Editor’s Note – Mike Barber, the assistant sports editor of the Daily News Record in Harrisonburg, will be offering a weekly look around the CAA to readers of Virginia Sports Now. Keep up with Mike’s great work daily at the paper’s site - www.dnronline.com – and look for a notebook and James Madison University story here weekly.
HARRISONBURG – Despite what the league’s coaches say over and over, it’s never too early to talk about the playoffs. The Colonial Athletic Association has placed a record five teams in the Division I-AA playoffs each of the past two seasons.
Before the start of the 2009 campaign, league commissioner Tom Yeager jokingly bemoaned the fact that placing less than five in this year’s bracket would be viewed as a down year. Yeager may not have to worry.
With four weeks left, the league still has six teams realistically in the hunt to reach the postseason.
Who’s out?
As has been the case in recent years, Northeastern, Rhode Island and Towson were never really in the picture. Those three teams are a combined 4-17. James Madison has been the conference’s biggest disappointment. The Dukes are a surprising 2-5 overall and are winless in the league at 0-4, a drastic turnaround for a club that went 8-0 in the CAA last season and reached the I-AA semifinals.
With four losses on their records, Hofstra and Maine have most likely been relegated to spoiler status for the rest of 2009.
So if those clubs are playing for pride, who is still fighting for a prize? Clearly, Richmond has established itself as the class of the league. Behind find-a-way quarterback Eric Ward and a dominating defense, the Spiders – the defending I-AA national champions – are 7-0 and have won 16 straight games dating back to last year.
Though narrow victories over Delaware (the Blue Hens had a chip-shot game winning field goal blocked) and JMU (the Dukes fumbled going in for the winning score in the final seconds) sent up red flags that the Spiders might be vulnerable, Saturday’s 34-12 undressing of Massachusetts showed UR is still tops in the CAA.
Only a narrow road loss to New Hampshire (28-24 on Oct. 10) is preventing Villanova from being No. 2 for next Saturday’s game at No. 1 Richmond. And the Wildcats appear to be rounding into form at just the right time.
“It’s probably the biggest game of the year in the CAA, at least right now,” Villanova coach Andy Talley said. “It’s going to be an awesome opportunity for both teams to see if they can take it to another level.”
William & Mary and New Hampshire, both at 6-1, also appear headed for playoff berths.
“Nowadays, the way things are evened out in college football, winning seasons are something I think everyone takes pride in,” said W&M coach Jimmye Laycock, who has clinched the 20th winning season of his 30-year career.
That leaves Delaware (5-2) and Massachusetts (4-3) fighting for potential fifth and sixth bids. The Blue Hens likely control their own destiny, but they have a rough stretch at the end of the schedule. After hosting JMU and Hofstra the next two weeks, Delaware ends at Navy and at Villanova. Losses in both of those games could have UD at 7-4 and precariously on the playoff bubble.
With three losses already, Massachusetts likely has to win out to make the postseason. Its schedule has road games at Maine and Hofstra bookending home dates with Northeastern and JMU.
Offensive woes for JMU: In an attempt to spark its slumping offense, James Madison simplified its offensive playbook, got more carries for its tailbacks and less for its rookie quarterback, and moved its offensive coordinator from the press box to the sideline for its game at William & Mary on Saturday. The result? More failure.
The Dukes lost 24-3 to the Tribe and extended their touchdown-less streak to 10 quarters. JMU hasn’t found the end zone since the second quarter of its loss to Richmond three weeks ago.
“Offensively, we didn’t do much, obviously,” JMU coach Mickey Matthews said after the team’s fourth straight loss. “We’re just struggling. I don’t really have any answers. I wish I did.”
200 For Talley: Villanova’s 36-7 win over Rhode Island on Saturday gave longtime Wildcats coach Andy Talley the 200th win of his career, becoming just the 56th football coach in NCAA history to reach that mark.
“We’ve been fortunate to be able to stay at Villanova for 25 years,” Talley said. “I think Villanova is a place where you can win. It has a lot of plusses going for it. It’s not just the coach. It’s the place where you are.”
Talley’s reward? A week off before his team’s mammoth game against Richmond.
“For us I think for us it has to be a positive because we have so many guys banged up right now,” Talley said. “If we had to play on Saturday, we’d play Richmond without three starters, which would not be a good thing for us because we do not have a lot of depth. Our first 22 guys are really who we’re going to try to win the game with.”
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