Thursday News ---- 03/05/09

Travis has his complete 2009 CAA schedule up.

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A quick look at the 2009 CAA OOC slate reveals the following:

• Delaware. West Chester, Delaware State and Navy---- The Hens beat Navy the last time they played.
  
• Hofstra. Stony Brook, Bryant and Western Michigan ---- Bryant is probably the only likely win. Hofstra lost last year to Albany.
  
• James Madison. Maryland, VMI and Liberty. The Dukes should win both FCS games.
• Maine. Syracuse, and two unknowns. Only nine games set so far. The Black Bears will probably have to add a DII game this late in the season. An upset against the Orange is not out of the bounds of possibility.
• UMass. Kansas State, Albany and Stony Book. UMass should win both of the FCS games, which means five CAA wins should put the Minutemen in the playoffs.
• New Hampshire. St. Francis, Ball State and Dartmouth. UNH should beat the Red Flashes and 0-10 Dartmouth. 12-2 Ball State could end the Wildcats run of FBS victories.
• Northeastern. Boston College and home games against Youngstown State and Holy Cross. The is the most favorable schedule the Huskies have had in years. Only one FBS game and Northeastern is capable of winning both FCS games in Brookline. And the Huskies don't play the Richmond, Delaware and JMU trio this year. Could the Huskies make the playoffs in 2009?
• Rhode Island. Fordham, UConn and Brown. With the current chaos in Kingston, the Rams could loose all three of those games.
• Richmond. Duke, VMI and Georgetown. Duke is improving, so a Spider win would be a definite upset. Richmond should win big against VMI and Hoyas.
• Towson. Morgan State, Coastal Carolina and Northwestern. The tigers will be undercats for two of the three.
• Villanova. Temple, Penn and Lehigh. Temple went 5-7 overall last year and 4-4 in the MAC. Still, Villanova is capable of winning all of those games.
• William & Mary. Virginia, Central Conn and Norfolk State. The Tribe should outclass both CCSU and Norfolk State.

So things look this way:

Possible three OOC wins---- Delaware and Villanova. Need five CAA wins to make the playoffs and six for a home playoff game.
Possible two wins and one loss--- JMU, UMass UNH, Northeastern, Richmond and William & Mary. Need six CAA wins to make the playoffs and seven for a home playoff game.
Possible two losses and one win--Hofstra and Towson. Need seven CAA wins or undefeated in league play for a home playoff game.
Possible three losses---- Rhode Island. The Rams would need to be undefeated in CAA games.

Unknown--- Maine.

UPDATE: I received an e-mail from a Rhode Island football parent that said chaos in Kingston was not true. The parent said the Rhody players were pleased in the appointment of Coach Trainer as HC and the 2009 recruits and Rutgers transfers were staying with the program.