Editor’s Note – This story was contributed by former Richmond Times-Dispatch colleague John Packett. He will write regularly about William and Mary football along with other CAA topics throughout the season.
BY JOHN PACKETT
Coaches in the Colonial Athletic Association have long known how good their league is compared to other Football Championship Subdivision conferences in the country.
After all, the CAA has produced recent NFL standouts like Brian Westbrook, Joe Flacco, Tim Hightower and Akeem Jordan, not to mention national champions three of the past six years.
Now the rest of the nation will get an up-close-and-personal peek at the multi-talented CAA when Saturday’s game between second-ranked Villanova (1-0, 4-0) and No. 5 William and Mary (1-0, 4-0) is shown by VERSUS.
The nationally televised game is set for a 3:30 p.m. kickoff at Villanova Stadium.
“We always laugh when I talk to some of the coaches that were surprised about [former James Madison standout] Akeem Jordan,” said JMU coach Mickey Matthews. “Everyone seems to think he took some kryptonite because he’s playing so well for the Eagles.
“All the coaches in our league ask me, ‘Mickey, how come everyone is so surprised how good a player he is?’ That’s the way we feel about Flacco, Brian Westbrook, Hightower … what tremendous football players they are. Sometimes people don’t understand that because we aren’t on national television as much.
“We have great crowds in our league and great teams, and we need to showcase those teams as much as we can.”
Although CAA teams have been on national telecasts in the playoffs, this will mark the first time a regular-season conference game has been shown nationally. VERSUS, formerly the Outdoor Life Network, reaches 73 million homes in the country via cable and satellite operators.
“We couldn’t be more pleased to have two of the Top 5 teams in the country and our conference showcase CAA football to a national audience,” said CAA Commissioner Tom Yeager.
“I think the CAA already has a lot of national exposure in their sports programs, especially in basketball,” said Villanova coach Andy Talley. “For the person in Washington state or Texas or California, they’ve seen CAA basketball teams.
“Now I think they’ll wake up and go, ‘Hey, they play pretty good football out there. That’s pretty excellent.’ The exposure is great for the league and it’s nice that it can happen through the football programs as well. Hopefully, this is the beginning of national exposure in football year in and year out.”
William and Mary coach Jimmye Laycock, whose club is off to its best start since 1994, believes the national coverage can only help the schools, as well as the conference.
“For us and Villanova, it’s really good, to get that kind of exposure and get people to see us,” said Laycock. “Players like to perform in front of people. They like to have a lot of people at the game, and hopefully, they’ll have a big crowd at Villanova. Plus all those other people watching on TV.
“I think it adds to the excitement of the players and makes it great for them to get that attention, that exposure, and that opportunity to play in front of that many people.”
The game will bring together the league’s two winningest coaches. Talley has a 197-119-2 record in 30 years, while Laycock is 193-138-2 in 30 seasons.
The Tribe features quarterback R.J. Archer and running back Jonathan Grimes, along with a defense that is limiting foes to 15.7 points a game and an average of only 59 yards rushing.
Villanova, meanwhile, counters with a defense that is holding the opposition to 12.8 points a game and is averaging nearly 380 yards of offense behind the passing and running of quarterback Chris Whitney.
“You’re going to have two really outstanding teams going head to head this Saturday,” said Talley. “This is about as good as it gets.”
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I wonder if Georgia State and Old Dominion are thinking about changing their mind about starting a football program and entering this conference!
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