CAA Week 10 (11/4) Predictions

[GannonFan]

The playoffs become to come into focus now as the calendar turns to November. That means the start of serious football and some big conference games. Here's my take:

Towson 31 Maine 10 - Maine actually woke up and won a game, in Parsons no less, last week. Wonders never cease. However, that could be the highwater mark of the year for the Black Bears. Towson treks to the wildnerness of Orono this weekend and they bring in a still decent offense and a very underappreciated defense. And that's where I think Towson can do some damage - they've had two weeks to sit and see the wreakage of their once promising season and they have a chance to get a little redemption as the season closes. Maine still has no offense and Towson shuts them down in a game maybe only parents of the players watch.

Delaware 35 James Madison 21 - The game of the week in the CAA with JMU coming up to play in a sold-out, raucous Tub. UD comes off of the big win over Navy while JMU comes in limping after a tough loss at home to Richmond. JMU hasn't won in Newark since 1994 (5 games since then). While JMU had the better of UD last year, that UD team couldn't be any different than the current version - Cuff is healthy and will play, Flacco is in his second year and flourishing, and UD's defense is actually on the field this year. JMU has struggled in the past few weeks giving up yardage on the ground against Northeastern and even Rhode Island and with Cuff, who before this year has had career games against JMU in the past, putting up 418 total yards and 4 TD's against the Dukes in 2 games, that could be a recipe for the Hens to run wild. JMU can still generate pressure so I would expect a more modest passing day from Flacco. On the other side of the ball, Landers will pressure the Hens defense but he's not the passer that Santos is so while he can get rushing yards he won't be able to test the Hens where they are weak. I see Cuff and company having a big day, wearing down the Dukes defense, and the Hens putting JMU on the brink of not making the playoffs.

UMass 35 Rhode Island 34 - The last time Don Brown led UMass into Kingston, RI, the Minutemen left with a big "L". Color me not impressed with UMass so far this year. Tons of talent, a lot of things to feel good about, but they just mysteriously make every game closer than it should be. Rhode Island seems to be gaining a little steam and they had a banner day on the ground against UNH last week. Granted, UMass can play D much better than UNH, but UMass has had difficulty against the triple option in the past and with the big game against UNH coming up next week, UMass could be overlooking this roadtrip. I still can't bring myself to pick an actual upset, but with UMass's tendency to sleepwalk through games, and with URI starting to tune up the offense, I think UMass could be in for a surprisingly long day against the Rams.

New Hampshire 42 Northeastern 21 - New Hampshire found themselves in a game last week, at home, against URI, so they should be properly aware that every game matters right now. Northeastern comes into town having looked good in losses to JMU and UD before being rudely brought back to Earth by a struggling Maine team last week. The Wildcats should have revenge on their minds as last year's shock loss to Northeastern in Parsons should still be fresh in their minds. Santos looked very, very good last week against URI (over 400 yards passing and 5 TD's) and look for him to lead the way again in a probable rout of the Huskies. Murray should help keep Northeastern close early on, but Northeastern never seems to get anywhere even while Murray gets his yardage. UNH wins easily and looks forward to the trip to Amherst next week.

Hofstra 35 William and Mary 24 - Hofstra just can't buy any luck right now. They smother nova last week only to have two turnovers returned for TD's and then give up a kickoff return for a TD at the opening of the second half. They fought back but found themselves on the losing end of the score for the second week in a row and now face the taunts of being overrated. W&M comes to town as a dangerous team, at least offensively. Phillips can fling the ball around pretty well and W&M should get its points. However, Hofstra is still better than what they've shown these past two weeks and W&M still isn't very good. Things get set right for Hofstra, for now at least, and they stop the bleeding with a win at home on the Island.

Richmond 30 villanova 10 - Richmond scored early in the game against JMU last week and then held on for dear life in their win. Hightower got his yards, although at times it was a struggle, and Richmond rode some good defense to the win. nova, as mentioned earlier, got TD's from all points in their surprise win against Hofstra last week, but they seem to be doing it with mirrors. Whitney isn't giving them any passing game, and they even struggle to run the ball now. Richmond should be able to take advantage of nova's impotency on offense as they should be able to completely shutdown nova while marching up and down the field behind Hightower's running. The game being in Richmond is a big plus too so I see the Spiders coming away with the victory here and officially ending nova's hopes of the postseason.

[89Hen]

I may need to turn in my Nostrodomus hat after the last two weeks...

New Hampshire 45 - Rhode Island 10 (49-36) xthumbsupx
James Madison 27 - Richmond 14 (16-17) xoopsx
Navy 35 - Delaware 24 (52-59) xoopsx xthumbsupx
UMass 35 - William and Mary 24 (48-34) xthumbsupx
Northeastern 24 - Maine 10 (14-20) xoopsx
Hofstra 31 - villanova 27 (31-35) xoopsx

This week:

Towson 24 - Maine 10
Delaware 35 - James Madison 31
UMass 42 - Rhode Island 24
New Hampshire 45 - Northeastern 10
William and Mary 31 - Hofstra 24
Richmond 24 - villanova 21

[yorkcountyUNHfan]

Any info on the health of URI's starting QB?

[89Hen]

Any info on the health of URI's starting QB?
No offense to Cobblestone but... does it really matter? xeyebrowx

[yorkcountyUNHfan]

No offense to Cobblestone but... does it really matter? xeyebrowx

After watching with and without, the answer is yes.

[appstate38]

So who should be on upset alert in the CAA this week????Hmmmm

[bluehenbillk]

Towson 21 Maine 10
UD 45 JMU 20
UMass 41 URI 28
UNH 37 N'Eastern 20
W&M 27 Hofstra 17
Richmond 27 'Nova 24

[TigerFan17]

Towson 20 Maine 10 :: CAA game of the week. :o
JMU 27 - UD 24 :: JMU defense has a few key stops.
UMass 41 URI 14 :: UMass finally gets that blowout. Poor Rhody.
UNH 37 Northeastern 17 :: Yup.
Hofstra 28 W&M 19 :: xcoffeex
Richmond 27 Nova 20 :: xwhistlex

[UMass922]

UMass 35 Rhode Island 34 - The last time Don Brown led UMass into Kingston, RI, the Minutemen left with a big "L". Color me not impressed with UMass so far this year. Tons of talent, a lot of things to feel good about, but they just mysteriously make every game closer than it should be. Rhode Island seems to be gaining a little steam and they had a banner day on the ground against UNH last week. Granted, UMass can play D much better than UNH, but UMass has had difficulty against the triple option in the past and with the big game against UNH coming up next week, UMass could be overlooking this roadtrip. I still can't bring myself to pick an actual upset, but with UMass's tendency to sleepwalk through games, and with URI starting to tune up the offense, I think UMass could be in for a surprisingly long day against the Rams.

Fair assessment. I won't be surprised by a close game--I won't even be entirely surprised by an upset, for that matter. That's partially my own fearful, pessimistic disposition talking, but considering what we saw from URI last week and what we've seen from UMass in its last two games, I don't think it's an unreasonable fear.

[yorkcountyUNHfan]

Fair assessment. I won't be surprised by a close game--I won't even be entirely surprised by an upset, for that matter. That's partially my own fearful, pessimistic disposition talking, but considering what we saw from URI last week and what we've seen from UMass in its last two games, I don't think it's an unreasonable fear.


Any chance of an upset would hinge on the health of the #1 QB.

I don't think even with the #1 that URI has much of a chance but you never know. As far as UNH goes last years upset loss to NU combined with the poor effort last week v URI would make me think UNH will come out with a big win.

[yorkcountyUNHfan]

So who should be on upset alert in the CAA this week????Hmmmm


UNH or UMass

I don't see a clear enough favorite in any other game to be considered an upset.

[AZGrizFan]

The playoffs become to come into focus now as the calendar turns to November. That means the start of serious football and some big conference games. Here's my take:

Towson 31 Maine 10
Delaware 35 James Madison 21
UMass 35 Rhode Island 34
New Hampshire 42 Northeastern 21
Hofstra 35 William and Mary 24
Richmond 30 villanova 10

Since I did such a good job predicting the demise of JMU and Hofstra last week, I'll take another shot across the bow this week as well. I say:

Towson
Delaware
Umass
New Hampshire
Bill & Hillary
Villanova

Hofstra, JMU and Richmond are officially eliminated from playoff talk. xwhistlex xwhistlex xwhistlex xwhistlex

[bostonspider]

How would UR losing to VU officially eliminate them from playoff talk? They could still win their last two over UD and W&M, finish 8-3, 6-2 in the CAA. Are you sure that would not be considered playoff worthy????? I find it more likely they will beat VU and lose to UD, but who knows.

[URMite]

How would UR losing to VU officially eliminate them from playoff talk? They could still win their last two over UD and W&M, finish 8-3, 6-2 in the CAA. Are you sure that would not be considered playoff worthy????? I find it more likely they will beat VU and lose to UD, but who knows.

Don't worry about him. He's just trying to eliminate as many CAA teams as possible. All three would only have 3 losses. And I'm sure he doesn't believe any 3 loss CAA team should make the playoffs instead of a 3 loss BSC team. xwhistlex

But back on topic, is Huggins definitely out this week? He is such a big part of what Hofstra does, that I would think there might be more upset predictions.

[Nebuta]

Towson beats Maine - Someone check for a pulse, I dont think Maine is showing signs of life. Townson 47-8
JMU over Delaware - Having the Hens at the Tub, I wouldnt be suprised if the Hens win this one on the back of Omar. But for some reason, I think JMU will come out hungry and rebound from last week's loss, for their playoff lives are at stake just as UNH did a few weeks ago. Again, UD doesnt get the on-side kick and loses 35-30.
UMass over URI - UMass continues to remain perfect in the CAA. UMAss 42-10
UNH over Northeastern - Santos and company scores too many. UNH 35-24
W&M over Hofstra - the streak continues as Hofstra cant stop the bleeding.
W&M 28-24
Richmond over Nova - Easy pick, Hightower will have a big game.
Spiders 32-21

[BDKJMU]

All of you predicting these nutty high scores forgot to check the weather!
I'm predicting the JMU-UR game assuming the turf is wet but its not raining since weather.com is calling for a 50% chance of rain. All other games its 70%-90%, so I'm making predictions it will be raining for all of them:

@ New Hampshire 35 Rhode Island 14
-Calling for 80% chance of rain with the win from the SSE at 14 mph which could hold lessen the scoring for both teams but could really hamper UNH's passing game) Not much in the way of field goals here.

@James Madison 31 Richmond 24
-Calling for 50% chance of rain, wind from the SW at 7 mph, which is barely a breeze.

@Navy 35 UD 21
-Calling for a 70% chance of rain, wind from the SSW at 12 mph, which could hold lessen the scoring for both teams but could really hurt UD's passing game. Not much in the way of field goals here.

UMass 35 @ William and Mary 14
-Calling for a 70% chance of rain, thundershowers, wind from the S at 11 mph, which could lessen the scoring for both teams but could really hurt W&Ms passing game. Not much in the way of field goals here.

@ Northeastern 14 Maine 7
-Calling for 80% chance of rain, wind from the S at 17 mph, this will play havoc with both teams passing games. Thing is, neither team has much of a passing game. Again, not much in the way of field goals.

@ Villanova 17, Hofstra 14
-Calling for 90% chance of rain & thunder, wind from the SSW @ 14 mph, which again will play havoc with passing games. which will hurt the more pass oriented Hofstra (about 63% of offense) than the slightly more run oriented Nova (passing is 58% of offense).

When I posted this it was Wed night. The weather outlook for Sat afternoon improved after that. Late morning at JMU the sun even broke out. Not sure about the other locations, but I'm assuming none had to deal with the rain after all, so all my predictions about rain holding the scores down went out the window.

@ New Hampshire 35 Rhode Island 14 xthumbsupx
@James Madison 31 Richmond 24 xoopsx xbawlingx xmadx
@Navy 35 UD 21 xoopsx
UMass 35 @ William and Mary 14 xthumbsupx
@ Northeastern 14 Maine 7 xoopsx
@ Villanova 17, Hofstra 14 xthumbsupx

This week:
Towson 24, @ Maine 13 Towson after their bye week rebounds from their loss to a toothpaste.

@ UD 31 JMU 27. Have already commented on this over on the JMU @ UD thread

@ UMass 38 URI 27. UMass has their usual ton of penalties and wins by less than they should.

@ UNH 38 NE 20. UNH gets revenge for last season's monster upset at Parsons.

@ Hofstra 34, W&M 31. If W&M was at home, I'd take them. I've been right on Hofstra's last 2 losses, then again, so have a lot of others.

@ UR 27, Nova 13. Nova eliminated from the playoff hunt. UR gets revenge for Nova eliminating them from the playoff hunt last season.

[WrenFGun]

Towson 13, Maine 7
UNH 59, Northeastern 3 (I swear, UNH is not going to take the foot off the pedal..not after what happened last year, and particularly with last weeks' struggle)
Delaware 28, JMU 24 (I don't think UD's defense is good enough to win by a lot, but I do think they're the better team...JMU is officially in trouble)
UMass 38, URI 35 (I think it'll be tight, mainly since it's in URI, but UMass will find a way, as per the norm)
W&M 24, Hofstra 21 (Hofstra is done)

[GannonFan]

URI will be missing both their starting QB and their starting fullback (all-conference FB Casey) - I think UMass might have a little easier time now than initially predicted.

[Dawg2Rhody]

No offense to Cobblestone but... does it really matter? xeyebrowx

Another reason to hate some Delaware fans and hope for the worst for them! Of course it matters the kid is hurt xmadx . What a piece of work.

Go JMU Defense!

[URMite]

Is Huggins definitely out for Hofstra?

[GannonFan]

Another reason to hate some Delaware fans and hope for the worst for them! Of course it matters the kid is hurt xmadx . What a piece of work.

Go JMU Defense!

Aww, come on, relax in your second post ever. He's not wishing ill on the kid or anything like that - he's just commenting that URI isn't very good - are you going to take the opposite position on that? Settle down. xpeacex

[GannonFan]

Is Huggins definitely out for Hofstra?

He's out.

[Dawg2Rhody]

Whatever--I usually just read the nonsense but that is out of line. I have a nephew on UD so I see how some can act inappropriately.

[HensRock]

Maine over Towson 21-17 (Maine not as bad as their record)
Delaware over JMU 42-10 (UD offense found another gear last week, this week the D finds theirs)
UMass over Rhode Island 35-24 (URI just too banged up)
New Hampshire over Northeastern 34-24 (every game is must-win for UNH)
William and Mary over Hofstra 24-21 (wheels falling off the HU bandwagon)
Richmond over Villanova 31-24 (Busy day for Hightower)

[WrenFGun]

42-10 over JMU? Good grief. They're 6-2 with their only losses to Richmond and North Carolina. I'm rooting for UD to win in an effort to clear some things up, but really, jeesh.

[bluehenbillk]

42-10 over JMU? Good grief. They're 6-2 with their only losses to Richmond and North Carolina. I'm rooting for UD to win in an effort to clear some things up, but really, jeesh.


Beware of big boulders rolling downhill...

When the train is coming, get off the tracks...

Ever see a can of whoop ass?

[Umass74]

The URI staff has said that Casey is out for the year. xsmhx

[ChickenMan]

42-10 over JMU? Good grief. They're 6-2 with their only losses to Richmond and North Carolina. I'm rooting for UD to win in an effort to clear some things up, but really, jeesh.


I'll take 12-10... and be very happy

[Oldhen]

42-10 over JMU? Good grief. They're 6-2 with their only losses to Richmond and North Carolina. I'm rooting for UD to win in an effort to clear some things up, but really, jeesh.

HensRock has made some 'out there' predictions for UD this year, but he's been right on time all season.

I think UD's defense saw some stuff last week against USNA that is really going to help them out some against JMU. Navy's execution in the running game is otherworldy. While I like JMU overall, I don't think they execute anywhere near as well as USNA on O, and JMU is going to look much, much slower by comparison (even Landers, but particularly the OL). This could be another case when our schedule works out real well for us.... our D's been a 'work in progress' all year, but they look better to me each week, and they've been flat whackin' folks all year long.

I honestly don't have much trouble seeing UD getting into the 40's against JMU. It all comes down to whether our OC lets 'em play or not.

[Uncle Buck]

Is Huggins definitely out for Hofstra?

Seems like he is definitely out this week and no other word as to how bad the injury is. My guess is that he is done for the season, but that is speculation.

As for predictions:

Towson 24 Maine 14
Delaware 20 James Madison 24 - The Dukes throw another wrench in the mix
UMass 35 Rhode Island 17
New Hampshire 42 Northeastern 21
W&M 24 Hofstra 21 - With no huggins, we're close but no cigar xsmhx
Richmond 28 villanova 13

[blur2005]

Delaware over JMU 42-10 (UD offense found another gear last week, this week the D finds theirs)
No f***ing way. Sorry but that won't happen. Delaware is definitely the favorite to win but there's no way it's going to be that ridiculous. Delaware's defense will do half the job Richmond's did and JMU will definitely score some points. Question is, can JMU's defense even somewhat contain Cuff - I think they can but I'm a JMU fan so that will gain little credence.

My picks:
Towson over Maine 24-20
JMU over Delaware 31-28
UMass over Rhode Island 42-21
New Hampshire over Northeastern 38-20
William & Mary over Hofstra 34-31
Richmond over Villanova 27-14

[URMite]

No f***ing way. Sorry but that won't happen. Delaware is definitely the favorite to win but there's no way it's going to be that ridiculous. Delaware's defense will do half the job Richmond's did and JMU will definitely score some points. Question is, can JMU's defense even somewhat contain Cuff - I think they can but I'm a JMU fan so that will gain little credence.

My picks:
Towson over Maine 24-20
JMU over Delaware 31-28
UMass over Rhode Island 42-21
New Hampshire over Northeastern 38-20
William & Mary over Hofstra 34-31
Richmond over Villanova 27-14

That spread does seem farfetched. When was the last time a FCS team scored more than 31 against JMU? UD 05 WM 04 both 34.

[SunCoastBlueHen]

Maine 24 Towson 21
Delaware 28 JMU 24
UMass 35 Rhode Island 17
New Hampshire 35 Northeastern 17
Hofstra 28 William & Mary 27
'Nova 24 Richmond 21[/QUOTE]

Tough week to predict in th CAA. xeekx

[Old Cage]

Folks might want to bring their scores down some for the UMass-URI game. A large ocean storm has turned to the west in recent hours and the forecast is now for near-hurricane winds, torrential rain, flooding and destruction. Kingston would be right in the way.

I was planning on going until a few minutes ago. Good luck, guys. Bring back a win.

Maybe they play on Sunday.

[WrenFGun]

Heh, 42-10. I don't know, UD. I saw you guys get manhandled by UNH for three and a half quarters before showing up. Are you saying allowing 52 points to Navy has suddenly made you 32 point favorites against JMU. xeyebrowx

[Col Hogan]

Folks might want to bring their scores down some for the UMass-URI game. A large ocean storm has turned to the west in recent hours and the forecast is now for near-hurricane winds, torrential rain, flooding and destruction. Kingston would be right in the way.

I was planning on going until a few minutes ago. Good luck, guys. Bring back a win.

Maybe they play on Sunday.

Sounds like last year at Northeastern...

[rcny46]

The URI staff has said that Casey is out for the year. xsmhx

Was any mention made regarding the status of URI's QB? He went out with what looked like a bad leg injury against UNH last week.They will really miss Casey.

[VT Wildcat Fan53]

JMU 42, Delaware 41. JMU is one of the top 5 teams in the nation. Good players abound everywhere on O and D.

UMass 42, Rhode Island 35. Coen returns home and shows off in a high scoring affair.

New Hampshire 52, Northeastern 21. Legend of Santos sets up big rematch with Minutemen.

Hofstra 21, W&M 20. Hofstra is NOT out of the playoff picture just yet, especially with a gutty late win over the Tribe.

Richmond 38, Villanova 31. Richmond stays in the hunt while knocking 'Nova squarely off the bubble.

Maine 14, Towson 13. Maine D's up for an upset win to stretch winning streak to 2 games.

[Old Cage]

Off topic a bit for this thread, but there has been some discussion here on how, or if, Rhode Island fits into future CAA plans. This from today's Boston Globe about tomorrow's game at Rhody:

"The Massachusetts-Rhode Island football game, which was scheduled to be on NESN, will not be televised tomorrow after all. Gordon Morton, the director of communications for the ECAC, said the broadcast was canceled for financial reasons. "There was just a lack of interest from the sponsors and the [host] school and so we had to pull the game," said Morton."

The new Rhody AD is ex-UMass football player Thorr Bjorn, possibly making the lack of interest a signal of a tough financial situation. The game had been on the calendar for a long time.

ARGH!

[UNHWILDCATS05]

Folks might want to bring their scores down some for the UMass-URI game. A large ocean storm has turned to the west in recent hours and the forecast is now for near-hurricane winds, torrential rain, flooding and destruction. Kingston would be right in the way.

I was planning on going until a few minutes ago. Good luck, guys. Bring back a win.

Maybe they play on Sunday.

Weather is looking worse and worse... could have some impact on these games... reminds me of the Hofstra at UNH game last year (10-6, i think, slugfest with something like 3 total passes the entire game)

[ChickenMan]

Towson 27 Maine 21

Richmond 31 Villanova 14

W&M 34 Hofstra 31

UNH 41 N'eastern 17

UMass 35 URI 20

Delaware 34 JMU 24

[Spider]

SPIDAHS over NOVA; JMU over UDxthumbsupx

[Old Cage]

UMass 6 URI 0 UMass scores on the opening kickoff when they kick and the ball travels thirty yards forward and is then blown back twenty yards to the UMass kicker who goes in untouched.

UNH 0 Northeastern 0 in seventeen overtimes, Called on account of approaching high tide.

[art vandelay]

UMass 6 URI 0 UMass scores on the opening kickoff when they kick and the ball travels thirty yards forward and is then blown back twenty yards to the UMass kicker who goes in untouched.

UNH 0 Northeastern 0 in seventeen overtimes, Called on account of approaching high tide.

hahaha so very true. xlolx

[BDKJMU]

When I posted this it was Wed night. The weather outlook for Sat afternoon improved after that. Late morning at JMU the sun even broke out. Not sure about the other locations, but I'm assuming none had to deal with the rain after all, so all my predictions about rain holding the scores down went out the window.

@ New Hampshire 35 Rhode Island 14 xthumbsupx
@James Madison 31 Richmond 24 xoopsx xbawlingx xmadx
@Navy 35 UD 21 xoopsx
UMass 35 @ William and Mary 14 xthumbsupx
@ Northeastern 14 Maine 7 xoopsx
@ Villanova 17, Hofstra 14 xthumbsupx

This week:
Towson 24, @ Maine 13 Towson after their bye week rebounds from their loss to a toothpaste.

@ UD 31 JMU 27. Have already commented on this over on the JMU @ UD thread

@ UMass 38 URI 27. UMass has their usual ton of penalties and wins by less than they should.

@ UNH 38 NE 20. UNH gets revenge for last season's monster upset at Parsons.

@ Hofstra 34, W&M 31. If W&M was at home, I'd take them. I've been right on Hofstra's last 2 losses, then again, so have a lot of others.

@ UR 27, Nova 13. Nova eliminated from the playoff hunt. UR gets revenge for Nova eliminating them from the playoff hunt last season.

For some reason it won't let me edit. I'm changing my prediction from 31-27 UD to 27-24 UD.

[UMass922]

UMass 6 URI 0 UMass scores on the opening kickoff when they kick and the ball travels thirty yards forward and is then blown back twenty yards to the UMass kicker who goes in untouched.

An over/under of 2.5 for this game would sound about right to me.

[saint0917]

Delaware- 28 James Madison- 24

New Hampshire- 40 Northeastern- 17

Umass- 42 URI- 14

Towson-23 Maine- 10

William & Mary- 30 Hofstra- 21

Villanova- 27 Richmond- 24

[89Hen]

Towson 24 - Maine 10
Delaware 35 - James Madison 31
UMass 42 - Rhode Island 24
New Hampshire 45 - Northeastern 10
William and Mary 31 - Hofstra 24
Richmond 24 - villanova 21
xlolx What an incredible week. Pretty much nailed the UD/JMU game and that's about it. I guess I'll take credit for UR over Nova. At least I did better than saint above ^ xrotatehx