Today we created our own highlight show from our recordings … which we focused on the debacle for the CAA teams. As you all know, they did not show well.
Of course, you can’t go by the the Delaware-JMU games, since that was basically a conference matchup.
Elon actually defended the Wofford option about as well as anyone has/can. But their offense simply did not show up. While the Terriers are a decent defensive team, it’s had to believe they could hold Elon to just one TD … but they did.
Even more shocking was what Duquesne did to Towson. Granted, the weather was awful … at times, it rained so hard you could hardly see the field. But once Duquesne had things figured out, they rode their stud running back to a decisive win. The CAA supposedly plays “big boy” football and can shut down the run. Nope … in the second half, Duquesne had little trouble opening holes for their backs. (Only the second playoff game won by the NEC, BTW.)
The Stony Brook game at SEMO was, if anything, even stranger. SB moved the ball almost at will in the first half, but SEMO made just enough stops, and Stony made enough mistakes, to keep the score close. SEMO turned it completely around in the second half, fueled by some forced turnovers. Stony then pretty much suffered a total meltdown. Their offense sputtered and the defense seemed like they’d never seen a mobile quarterback before. Honestly, the game was not as close as the final score suggested.
Can’t help thinking the CAA teams had read too many puff pieces about how the conference was “the class” of the FCS. They simply did not play with the focus and intensity of their “lesser” opponents.
