CAA Football Week 3 – Preview

This past April during the college football offseason, administrators of the University of Massachusetts announced that it would be joining the Mid-American Conference (for football only) for the 2012 season.  Located in Amherst and sporting an enrollment of 27,000 students, UMass has decided to leave behind its former Yankee Conference mates to join the bowl subdivision.  This weekend the Minutemen face one of the programs from the Yankee Conference, the Rhode Island Rams, which itself is leaving for the Northeast Conference following the 2012 season.

Members of the Colonial Athletic Association decided to handle UMass’ results in a unique way.  The team itself will finish with an official conference record of 0-0, but the wins and losses of its conference games will count for their opponents’ standings.  In a notable, classy gesture, its players are eligible to win conference weekly and year-end awards.  Think of the seniors on the team – would you like to have an outstanding final season and receive no accolades from the conference?  And after the jump, we’ll take a look at a couple of those seniors.

Running back Jonathan Hernandez was second in the conference last season with 938 rushing yards per game while adding nine touchdowns.  In most conferences he would have been named to the preseason all-conference team; however, most conferences don’t have Jonathan Grimes and Andrew Pierce.  Another UMass senior to note is Tyler Holmes, the 2010 CAA Defensive Player of the Year.  The 2011 Preseason CAA Defensive POY received national recognition for his play last season, being named an All-American and Phil Steele’s national FCS defensive player of the year.  In the team’s lone game this season, a 24-16 win over Holy Cross, Hernandez rushed for 151 yards while Holmes contributed four total tackles.

Meanwhile Rhode Island has also only played one game to date – a 21-14 loss at Syracuse that was tied at 14 midway through the fourth quarter.  The Rams are led by Preseason All-CAA Quarterback Steve Probst, who led the team in both passing and rushing last season.  The defense has improved considerably the last couple years.  After allowing almost 37 points in 2009 the team tightened up to surrender 24 per contest in 2010, and gave up only 21 to a Big East team on the road last week.  The defensive line returns three players who started all eleven games in 2010; this team could surprise a few of the top contenders in conference play. 

Last week we correctly picked the Tigers to win the first conference game of the season, so we’re 1-0 with our conference selections.  This week the Rams have a lot of things going for them – a senior dual-threat quarterback, an improved defense, and arguably the league’s best kick returner (sophomore Travis Hurd).  Meanwhile the Minutemen will be led by redshirt sophomore Kellen Pagel, who is making his first collegiate start Saturday.  Nevertheless, the senior leadership of Hernandez and Holmes will prove to be too much, and Massachusetts gets its second win in as many games.

The most entertaining FCS contest this weekend could take place in Lynchburg, VA, as James Madison travels to play the Liberty Flames on the road.  The Dukes overcame five turnovers to defeat Central Connecticut 14-9 in its home debut last week, while Liberty quarterback Mike Brown totaled four touchdowns in a 38-7 win over Robert Morris.  Both teams lost to ACC teams in the first week but captured wins at home last week.

Last season in Harrisonburg, VA, the Dukes won in a 10-3 defensive struggle.  The Flames scored at least 23 points in its other ten games last season on the way to averaging 36 per outing, which provides an insight of how good JMU’s defense is.  It’s unlikely that JMU will turn over the ball five times for a second consecutive week, and the defense is top-notch in the FCS.  Nevertheless, the Flames return too much of that offensive firepower for James Madison this weekend. 

The Maine Black Bears will battle the Albany Great Danes in Albany, NY.  After handling Bryant in its opening game, Maine battled the Big East’s Pittsburgh to the end, eventually suffering a 35-29 defeat.  Led by junior quarterback Warren Smith and running back Derek Session, the Black Bears put the rest of the CAA on notice that it also has the talent to battle BCS programs. Albany suffered a 37-34 overtime loss to Colgate in its opener and had its bye last week.  The Great Danes’ coach Bob Ford leads active coaches in FCS wins; while the team should end up winning another Northeast Conference title under Ford’s reign, Smith and Session should be too much for Albany this week.

The next game to highlight is a game against programs separated by 15 miles – Hampton University and ODU.  Last season the Monarchs blocked three punts en route to a 28-14 victory in the first meeting between the teams.  Old Dominion returns most of its starters from last season’s 8-3 squad, including senior quarterback Thomas DeMarco.  On the other hand, Hampton lost three First Team All-MEAC players on defense to graduation, including Jets’ third round draft pick DT Kenrick Ellis.  The 2010 Pirates’ defense held DeMarco and company to 250 yards of offense last season, but the losses on defense should prove too much to overcome.  Expect ODU to win this game and stake a claim as Hampton Roads’ best program.

In another contest between intra-state teams, Delaware takes on Delaware State in only the third meeting between the schools.  The Hornets return 14 starters (eight on offense) to a team that finished 2010 with a 3-8 record, but the story of this game may be the Hens’ quarterback.  Starter Trevor Sasek injured his leg in the season opener against Navy, and is not expected to play this weekend.  With the aforementioned Andrew Pierce running the ball behind four linemen who were starters last season, Sasek’s absence will be negligible. 

In other games, the College of William and Mary takes on New Haven of Division II.  Tribe fans should expect a relatively easy win from one of the best FCS teams in the country.  The struggling Villanova Wildcats come back to Philadelphia after losing to first-place Towson last weekend.  Redshirt freshman Dustin Thomas, who had earned the starting QB position in preseason camps, is out at least four weeks with a shoulder injury from last week’s game.  Marlon Calbi will take over starting duties in his absence; Villanova is reeling right now and might open its season 0-3 after this weekend’s contest at home against Monmouth. 

The last CAA game this week is in Richmond, as the Spiders take on the Keydets of VMI.  Last week the Virginia Military Institute lost at William and Mary 24-7.  Richmond defeated Wagner 21-6 and is led by senior quarterback Aaron Corp, who has 429 passing yards and three touchdowns through two weeks.  Corp’s arm and Richmond’s defense should prove to be too much for VMI. 

The University of New Hampshire and first-place Towson University have open dates this week.  At the close of the weekend, the Tigers will remain tied for first place, joined by either UMass of URI atop the conference’s standings.  This is a significant improvement for a team that won zero conference games in 2010. 

Next week should provide more fireworks with three conference games on the schedule, and we’ll have in-depth analysis of those games.

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