Your CAA Team - Which Week...?

[TribeGuy]

I love the CAA, especially in November. The rivalries (maybe pods will help), the standings' angst, a long view of the FCS, and wild conjecture about that Commitee bunker in Indianapolis.

But, what about before then?

Which week will you know your team is:
- in a rebuild year?
- turning around?
- fine as a contender?

[TribeGuy]

The Tribe is fine after:

Wk. 5 WM @ Elon
A road victory over a tough Phoenix squad. Elon has an impressive and daunting Strength of Schedule. 4 playoff teams and the MEAC champion. Potential Tribe (3-0, 5-0). If the Tribe win 3 0f 5 remaining CAA games.... PLAYOFFS

[caribbeanhen]

Week 4 for Delaware when New Hampshire visits

William & Mary the clear favorite

New Hampshire solid but not spectacular

Delaware in rebuild mode after losing Nolan Henderson and pretty much the entire Defense but Carty has done a nice job finding players via the portal

Campbell not finishing last

Nova still has Hayek and could be the dark horse

Richmond? Not sure how they can be as good as last year

Elon is an enigma… tough at home

Monmouth has best RB and not much else

NC A&T? Will be interesting to see how they do

overrated Media and AGS lil Darling? Rhode Island

[Dane96]

Week O for Albany. I don't think we will get much out of the Hawaii or Morgan St. games...and as much as week zero is tough because we are integrating a LOT of new faces, the Fordham matchup should be telling. If we come out of it with a hard fought win, I think we are midpack. If we crush them, it is not telling me much. If we struggle or lose...then Gattuso had better hope for miracles as next year is his currently known last year.

They brought in a heck of a lot of talent and they finally moved Joe Bernard off the DC role...so this could be a sneaky year. However, the schedule is tough as heck to start the season. After Fordham, @Hawaii, @Morgan St...we get Nova at home and then on the road against Towson and UNH in back to back weeks,. It's a pretty difficult early stretch.

[KPSUL]

While I agree that our game @ Delaware is an important game for both UNH and Delaware, I don't think there is any one conference game for any team that will provide answers to the three questions posed at the beginning of this thread. As we see every year there will be upsets, disappointments, pleasant surprises and unsubstantiated optimism that one conference game is not going to foretell - except maybe the last one!

No team is likely to go undefeated in the conference and perhaps everyone will lose to an FBS team. I see a two or three team tie for the CAA championship, and if that becomes the case, no one is getting a top 4 seed.

[TribeGuy]

Good Call. A Blue Hen win against UNH will forecast so much. For real - for Real.

Campbell not finishing last.

Later, watch out for NC A&T, Vincent Brown and the Aggies could be mean.

[KPSUL]

The Tribe is fine after:

Wk. 5 WM @ Elon
A road victory over a tough Phoenix squad. Elon has an impressive and daunting Strength of Schedule. 4 playoff teams and the MEAC champion. Potential Tribe (3-0, 5-0). If the Tribe win 3 0f 5 remaining CAA games.... PLAYOFFS

Given the pre-season projections, losing two of your last 5 conference games will not bode well for W&M. Your FBS game is far less likely to be a win than last year. Given a loss vs UVA, that would make the Tribe 3 and 3 for the last 6 games of the regular season, 8-3 overall. You may make the playoffs; however, not as a seeded team - even if they were to expand to 16 seeded teams. It is seldom discussed here, but there is a recency effect in play when the selection committee does their work. Your first 4 games is a near cake walk, at least it should be for a pre-season #4, and projected CAA winner.

[caribbeanhen]

Week O for Albany. I don't think we will get much out of the Hawaii or Morgan St. games...and as much as week zero is tough because we are integrating a LOT of new faces, the Fordham matchup should be telling. If we come out of it with a hard fought win, I think we are midpack. If we crush them, it is not telling me much. If we struggle or lose...then Gattuso had better hope for miracles as next year is his currently known last year.

They brought in a heck of a lot of talent and they finally moved Joe Bernard off the DC role...so this could be a sneaky year. However, the schedule is tough as heck to start the season. After Fordham, @Hawaii, @Morgan St...we get Nova at home and then on the road against Towson and UNH in back to back weeks,. It's a pretty difficult early stretch.

HR Puffinstuff … or whatever his name is really good, FBS will be all over him if not already

[caribbeanhen]

Good Call. A Blue Hen win against UNH will forecast so much. For real - for Real.

Campbell not finishing last.

Later, watch out for NC A&T, Vincent Brown and the Aggies could be mean.

Yes big game for Ryan Carty who was the OC at New Hampshire for years

[TribeGuy]

Right you are. However, a big win early sets a stage early for the precarious 15-team CAA November. FBS/ FCS wins are a bonus for all CAA teams. W&M victory over UVA - possible, not likely.
The CAA playoff teams will be scrutinized in the FCS Playoff Selection from here on out. "They didn't play one another"... "The CAA doesn't deserve 4 teams"...
Key victories; early, help our debate.

[Sitting Bull]

Given the pre-season projections, losing two of your last 5 conference games will not bode well for W&M. Your FBS game is far less likely to be a win than last year. Given a loss vs UVA, that would make the Tribe 3 and 3 for the last 6 games of the regular season, 8-3 overall. You may make the playoffs; however, not as a seeded team - even if they were to expand to 16 seeded teams. It is seldom discussed here, but there is a recency effect in play when the selection committee does their work. Your first 4 games is a near cake walk, at least it should be for a pre-season #4, and projected CAA winner.

Not sure I get where you are coming from on the protection/comment.

Our last 5 CAA games this year:
Towson (homecoming)
Monmouth
@Hampton
@UAlbany
Richmond

I wouldn’t argue losing 2 of those 5 would be reason to be a likely 1st round playoff team at best - but which of these 5 games are you thinking we will lose two of them?

[KPSUL]

Not sure I get where you are coming from on the protection/comment.

Our last 5 CAA games this year:
Towson (homecoming)
Monmouth
@Hampton
@UAlbany
Richmond

I wouldn’t argue losing 2 of those 5 would be reason to be a likely 1st round playoff team at best - but which of these 5 games are you thinking we will lose two of them?


I don't think W&M will lose 2 of the last 5 games.

My post was a reply to Post #2, "If the Tribe win 3 0f 5 remaining CAA games.... PLAYOFFS".
I think the implication was something like, "Even if we lose 2 of 5 of our last conference games we will still make the playoffs".
Due to the the consensus expectations for 2023 W&M, I was surprised to see the post. Finishing 3-3 would seem to me to be a big disappointment for W&M fans as well as the CAA in general. We need to have somebody step up and solidly earn a top 4 seed this season. If not UNH then anyone else is good to me, and pre-season W&M seems to be the most likely team to do it.

[TribeGuy]

Yes KPSUL. Every CAA victory counts. I believe Week 5 is a tell-tale for W&M. I don't lack confidence, but by then, the Tribe will be alright.

Sorry. You're right. "falling up into it" doesn't inspire confidence.

[Sitting Bull]

Considering our last outing was a 55-7 beat down, I’m most curious how this team comes out in the opener at Campbell.

[TribeGuy]

Tribe O - Conservative 1st drive, score- first downs. Aggressive 2nd drive, OC Taylor opens up flanker Hollis, mobile QB Wilson, while sustaining the threat of swing ball-handling Imoh, and the punishment of Yoder and Lester.
Tribe D - Campbell is fast. Deep. Be Conservative early. 4 - spy - nickel. Qtr. 2 get more aggressive (pass-rush) as Campbell gets desperate. Qtr. 3 get the ball and own the clock.

Campbell is a worthy opponent.

[Tribe4SF]

Tribe O - Conservative 1st drive, score- first downs. Aggressive 2nd drive, OC Taylor opens up flanker Hollis, mobile QB Wilson, while sustaining the threat of swing ball-handling Imoh, and the punishment of Yoder and Lucas.
Tribe D - Campbell is fast. Deep. Be Conservative early. 4 - spy - nickel. Qtr. 2 get more aggressive (pass-rush) as Campbell gets desperate. Qtr. 3 get the ball and own the clock.

Campbell is a worthy opponent.

Fixed it for you. Lester is at UNLV.

[UAalum72]

Week O for Albany. I don't think we will get much out of the Hawaii or Morgan St. games...and as much as week zero is tough because we are integrating a LOT of new faces, the Fordham matchup should be telling. If we come out of it with a hard fought win, I think we are midpack. If we crush them, it is not telling me much. If we struggle or lose...then Gattuso had better hope for miracles as next year is his currently known last year.

They brought in a heck of a lot of talent and they finally moved Joe Bernard off the DC role...so this could be a sneaky year. However, the schedule is tough as heck to start the season. After Fordham, @Hawaii, @Morgan St...we get Nova at home and then on the road against Towson and UNH in back to back weeks,. It's a pretty difficult early stretch.
Albany plays Fordham in week 0, Marshall in week 1, doesn’t play Morgan State until week 4 after a bye. But you’re right, the early going still may not tell us much. Or maybe it will.

[rhowdyram]

For URI I think we'll have a good idea where this season is heading after our week 4 trip to Villanova. We'll have started off at Georgia State, vs Stony Brook, at nemesis Maine, then at Villanova. If we get through that first four game stretch at 3-1 we should be feeling good about going to our first playoff game since 85. 2-2, we've probably got to finish the season 6-1 to make the playoffs, so it looks a lot like our last two seasons. 1-3 and it might be a long year.

After the first four we host Bryant and are at Brown, both of those should be wins before we go all CAA down the stretch. Versus Richmond for Homecoming, at Albany, vs New Hampshire, vs North Carolina A&T, at Towson

[MUHAWKS]

For us (Monmouth) our first 4 are - Florida Atlantic (FBS) @ Towson, Campbell and @ Lafayette

week 1 just would like to see anything somewhat competitive. Towson week 2 is enormous- they got us last year at home and we let up like 90 pts. If we can go on the road and beat a team with new coach who prob thinks there time to be relevant is here, it would speak volume IMO.. Campbell very talented yet has not panned out to overall team YET and Lafayette I dont care what anyone says will be very good this year, so after week 4 if we can somehow be 2-2 I would take it and think it can keep us motivated and "in the hunt".. But realistically I think its week 2 at Towson to proveif we will be a 3-8 non contender or a team that is alive until the last few weeks..

[TribeGuy]

Interesting. Yes - beat Fordham, best the CAA over the Patriot. Fordham may not be a dynamo, like last year.

Appreciate your perspective.

No thanks to the scheduling, Great Danes' fans won't know the outlook until Wk.5 - Villanova.

See ya Wk. 10. Good Luck and good football!

[TribeGuy]

Good looking out. After a Wk. 4 victory over Villanova, Rhody is fine as a contender at 3-0 (CAA).

Wish the prolific, veteran QB Kasim Hill has a good year.

FCS Playoffs since '85 - 2022 -@W&M. Great football. Most exciting. Win the game - playoffs. Last play - 2-pt or XPA. I respect Coach Flemming. Old sports adage - "Go for the win on the road and a tie at home".

Go Rhody

[TribeGuy]

I hear ya. Towson is a key, early indicator.

The Monmouth D needs to rise to the test of a fast-paced Campbell.

Beating the Patriots (Lehigh and Lafayette) will help the CAA and the Hawks. (not the Mountain Hawks).

Maybe, outside of this poll, a win Wk. 8 @Elon will show, Monmouth is a CAA contender.

[rhowdyram]

For URI I think we'll have a good idea where this season is heading after our week 4 trip to Villanova. We'll have started off at Georgia State, vs Stony Brook, at nemesis Maine, then at Villanova. If we get through that first four game stretch at 3-1 we should be feeling good about going to our first playoff game since 85. 2-2, we've probably got to finish the season 6-1 to make the playoffs, so it looks a lot like our last two seasons. 1-3 and it might be a long year.

After the first four we host Bryant and are at Brown, both of those should be wins before we go all CAA down the stretch. Versus Richmond for Homecoming, at Albany, vs New Hampshire, vs North Carolina A&T, at Towson

Well, can we go 6-1 to finish the year? We'll need to if we want to go to the playoffs for the first time since 1985.

The offense is pretty much what I thought it would be even after yesterday's game. The jury is still out on the defense, and the answer to that question will probably decide whether we can go 6-1 down the stretch or not. The defense kind of feels like a frontrunning defense where if we have a lead and don't put them in bad situations with turnovers and what not they can do the job but if we're relying on them much more than that they won't be able to get the job done. That's the pessimistic, 40 some odd years of watching mostly bad football view. The optimistic view is there's talent there, they've gotten through the first four games, three on the road, and now they've got two games in RI against teams they should beat to iron everything out.

Our next two and the last two seem like they should be wins, so going at least 2-1 vs. Richmond, at Albany, and vs. New Hampshire between the RI games and our bye is imperative.

[caribbeanhen]

Week 4 for Delaware when New Hampshire visits

William & Mary the clear favorite

New Hampshire solid but not spectacular

Delaware in rebuild mode after losing Nolan Henderson and pretty much the entire Defense but Carty has done a nice job finding players via the portal

Campbell not finishing last

Nova still has Hayek and could be the dark horse

Richmond? Not sure how they can be as good as last year

Elon is an enigma… tough at home

Monmouth has best RB and not much else

NC A&T? Will be interesting to see how they do

overrated Media and AGS lil Darling? Rhode Island

Damn Caribbeanhen you were right on the money again

suck at pick em game though
I