CAA Today: Life is Crazy, Sandy Baby

When my wife was pregnant with our first child, I referred to the impending arrival as "Sandy". Whether it was a reference to golfer Sandy Lyle or the head greenskeeper from "Caddyshack", it always sounded best with a heavy Scottish accent. Ultimately, I even pushed for Sandy as the kid's middle name, but my wife wasn't buying it. Still, I had a soft spot for the name, that was, at least until this past Monday. Whether it was the 90 mph winds that lashed CAA Today headquarters for 6 hours or the downed trees and power lines that littered the surrounding neighborhood, the name Sandy will never be the same.

By Sam Partridge
CAA Today Columnist
College Sporting News

With power finally back on this morning, let's do a quick run-through.

MY TOP 25

1: North Dakota State
2: Georgia Southern
3: Old Dominion
4: Wofford
5: Sam Houston State
6: Stony Brook
7: New Hampshire
8: Eastern Washington
9: Montana State
10: Cal Poly
11: Central Arkansas
12: Indiana State
13: Lehigh Mountain
14: Northern Arizona
15: Illinois State
16: Southern Illinois
17: Richmond
18: Appalachian State
19: James Madison
20: Albany
21: Towson
22: Villanova
23: South Dakota State
24: Sacramento State
25: Harvard

THIS WEEK'S GAMES

Rhode Island at Richmond

After a well-deserved off week, the Spiders get back to work on Saturday hoping to get back on the road to a playoff spot. And what better way to do that than host the woeful Rhode Island Rams? We still have seen no signs of the visitors from Kingston putting together a good enough effort to get a conference win and this week hardly seems like the time for that to change. Michael Strauss has had two more weeks of practice to get ready for this one and the Spider offense should continue to produce, certainly enough to beat the anemic Rhode Island attack. Spiders move forward.
Richmond 38 Rhode Island 16

William & Mary at New Hampshire

In recent years, William & Mary has managed to have great and often surprising success against New Hampshire. They have arguably been the Achilles heel for Coach McDonnell and the Wildcat program, winning some improbable victories against some awfully good New Hampshire squads, even on the road in Durham. However, this William & Mary team only seems to surprise anyone in terms of coming up with new ways to make mistakes in special teams and lose games. While the Tribe has the talent to play with New Hampshire, this year's team seems to lack the belief and resolve to go on the road and get a victory in a game like this. New Hampshire takes another step towards a playoff berth and a possible CAA title.
New Hampshire 34 William & Mary 17

Old Dominion at Georgia State

It's not often two teams play their first and last conference head-to-head matchup at the same time. The Panthers and Monarchs do just that in Atlanta on Saturday with both teams looking towards next year but with Old DOminion still hoping to do some big things this season. With the visitors at 7-1 and the home team at 1-7, it shouldn't be a competitive game, but Georgia State has started to show enough in the last few weeks to make it possible that they could keep things interesting for a little while. Ultimately, though, Bill Curry's group doesn't have enough talent to compete at Old Dominion's level for 60 minutes. Hello and goodbye. Hasta la vista, darn glad to meet ya.
Monarchs 44 Panthers 17

Maine at James Madison

Maine plays the second game of back-to-back roadies in the Commonwealth of Virginia at Bridgeforth Stadium against a James Madison team suddenly in search of an identity. It was only a few weeks ago that the Dukes seemed to be on autopilot heading towards the playoffs, but efforts like last week's narrow win against Georgia State have raised numerous question marks about how good this James Madison team is. Their opponent this week is a pesky Maine team that is out of the playoff discussion but has been competitive all season and has a couple of conference road wins already. The Bears have gotten better as the season has progressed and could give the Dukes a whole lot of trouble this week. With uncertainty at quarterback and still some lingering injury issues, Jack Cosgrove and his charges are primed to pull off an unlikely upset.
Maine 27 James Madison 24

GAME OF THE WEEK

Towson at Delaware

There's nothing else to call this but a playoff game. While Towson already played one against Villanova last week, this will certainly be one for the Blue Hens after falling to Old Dominion last week. Delaware's computer ratings just aren't good enough for an at-large bid at 7-4, so the loser of this game can expect to be sitting at home on Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, for Delaware, they haven't shown much evidence of the form necessary for winning a game like this. Towson has all the experience of last year's CAA title and the benefit of already being in playoff mode. Plus, the Tigers just have more weapons to do damage. While the state of Delaware will enjoy the diversion from the recovery from Sandy, the Tigers will enjoy the in.
Towson 31 Delaware 24