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CAA Weekend Recap: Upsets Send Shockwaves Through The Colonial

CAA Weekend Recap: Upsets Send Shockwaves Through The Colonial

Shockwaves rumbled throughout the CAA in Week 7, and New England was the epicenter as Rhode Island, Maine and New Hampshire scored big wins.

Oct 16, 2022
CAA Weekend Recap: Upsets Send Shockwaves Through The Colonial

New England isn't known for its earthquakes, but the rumbles from epicenters of Maine and Rhode Island shook throughout the Colonial Athletic Association map in Week 7. 

With Rhode Island's 17-10 defeat of No. 14-ranked Elon and Maine's 38-28 win over Monmouth, the two longest winning streaks in the CAA came to a close. The conference is also left with just one team undefeated in league play — fitting it's another New England-based program in New Hampshire, which scored its own big win out-of-conference on Saturday. 

Beyond further intensifying the CAA championship chase, sending Elon into the logjam of six teams with just one conference close, Rhode Island made its own statement. 

"That's a signature win. End of story," said Rams coach Jim Fleming in his postgame press conference. "A tough-fought battle against a good football team in the CAA. Defensively, played incredible." 

Rhode Island's defense was lights out, flipping the scripts on an Elon side that came in perfect against FCS competition with no touchdowns allowed in second halves. The Rams didn't just keep the Phoenix out of the end zone, though; they shut Elon out on the scoreboard altogether in the final 30 minutes. 

The Rhody front's ability to generate pressure on Matt McKay and limit Jalen Hampton's gains on first downs left Elon with repeated second/third-and-longs throughout the game. 

The Phoenix averaged 4.4 yards on first-down plays in the second half — but without Hampton's 23-yard gain on one first-down snap, that average dips to just 2.3 yards on nine plays. 

And as for Hampton's long run in the fourth quarter, the possession fizzled when Evan Stewart broke up McKay's pass attempt to Bryson Daughtry, one of two huge fourth-down stops for the Rams defense. 

Stewart was also in on the other, teaming with Jarrett Martin to stop Hampton at the line of scrimmage on a fourth-and-1 in the third quarter. As for Martin, that has hardly his biggest contribution on the day. 

Elon's own outstanding defense — and special teams — didn't exactly cave in the second half despite giving up a Kasim Hill touchdown run. That was Rhode Island's sole offensive touchdown of the afternoon, with other scoring opportunities stymied; including a field-goal attempt blocked by Elon's Johncarlos Miller, the freshman tight end's second block in the last three weeks. 

The defensive stalemate broke when Martin returned an interception of McKay 16 yards for the decisive touchdown. 

Fleming said Rhode Island winning with a defensive score wrapped the game "perfectly." 

And as the Rams head into the latter-half of their schedule chasing their first playoff bid since 1985, a Top 15 win is the perfect addition to the resume. Rhode Island finished the 2021 season 7-4, but missed the postseason cut in part due to the lack of signature wins comparable to Saturday's. 

URI gets another couple opportunities to add meaningful wins to its credit, immediately going on the road for matchups with Monmouth and William & Mary the next two weeks. But Fleming knows well those opportunities to build are also potential hazards. 

"We've got to get used to that. This conference is like that, each and every week," Fleming said. "You've got to be ready to be strapped up and ready to win [at] the last second of the game." 

Week 7 helped reinforce Fleming's case. 

Going Camping: University Of Rhode Island

Some 300 miles to the northeast of Meade Stadium, and at the same time Rhode Island declared its place in the CAA hierarchy, Maine put on its own defensive clinic to end Monmouth's four-game winning streak. 

Now, a 38-28 final doesn't scream defensive masterclass to an observer without additional context. But the Black Bears held the Hawks more than 11 points below Monmouth's season average coming into Week 7, held Walter Payton Award candidate Jaden Shirden to 81 yards on 18 carries — a per-carry output 5.1 yards below his average through the first six weeks — and got crucial scores from the Black Hole. 

Joe Fagnano cashed in a short field that Khairi Manns' forced fumble provided — part of Manns' outstanding individual afternoon that included 11 tackles, two for loss and 1.5 sacks — while Buggs Brown delivered a pick-six. 

Fagnano's touchdown pass to Shawn Bowman coming off that fumble set the tone for Maine's offense, which was opportunistic all day. Monmouth outgained the Black Bears, 404-355, but Maine went 7-of-15 on third downs and scored on all four of its red-zone chances. 

Monmouth went 2-of-3 in the red zone and converted on just 3-of-11 third downs. 

The Maine defense also limited Monmouth's time of possession to just 26:50, almost 2:20 less than the Hawks' season average. 

"We were able to make them a little bit more one-dimensional," Black Bears coach Jordan Stevens said in his postgame press conference. The first-year Maine coach noted the team's emphasizing on tackling during the week, including live tackling during Tuesday and Wednesday practices. 

The results are evident not just in Maine's containment of Shirden, but its stifling of the Monmouth run game as a whole. The Hawks totaled just 112 yards on the ground at 3.2 an attempt. 

And now, after an 0-4 start in their first season under the alum Stevens, the Black Bears find themselves amid the CAA's one-loss mass and starting to build momentum. Maine went 5-1 on the back-half of the 2021 season; could it do so again? 

"Nobody flinched, even after we lost those games and had that start," said wide receiver Kobay White, who caught six passes for 115 yards, in the postgame press conference. "It wasn't like our locker room was down. Everyone still believed there were some things we were missing that we just had to change to get where you want to be." 

One of those elements Maine changed: point production. The Black Bears scored just 55 points during their 0-4 start, but have gone for 69 in their two conference wins. 

Another 300 miles to the west of Orono in Hanover, New Hampshire, UNH ended its Saturday alone in first of the CAA and the Granite Bowl Trophy coming back to Durham for the first time since 2014. 

On a Saturday that defense defined, no squad brought it more than New Hampshire. The Wildcats held Dartmouth to 198 yards of offense and just 11 total first downs en route to the series' first shutout since 1969. It was New Hampshire's first blanking of the Big Green period. 

Not a bad way to take the all-time rivalry lead at 20-19-2. 

The Wildcats have also set themselves up nicely to begin a new postseason streak at 5-2 overall. They have work to do, and their final four-game stretch of the regular season is a doozy. 

Next week's matchup with Elon is the first of three straight games for New Hampshire against current Top 25-ranked opponents. The Wildcats also draw Richmond and Rhode Island in that stretch, before closing out with suddenly resurgent Maine in the Battle for the Brice-Cowell Musket. 

Spiders D Front-and-Center 

Among the more significant developments through the CAA season's first half has been the rapid progression of a Richmond defense that faced a bevy of key replacements in the offseason. Most notably, the line lost Kobie Turner, Darius Reynolds and Caleb Brooks from the line to leave a considerable void on the Spiders front. 

But with each outing, Marlem Louis, Ray Eldridge and Jeremiah Grant have been increasingly central contributors to Richmond's success. Week 7 marked a new high point for both the line and the Spiders defense as a whole, holding an explosive Villanova offense that came in averaging 36 points and 451.2 yards per game to 10 points and 275 yards. 

Richmond coach Russ Huesman mentioned the Wildcats' penchant for explosive plays ahead of Saturday's matchup, and it's no coincidence the Spiders' ability to limit those long-yardage snaps keyed the stingy performance — particularly with "a bare minimum" available in the secondary due to injury, as Huesman described it. 

"They took their shots. It's unbelievable how many shots they took down the field," Huesman said following the 20-10 win. "It must have been 8-to-10 shots they chunked it down the field, and we somehow survived it. They're really good at it, the quarterback [Connor Watkins] is really good at it. He's got great arm strength. 

"But I think the one thing is we never really let him out of the pocket clean," he added. "There was always somebody around him. All the scramble throws were really contested, tough throws by him." 

Watkins found himself under consistent duress, coming primarily from the Spiders front. Louis and Eldridge shared a sack, Grant recorded one, and Zander Barnett stepped up for a pair. 

Barnett's career-high day punctuated an effort Louis described as Richmond pinpointing "what [Villanova's] weaknesses are" throughout the week. 

"We're a great team, and we know exactly what we can do," Louis said. "No matter win or loss, we know what we're capable of, it's just a matter of, hey, are we going to play our best today or not? And I think today, we played a hecukva game." 

A Win to Remember 

The first CAA win in Hampton football history will be one for Pirates faithful to remember for decades. 

Twice falling behind by two touchdowns at UAlbany — including on a Reese Poffenbarger Hail Mary connection with Thomas Greaney before halftime — Hampton was just minutes from an 0-3 hole in the conference. 

The Great Danes — also seeking their first CAA win of 2022 — pulled ahead 31-17 in the fourth quarter on a five-yard Todd Sibley touchdown carry. His score was a rare highlight in the ground game on a day that the Pirates defense was excellent against the run, holding UAlbany to a net 90 yards and just 2.8 per carry. That's especially noteworthy for the game's climax in overtime. 

In order to get there, however, Hampton needed to bridge the deficit. Malcolm Mays' week-to-week maturation took its greatest strides over the final 14 minutes of regulation, when he completed seven passes for 116 of his 208 passing yards on the game. 

Mays connected on touchdown throws of 43 yards to Tyler Thompson and five to Kymari Gray, then put a bow on one of the most impressive individual stretches any CAA player has put together this season with a 7-yard strike to Jadakis Bonds in overtime. 

It was Bonds' second touchdown of the evening, giving him eight for the season. That's tied for the second-most in the nation, but Bonds is the only pass-catcher to have played in fewer than seven games to have accrued that many. 

The Hampton wide receiver is putting together a case not just for All-CAA honors, but a potential All-American candidacy. His wasn't the only awards campaign heightened on the night, however: Poffenbarger shined in the loss, remaining interception-free on the season while racking up 337 yards and four touchdowns. 

The Jerry Rice Award front-runner somehow topped his first-half Hail Mary to extend overtime on a fourth-and-goal heave to Quinn Zinobile. 

But the highlight-reel score was overshadowed when the Hampton defense buckled down on UAlbany's ensuing two-point conversion attempt for the win. Sibley went wide on the conversion, setting up a quadruple-bunched formation for a screen pass. 

The Pirates gang-tackling at the goal line held Sibley out by mere inches; all the distance needed to give Hampton a win for the record books.