William & Mary, ranked No. 16, performs Delaware, No. 6, on W&M’s 93rd homecoming Saturday. This should rank because the Tribe’s largest recreation since … when these groups acquired collectively 11 months in the past in Newark, Del.
W&M headed into that date with a 6-2 document (4-1 CAA), and coming off a 31-18 win at No. 4 Villanova. The Tribe climbed into the FCS ballot for the primary time since 2016. At that stage of the season, William & Mary’s first FCS playoff look since 2015 appeared very a lot inside attain, and a CAA championship additionally appeared attainable.
Delaware, which was 4-4 and 2-3 within the CAA, tamed the visiting Tribe 24-3. That kicked off a W&M slide. The Tribe subsequently dropped its remaining two regular-season video games (James Madison, Richmond) to shut with a three-game shedding streak and weren’t included within the FCS playoffs.
Previous to final November’s journey to Delaware, W&M led CAA Soccer and ranked thirteenth nationally with 216.9 dashing yards per recreation. The Blue Hens restricted the Tribe to 105 dashing yards (41 carries, 2.6 ypc).
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“They out-executed us,” stated W&M coach Mike London.
This season, W&M (4-1, 1-1 CAA) leads CAA Soccer and ranks sixth nationally with a mean of 241 dashing yards. Delaware (5-0, 3-0 CAA) permits 124 dashing yards per recreation.
“The objective is to do what we do, and do it effectively,” London stated. “It’s going to be a battle of the wills as a result of we’ve some issues we consider in that we’re going to attempt to do, and clearly they do as effectively.
“We’ll see what occurs, however the problem is offered and that is what good CAA soccer groups do, they play in opposition to one another, deliver your strengths, right here we go.”
Delaware’s go to is a chance for W&M to get again on monitor at residence. The Tribe are 3-0 on the street, however dropped their final recreation at Zable Stadium 35-31 to Elon, which trailed 28-10 at halftime.
The event of W&M sophomore quarterback Darius Wilson might be examined by Delaware’s run protection. When the Tribe handed in opposition to the Blue Hens final season, Wilson accomplished 12 of 24 for 123 yards and an interception. He was sacked thrice.
“His soccer acumen and IQ (have) grown over the course of the video games that we’ve performed,” London stated. “He can do it along with his arm or his legs.”
CAA Soccer has two groups that upended FBS competitors this season: William & Mary (41-24 at Charlotte) and Delaware (14-7 at Navy). London acknowledges the Blue Hens as “a kind of powerful, aggressive, energy groups,” and steered the Tribe’s capability to match that can decide this CAA showdown’s final result.
Ryan Carty, Delaware’s first-year coach and a former Blue Hens participant, projected the identical theme, anchored by Delaware’s id: his workforce has restricted 4 of 5 opponents to 10 or fewer factors.
“It’s going to be an incredible gauge of who we’re as a workforce,” stated Carty. “We’re going to go in opposition to a very good workforce at residence on homecoming and we’re going to see what the CAA is all about right here, as a result of that is two of the higher groups in it.”
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