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Schedule favors UMass football
The unexpected dissolving of the football programs at Northeastern and Hofstra forced the Colonial Athletic Association to scramble to re-create its 2010 schedule.
Working around nonconference games and a desire to keep an eight-game conference schedule, the league eliminated the north and south divisions and created a slate that had each team play eight of the other nine teams.
Each team will miss one opponent and with at least seven teams looking like conference title and postseason contenders, who a team gets to avoid could go a long way toward determining its long-term fate. There's plenty of advantage to missing a good team.
The University of Massachusetts got the best draw. The Minutemen won't play Villanova, the defending national champion and one of the highest-ranked teams in the country. When UMass was picked No. 8 in the preseason conference poll, this looked like a bad deal for the Wildcats, but as the Minutemen have evolved into a top 10 team, Villanova might be plenty happy to miss the Minutemen as well. Both teams were scheduled for three games against struggling Maine, Rhode Island and Towson, and only five games against playoff contenders.
James Madison, William & Mary and Richmond weren't as fortunate. The Dukes miss Rhode Island, a team they'd certainly be favored against in any location. William & Mary doesn't play Towson, a team it would be expected to beat. Richmond, which misses Maine, probably would have preferred to avoid someone else.
New Hampshire, which has to overcome an early misstep loss to Rhode Island, gets a break avoiding Delaware, which is one of the conference's hottest teams in September.
POLLS - The Minutemen moved up to No. 8 in both polls as the CAA now has five teams in the top 10 and seven in the top 15.
Villanova stayed at No. 1 in the Sports Network (media) top 25 and No. 2 (behind Appalachian State) in the FCS Coaches Poll. James Madison is at No. 3 in both polls.
Delaware, which upset then No. 5 Richmond, replaced the Spiders at No. 5 in both rankings. The media dropped the Spiders to No. 11 and the coaches to No. 12.
Despite UMass' season-opening win over William & Mary, the Tribe remain one spot ahead of the Minutemen in both top 25s at No. 7.
New Hampshire slipped back into the top 15 at No. 14 (TSN) and No. 15 (coaches).
GAMES OF THE WEEK: Delaware at James Madison, Saturday, noon - Delaware knocked off one CAA Virginia heavyweight in Richmond last week and will try to add another this week against the undefeated Dukes.
Villanova at William & Mary, Saturday, 3:30 p.m. - The Tribe are no doubt glad to be home for this rematch of the 2009 national semifinals, but they'd prefer to play this game in better health.
W&M will be without senior quarterback Michael Callahan, who injured his shoulder in Saturday's win over Maine. His replacement, Michael Paulus, a transfer from North Carolina, was 9 for 16 for 104 yards and the game-winning touchdown in his absence.
The status of all-conference running back Jonathan Grimes is uncertain. Grimes had just five carries for 14 yards Saturday because he is "banged up" according to Tribe coach Jimmye Laycock.
RIVALRY GAMES - The offseason schedule upheaval also caused the traditional New Hampshire-Maine rivalry game to be temporarily moved from its traditional November slot to Saturday.
Rhode Island will face Ocean State rival Brown on Saturday.
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK - Maybe the biggest surprise when the CAA released its weekly awards Monday morning was that Delaware freshman Andrew Pierce wasn't among the honorees. The freshman tailback has been the league's rookie of the week three times and player of the week once.
So when he carried 26 times for 114 yards and three touchdowns at Richmond in the conference's biggest game of the week, another award seemed likely.
But the league opted to spread the wealth around this time.
James Madison freshman linebacker Stephon Robertson displace him as the rookie of the week after registering 13 tackles as the Dukes held Liberty to just three points and 61 rushing yards in the game.
New Hampshire quarterback R.J. Toman was the offensive player of the week after passing for a career-high 348 yards and four touchdowns in UNH's 31-10 win over Lehigh.
Villanova defensive back James Pitts and Delaware DB Anthony Walters shared the defensive honors. Pitts had an interception return for a touchdown and six tackles in the Wildcats' 22-10 win over Penn. Walters made 10 tackles and had a fourth quarter interception that helped seal the Blue Hen win.
James Madison's Taveion Cuffee earned the special teams honor after blocking a 47-yard field goal try in the third quarter when the Dukes were clinging to a 7-3 lead.
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