Colonial Athletic Association Picks for Week #5

[SpiderFan5]

Holy Cross @ New Hampshire (Noon)
William & Mary @ Villanova (Noon)
Delaware @ Maine (3:00)
Towson @ Maryland (3:30, ESPN3.com)
Richmond @ James Madison (3:30)
Rhode Island @ Brown (6:00)
UMass @ Old Dominion (6:00)

Bonus pick...

Murray State @ Georgia State (Noon, ESPN3.com)

[easterntennhen]

New hampshire 38 holy cross 14. William&mary 31 villanova 10. Delaware 28 maine 14. Maryland 45 towson 21. Richmond 23 james madison 17. Rhode island 33 brown 21. Massachusetts 30 old dominion 27.

[ODUfanRazor]

Obviously you haven't been paying attention. ODU has played two games against CAA teams, both ranked in the top 10 at the time we played them and lost by a combined 14 points although the final score line doesn't indicate that we were leading both games in the 4th quarter, the W&M very late into the 4th.

The days of overconfident CAA fans predicted ODU getting steamrolled, especially at home, are over.

Certainly, any team which loses to Delaware by only a TD and a FG is a team to be feared and admired. That's why it's such a relief to know that we aren't playing West Chester too.

We will see what your soon to be FBS fans have to say after you get an L hung on you in Norfolk. We played one of the worst games in our history in Delaware and still had a lead in the 4th quarter. Can't wait to serve yet another cocky CAA fanbase a dose of humble pie. Just ask the W&M fans who were expecting to roll us in Norfolk by 30 plus.

[rebla 49er]

Don't be put off by the Wildcats appearance.




Wildcats couldn't catch Monmouth birdies but will score points and win this week.

[GannonFan]

Certainly, any team which loses to Delaware by only a TD and a FG is a team to be feared and admired. That's why it's such a relief to know that we aren't playing West Chester too.

We will see what your soon to be FBS fans have to say after you get an L hung on you in Norfolk. We played one of the worst games in our history in Delaware and still had a lead in the 4th quarter. Can't wait to serve yet another cocky CAA fanbase a dose of humble pie. Just ask the W&M fans who were expecting to roll us in Norfolk by 30 plus.

So what you're saying is that ODU is 0-2 against CAA competition so far? Just checking.

[UD1Hens]

We will see what your soon to be FBS fans have to say after you get an L hung on you in Norfolk. We played one of the worst games in our history in Delaware and still had a lead in the 4th quarter. Can't wait to serve yet another cocky CAA fanbase a dose of humble pie. Just ask the W&M fans who were expecting to roll us in Norfolk by 30 plus.

Pump the brakes razor. I'm pretty sure, err, definitely sure that a majority of UD fans said it would be a tough game, ODU would probably be in the game in the 4th quarter but UD would ultimately win. You are acting like UD played a flawless game and ODU made all of the mistakes. UD gave you 7 points directly from a mistake that ODU didn't create (snapped into the upbacks arm) and missed two FG (one ODU gets credit for due to the block). ODU caused many of the UD mistakes, I'll admit that. You can serve all the humble pie you want, if you are serving up wins to the opponent in the end standings it doesn't matter. ODU has a bright future and will win a bunch of games...maybe even this week. But stop with the cocky fanbase talk...Your team is respected because of the CAA shield on the jersey, so stop with the getting respect card. All your team did was come up to Newark, play a very hard fought CAA type game, and went home with the L.

[JMUpurplehazed]

JMU 28 UR 17...a QB rises from the ashes, a qb that has all 4 yrs to break hand-off records, whoops, I mean passing records.

[LeadBolt]

We will see what your soon to be FBS fans have to say after you get an L hung on you in Norfolk. We played one of the worst games in our history in Delaware and still had a lead in the 4th quarter. Can't wait to serve yet another cocky CAA fanbase a dose of humble pie. Just ask the W&M fans who were expecting to roll us in Norfolk by 30 plus.

Pump the brakes razor. I'm pretty sure, err, definitely sure that a majority of UD fans said it would be a tough game, ODU would probably be in the game in the 4th quarter but UD would ultimately win. You are acting like UD played a flawless game and ODU made all of the mistakes. UD gave you 7 points directly from a mistake that ODU didn't create (snapped into the upbacks arm) and missed two FG (one ODU gets credit for due to the block). ODU caused many of the UD mistakes, I'll admit that. You can serve all the humble pie you want, if you are serving up wins to the opponent in the end standings it doesn't matter. ODU has a bright future and will win a bunch of games...maybe even this week. But stop with the cocky fanbase talk...Your team is respected because of the CAA shield on the jersey, so stop with the getting respect card. All your team did was come up to Newark, play a very hard fought CAA type game, and went home with the L.

Again, don't get ahead of yourself with your ridiculous rhetoric. This W&M fan picked you to win in Norfolk over UMass, but the game appears to basically be a push, with ODU as a slight underdog. I picked you to win because it is at home and you will be pumped and have a good crowd. Hopefully you will get a W instead of staying 0'fer in CAA play.

I don't think any W&M fans were expecting to roll you by 30+,except those confined in Eastern State. We've been around long enough to know better...

[Rob Iola]

... ODU loss to Delaware....

Holy Cross @ New Hampshire (Noon)
William & Mary @ Villanova (Noon)
Delaware @ Maine (3:00)
Towson @ Maryland (3:30, ESPN3.com)
Richmond @ James Madison (3:30)
Rhode Island @ Brown (6:00)
UMass @ Old Dominion (6:00)

Bonus pick...

Murray State @ Georgia State (Noon, ESPN3.com)

Yes, I'm picking all the road teams to win, including Towson over Maryland. It's their version of ASU at Michigan and JMU at Tech - solid underdogs that are playing well enough to steal the win...

[MadMaxMonarch]

HOLY CROSS @ NEW HAMPSHIRE
WILLIAM & MARY @ VILLANOVA
DELAWARE @ MAINE
TOWSON @ MARYLAND
RICHMOND @ JAMES MADISON
RHODE ISLAND @ BROWN
UMASS @ OLD DOMINION

BONUS PICK

MURRAY STATE @ GEORGIA STATE

[BDKJMU]

CAA vs CAA

UR (3-1/0-1) @ JMU 24-20. The Dukes win in part by scoring their 1st non offensive TD of the season.
UR so far:---------------JMU so far:
W @ Duke 23-21--------L @ UNC 42-10
W Wagner 21-6---------W CCSU 14-9
W VMI 34-19-------------W @ Liberty 27-24
L UNH 45-43-------------W @ W&M 20-14
With Thorpe and the game at JMU JMU would have clearly been favored. Without Thorpe & JMU having a rFr QB get his 1st start on 1 week prep UR is clearly favored, so me picking JMU is a little bit of homer pick, as I'm relying on JMU scoring a non offensive TD (and not giving up one).

UD (3-1/1-0) @ Maine (2-1/0-0) by a TD or less. (3:00 PM)
UD so far:----------------------------Maine so far:
L @ Navy 40-17----------------------W Bryant 28-13
W (Div II) West Chester 28-17-----L @ Pitt 35-29
W Del State 45-0--------------------W Albany 31-15
W ODO 27-17
Why I think Maine will pull the upset:
-UD has been playing their #2 QB since Sasek went down in their opener vs Navy.
-Pierce is banged up (questionable for Sat from what I've read).
-Maine is coming off bye week so Cosgrove has had 2 weeks to get them ready.
-Game is @ Maine, New England road game for UD.
-Maine raced out to a 28-0 lead over Bryant and 24-0 leads over Albany so those games weren't as close as they appeared (course neither was Maine's loss @ Pitt as Maine was down 35-15 middle of the 4th before getting 2 late TDs).
-Maine's QB Warren Smith in 3 games has completed 64% of his passes, thrown 5 TDs with 0 INTs and 0 fumbles.
-Maine has only turned the ball over ONE TIME in 3 games and is + 4 in TOs (lost one fumbles, has gotten 5 picks, 0 fumbles)
-Maine has a TB avg almost 100 yds per game, & looks like they have some balance on offense.

Villanova (1-3/0-1) @ W&M (2-2/0-1) by 3-4 TDs (noon, TCN, CSN-NE, COX11)
Villanova so far:--------------W&M so far:
L @ Temple 42-7--------------L @ UVA 40-3
L @ Towson 31-10 -----------W @ VMI 24-17
L Monmouth 20-9------------W New Haven (Div 2) 13-10
W Penn 31-20-----------------L JMU 20-14

UMass (2-1/0-0) @ ODU (3-1/0-1) by a TD or less. (7:00 PM, TCN-MA, Cox11, COXNova) ODU’s 1st CAA home game. The Monarchs should come out sky high and keep it close vs UMass, but UMass bounces back from their whippin suffered @ BC. Hernandez has a big day against a suspect ODU run defense.
UMass so far:-------------- ODU so far:
W Holy Cross 24-16--------W Cambell 41-14
W URI 36-27--------------- W GST 40-17
L @ BC 45-17--------------W Hampton 45-42
-------------------------------L @ UD 27-17

CAA vs I-AA OOC

Holy Cross (2-1) @ UNH (2-1/1-0) by 1-2 TDs (noon). HC is probably the 2nd best team in the Patriot, and their game @ Lehigh 11/5 will probably be for the Patriot AQ. 1st home game for UNH, 1st road game for HC. UNH finally holds a team under 40 points.
UNH so far:-------------------Holy Cross so far:
L @ Toledo 58-22-------------L UMass 24-16
W @ Lehigh 48-41 (OT)-----W Colgate 37-7
W @ UR 45-43----------------W Harvard 30-22

Brown (1-1) @ URI (1-2/0-1) by 2-3 TDs (6:00 PM) in the Rhode Island Div I football county I mean state championship, or whatever the heck they battle for in that county they call a state…
Brown so far----------------------URI so far:
W @ Stony Brook 21-20---------L @ Syracuse 21-14
L Harvard 24-7-------------------L @ UMass 36-27
-------------------------------------W Fordham 21-17

CAA vs BCS
Towson (3-10/1-0) @ Maryland (1-2) by 2-3 TDs (3:30 PM, ESPN3.com, ACC-RSN, CSN-MA). Well, Temple did beat the Twerps worse than they beat Villanova, but the ACC has had 3 blowout wins over the CAA this season with a close loss. I’ll go out on a limb and say Towson in their 1st road game (albeit a very short one) will keep it score wise closer than JMU, W&M, and UMass did vs UNC, UVA, and BC (that would be closer than 28)…
Towson so far:----------------Maryland so far:
W Morgan State 42-3---------W Miami 32-24
W Villanova 31-10------------L @ WVU 37-31
W Colgate ---------------------L @ Temple 38-7

[ODUalum11]

Holy Cross @ New Hampshire
William & Mary @ Villanova (Noon)
Delaware @ Maine (3:00)
Towson @ Maryland (3:30, ESPN3.com)
Richmond @ James Madison (3:30)
Rhode Island @ Brown (6:00)
UMass @ Old Dominion

Georgia State has a bye week this week. Regardless, at least one of their fans think it's easy to build a competitive FCS team, after ODU lost by ten at Delaware.

"It's FCS football, we as a first year team played JSU tough. You're not beating LSU, it's freaking Delaware, becoming good in FCS is not hard to do." - source: http://www.panthertalk.com/forums/showt ... #post54759" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A link to the full thread - http://www.panthertalk.com/forums/showt ... on-preview" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Man, as each week passes and as each loss adds up for Georgia State they just get more ignorant and clueless.

Becoming a good FCS team is not hard to do?! Then explain to me that 1-3 record this season and 7-8 overall as a program. Ask Valpo how they're doing, ask Campbell how they're doing, NC Central, Savannah State and so on.

[green&gold75]

UNH, ODU, and Maine hold serve at home. Maybe they were selling out last week, but I liked ODUs run defense at UD, and think they'll get better QB play this week.
UR, W&M, and RI get road wins. I was impressed with Thorpe last week, thought he managed the JMU offense well.
Towson plays well, but not quite.

[andy7171]

Yes, I'm picking all the road teams to win, including Towson over Maryland. It's their version of ASU at Michigan and JMU at Tech - solid underdogs that are playing well enough to steal the win...

This game is exactly like THE Michigan game.

I feel like all those wahoo starting every post with "I know we're going to lose, but what if..."

[CAA Flagship]

UMass (2-1/0-0) @ ODU (3-1/0-1) by a TD or less. (7:00 PM, TCN-MA, Cox11, COXNova) ODU’s 1st CAA home game. The Monarchs should come out sky high and keep it close vs UMass, but UMass bounces back from their whippin suffered @ BC. Hernandez has a big day against a suspect ODU run defense.
UMass so far:-------------- ODU so far:
W Holy Cross 24-16--------W Cambell 41-14
W URI 36-27--------------- W GST 40-17
L @ BC 45-17--------------W Hampton 45-42
-------------------------------L @ UD 27-17

Suspect run defense?? Damn. What's a team have to do to avoid the "suspect" label?
I'll be the first to admit that what we did at Delaware was do to a focus to stop the run and the fact that we played "better than average along the D-line. But "suspect" is in appropriate.

[urmite]

BDKJMU,

I always like your detailed analysis, even if I don't always agree with the conclusion. However...
since I have seen it a few times now, you may want to check the UR-Duke score, it was 23-21(we missed an XP, they missed 2 FGs).

http://web1.ncaa.org/football/exec/rank ... 11&org=575" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Not that I think it will change anything in your predictions.

Personally I'm hoping to see a little deja vu UR 23 Duke 21 Saturday UR 23 Dukes 21

[93henfan]

Yeah, the ODU run D was pretty sharp. On the other hand, that QB with the little baby hands...

[CAA Flagship]

Yeah, the ODU run D was pretty sharp. On the other hand, that QB with the little baby hands...

[93henfan]

Yeah, the ODU run D was pretty sharp. On the other hand, that QB with the little baby hands...

[BDKJMU]

BDKJMU,

I always like your detailed analysis, even if I don't always agree with the conclusion. However...
since I have seen it a few times now, you may want to check the UR-Duke score, it was 23-21(we missed an XP, they missed 2 FGs).

http://web1.ncaa.org/football/exec/rank ... 11&org=575" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Not that I think it will change anything in your predictions.

Personally I'm hoping to see a little deja vu UR 23 Duke 21 Saturday UR 23 Dukes 21

Thanks & noted. Had 24-23 stuck in my head instead of 23-21.

[bluehenbillk]

UNH 42 HC 28 - Crusaders will push UNH but don't have the firepower to overtake the Wildcats over 60 minutes
Maine 24 UD 20 - Maine is a veteran team that may establish both run & pass on UD - Orono not a fun place to goto
Maryland 41 Towson 10 - This was setup to be a half-decent game, until Temple embarassed the Terps
UMass 27 ODU 20 - Not sold on ODU's offense at all & UMass has firepower to put up some points
W&M 10 'Nova 7 - Score reversal of '09 semi that will be equally as quiet - good thing its a noon start zzzzz
URI 31 Brown 17 - Rams show some life versus the Ivies - which have been unimpressive so far
UR 20 JMU 16 - Hard to pick with JMU QB issue, but Ticks need this bad for playoff purposes

[BDKJMU]

UMass (2-1/0-0) @ ODU (3-1/0-1) by a TD or less. (7:00 PM, TCN-MA, Cox11, COXNova) ODU’s 1st CAA home game. The Monarchs should come out sky high and keep it close vs UMass, but UMass bounces back from their whippin suffered @ BC. Hernandez has a big day against a suspect ODU run defense.
UMass so far:-------------- ODU so far:
W Holy Cross 24-16--------W Cambell 41-14
W URI 36-27--------------- W GST 40-17
L @ BC 45-17--------------W Hampton 45-42
-------------------------------L @ UD 27-17

Suspect run defense?? Damn. What's a team have to do to avoid the "suspect" label?
I'll be the first to admit that what we did at Delaware was do to a focus to stop the run and the fact that we played "better than average along the D-line. But "suspect" is in appropriate.

-Because ODU I think is suspect on run defense they totally oversold stopping it vs UD. I watched the game and saw a lot of 8 man in the box, even 9 sometimes.
-Plus Pierce went down early 3rd qtr. I know he only had something like a doz carries for 20 some yards in the 1st half, but Pierce would have had the opportunity to get big chunks late 3rd-4th quarter against a ODU DL that looks good but not deep and likely would have tired. But Hayes isn't the inside runner that Pierce is, and UD never go the chance to really wear down that ODU defense.

Result? Held UD to 80 yards rushing, but gave up over 300 through the air to UD's #2 QB. ODU could slow down Hernandez (hold him well under 100) if they really oversell defending the run like they did against UD, but then then that will leave them vulnerable through the air (UMass starting QB looked much improved passing vs URI as he did while rotating vs Holy Cross). If ODU doesn't oversell stopping the run the run, Hernandez has a big day, especially late in the game150+.

[GannonFan]

Suspect run defense?? Damn. What's a team have to do to avoid the "suspect" label?
I'll be the first to admit that what we did at Delaware was do to a focus to stop the run and the fact that we played "better than average along the D-line. But "suspect" is in appropriate.

-Because ODU I think is suspect on run defense they totally oversold stopping it vs UD. I watched the game and saw a lot of 8 man in the box, even 9 sometimes.
-Plus Pierce went down early 3rd qtr. I know he only had something like a doz carries for 20 some yards in the 1st half, but Pierce would have had the opportunity to get big chunks late 3rd-4th quarter against a ODU DL that looks good but not deep and likely would have tired. But Hayes isn't the inside runner that Pierce is, and UD never go the chance to really wear down that ODU defense.

Result? Held UD to 80 yards rushing, but gave up over 300 through the air to UD's #2 QB. ODU could slow down Hernandez (hold him well under 100) if they really oversell defending the run like they did against UD, but then then that will leave them vulnerable through the air (UMass starting QB looked much improved passing vs URI as he did while rotating vs Holy Cross). If ODU doesn't oversell stopping the run the run, Hernandez has a big day, especially late in the game150+.

Keep in mind too - West Chester was able to stop UD from rushing the ball. Something's not gelling right on offense for the Hens right now. Heck, I don't think West Chester sold out as much on the run as ODU did and they were still able to stop the run. But as Donnelly keeps moving the offense through the air, things should open up. And while UD couldn't run, they could pass block very well - ODU didn't generate any pressure in the pocket, hence the QB's ability to just sit back there and fire away.

[ODUfanRazor]

I can't wait to see the backtracking in this thread after ODU pulls off the victory over UMass at home. Should be good for some laughs.

Someone actually said "I'm not sold on ODU's ability to stop the run" after we completely shut down the supposed best runner in FCS on the road last week.

Go figure. We also don't need to sell out against the run, our front 4 is more than capable of filling gaps by themselves.

Can't wait to here some of the explanations though for how we stopped two of the best runners in the country 2 weeks in a row. Should be good.

[UD1Hens]

I can't wait to see the backtracking in this thread after ODU pulls off the victory over UMass at home. Should be good for some laughs.
Can't wait to here some of the explanations though for how we stopped two of the best runners in the country 2 weeks in a row. Should be good.

And the rest of us cannot wait to read how you are in your third year of football, how not impressed you were with UMass and their RBs, how if they were a good team you wouldn't have played a close game, and how much you'll own the CAA in no time. Congrats you stopped Andrew Pierce, and our QB carved up that same defense for 300+ yards. I actually like ODU's chances today, but I like the chances of your tired act returning on a daily basis even better.

Why can't you just talk football? Just because people question ODU doesn't mean it's a personal attack. And if ODU gets beat you'll find a play or two that 'costs' ODU the game, rather than the other sequence of events that also happened that led to the loss. People are picking Maine to beat Delaware today, it's their opinion, people talk football and don't take things personal when their team is picked against. Try and enjoy the game today vs UMass, you have a real solid shot at winning at home.