CAA FOOTBALL RECAP - AUG. 30
No. 4 Richmond 28, No. 15 Elon 10
Boxscore
ELON, N.C. (AP) -- Josh Vaughan rushed for 119 yards and two touchdowns to lead Richmond to a 28-10 victory over Elon on Saturday.
Vaughan’s 72-yard touchdown run with 12:35 remaining in the game capped the victory for the Spiders (1-0), who held the Phoenix scoreless in the second half. He also scored on a 2-yard run in the second quarter.
Richmond quarterback Eric Ward was 17-for-22 for 236 yards and two touchdowns. He hit Kevin Grayson on an 80-yard scoring pass to open the scoring with 6:15 left in the first quarter and found Joe Stewart on a 12-yard touchdown pass with 25 seconds left in the third.
Grayson finished with seven catches for 121 yards.
Richmond had 452 yards of total offense and held Elon (0-1) to 22 yards rushing.
Elon quarterback Scott Riddle threw for 243 yards. Terrell Hudgins had 10 catches for 78 yards and Bo Williamson added five catches for 92 yards, including a 31-yard touchdown reception.
Rhode Island 27, Monmouth 24
Boxscore
KINGSTON, R.I. (AP) -- Derek Cassidy threw for a pair of touchdowns and ran for another, leading Rhode Island to a 27-24 win over Monmouth University in the season opener for both clubs on Saturday.
Cassidy began the scoring for the Rams with 10:20 left in the first quarter when he found Tolbert Evans in the corner of the end zone for a 26 yard scoring toss. Rhode Island, who held the Hawks to a lone field goal in the opening half, took a 17-3 lead into the halftime break.
Cassidy completed 18 of 31 passess for 257 yards.
Cassidy upped the Rams’ advantage to 14-3, capping a 10-play, 55 yard drive by Rhode Island (1-0) with a 3-yard scamper off left tackle.
Monmouth (0-1) answered Louis Feinstein’s second-quarter, 47-yard field goal that gave the home team a 14-point edge with a 11-yard burst by running back David Sinisi in the opening moments of the third quarter, narrowing the gap to 17-10. Sinisi finished with 138 yards on 21 carries to pace all rushers.
Feinstein kicked his second field goal of the game from 27 yards with 4:49 left in the third, bolstering Rhode Island’s lead to 20-10.
Monmouth quarterback Brett Burke connected with Nick Romeo on a 13-yard strike in third, narrowing the score to 20-17, but Rhode Island responded late in the final quarter, driving 72 yards in six downs and culminating with Cassidy’s second scoring toss of the day -- a 22 yard pass to Shawn Leonard with 4:31 remaining in regulation.
Burke closed out the scoring with less than 2 minutes left in regulation when he threw a 14-yard TD pass to Troy Yudin.
No. 5 Massachusetts 28, Albany 16
Boxscore
AMHERST, Mass. - Before 15,112 screaming UMass, fans the No. 5 Minutemen downed Albany 28-16 at McGuirk Stadium. The game was the fifth night contest played at the stadium, but the first under the new permanent lights. Junior tailback Tony Nelson gained a career-best 172 yards on the ground along with two touchdowns as the Minutemen fought off a pesky Great Dane squad.
UMass scored 28 of the game’s final 35 points after Albany had built a 9-0 lead after the first quarter.
Jeremy Horne put the icing on the win with a 17-yard touchdown reception from Coen with 11:12 left in the fourth quarter. It was his fourth catch of the game also a career-high.
The Minutemen rolled off 21 points in a row between the second and third quarters. Nelson scored twice, once on a reception for two yards from senior quarterback Liam Coen and another on a 64-yard rush just 59 seconds into the second half.
Coen hit Nelson on a short pass to give UMass its first lead of the game, 14-9, with 6:38 left in the first half. Coen got UMass on the board early in the second quarter as he hit tight end Ian Jorgensen on a 2-yard pass with 11:39 left in the first half. That cut the Albany lead to 9-7.
Albany jumped out early on a bevy of screen passes against UMass’ vaunted defense. The Great Danes, who were blanked 40-0 in the teams’ first meeting in 2005, got on the board for the first time on their first series of the game. Quarterback Vinny Esposito threw a short pass to back David McCarty, who outran Minuteman defenders for a 52-yard touchdown, 2:53 into the game.
The Great Danes expanded to a 9-0 on a safety - the fourth in the two games between the teams - as UMass linebacker Anthony Rouzier was penalized for kicking a loose fumble on a punt out the end zone.
The Minuteman defense was solid much of the game as Jeromy Miles and Josh Jennings had interceptions. Jennings led the charge with 13 tackles, a career-high. Miles also racked up 10 tackles, his second-career 10-tackle game and Brian Ellis had a career-high 10 stops as well.
The defense showed its mettle late in the first half as they stopped Albany on a first-and-goal at the 1-yard line - without a score. The defense stopped McCarty on a pair of rushes and held Esposito down on a rush and an incomplete pass.
Iowa 46, Maine 3
Boxscore
IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Shonn Greene ran for 109 yards and a touchdown and freshman Jewel Hampton added two late TDs as Iowa defeated Maine 46-3 on Saturday.
Greene scored on a 1-yard plunge on the Hawkeyes’ first possession, capping a 69-yard drive, and Iowa was on its way to an easy win.
Freshman Trent Mossbrucker kicked two field goals. Iowa (1-0) rotated Jake Christensen and Ricky Stanzi at quarterback.
Iowa led 22-3 at halftime and turned the game into a blowout in a 15-second stretch early in the fourth quarter. Paki O’Meara capped a 10-play-drive with a 1-yard run to make it 32-3, and after an interception by a Pat Angerer, Hampton scored to make it 39-3 with 14:43 left.
Hampton added a 22-yard TD run with 3:29 left, and finished with 68 yards on nine carries.
Jhamal Fluellen ran for 104 yards to lead Maine, which lost its fourth straight to a Football Bowl Subdivision team after winning at Mississippi State 9-7 in 2004. The 43-point loss was Maine’s worst in seven meetings against FBS opponents.
Iowa’s Bradley Fletcher came down with the interception off a tipped ball the first time Maine got the ball, and Christensen found Brandon Myers for a 4-yard touchdown pass to make it 14-0 with 3:37 to go the first quarter.
Christensen was 5-of-9 for 60 yards in the first half. But when he missed, he missed badly -- including an underthrow to Paul Chaney Jr. that Maine picked off at its own 3.
A.J. Edds bailed out Christensen with a safety that made it 16-0 with 12:31 to go in the second quarter, but Stanzi got the call for the rest of the half. He led the Hawkeyes to a pair of field goals to push Iowa’s lead to 22-0.
Maine’s Bryan Harvey hit a 40-yard field goal as half ended for the Black Bears’ only points.
Adam Farkes was 9-of-22 for 83 yards and two interceptions for Maine.
Navy 41, Towson 13
Boxscore
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) -- Shun White rushed for a school-record 348 yards Saturday as Navy ran past Towson 41-13 to give coach Ken Niumatalolo a win in his debut.
White scored on runs of 33, 87 and 73 yards to break Eddie Meyers’ record of 298 set in 1981 against Syracuse.
Navy, the top rushing team in the nation the last three seasons, totaled 558 yards against the Tigers, the third-best team total in school history.
Quarterback Jarod Bryant rushed for 75 yards, scored on a 20-yard run, and completed a 38-yard scoring pass to Bobby Doyle. Bryant started in place of Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada, who had an injured left hamstring.
Navy’s Matt Harmon also set a school record with his 52nd consecutive extra point.
Towson’s Sean Schaefer passed for 330 yards, completing 29 of 47 passes. In the first half, he completed 20 of 31 passes for 225 yards and threw touchdown passes to Casey Cagles for 22 yards and Marcus Lee for 4 yards.
Rashawn King’s interception stopped Towson’s opening drive at the Navy 23 and the Mids turned around and drove 77 yards, capped by Bryant scoring from the 20 with 6:10 left in the first quarter.
After a 21-yard punt by Towson’s Bill Shears gave the ball to Navy in Tigers’ territory, White capped a 43-yard drive with his 33-yard run.
Towson scored on a 22-yard pass from Schaefer to Cagles, and missed the extra point. On the first Navy play following the score, White took a pitch from Bryant and raced 87 yards to put the Mids up 21-6.
Schaefer’s 4-yard pass to Marcus Lee closed it to 21-13, but Harmon’s 31-yard field goal as the half ended made the score 24-13.
Bryant’s pass to Doyle early in the third quarter put Navy up 31-13 and White’s 73-yard run with 8:40 to play made it 38-13. Harmon added a 20-yard field goal to close the scoring.
West Virginia 38, No. 21 Villanova 21
Boxscore
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) -- Pat White has spent three seasons driving defenses crazy with his fleet feet. Now, it looks as if they’ll need to be more aware of what he can do with his arm.
White threw a career-high five touchdown passes and No. 8 West Virginia beat Villanova 48-21 Saturday, giving Rich Rodriguez’s replacement, Bill Stewart, a successful regular-season debut.
The Mountaineers didn’t need a big day from their vaunted rushing attack, which averaged 297 yards per game a year ago. White set career highs by going 25-of-33, finished with 208 passing yards and broke Marc Bulger’s school career record for total offense.
Maryland 14, No. 9 Delaware 7
Boxscore
COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) -- Da’Rel Scott ran for 197 yards in his first college start, and Maryland used three quarterbacks in an attempt to generate some offense in a lackluster 14-7 win over Delaware on Saturday.
Scott carried 26 times and had runs of 40, 37 and 26 yards. The 5-foot-11, 192-pound sophomore totaled 137 yards rushing last season in nine games as a backup.
But the Terrapins missed three field goals and had trouble pulling away from Delaware, which has 14 starters back from the team that last year advanced to the Football Championship Subdivision title game.
Jordan Steffy started at quarterback for the Terrapins, but after going 10-for-18 with two interceptions, the fifth-year senior was replaced in the fourth quarter by Chris Turner (1-for-3, 11 yards). Josh Portis also played the position, running four times for 10 yards.
The Maryland touchdowns came on a 12-yard reverse by wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey in the second quarter and on a 14-yard run by Davin Meggett in the third quarter.
Delaware closed to 14-7 on a 1-yard run by Johnathon Smith with 5:20 left. The Blue Hens got the ball back with 3:32 left, but after Robby Schoenhoft was intercepted by Terrell Skinner, Maryland ran out the clock.
Schoenhoft, a transfer from Ohio State, went 14-for-22 for 128 yards and an interception. Delaware’s Aaron Love had four catches for 49 yards, becoming the fifth player in school history to top 2,000 yards receiving.
Maryland limited the Blue Hens to 108 yards in the first half but led by only 7-0 at halftime.
Steffy’s first two passes of the season were both completed for a total of 32 yards, but Maryland’s initial drive ended when a 48-yard field goal try by Obi Egekeze hit the crossbar.
The Terrapins forced a punt and got a 40-yard run from Scott before Egekeze missed a 44-yard field goal attempt.
Maryland finally broke through with a two-play drive in the second quarter. Heyward-Bey made a leaping catch for a 36-yard gain, then ran around right end for a touchdown.
After Delaware missed a field goal try, Egekeze was wide right from 41 yards as the first half ended.
Duke 31, No. 6 James Madison 7
Boxscore
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) -- Thaddeus Lewis threw two touchdown passes to Eron Riley, and Duke beat James Madison 31-7 Saturday night to give David Cutcliffe a victory in his coaching debut with the Blue Devils.
Lewis completed 17-of-28 passes for 141 yards with touchdowns covering 7 and 20 yards to Riley for the Blue Devils, who shook off a pregame weather delay and scored on four straight possessions to secure their first season-opening victory since beating East Carolina in 2002.
Clifford Harris added two 1-yard scoring runs for Duke, which snapped a nine-game losing streak with its most lopsided victory since a 40-14 rout of VMI in 2005. The Blue Devils had lost 31 of the 32 games that followed that victory.
Rodney Landers rushed for 96 yards and had a nifty 47-yard touchdown run for the Championship Subdivision’s Dukes (0-1). But he was just 4-of-9 passing for 51 yards, and allowed Duke to take control by turning it over on James Madison’s first two possessions of the second half.
First, he fluttered a pass deep in Duke territory and it was intercepted by Jabari Marshall, whose 67-yard return to the Dukes’ 22 set up Harris’ second touchdown six plays later that put the Blue Devils up 21-7.
Landers then opened the Dukes’ next drive by fumbling away a keeper, Greg Akinbiyi recovered at the 34 and six plays later Lewis found Riley in the end zone from 20 yards out to give Duke a three-touchdown lead.
Lewis put the Blue Devils ahead to stay with 5 seconds before halftime, hitting Riley with a 7-yard scoring pass to make it 14-7.
Riley finished with seven catches for 67 yards to help Cutcliffe become the first coach to win his Duke debut since Fred Goldsmith opened the 1994 season with a victory over Maryland.
Even Duke’s historically horrendous special teams got into the scoring act. Nick Maggio kicked a 27-yard field goal for the Blue Devils, whose kickers were a combined 3-of-11 on field-goal attempts during the 1-11 season that cost Ted Roof his job.
Nearly everything clicked for Duke under Cutcliffe, the former Mississippi coach whose December hiring reinvigorated a laughingstock program that had lingered at the bottom of the bowl subdivision for nearly two decades.
The start of the Cutcliffe era was delayed 1 hour, 27 minutes by lightning, but Duke’s offensive performance wound up being worth the wait.
Harris’ first touchdown run came on Duke’s second possession, was set up by a pretty 14-yard scramble by Lewis and capped an 11-play, 66-yard drive. But the Dukes tied it right away on Landers’ long scoring run, with the dual-threat quarterback -- called “the Tim Tebow of I-AA” by Cutcliffe -- taking off right on a keeper, then cutting back left through the Blue Devils’ defense to make it 7-all.