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CAA Weekend Recap: Fall Classics Bring Playoff Vibes

CAA Weekend Recap: Fall Classics Bring Playoff Vibes

A walk-off win and games with NCAA Playoffs implications highlighted a weekend of CAA football with a postseason feel.

Oct 30, 2022 by Kyle Kensing
Highlights: Rhode Island Vs. William & Mary

On a weekend coinciding with the start of baseball's World Series, Elon's Bo Sanders offered an appropriate analogy for the urgency in Colonial Athletic Association football. 

"Every game is Game 7 from here on out," he said. 

More proverbial at-bats remain in the regular season, but the CAA's Week 9 provided plenty of moments that felt like the bottom of the ninth — including a walk-off finish courtesy of William & Mary's Isaiah Jones. 

Jones brought down Rhode Island quarterback Kasim Hill, blowing up the Rams' game-deciding, two-point conversion attempt on the final play of a Top 20 matchup that exceeded any expectations.  

"It was surreal to make the last play to guarantee us a win," Jones said. When asked if he had made a bigger tackle in his time playing the game, Jones added, "No, I have not. This is No. 1. I'm glad to do it here and make it really count, and get that W against Rhode Island." 

The Rams came into Zable Stadium off a pair of dramatic CAA wins, thrusting themselves into the conference championship race with a 17-10 defeat of a red-hot Elon on Oct. 15; then a history-making, 48-46 defeat of Monmouth in seven overtimes on Oct. 22. 

The marathon victory at Monmouth marked the longest FCS game ever played. It's understandable coming off such a contest that, after scoring a clutch touchdown with zeroes on the clock to make the score 31-30, Rhode Island coach Jim Fleming played for the win in regulation. 

"I thought that was the appropriate thing to do. I've never done it before, but coming off of seven overtimes and figuring we had them on the run a little bit, just weren't able to get that last one in," Fleming told WPRI in Providence. "If we did, we'd be one play happier and a helluva lot happier.

"I thought it was the right decision, and I'd still do it again," he added.

After marching 99 yards to score  Rhode Island's offense was cooking. 

Fleming's call was reminiscent of two weeks prior at the FBS level when Utah knocked off USC with a two-point conversion attempt; it was even a similar playcall with the quarterback bootlegging on an option. Sometimes in high-stakes October contests, a batter sits on a fastball and sometimes goes down swinging. 

Jones just happened to bring the heat for William & Mary on a play that demonstrates just how narrow the margin is between teams in the CAA, particularly those with playoff aspirations.

"It's going to be about grit, and who wants it more," Jones said of the back-and-forth contest. "Obviously, that last play we showed that we wanted it more." 

The Tribe overcame an early, 14-0 deficit, the result of two drives culminating in Hill touchdowns: the first a run, and the second a pass to Kahtero Summers. Over the next roughly 45 minutes, William & Mary's defense held Rhode Island out of the end zone aside from a Marques DeShields scoring run in the third quarter. 

Though the prolific Tribe rushing attack racked up yardage — four William & Mary ball-carriers accrued at least 49 yards, led by Bronson Yoder's 113, while both Hollis Mathis and Malachi Imoh averaged more than a first down per touch — the hosts couldn't put Rhode Island away. The Rams creating four takeaways kept them in striking distance, even after William & Mary seemingly gained control. 

"For us to play well, as a unit, overcoming some turnovers, uncharacteristically. But that's what it's about sometimes," Tribe coach Mike London said. 

Grinding out tough wins after setbacks has proven the key ingredient to staying in the conference chase. Few teams embody that more the Phoenix, boasting wins over three teams likely to be ranked in the Top 20 or better of the Oct. 31 polls (William & Mary, Richmond and now Delaware) but with losses to a pair of ranked teams (Rhode Island, New Hampshire). 

Degree of difficulty and early-season performance only carry so much weight when it comes to playoff goals — just ask the 2022 Los Angeles Dodgers — and Sanders said Elon came into Week 9 understanding that. 

"The past two weeks, we know we didn't get it done," Sanders said of the Phoenix coming off back-to-back road losses after a five-game winning streak. "So this game [against Delaware] was kind of like, it was it. If we don't win, it's over. No Playoffs, and going home at Thanksgiving." 

Highlights: Delaware Vs. Elon

Sanders did his part to keep Elon's postseason dreams in tact with four tackles, one for loss, and a pair of pass break-ups in the 27-7 win. The second of those break-ups effectively ended any hope of a Delaware comeback, forcing a fourth-and-goal prayer that Omar Rogers intercepted, capping the Phoenix's best defensive performance of the season. 

The Blue Hens embarked on Week 9 averaging a shade less than 30 points per game, and produced no fewer than three touchdowns in all six preceding matchups with FCS opponents. After a backslide at New Hampshire, Elon rebounded for a dominating defensive performance that marked its fifth straight at Rhodes Stadium this season not giving up a touchdown in the second half. 

"It was a good week of film and everything, but it was really just the fight. We wanted it, every snap, every play," Sanders said.

And like the Astros and Phillies in MLB, fighting through to win in October is the springboard that sends CAA football teams into November with a championship still in reach.   

Playoff Picture 

The Colonial's championship race and coinciding playoff jockeying makes for a crowded pack heading into November. Recent precedent suggests eight wins is the threshold to guarantee entry into the FCS Playoffs, which leaves seven Colonial teams in the hunt. 

All have pathways to claim at least a share of the conference championship, as well, making for a wild few weeks down the stretch. 

New Hampshire: 6-2 overall, 5-0 CAA 

Remaining schedule: 

  • Nov. 5 at Richmond
  • Nov. 12 vs. Rhode Island 
  • Nov. 19 at Maine 

William & Mary: 7-1, 4-1 (lost to Elon)

  • Nov. 5 at Hampton 
  • Nov. 12 vs. Villanova 
  • Nov. 19 at Richmond 

Richmond: 6-2, 4-1 (lost at Elon) 

  • Nov. 5 vs. New Hampshire 
  • Nov. 12 at Delaware
  • Nov. 19 vs. William & Mary 

Elon: 6-3, 4-2 (lost at New Hampshire and Rhode Island) 

  • Nov. 5 vs. UAlbany 
  • Nov. 12 at Hampton 

Delaware: 6-2, 4-2 (lost at William & Mary and Elon) 

  • Nov. 5 vs. Monmouth 
  • Nov. 12 vs. Richmond 
  • Nov. 19 at Villanova 

Rhode Island: 5-3, 3-2 (lost to Delaware and at William & Mary) 

  • Nov. 5 vs. Maine 
  • Nov. 12 at New Hampshire 
  • Nov. 19 vs. UAlbany 

Villanova: 5-3, 3-2 (lost to Monmouth and at Richmond) 

  • Nov. 5 at Towson 
  • Nov. 12 at William & Mary 
  • Nov. 19 vs. Delaware 

Richmond finishes with the most difficult of the remaining schedules, based on overall records and CAA standings. But that also gives the Spiders a direct path to the Colonial championship without relying on results other than their own, and the prospect of favorable seeding should they make the Playoffs. 

Richmond opened its 31-21 win at Maine scoring touchdowns on its first three drives, with two Reece Udinski carries and a 63-yard connection from the quarterback to wide receiver Jake Herres. 

"Starting off the year, we realized we wanted to take more shots down the field," Udinski said in the postgame press conference. "Before the game, our coach said he wanted to throw the ball down the field and try to push the ball, and we did that successfully. Those big plays are back-breakers for the defense." 

First Conference Wins Come With Style 

Towson and UAlbany were the only CAA teams without conference wins on the season, but each got off the schneid in impressive fashion in Week 9. The Tigers and Great Danes scored 111 combined points: Towson erupting in its 52-48 win at Monmouth, and UAlbay rolling in its rivalry game rout of Stony Brook, 59-14. 

A quarter of Reese Poffenbarger's 16 completed passes (on just 21 attempts) went for touchdowns, continuing the UAlbany quarterback's push for the Jerry Rice Award. 

The Great Danes claimed the Golden Apple Trophy for the first time since the 2019 season, and by the most lopsided margin since the two programs began playing in 1995. 

With its offensive outpouring against Monmouth, meanwhile, Towson put up more points in Week 9 than the previous three games combined. The breakthrough included a career-best 112 rushing yards from Devin Matthews and quarterback Tyrrell Pigrome playing a masterful game at 20-of-25 passing for 216 yards, another 41 yards rushing, and a touchdown through the air and on the ground each. 

"Week after week, he's been slowly getting better," Towson coach Rob Ambrose said of Pigrome. "This is clearly his best showing; incredibly efficient...and led an offense to be amazing on third down when it's really been a challenge for us."

Indeed, a 12-of-15 performance on third down ignited the Tigers offense, as did capitalizing in the red zone with scores on all seven trips inside the Hawks 20-yard line. 

Towson needed every bit of its offensive output, too, with Monmouth continuing to score at one of the nation's most prolific rates. Jaden Shirden eclipsed 200 yards rushing for a third time on the campaign, going for 211, and scored three touchdowns. At 1,365 yards on the season, Shirden remains far-and-away the most productive ball-carrier in the FCS. 

But the spotlight was stolen from another All-America-worthy effort out of Monmouth's super back, with Towson's own potential All-American delivering the Hawks a critical blow. D'Ago Hunter's 92-yard kickoff return for a touchdown pushed a deficit of one score back to two in an instant midway through the fourth quarter. 

Hunter's second kickoff-return touchdown of the season put an exclamation point on an all-around stellar performance. 

"It was a lot of work done both on and off the field on attitude, effort, finish, and —" Ambrose's tone particularly emphasized this last item: "believe. We've talked about practicing a way to earn the right to believe we're going to win. We practiced that way all week, and that's how it played out." 

It's a point repeated every week — and Ambrose added some context to it following the Tigers' win — but every CAA Saturday is a chance for an upset. Ambrose noted that in a stretch from 2007 through 2014, when the CAA produced two national champions and five runners-up, the Colonial's title-game team was never an outright champion. 

What's more, only Villanova in 2009 was the only CAA team of the five that won the conference's automatic bid into the Playoffs. There may not be a more telling reflection of the league's consistent parity and strength.