Championships are not won in September, but they sure are lost?just ask all six of the area?s college football coaches. They know. They saw what happened this weekend, when five of their teams had a chance to produce a signature win ? one that would justify why their players spoke so highly of themselves before the season ? only to get dealt a humbling loss.
Will Maryland?s players continue to talk openly about winning the Atlantic Coast Conference title after squandering a 21-point lead with 16 minutes left in a 31-24 overtime at Wake Forest? And what about Towson? The Tigers return to the practice field today knowing they are no longer one of the best teams in the Colonial Athletic Association after getting hammered at home by No. 11 Delaware, 27-7, a week after losing by 23 to No. 3 UMass.
Morgan State lost a game it had every chance to win at No. 12 Hampton, but lost in overtime, 24-17, on Thursday. And players at Johns Hopkins and winless McDaniel should have one common goal for the next few weeks: They should be more concerned with not finishing in last in the Centennial Conference than they should finishing first.
At least Navy defeated Duke ?even if it did allowed one of the worst teams in the country to amass 508 yards and needed senior kicker Joey Bullen?s 44-yard field goal on the game?s final play to pull out a 46-43victory at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
But considering area college football teams had lost 11 straight games combined the past two weeks, Navy?s victory at least prevented another winless weekend in a football-crazed town.
What happens now? That?s the intriguing question. How will the area?s teams respond after seeing their seasons change before most of the autumn foliage?
“I heard a couple seniors already talking to the guys. We have good senior leadership so [hanging their heads] won’t happen,” Towson coach Gordy Combs said. “We just need to get back out there and there can be a big difference in seven days.”
And for three of the teams, it doesn?t get any easier this week. Maryland went from playing a team with a losing record?Wake Forest?to playing at undefeated and 11th-ranked Rutgers (3-0) on Saturday afternoon at 3:30 in front of a national television audience on ABC in a nonleague game. Johns Hopkins (1-3, 0-2) suffered a 44-41 loss to Moravian and now will face another undefeated team on Saturday at 1 o?clock when it plays at Muhlenburg (3-0, 1-0).
“It’s a long season,” Maryland junior quarterback Jordan Steffy said. “We’re going to work to get better. We’re not going to give up on the season?it?s too early. We’re going to go out and keep fighting.”
But Navy (2-2) has the biggest game of the week. The Midshipmen will look to beat rival Air Force (3-1) for the fifth consecutive year. A victory would give the Midshipmen the inside track at retaining the Commander-In-Chief?s Trophy for an Academy record fifth straight year. But a loss to the Falcons, and Air Force can claim the 2 1/2 feet tall, 170-pound trophy, presented to the annual winner of the round-robin football competition among the country?s three major service academies, with a victory over Army (1-3) on Nov. 3.
“No one quit. That’s how we played. Everyone played hard [against Duke],” Navy slotback Bobby Doyle said. “We said today’s game could be a cross roads for us. One game can make a difference. We wanted to make it a difference for the better.”
Morgan State (1-3, 0-2) travels to Daytona Beach, Fla., to face Bethune-Cookman (2-2, 0-2) on Saturday afternoon at 4 in a game where the winner is no longer in last place in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. In the Centennial Conference, McDaniel (0-4, 0-3), the area?s only winless team, plays another winless team, Juniata (0-3, 0-2), on Saturday at 1 o?clock in Westminster.
Towson (2-2, 0-2) plays at William & Mary (2-2, 0-1) in a must-win game if the Tigers are going to achieve their goal of making the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs?a goal they are no where near of achieving right now.
“Everyone has been talking about how Towson is so good,” said Delaware running back Omar Cuff, who rushed for 109 yards and three touchdowns. “It meant a lot to us this year to come out and finish these guys off.”
