CAA Week 2 – Preview
By shorsky5000
The first week of college football played out to the extent that we expected in our Week One preview. All four teams facing FCS opponents won their games, while Richmond pulled out an exciting 23-21 win over the ACC’s Duke University. The other teams facing FBS opponents (UNH, JMU, W&M and Delaware) suffered defeats.
Many of this week’s games have compelling storylines, which is a bit surprising for only the second week of the season. Can the football conference improve upon its five wins of last week? We’ll take a look at the games after the jump.
After losing to North Carolina last week, there’s more than a little anticipation in the air for the JMU Dukes and their fans. This Saturday marks the first game at the nicely-upgraded Bridgeforth Stadium. The expanded seating on one side of the field increased total capacity to roughly 25K fans. (There are long-term plans to expand seating on the other side as well; it won’t be so one-sided forever.) Two games are already announced as sellouts, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see all five home games end up with a full house. As for the game itself, James Madison welcomes Central Connecticut State to open the upgraded stadium. Although CCSU beat Southern Connecticut last week, the Dukes should make it 2-0 for the conference against teams named the Blue Devils.
The lone conference game this weekend should generate as much interest as a late-season outing. I’ll be there in person and will have a report next week. After losing soundly 42-7 to Temple last week, Villanova travels to Baltimore to take on Towson University. Head Coach Rob Ambrose has slowly, quietly brought recruiting classes with players to turn around the program after years of losing. After easily beating Morgan State 42-3 before the third-largest crowd at Johnny Unitas Stadium, the Tigers will have a tougher opponent in the Wildcats. It says here that Villanova’s talented but inexperienced players have not meshed to this point in the season, and Towson starts its season with another victory.
The University of New Hampshire travels to Bethlehem, PA, to battle the Lehigh Mountain Hawks. The Wildcats’ defense should be licking its wounds after giving up more than 50 points to an opponent (albeit a favorite to win the MAC). They take on a Lehigh team that won at Monmouth and has a pretty good defense of its own. With a quarterback making only his third career start, the second week on the road against a formidable foe will prove to be too much for UNH to pull out the victory.
In 2010, future conference mates Old Dominion and Georgia State squared off before a sellout crowd in Norfolk, VA. The 2011 rematch is this weekend at The Georgia Dome. Both teams opened the season in impressive fashion; the Monarchs easily handled Campbell University, while Georgia State proved to be way too much for Clark Atlanta of Division 2. While Georgia State has several transfer students from FBS programs, ODU has had an extra year of games, practice and scheming. The Monarchs adapted to the Panthers’ defensive game plan last season and ripped off 34 consecutive points in its 34-20 win. Although it’s unlikely ODU will rack up more than 200 yards rushing against Georgia State like last season, Thomas DeMarco and Company should pull out a win on the road against a quarterback making his second career start.
The other games carry less drama than those discussed above. Rhode Island opens its season at Syracuse University after last week’s bye. After beating Bryant last week, Maine itself travels to another Big East foe, the University of Pittsburgh. While I will happily eat my words next week, I don’t see either CAA school pulling out a win against either of its opponents. Richmond opens its home schedule against a Wagner team that returns only seven starters from last season; expect the Spiders to win this game easily. Delaware takes on West Chester University in the next-to-last game between two old rivals. Starting quarterback Trevor Sasek may not be available for the game after suffering an injury against Navy, but there’s too much talent on the Hens’ roster for the Division 2 opponent. Lastly, William and Mary plays at Virginia Military Institute of the Big South. Mr. Jonathan Grimes is looking forward to getting the loss at Virginia out of his head, so look for a big week out of the senior running back.
So there you have it. Massachusetts has its bye week but we still expect five OOC wins for the conference, and Towson will make a statement with a win against Villanova.