Inside the CAA · recap

Six games, six losses, and 1,000 rushing yards the other way

Six programs on this beat played between Friday night and Saturday evening. All six lost.

Here is the number that ties them together. Their opponents ran for 281, 203, 187, 139, 120 and 70 yards. That adds up to exactly 1,000. The six beat teams ran for 314 between them, and five of the six did not reach 70 yards on the ground by themselves.

Five of the six also failed to score more than 14 points. Norfolk State scored 31 and lost anyway, which is its own article.

Howard 27, Hampton 13

We previewed this one on Friday and said it would come down to whoever threw fewer interceptions. Neither team threw any. So much for that.

What we got wrong on the specifics we got right on the shape. Our whole lead was Ja'Shawn Scroggins and the fact that he had not thrown for 110 yards in a game since his opener, going 109, then 43, then 38. At Audi Field he went 23-of-34 for 267 and threw the touchdown that ended it, a 52-yarder to Billy Roberson II with 9:59 left.

Two things we did not see coming. Hampton started Xavier Brookins at quarterback rather than Tre'Von Taylor, and Brookins was the better of the two, 13-of-22 for 193 and a 32-yard touchdown to Nare Means. Taylor finished 4-of-11 for 48. And the Hampton front, which Campbell had run through for 197 yards the week before, actually held: Eden James carried 13 times for 44 yards, and Howard's 120 on the ground was the quietest part of their afternoon.

Hampton ran for 36 yards. They are 1-5. The crowd was 15,389, down from the 18,672 that watched the same fixture last September.

Georgia State 42, Old Dominion 10

Old Dominion's offense scored three points.

That is the whole story and it deserves to be said plainly. A 21-yard Nathanial Eichner field goal in the first quarter was everything the Monarchs produced on offense all day. Their touchdown came from Devin Roche returning a punt 78 yards in the third quarter, at which point it was already 42-3.

Georgia State's Cameran Brown threw six touchdown passes on 14-of-20 for 284 yards. Old Dominion finished with 146 total yards, 67 of them rushing. Quinn Henicle went 8-of-15 for 49.

Old Dominion is 1-4. They have a Thursday night at home against Georgia Southern on October 15, which is the next chance to make Ballard Stadium matter this season.

Florida State 38, Virginia 7

Virginia scored on its first drive, Beau Pribula to Da'Shawn Martin for 13 yards, and did not score again for the remaining 54 minutes.

Ashton Daniels beat them by himself and did it almost entirely on the ground. Florida State's quarterback ran 17 times for 136 yards and five touchdowns, including an 81-yarder in the third quarter, while throwing for 183 yards with no touchdowns and an interception. Virginia rushed for 37 yards as a team.

Three weeks ago we wrote a Norfolk State preview built around Pribula running for 110 against them. On Saturday he went 14-of-32 for 168 and Virginia gained 205 yards in Tallahassee. The Cavaliers are 3-2 and host Syracuse on Saturday night.

UAlbany 28, Delaware State 3

UAlbany scored a touchdown in every quarter and never needed a fifth.

Delaware State's points came on a 45-yard Patrick Fisher-Butler field goal in the first quarter. They used two quarterbacks, Noah Brannock going 3-of-12 for 85 and Ui Ale 11-of-21 for 78 with an interception, and they ran for 29 yards. Total offense was 192.

The strange part is that UAlbany only gained 226 yards themselves. This was not a team being overwhelmed. It was a team that could not get out of its own end of the field, and the 28-3 scoreline flatters the winner.

Delaware State is 3-3. The Philadelphia game against Norfolk State at Lincoln Financial Field is October 31.

The two that got their own pieces

Holy Cross beat William & Mary 41-14 at Zable, where we were credentialed, on six sacks and 203 rushing yards from a team we had written could not run the football. Robert Morris beat Norfolk State 33-31 on a blocked field goal returned 100 yards and a 52-yard miss at the gun, in a game the Spartans did not turn over once.

What it adds up to

Nobody on this beat can run the football and nobody on this beat can stop it being run on them. Rushing yards for the six: 114, 67, 37, 36, 31, 29. Rushing yards allowed: 281, 203, 187, 139, 120, 70.

Virginia Tech lost on Friday too, by two, on a kick nobody is allowed to review. That makes it seven for seven.