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Same record, opposite stories: Delaware State visits William & Mary

Both teams bring a 1-0 record to Williamsburg on Saturday. They earned them from opposite directions.

William & Mary trailed by ten with under a minute left at Villanova and won anyway — the onside kick, the tying touchdown, the 45-yarder at the gun. Delaware State led Stony Brook by 18 and very nearly gave it all back, saved late by a 16-yard Deuce Weston touchdown run and, with 14 seconds left, a penalty flag that wiped a tying score off the board.

Same record. Very different lessons. Saturday sorts out whose lesson was real.

Delaware State at William & Mary, Saturday, September 5, 6 p.m., Zable Stadium, on ESPN+. The Tribe's home opener — billed as the Go Green Game and a tribute to Lou Holtz, who started his head-coaching career in Williamsburg — and the first meeting ever between these programs.

The Hornets are explosive. That's a compliment and a warning.

DeSean Jackson is 9-4 as a college head coach, and his year-two team opened exactly the way a DeSean Jackson team should: fast and far. Ui Ale, who won the quarterback job late in camp, hit Jaylin Terzado for a 76-yard touchdown in his first start. Samari Collier housed a 59-yard run. Patrick Fisher-Butler made field goals from 41 and 52 — and a kicker with legitimate 50-plus range quietly changes every fourth-down decision on both sidelines.

Here's the warning half. Delaware State led 24-6, led 31-13, and was tied 34-34 with eleven minutes left. Stony Brook's Quinn Boyd threw three touchdown passes and had the Hornets' secondary in real trouble for most of the second half. The big plays are real. So is the leak.

The Tribe's question isn't the offense

We know what William & Mary's offense is now: Winston Watkins, 254 passing yards and two scores at Villanova, plus 21 carries — an offense built around a 6-foot-5, 245-pound problem, as we put it last week. The load is the only concern; 21 carries a week is a lot of hits for the guy you can't lose.

The question is the other side. Villanova hung 32 on this defense, and now here comes an offense that scores from 76 and 59 yards out. If the Tribe secondary plays Saturday the way it played the first three and a half quarters in Villanova, Ale-to-Terzado will find the same air Jake Hilton found.

Two teams that both gave up 30-plus in week one, both carrying offenses that can score from anywhere on the field: the scoreboard operator should stretch first.

What to watch

Whether William & Mary can keep Delaware State's speed in front of them — the Hornets don't drive so much as detonate. Whether Watkins's workload looks like a plan or a habit. And the field-position math every time Fisher-Butler crosses midfield.

One more thing to watch, from our side of the notebook: The Breakdown will be at Zable Stadium on Saturday, covering this one from the press box. The recap comes Sunday, written from the building.