The First Weekend with College and Pro Football

In 2010, Old Dominion ran for 229 yards against the Georgia State Panthers.  With the return game at the Georgia Dome in 2011 in early September, we were expecting the Panthers' defense to have improve dramatically - after all, there was an influx of talent while the returning players had a full season under their belts.  Surely, the Monarchs couldn't run for 229 yards again...right?

Old Dominion did not run for 229 yards in the rematch...they ran for 277.  Colby Goodwyn exploded for 190 rushing yards on 26 carries, good enough for him to be named National Running Back of the Week by The College Football Performance Awards.  He was also named the CAA Offensive Player of the Week.  Thomas DeMarco attempted only 21 passes in the win after throwing 38 times at home against Campbell. 

The player of the game for me was Paul Morant, a sophomore out of Hampton, VA.  The safety burst through Georgia State's blockers and got his hands on two punt attempts.  Although he himself didn't score on either play, one block was picked up returned for a touchdown, while the second led to another touchdown before halftime.  Look for more on this game in the FCS Roundtable at SaturdayBlitz.com.

Through two games, Morant (20) has one INT and two blocked punts.  These three  plays resulted in touchdowns for Old Dominion.

Because the game was played in Georgia, it was a road game that I could not attend in person.  Instead I went to see Towson defeat the Villanova Wildcats 31-10.  You can read my analysis of the game and the rest of the CAA in my SaturdayBlitz.com post.  Ed Sheahin posted a phenomenal story on the game at the CAA Zone.  Towson is for real.

Meanwhile in the professional football world, the Buffalo Bills knocked around the Kansas City Chiefs 41-7.  I'm not at all surprised that Buffalo won, but the final score was a shock.  The Chiefs were a flimsy playoff team last season and Ryan Fitzpatrick burst onto the scene the second half of last sesaon.  The Harvard graduate threw four touchdowns yesterday while D-III product Fred Jackson had 112 yards rushing.

Unlike Trent Edwards, Ryan Fitzpatrick is not afraid to throw the ball downfield in Chan Gailey's spread offense.

But one game is not enough to get me excited.  The last playoff game the Bills played was in January 2000.  In Roman numerals that's "MM" compared to the current year, "MMXI."  One quarter of the schedule has Buffalo battling the Patriots and Jets; I'll feel good about our playoff chances if we can split with these two teams.  I wouldn't bet on anything with the Patriots; the Bills haven't beaten Tom Brady since 2003.  Again, that's "MMIII" or "VIII" years ago.

This week I'll be at Foreman Field to see Old Dominion's final non-conference game this season.  The Monarchs defeated this week's opponents, Hampton, by a score of 28-14 last season.  Deron Mayo blocked two punts in the first half to help ODU build a quick lead, and the Pirates weren't able to come back.  It should be a great atmosphere for the local rivals.

College Football - Week Two

As I'm learning all over again right now, the first week of a diet is always the toughest.  If you're good enough to stick to your plan of eating healthy foods, your body has a difficult time adjusting...and lets you know about it.  If you do NOT stick to better eating, you get down on yourself mentally.  It's a lose/lose when you're going through it.  If you stick to the diet, the second week is much less aggravating.

For Old Dominon and Georgia State football, their first and second weeks are the exact opposite of dieting - they played teams with inferior talent (Campbell and Clark Atlanta, respectively) but gear up for a much more menacing opponent Saturday (each other).  Old Dominion will win if it can shut down the running game and force Bo Schlechter into throwing the ball.  Georgia State will win if it reaches 36-plus minutes in time of possession. 

We're going to stick with ODU winning a close contest in a "show me" game - Georgia State's seven program wins are over Shorter, Campbell, Morehead State, Savannah State, North Carolina Central, Lamar and Clark Atlanta.  A win over Old Dominion will be its best win to date.  The Monarchs themselves don't exactly have marquee wins but they have a better, longer track record of success on which they can rely (without losses to sub-FCS programs).  I won't be surprised to see Georgia State wins, but until they beat a quality opponent, I'll believe it when I see it.

I've previewed this game in further detail at the CAA Zone.  I've given a preview of this week's CAA Football matchupes on SaturdayBlitz.com.  It's the end of the week and I'm not going to repeat what I've written elsewhere.  And yes, I'm blaming that on the diet.

The Monarchs/Panthers game is on TV locally but I'm not sure I'll get to watch it.  (Damage from rain must be addressed.)  Regardless I will definitely be at the Villanova/Towson game Saturday evening; you can expect a write-up on that game within a couple days afterwards here and on Saturday Blitz.

Go, Monarchs.

Villanova Football Preview

Any reference to Old Dominion University and Villanova University begins and ends with two words:  PETEY SESSOMS!!!

Kerry Kittles and Villanova lost to Petey Sessoms and Old Dominion University in the 1995 NCAA Tournament.  This was the highlight of the Jeff Capel era, which is sad since it was his first year as head coach.

Football History
Villanova University was founded in 1842 and their football program began in 1892.  A member of D1-AA/FCS football since 1987, the Wildcats have accumulated a record of 573-447-39 during the 120 years-ish of existence.  There was a period of 1981-1984 where the administration cancelled the program, but it was brought back for the 1985 season.  The head coach of that season, Andy Talley, has remained at the helm ever since.

Since joining D1-AA Villanova has had at least a share in five conference championships.  They won the FCS national title in 2009 and made the semifinals last year, losing to eventual champion Eastern Washington.  A full-time member of the Big East, the CAA Football member plays its home games in the aptly-named Villanova Stadium.  There have been nine Wildcats to make the NFL since Villanova was part of the Yankee Conference, including Brian Westbrook and more recently, Ben Ijalana.

2010 Highlights
The Wildcats had a bit of a bumpy 2010 regular season.  They entered the season finale 6-4, needing a win at #1 Delaware to make the FCS playoffs.  With that mission accomplished in OT, their talent was too much for Stephen F. Austin and Appalachian State on the road.  All-Everything RB/WR/QB/Chicago Cub Matt Szczur missed a significant portion of the season with injuries, but kicked it into high gear against SFA and Appy State.  The team's third consecutive road playoff game was too much, and the team fell at Eastern Washington 41-31.

There were three Wildcats on the 2010 All-CAA First Team offensive and two on the defensive team.  Quarterback Chris Whitney was one of three players on the Second Team.  All four regular season losses were by seven points or less, including losses to FBS' Temple and FCS-ranked William & Mary and New Hampshire.  You've got to think that had Matt Szczur played a full season like he had the previous two seasons, the Wildcats wouldn't won more games and may have had at least one home playoff game.

Had Matt Szczur played in more than five regular season games, Villanova may have had an even better record.

History with Old Dominion
The October 22 contest in Philadelphia will be the first football meeting between Villanova and Old Dominion.

2011 Outlook
At this point I have insufficient data to establish expectations on what the Wildcats' 2011 record will be.  They lose a four-year starting QB to graduation; his expected replacement is either a redshirt freshman or one of two true freshmen.  The top four rushing leaders are all lost to graduation.  The offensive line loses NFL prospect Ben Ijalana and two-time All-CAA Brant Clouser.  2011 preseason All-CAA Norman White returns to lead a stable wide receiver corps.

The Wildcats have employed a 3-3-5 defense in the past; whether they continue with that in 2011 is to be determined.  The defensive line should be in good shape behind sophomore Antoine Lewis, but the team must replace all three starting linebackers from 2010's squad.  The defense also returns both starting CB's from last year.

What does it all mean?  We know from the above two paragraphs that the returning team is young at several positions, most notably QB and linebackers.  But we also know that the team has picked up its recruiting in recent years, so although the talent may be inexperienced, it does indeed exist.  There have been open communications between Villanova and the Big East to get the team to join the football conference. 

Recently the overall vote has been delayed, but the interest is there on both sides.  The major hangup seems to be the stadium issue, as Villanova Stadium seats only 12K with minimal expansion options.  The Wildcats will play their final home game at PPL Park, a larger venue that still has not impressed other Big East football members.  This is a topic for full discussion in another post, but the key is that Villanova has probably sold its recruits on eventually playing in a BCS conference before they graduate. 

Villanova loses much on both offense and defense, but the experienced players they do return should be able to guide the younger talent to win its share of games.  I expect a 6-5 overall record.  The 2012 team will be a team that challenges for a national title, but I think there will be too many growing pains in 2011 to get them back to the playoffs.  The team is two years removed from a national title, so winning is part of their pedigree.  It's too soon to determine how many wins that pedigree attains in 2011.

Coach Andy Talley has accomplished much in 26 years as HC at Villanova.

Summary
In Coach Talley's 26 seasons as its head coach, Villanova has had a winning record in 20 of them.  This is not an accident - the man recruits talent and coaches them up to national-title abilities.  But with only nine starters returning in 2011, will this be the 21st winning season?  It's hard to discount that trend of success so they should win at least six games.  It says here that they are going to take a step back this season, followed by three steps forward in 2012.  Will this translate into a team Old Dominion can defeat in 2011?  It's too soon to tell, but the opportunity is there.  And the 1995 Wildcats know what happened when Old Dominion is given an opportunity in to win its share of games.