Is the mighty CAA down or just a tough/bad Week 1 match-ups???

[Sader87]

Toledo 58 UNH 22 F
Temple 42 Villanova 7 F
Navy 40 Deleware 10 4th
UNC 42 JMU 10 4th

Even its lone win so far, UMass 24 Alma Mater 16 was a bit shaky.

[Milktruck74]

the SoCon was looking a bit rough to start too.

[Dane96]

Combo of tough week...touch schedule...bad play. I think it is a bit down this year. I do think UNC would have beaten anyone they played outside a Top 20 team this week; too much "**** YOU, WE CAN WIN WITHOUT TROUBLE AND BUTCH DAVIS" emotion.

[seattlespider]

Hard to take anything from a bunch of FBS v. FCS games, but I do think the CAA may be a bit down this year.

[seattlespider]

Richmond and Duke at 0-0 to start the second quarter. UR has it third and goal at the Duke 8-yard line, after knocking the Duke QB out and recovering a fumble. Defense looks spectacular. Offense...not so much.

[seattlespider]

And just like that, Corp and Barnette with a great throw and catch for a TD!

[Longhorn]

JMU actually competed pretty well today, but was just overwhelmed by UNC's OL and DL. The Dukes couldn't touch UNC's QB, and it showed in his almost flawless passing stats.

But surprisingly, Justin Thorpe threw the ball well for JMU, hitting on a 40 yard strike for a TD in the first half, and another long bomb (also in the first half) that led to a missed chippy FG. JMU also had a 92 yard punt return by DaeQuan Scott called back on a phantom hold called while the punt was still in the air. Those missed points would have only made the loss seem more respectable, as UNC dominated (altho UNC also didn't leave any point off the board).

To the thread topic...I'd say it's just a bad bunch of match-ups.

[BlueHenSinfonian]

I think we need to wait to see how the CAA does in FCS vs FCS matchups. The only week 1 FCS/FCS CAA games are Maine/Bryant (Maine won), UMass/Holy Cross (UMass won), ODU/Campbell (ODU won), and Towson/Morgan State (so far Towson is winning).

After Appy vs Michigan and JMU vs. VT I think FBS teams are really catching on that they can't sleep on the better FCS teams anymore. The CAA and the SoCon have lost that element of surprise that has helped them in the past.

[seattlespider]

The Richmond kids are alright!

[BlueHenSinfonian]

Congrats to Richmond, glad one of us managed to knock off the FBS foe today.

[blukeys]

Ricmond didn't knock off a FBS foe. They beat Duke.

[superman7515]

Ricmond didn't knock off a FBS foe. They beat Duke.

Just give credit where it's due. We got pwned by a one-trick pony that's no better off than Duke.

[seattlespider]

Ricmond didn't knock off a FBS foe. They beat Duke.

http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg53/scaled.php?server=53&filename=2cfbgcy.gif&res=medium

[Tribal]

W&M vs UVA was close the 1st half. The Tribe QB showed nothing, absolutely nothing. By the second half, UVA's huge OL/DL owned the game. It is what it is. UVA crushed their FCS opponent last season, too. It's done...from here on out, it's all FCS. UR gets a nice jump out of the gate so kudos to them. Has nothing to do with the CAA as most FBS-FCS games were blowouts.

[jmufan999]

JMU actually competed pretty well today, but was just overwhelmed by UNC's OL and DL. The Dukes couldn't touch UNC's QB, and it showed in his almost flawless passing stats.

But surprisingly, Justin Thorpe threw the ball well for JMU, hitting on a 40 yard strike for a TD in the first half, and another long bomb (also in the first half) that led to a missed chippy FG. JMU also had a 92 yard punt return by DaeQuan Scott called back on a phantom hold called while the punt was still in the air. Those missed points would have only made the loss seem more respectable, as UNC dominated (altho UNC also didn't leave any point off the board).

To the thread topic...I'd say it's just a bad bunch of match-ups.

This summarizes it. It was pretty obvious after the first drive that we weren't going to win the game unless they fumbled/threw picks all day. Their o-line was blowing our d-line off the ball all day. Had nothing to do with the matchup, they're just much, much better than we are. On to CCSU...

Oh and good call Sinfonian, definitely no creeping up on these teams. For now. We'll lull them to sleep again eventually.

I don't know that we really know anything about the CAA as a whole. But we always bring our A-game to the playoffs, and have no reason to think this year will be different.

[JMUNJ08]

JMU actually competed pretty well today, but was just overwhelmed by UNC's OL and DL. The Dukes couldn't touch UNC's QB, and it showed in his almost flawless passing stats.

But surprisingly, Justin Thorpe threw the ball well for JMU, hitting on a 40 yard strike for a TD in the first half, and another long bomb (also in the first half) that led to a missed chippy FG. JMU also had a 92 yard punt return by DaeQuan Scott called back on a phantom hold called while the punt was still in the air. Those missed points would have only made the loss seem more respectable, as UNC dominated (altho UNC also didn't leave any point off the board).

To the thread topic...I'd say it's just a bad bunch of match-ups.

Agree with Longhorn and jmufan999. Thorpe looked impressive to me. If only their dline was averaging like 290 and ours was 220 vs their 340lb Olinemen. We couldn't control the trenches and that showed. Otherwise, we had opportunities to make it look better. The slow start with bad field position sealed the game right there.

Still would give us a passing grade for the game. Definitely didn't seam like a VT pasting of ASU...

[FCS_pwns_FBS]

the SoCon was looking a bit rough to start too.

Very true but the SoCon, as usual, has a much tougher slate of FBS games than the CAA.

[JmuSkinsfan]

JMU getting beat by UNC wasn't that bad ... at least not as bad as the score indicated. As previously stated ... UNC did not leave any points off the board ... and JMU left about 10-21 points off the board ... and with only 1 turnover (deep pass intercepted by JMU), the game was pretty clean. A lot of times you need the FBS teams to make a lot of mistakes to have a chance to win ... last year it was two redzone turnovers by the Chokies that did them in against JMU.

I also think UNC will challenge in the ACC this year. They may not have Butch Davis but they sure as hell have his recruits ... their OL and DL are stacked and huge and that QB of theirs was spot on ... only incompletion was a completion to JMU.

It really is hard to gauge after week 1 though ... WM is going to be good ... UD is going to be good ... I'd argue that JMU will be better than expected based on their showing yesterday (mainly ... Thorpe is going to be a stud) ... UR over Duke is one that gets me ... Duke really is not a BCS quality opponent ... and while a win is a win I have a hard time jumping on UR already ... but I suppose we can add them in as a team to watch rather than one being dismissed in the pre-season ...

Week 1 FCS/FBS match-ups really don't mean jack when it comes down to it ... just ask JMU fans how that has worked the last two years ... when we took Maryland to OT and beat Tech.

[spdram]

Thanks for the credits to my Spiders, but as a former Coach said, it just means we can go 1-10. LOL. Having seen all three Duke games, that was by far the best Duke team yet. They may not win a game this year, but they are better. Stronger, faster and better skill players. BTW their 60 yd FG attempt at the end of the game for the win, almost made it. :-0 I do believe there are some "young" teams in the CAA this year, but once you battle every week you are ready for the playoffs.