle for a young team that that didn’t experience a lot of success in a 1-10 season of last season is to first learning how to win. A year ago, A&T would have undoubtedly lost this type of game. This time what we saw was the infant stages of the maturation process in actual action, the putting together the lessons learned in past games and replicated every day in practice. As the season begins to move along, the Aggies, more often than not, will find themselves in similar situations in most of their games left on the schedule.
There will be a few overmatches in terms of talent and experience with 2 or 3 of the CAA’s true heavy hitters but knowing how to play through the ups and downs while building the confidence in each other as a team to make plays when opportunities arise can make a world of difference against the rest of the CAA.
Delaware will be in the house on Saturday, and this will probably be their first and only appearance in Truist Stadium as the Blue Hens are due to leave the CAA for the FBS and Conference USA at the end of this season. UD has been a perirenal FCS power for decades with six NCAA championships, the latest coming in 2003, and 17 conference championships including a CAA co-championship this past year after finishing 9-4.
They have a prolific big play offensive unit coming out of the blocks big two weeks ago against CAA foe Stony Brook with a 48-17 win in their season opener. They are an older senior laden team with several all-American candidates in the trenches as well as skill individuals. Defensively, the Hens are a team that likes to swarm to the football and do a very creditable job of keeping teams in check especially in the red zone.
It’s going to be a tall order this week for a young A&T team. UD will be starting some 13 seniors or grad players coming back from an FCS playoff team. The Blue Hens offensive line will average nearly 330 pounds per man so A&T’s defense will have to figure out a way to slow down the run and not give big pass plays off the back end. UD lives off of big plays.
Offensively, A&T needs to shorten the game, run the football and must be very efficient, not spectacular, in the pass game. If A&T can establish a rhythm and consistently make first downs, stay out of third and long and not turn the ball over as they did last year in a 21-6 loss then the Aggies could make a real game out of it.
Delaware – 28
N.C. A&T – 16
