Slips, slides, and turnovers propel Rhode Island Rams in nor’easter over William and Mary, 21-10
Kingston, RI – On an afternoon when the rain never stopped, and the pigskin slipped out easily and cleats provided little traction, the Rhode Island Rams (5-3, 3-1 CAA) slogged victorious over the Tribe of William and Mary, 21-10. Despite the elements including some gusty winds early, the temperature remained bearable for the few hundred fans (ATT: 1688?) who absorbed the rain for a sloppy but entertaining football game.
Well-prepared
Swaddled in decent rain gear, CFF.com left the camera, binoculars, and notepad in the car. A decision protecting all of those that through a day of downpours required too much effort to put stuff away and take it back out. Just grin and bear the weather, and we did. The game turned out to be quite enjoyable and entertaining to watch. The decision to stay local for this mud game overcame aspirations to head up to New Hampshire to watch Dartmouth host Harvard.
After the game, I went back to the car to get the camera to have some kind of confirmation I was officially at Meade Stadium on this date.
The Rams and the Tribe showed up to play a key CAA game for both on this day of heavy rains. So even the backup plan to drive four hours to watch Syracuse play NC State in the great indoors of the Carrier Dome that evening didn’t transpire since these two didn’t’ reschedule to the following day. The other two game options turned out to be good, competitive games, but so did this one with the weather factored in. Glad we chose to attend!
The heavy rains and the mud dictated the quality of play which we thoroughly appreciated. However, what made this game even better, there were no TV time-outs, no replays, no rain-soaked cheerleaders in rain gear, and no band music which we generally prefer over amped up music over the PA system. Whoever pumped out the tunes in between plays chose a good mix that even this Baby-boomer could rock to.
A Throwback game
Basically, the two teams slugged it out in the mud and made the most of playing football in front of a few hundred people on each side of Meade Stadium as most stood, avoiding sitting on wet seats. The action on the field reminded me of years past when all games were contested on real grass or even less with small stones and the elements from above mixed in. It reminded me of games played with friends after school in the rain at the local school field or in backyards.
It also brought back memories of one of our high school games where we played in a driving rainstorm in mud puddles ankle deep. I came up gagging with a mouth and nose full of muck after a sliding tackle. The turf at Rhode Island held up significantly better than my old high school field used by three levels of high school football teams, a local Catholic school, and a semi-pro football team known as the Boonton (NJ) Bears. I digress, but this game turned out to be as close as any game attended in recent decades even close to those long ago, but fond memories.
Nasty game conditions
The first score of this game indicated the very conditions throughout. William & Mary starting QB Ted Hefter had trouble gripping the ball (3 for 7, 13 yards, two INTs) on all his passes. He pushed his passes as opposed to throwing them. On the Tribe’s second possession, he got picked by URI S Branyan Castillo who started to race toward the end zone on the Tribe’s 30. However, Tribe RB Nate Evans swiped the ball from him with one hand easily and raced 71 yards for a William & Mary TD to lead, 7-0. Evans led the Tribe rushing attack this day with 41 yards. His 71-yard TD scamper was credited as a fumble return.
Later in the first, Rhody punted from midfield. The return man haphazardly ran back toward his goal line to try to catch it, but it fell through his grasp and rolled into the end zone. URI DB Momodon Mbye recovered for the Rams to knot the score. On W&M’s next offensive series, Hefter fired the ball right into the gut of Ram DL James Makszin to put Rhody right at the Tribe’s 17. The Rams’ Naim Jones (37 carries for 152 yards and one TD) scored on a one-yard run for a 14-7 lead. Another Tribe fumble on the subsequent kickoff return put URI back on offense at the Tribe 29. The Rams could only muster a CJ Carrick FG attempt as the thud of a waterlogged-sounding ball missed wide left. The score stood 14-7 with Rhode Island leading at the half.
Second half much like the first
In the third, William & Mary HC Jimmye Laycock finally decided he’d seen enough of Hefter’s inability to grip the ball and replaced him with Shon Mitchell. The Tribe converted a 34-yard FG by Kris Hooper after the switch to cut the Ram lead, 14-10. With 1:53 left in the third, for one play the Rams overcame the elements as Rhody QB Vito Priore (7 for 12, 94 yards, one TD) got most of his passing yardage on a strike to WR Aaron Parker who caught the wet ball in stride and kept his feet for a 67-yard touchdown.
In the final period, the teams played to a scoreless stalemate. Hooper’s 34-yard FG attempt came up short. The teams exchanged punts. The Rams forced five turnovers during this game from the Tribe. The last one resulted in a fumble by Mitchell who set up to pass, brought the ball back, and I saw it fall to the ground where DL Andre Bibeault recovered for the Rams. Maszkin got credit for a forced fumble in the box score, but I didn’t see it that way. Starting at the Tribe 18, URI could not score. With a first and goal at the two, William and Mary held them for a goal line stand. Mitchell, faring not much better than Hefter (2 for 8, 51 yards, one INT), went long and was intercepted by DB Brian Campbell. With 42 ticks left, URI ran out the clock.
We’d do it again
Game 575 did not paint a pretty picture, but it turned out to be fun, entertaining, inexpensive, and fast (about 2:53 time-wise). What more could a real football fan want considering the weather? Oh, by the way, no one attended the booth to sell tickets. I feel obligated to send a donation to the URI football program at least.
Next!
The Tribe (3-5, 2-3 CAA) stay on the road next Saturday at Villanova who stands at 3-5 but 0-5 in the CAA this season. Rhode Island travels to Elon (5-2, 3-1) for an important game for FCS playoff consideration. After that, they face another stiff challenge when they face James Madison sitting atop the CAA at 6-2, 4-1. These can make or break the improved Rams’ season.
For CFF.com, we go back for D-3 game when FDU-Florham hosts Widner in a MAC game. FDU sits at 5-2. Not sure if the Red Devils have ever posted more than five wins in a season, but we’re going to see if it happens this Friday night any way. On Saturday, we head up to Amherst, MA to see UMass (3-5) host first year FCS member Liberty (4-3) in an all-Independent FBS game. We register Liberty as our 130th FBS team to say we’ve still “seem ‘em all!” Looking at the scores of these two teams over this season, this should be a high-scoring game. This will depend on UMass QB Ford being healthy enough to play though.
The Rhode Island scoreboard was turned off when I came back, but the field definitely needed repair.
Extra point:
W&M HC Jimmye Laycock announced his retirement from his alma mater after this season. He started as HC for the Tribe in 1980 and has a record as of now at 248-194-2. We’ve seen his teams in action starting with the Tribe against Temple back in 1981. We’ve seen his team mostly on the road having seen them compete against Princeton, Delaware (2X), Villanova, and now URI. The one home game we attended in Williamsburg was the only time we ever saw VMI play (52-14 Tribe win). His record in our history is 2-5. The most memorable game we’d seen of his resulted in a 38-28 win over Princeton at old Palmer Stadium when his team ended up at No. 16 in the nation in the 1985 1-AA poll.
He’s taken the Tribe to 10 CAA titles. His coach at W&M his senior year was none other than Lou Holtz. Jimmye has had quite a great history and I’ve known and met some people who played for him over the years. He’s a real tribute to the profession of college coaching. We wish him much happiness in his retirement after a stellar career coaching and mentoring student-athletes at such a great school.