Inside the Patriot League · recap

Last week all seven lost. This week only one did.

A week ago every program on this beat played and every one of them lost. On Saturday six of them played, Hampton was off, and only Virginia Tech lost.

Delaware State, Norfolk State and Old Dominion have their own pieces today. Here are the other three.

William & Mary 17, North Carolina Central 14

The Tribe won in Durham while being outgained 439 to 221.

We wrote on Friday that neither of these teams could stop the run, and North Carolina Central proved their half of it emphatically. The Eagles ran for 282 yards, which is the fourth-most anybody has managed against William & Mary this season, behind Fordham's 428, Lehigh's 366 and Duke's 286. Cobey Thompkins went 69 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter to tie it at 14.

William & Mary won anyway, and the way they did it is the story. Their first touchdown was Jack Reuter returning a blocked punt ten yards in the opening minutes. Their second was a 16-yard throw from Winston Watkins to Alfred Honesty. Max Lipinski kicked a 41-yard field goal with 12:13 left and it stood up for the rest of the afternoon.

So the offense scored ten points and the Tribe won a game they were outgained in by 218 yards. That is not a template, but it is a win, and it is their first since beating Delaware State on September 5.

The other number worth having: William & Mary ran for 115 yards. They had managed 17 at Duke and 31 against Holy Cross in the two weeks before. Whatever broke in the running game, it was not permanent.

California 25, Virginia Tech 20

For the second Saturday running, Virginia Tech lost a game it led inside the final two minutes.

Ethan Grunkemeyer ran it in from a yard out with 1:15 on the clock to put the Hokies ahead 20-19. The two-point try failed. California then went the length of the field and Ashten Emory scored from two yards with 18 seconds left, and their own two-point attempt failed, which is how a one-point lead turned into a five-point loss.

Neither team turned the ball over. Total yards were 403 to 401 in California's favor, which is as even as a game gets.

Eight days earlier a 36-yard field goal at Lane Stadium was ruled no good as the clock hit zero and Pittsburgh won by two. Virginia Tech is 4-2 and has now lost two games by a combined seven points, both of them decided after the two-minute mark.

Virginia 28, Syracuse 25

Virginia trailed 17-7 at halftime at Scott Stadium and scored 21 unanswered.

Beau Pribula found Da'Shawn Martin for 43 yards late in the third, and Jekail Middlebrook ran in two short touchdowns in the fourth to make it 28-17. Syracuse answered with a 46-yard touchdown and a two-point conversion with 2:50 left, and that was the last of it.

Syracuse outgained the Cavaliers 430 to 288. Virginia is 4-2, which is a reasonable place to be given they were beaten 38-7 at Florida State the week before.

The thread running through it

Two of these three teams won while being outgained by more than 140 yards, and the one that broke even lost. Nobody should take a lesson from that beyond the obvious one, which is that this beat spent last weekend losing every game it played and spent this one finding ways to win games it had no business controlling.

Hampton returns from its bye on Saturday at Sacred Heart. Norfolk State is off next week before the MEAC opener.