How many CAA teams will survive next week?

[Pwns]

UNH @ Montana State
ODU @ Georgia Southern
Maine @ App. State
JMU @ NDSU

Towson hosts Lehigh.

How many of them will win? I say Towson barely beats Lehigh and one of the other teams manages a win on the road, but I won't be all that surprised if the CAA is eliminated entirely.

[BlueHen86]

I went with 1. I think they all will lose, but I won't be 5 for 5. One of them will win, but I'm not sure which one.

[clenz]

Realistically I see 1 surviving....Towson


I could see 2...maybe 3....winning.

[youngterrier]

I said 3, could be less though. I'd say more than 1

[Griz Fan]

UNH 10 Montana State 34
ODU 24 Georgia Southern 28
Maine 14 App. State 24
JMU 13 NDSU 31
Towson 21 Lehigh 24

[wmtribe90]

I went with two, though anything from 0 to 3 is realistic. I think Towson wins at home and one of the road teams pulls an upset.

[Bronco]

One...UNH

UNH will start out confused hearing anti Griz cheers coming from the small turnout of fans
Not knowing that they do that cheer no matter who they play...they will fall behind in the 1st half.

The Griz hangover will kick in the 3rd quarter and and UNH will go on to win

[JohnStOnge]

I'd say one of the 5 is favored. We'll see though.

[LastMinuteman]

I voted 2, but I have no idea which 2. Four long-distance road games against five teams ranked #2 to #8 is a tough draw to overcome, especially with all 5 opponents coming off playoff experience last year while only 1 of the 5 CAA teams has been in the playoffs since 2008. I'd consider it an impressive display if 3 or more CAA teams advance. Getting swept out of the playoffs would be a poor showing but wouldn't shock me.

[State Line Liquors]

Zero. They're all gutless programs.

[BDKJMU]

I went with 3.

Towson, UNH and I think one of the other 3 pulls the big upset (although 8-3 Maine @ 8-3 ASU would be more of a mild upset).

UNH almost always wins a round of 16 game on road, loses quarterfinals. They've been in the playoffs last 7 years.
Record on the road round of 16: 6-1
Record on the road in the quarterfinals: 0-6

[tstidm1]

I say three out of the five win, but it could be as low as one (Towson, yes this is bias showing). I think Towson's Defense takes advantage of turnovers to beat Lehigh, ODU and JMU pulls upsets to make it three. With only one team at home, there is no way five of them make it to the round of eight.

[93henfan]

Two: Maine and Towson

And a half: UNH might pull the upset over MSU as well, but not 100% confident.

The Virginia slop is going down.

[Lehigh1985]

Hmmm... Doesn't look like anyone's giving Lehigh a chance. Has anyone watched them this year? I think a lot of people have them underrated. Outright scary offense, albeit primarily pass, and decent defense (90 yards/gm against the run) I have a hard time, even with Lehigh on the road (where they are undefeated BTW), seeing Towson being such a sure bet to win. Patriot league may be seen as weak, but 10-1 in the FCS with only an OT loss to a top ten team and the 18th toughest schedule according to the stats? Only New Hampshire, Maine, Wofford and UNI, in that order, have tougher schedules than Lehigh. I tell you, we don't get no respect...

Sidenote: SHSU has just about the easiest schedule in all of 1-AA football (116 out of 118). To have them number one is a shocking to me.

Back to the game... I'm of course biased but has anyone taken a look at the actual matchup? Although a darn good team, it doesn't look to me like Towson matches up well in this particular game. I would think Lehigh is not the team the Towson coaches wanted to play and may have difficulty coming up with a game plan given the details of the matchup. Lehigh has one of the stingiest run defenses and Towson is all run, little pass. Towson's pass defense is nothing to write home about and they're going to be looking right down the barrel of one of the most explosive pass offenses in the FCS. It looks to me like Towson will be playing right into Lehigh's strengths and may not have enough weapons to exploit weaknesses like Lehigh's somewhat generous, although improved, secondary. And I'm not sure how the Towson pass defense will stand up to 60 minutes of a pretty potent quick strike air game and with their top running back down for the rest of the season look for Chris Lum (almost 3700 yds, 31 TDs, 6 INTs ) to go vertical from the getgo. If the Lehigh run defense backs up it's current 90 yards a game stat and If Lum doesn't turn it over through the air this one could get ugly early and often. End of the day, my guess is that this game will be all about the Towson pass defense, the Lehigh run defense and most importantly... turnovers.

[kalm]

Hmmm... Doesn't look like anyone's giving Lehigh a chance. Has anyone watched them this year? I think a lot of people have them underrated. Outright scary offense, albeit primarily pass, and decent defense (90 yards/gm against the run) I have a hard time, even with Lehigh on the road (where they are undefeated BTW), seeing Towson being such a sure bet to win. Patriot league may be seen as weak, but 10-1 in the FCS with only an OT loss to a top ten team and the 18th toughest schedule according to the stats? Only New Hampshire, Maine, Wofford and UNI, in that order, have tougher schedules than Lehigh. I tell you, we don't get no respect...

Sidenote: SHSU has just about the easiest schedule in all of 1-AA football (116 out of 118). To have them number one is a shocking to me.

Back to the game... I'm of course biased but has anyone taken a look at the actual matchup? Although a darn good team, it doesn't look to me like Towson matches up well in this particular game. I would think Lehigh is not the team the Towson coaches wanted to play and may have difficulty coming up with a game plan given the details of the matchup. Lehigh has one of the stingiest run defenses and Towson is all run, little pass. Towson's pass defense is nothing to write home about and they're going to be looking right down the barrel of one of the most explosive pass offenses in the FCS.It looks to me like Towson will be playing right into Lehigh's strengths and may not have enough weapons to exploit weaknesses like Lehigh's somewhat generous, although improved, secondary. And I'm not sure how the Towson pass defense will stand up to 60 minutes of a pretty potent quick strike air game and with their top running back down for the rest of the season look for Chris Lum (almost 3700 yds, 31 TDs, 6 INTs ) to go vertical from the getgo. If the Lehigh run defense backs up it's current 90 yards a game stat and If Lum doesn't turn it over through the air this one could get ugly early and often. End of the day, my guess is that this game will be all about the Towson pass defense, the Lehigh run defense and most importantly... turnovers.

I think people have you rated correctly. Your OOC was Monmouth, Princeton, and UNH and the rest of your gaudy numbers and success were against a weak conference. Not saying you can't win but the odds are that Towson is a little bit faster and a little bit bigger at most positions and there athleticism will eventually wear you down.

[Grizalltheway]

Hmmm... Doesn't look like anyone's giving Lehigh a chance. Has anyone watched them this year? I think a lot of people have them underrated. Outright scary offense, albeit primarily pass, and decent defense (90 yards/gm against the run) I have a hard time, even with Lehigh on the road (where they are undefeated BTW), seeing Towson being such a sure bet to win. Patriot league may be seen as weak, but 10-1 in the FCS with only an OT loss to a top ten team and the 18th toughest schedule according to the stats? Only New Hampshire, Maine, Wofford and UNI, in that order, have tougher schedules than Lehigh. I tell you, we don't get no respect...

Sidenote: SHSU has just about the easiest schedule in all of 1-AA football (116 out of 118). To have them number one is a shocking to me.

Back to the game... I'm of course biased but has anyone taken a look at the actual matchup? Although a darn good team, it doesn't look to me like Towson matches up well in this particular game. I would think Lehigh is not the team the Towson coaches wanted to play and may have difficulty coming up with a game plan given the details of the matchup. Lehigh has one of the stingiest run defenses and Towson is all run, little pass. Towson's pass defense is nothing to write home about and they're going to be looking right down the barrel of one of the most explosive pass offenses in the FCS.It looks to me like Towson will be playing right into Lehigh's strengths and may not have enough weapons to exploit weaknesses like Lehigh's somewhat generous, although improved, secondary. And I'm not sure how the Towson pass defense will stand up to 60 minutes of a pretty potent quick strike air game and with their top running back down for the rest of the season look for Chris Lum (almost 3700 yds, 31 TDs, 6 INTs ) to go vertical from the getgo. If the Lehigh run defense backs up it's current 90 yards a game stat and If Lum doesn't turn it over through the air this one could get ugly early and often. End of the day, my guess is that this game will be all about the Towson pass defense, the Lehigh run defense and most importantly... turnovers.

I think people have you rated correctly. Your OOC was Monmouth, Princeton, and UNH and the rest of your gaudy numbers and success were against a weak conference. Not saying you can't win but the odds are that Towson is a little bit faster and a little bit bigger at most positions and there athleticism will eventually wear you down.

Exactly. I give Lehigh a lot of credit for putting together such a talented team without the benefit of athletic scholarships, but in the end, it's going to be pretty tough to overcome that disadvantage and make a deep run in the playoffs. There's a reason very few PL teams have been able to do it.

[Lehigh1985]

I won't disagree with any of that. No scholarships makes it tough not to mention the burden of academic standards on its atheletes. I went through it and it's demanding. I really do wish they'd up the ante on the OOC scheduling. Why not throw in a Rutgers or Pitt? If EKU gets such significant credit for losing to K-State despite 6 TOs, I'll take that loss to a BCS team if it means so much.

But, that said, I think (maybe hope) that this is one of those special teams that only comes around once in a while. The only reason I say that is that it seems to me every year the Patriot League doesn't seem to have a runaway, dominant and clear cut leader. There's so much parity regardless of the strength of the conference and every game is tough. They basically beat the heck out of each other with talent drawn from a somewhat common local pool and level. Very much unlike a SHSU who sports something like 15 BCS school transfers and JUCO players, a boatload of redshits and a patsy schedule filled with teams that I'd be willing to bet most of the Patriot League teams could give a run. BTW, my bet is SHSU makes an early exit with a bunch of guys who have no heart, couldn't cut it at BCS schools, quit and went looking for easy pickins' against sub-par talent.

I digress... Anyway, I think you have to go back to Colgate in 2003 before you find a single team that really stands out that way. Perhaps it's wishful thinking but I think Lehigh might be of that caliber this year. New Hampshire was unfortunate but I think the have really firmed up that defense and not from weak competition, just smarter play, better game planning and execution from an initially inexperienced secondary. Excuses aside, we lost and it wasn't on a bad call. Just didn't get the job done...at home. We paid for it in the rankings but I think this team is a lot better than the team that New Hampshire played in the second game of the season and a lot tougher than people think.

And again, I'll just cite the matchup. It's potentially a very bad matchup, at least on paper, for Towson. I think the Towson defensive coordinator is going to have a long week this week and a tough job on Saturday figuring this one out, and if the Towson running game gets stuffed in any way whatsoever it could be a very long day for the Tigers.... I HOPE! Good luck to both teams and I look forward to a great game!

[tstidm1]

And again, I'll just cite the matchup. It's potentially a very bad matchup, at least on paper, for Towson. I think the Towson defensive coordinator is going to have a long week this week and a tough job on Saturday figuring this one out, and if the Towson running game gets stuffed in any way whatsoever it could be a very long day for the Tigers.... I HOPE! Good luck to both teams and I look forward to a great game!

There are two things you forget about Towson as a team. The Defense isn't the best in the country (I would say that it is a co-weakness with Kickoff returns), but they are opportunistic as a defense. They can create turnovers much better than alot of them. Lehigh's Defense hasn't seen as balanced of an offense as Towson or as good of a rusher as Terrance West. They only have a slight edge in rushing (about 40 more yards a game). That is why people are leaning towards Towson against Lehigh.

[MrTitleist]

I hope the Bozeman State student section busts out some FTC chants this weekend.

[BDKJMU]

If Lehigh had played a I-A they would be 9-2 like Towson.

One common opponent, UNH. Lehigh lost at home in OT. Towson won at home by 2 TDs. Game is at Towson. I predict Towson by 1-2 TDs...

[ODUfanRazor]

Is Delaware playing this week? What time is there game? They've got to be the favorites in their game right? I mean, why else would all their "fans" be talking smack if they weren't the favorites in their game this week?

[93henfan]

Is Delaware playing this week? What time is there game? They've got to be the favorites in their game right? I mean, why else would all their "fans" be talking smack if they weren't the favorites in their game this week?

Somehow, the committee saw fit to have OVC juggernaut EKU make the tournament over us and host, because of their huge attendance and ability to beat CAA opponents in the opening round.

Also, 27-17 on 9/24/11

[Dukie95]

It's going to be really tough. 4 out of 5 will be road dogs...but with a ****-load of travel for everyone. ODU has the shortest trip at 500 miles.

I went with 2. Towson, plus law of averages says one of the other teams makes it, but I have no idea who that might be...probably UNH.

I still contend that the CAA is having a down year, and this is the weekend everyone becomes a believer.

[93henfan]

I still contend that the CAA is having a down year, and this is the weekend everyone becomes a believer.

This.

I've been singing that song for over two months now.

When Delaware, Nova, Richmond, William and Mary, and to an extent JMU, are all down, it's not a normal year in the CAA.

[Gil Dobie]

I still contend that the CAA is having a down year, and this is the weekend everyone becomes a believer.

Remember this when one of them wins the title.