Ladies and Gentleman, it is THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN. Tribe football is upon us. There has not been this much hype surrounding a W&M football team since we have started at the Blog. W&M Football has been ranked preseason #3 and #4 nationally by the media, and preseason #1 in the CAA. This season has the makings of a special one, one that could have the Tribe playing in a National Championship game in Frisco at years end. But lets not get ahead of ourselves just yet. With the season upon us, we turn to our 7th annual game-by-game prediction of how we at the WM Sports Blog think the season will go. We hope you enjoy!
Quick Stats
W&M’s 2022 Record: 11-2 (10-1 regular season, 3 Top 25 Wins)
W&M FCS Playoffs Result: 55-7 Loss in the FCS Quarterfinals to #4 Montana State
Picked to Finish This year in the CAA: #1 out of 15 in the CAA
W&M’s 2023 Preseason All-CAA Candidates to Watch:
- RB Bronson Yoder
- OL Charles Grant
- DE Nate Lynn
- LB Isaiah Jones
- LB John Pius (also selected as Preseason Defensive Player of the Year)
- CB Jalen Jones
- CB Ryan Poole
- QB Darius Wilson (Honorable Mention)
- S Marcus Barnes (Honorable Mention)
- P Will Whitehurst (Honorable Mention)
W&M Sports Blog 2023 Season Predictions
Week 1 (August 31): at Campbell (7 PM)
It has been a long time since the Tribe has opened up their season with a CAA league game, but that is exactly what they will do this season as they open up on the road against the Campbell Camels on Thursday night. We welcome Campbell to the CAA, recently coming over from the Big South Conference, but the CAA did not do them any favors to open the season. The Camels are picked to finish #12 in the CAA out of 15. A season ago in Williamsburg, the Tribe dismantled an inferior Campbell team 37-21, and we expect much of the same in this one. While we still find it strange, it will be nice to have our first CAA victory under the belt in just game 1.
Prediction: Win (1-0)
Week 2 (September 9): vs. Wofford (6 PM)
The Tribe will have a mini-Bye here having played on Thursday the week prior. Plenty of time to rest up before the Wofford Terriers come into town for the Tribe’s first home game in front of a raucous crowd. Wofford plays in the Southern conference, and were picked in the preseason poll to finish 7th out of 9 teams. It has been quite a long time since W&M played the Terriers, with the last game being played 35 years ago, a 30-14 Tribe victory. Wofford did have two players selected to the Southern preseason second team, one on the offensive line and one on the defensive line, but we think this Tribe team, with 10 preseason selections in the CAA, will be too much for the Terriers to handle. We expect a victory, and a big one at that.
Prediction: Win (2-0)
Week 3 (September 16): at Charleston Southern (4 PM)
In Week 3, the Tribe will play their third Carolinas team in as many weeks, this time heading south to take on Charleston Southern. The Buccaneers are coming off a putrid 2-8 season and were picked to finish 9th out of 10 teams in the Big South Conference. That didn’t stop them from scheduling a game at CLEMSON a week prior to the W&M game. While that will be an awesome experience for Charleston Southern players, they may be a little extra banged up headed into what will be another TOUGH game against the Tribe. We see this game as a little bit of fine tuning before the Tribe gets into the thick of the CAA schedule. A season ago, Charleston Southern played 2 now CAA football teams in Campbell and North Carolina A&T, losing to Campbell 34-28 and North Carolina A&T 20-10. As we mentioned above, W&M beat Campbell 37-21 last season. With that in mind, we expect another rout in this one.
Prediction: Win (3-0)
Week 4 (September 23): vs. Maine (3:30 PM)
After their tour of the Carolinas, W&M returns home to take on the Maine Black Bears in the second CAA game of the season. Maine was picked to finish 13 out of 15 teams in the CAA, one spot below the aforementioned Campbell Camels. The all time series between W&M and Maine is tied at 8 wins and 8 losses each, but here is a fun fact for you: W&M hasn’t beaten the Black Bears at Maine in 13 years, losing the last 4 times the Tribe has taken the road and headed up to Orono, Maine. Worse yet, W&M has lost 6 of its previous 7 appearances against Maine dating back to 2012. While Maine appears to be W&M’s kryptonite, we are encouraged because A. This is not your typical W&M team and B. This game is at home. While we think this game might be closer than it should be, we expect the Tribe to come out on top and extend their winning streak to 4.
Prediction: Win (4-0)
Week 5 (September 30): at Elon (2:00 PM)
We will find out a lot about just how good this W&M football team is when they travel to Elon in their first true test of the season. W&M was 10-1 in the regular season last year. Who was the ONLY team to stop W&M from what would of been a historic and undefeated 11-0 season? The Elon Phoenix, in a closely contested 35-31 loss that saw the Tribe blow a 15 point lead going into the fourth quarter. The Phoenix are picked to finish 5th this season in the CAA, a year after they finished an impressive 8-4 season where they had 3 top 25 victories and got blown out by Furman in the FCS playoffs. Outside of preseason Offensive Player of the Year Jaden Shirden and Bronson Yoder, Elon has the next best running back in Jalen Hampton. Hampton, who just so happened to attend our High School Alma Mater, played at Virginia Tech prior to transferring to Elon. He is a complete stud, and gashed the Tribe for 145 yards on the ground and 3 touchdowns a season ago. Elon also has a stud Tight End in Johncarlos Miller, a preseason All-CAA selection at the position. Expect Elon to give us some trouble offensively, but we hope the Tribe front 7, which includes 3 All-CAA selections in Nate Lynn, John Pius, and Isaiah Jones, can keep Hampton in check. This will be a close game between two of the best in the CAA, but we think the Tribe will avenge their loss from a season ago and come out on top in this one.
Prediction: Win (5-0)
Week 6 (October 7): at UVA (Time TBD)
It seems that we play UVA every other year or so, and in fact we do. Going back to 2015, this will be the 5th matchup against UVA in 9 years. Here is another fun fact for you. Who was the Tribe starting QB the last time W&M played UVA back in 2021? Yes, it was now starting QB Darius Wilson, a true freshman starting in his first game in Charlottesville against the Hoos. While that game didn’t turn out well for anyone (the Tribe lost 43-0), we expect it to be a better showing this time around. The best comparison we have for this Tribe football team is the 2015 team, a team that went 9-4, won the CAA, and gave UVA all they could handle in a very close 35-29 loss. UVA went on to finish that season 4-8. Now flash forward to this season. UVA is coming off a 3-7 season where they went 1-6 in the ACC and were picked to finish DEAD LAST (14th) in the ACC preseason poll. Their starting QB in Brennan Armstrong, top three receivers, and four starting offensive lineman are gone. While their defense is poised to be stronger, they still lost key pieces to the transfer portal in cornerback Fentrell Cypress II (FSU) and LB Nick Jackson (Iowa). Contrasting this with W&M, the Tribe return 8 starters on defense, and 5 of these starters on defense were All-CAA honorees (including the CAA Preseason Defensive Player of the Year). On offense, the Tribe returns their QB in Darius Wilson, their top 2 running backs in Bronson Yoder and Malachi Imoh, and a deep and experienced offensive line. All this to say, the stars are really aligning for a Tribe upset here in Charlottesville. Losing that many starters on offense, we expect the Tribe defense to feast on UVA’s QB and offensive line. However, UVA has had a strong defense of late and we expect them to keep our offense in check. This is by far the toughest game we have to predict in this article. We are expecting a LOW scoring affair, but we think the Tribe will pull off the upset, making it the first win over UVA since 2009 AND the second year in a row the Tribe will take down an FBS opponent. GO TRIBE!
Prediction: Win (6-0)
Week 7 (October 14): BYE
The BYE this year comes at a good time for the Tribe this season, right in the middle of their schedule and coming off what will likely be a bruising game against UVA. Needed rest before the final 5 games of their season.
Week 8 (October 21): vs. Towson (3:30 PM) – Homecoming
Homecoming. Undefeated Tribe. Coming off a victory over FBS foe UVA. We can see all the headlines now, and if it all shakes out as we are predicting in this article, it should be a sold out Zable Stadium for homecoming to see the Tribe taking on the visiting Towson Tigers. In fact, this will be back to back seasons when W&M has taken on Towson coming out of the Bye. A season ago, W&M thrashed the Tigers, leading by as much as 37-3 before winning by a score of 44-24. Bottom line is, the game wasn’t close. The Tigers are picked to finish 9th this year, but we don’t see any way that this Tigers team comes into W&M’s house, on homecoming, and pulls out a victory. The Tribe faithful will leave Homecoming happy after this one, still undefeated on the season.
Prediction: Win (7-0)
Week 9 (October 28): vs. Monmouth (1:00 PM)
In week 9, the Tribe welcomes the visiting Monmouth Hawks for what appears to be the first time ever that these two football teams square off against each other. Monmouth joined the CAA last year and had an up and down season, going 5-6 overall and 3-5 in the conference. They picked up an impressive road victory over then ranked #10 Villanova, and fell just short of upsetting #19 Rhode Island at home in a 7 OT (Yes, 7 Overtime) game. Coming into this season, the Hawks are picked to finish 8th in the CAA. It doesn’t sound like much to worry about, but this game DOES have us worried. Why you ask? Because of Jaden Shirden. If you haven’t heard of him, then listen up. Last season, as a SOPHOMORE, Shirden led the FCS in total rushing yards (1,722), yards per carry (8.36), and rushing yards per game (156.5). We repeat, as a sophomore… He was justifiably a First Team All-American last season, and finished third in the Walter Payton Award voting, which is the Heisman of the FCS. This season, Shirden has racked up just about every preseason accolade possible, including the CAA preseason Offensive Player of the Year, the Walter Payton Award Watch List, and pretty much every single All-Conference and All-American preseason list.
This game worries us because 1. Shirden is unstoppable and 2. the best way to keep our offense off the field is to run the ball effectively and sustain long drives, both things Shirden is capable of doing himself. Now, what makes us feel better about this game is that the Tribe has an absolute stalwart front 7, including 3 Preseason All-CAA picks in Lynn, Jones, and Pius, who was also chosen as the Defensive Player of the Year. All we are saying is the Tribe absolutely cannot take this game lightly. We could very well see an overconfident Tribe team fall to this Monmouth team. In the end, we are predicting a CLOSE game, but we give the edge to W&M for 2 reasons. First, the game is at home. And Second, the Tribe has a much better team top to bottom than Jaden Shirden does in Monmouth. Advantage Tribe.
Prediction: Win (8-0)
Week 10 (November 4): at Albany (1:00 PM)
In Week 10, the Tribe heads back on the road for a trip up north to take on the Albany Great Danes. We called this out in our preseason preview a year ago, but the fact of the matter is the Tribe does not travel north well (we define north as NY and above). In fact, prior to last season, the Tribe had lost 5 straight road games up north and hadn’t won a game since 2016. Now, the Tribe avenged this streak by beating Stony Brook last season 27-10, but they came out SLOWLY in that game, scoring just 6 points in the first half and were actually LOSING to Stony Brook at half. Yikes. Thankfully, the Tribe woke up in the second half, but the concern still remains. The last time the Tribe traveled to Albany, they ended up losing 39-31. The Great Danes are not a particularly strong team, finishing 3-8 last season and 2-6 in the conference. They were picked to finish #11 in the CAA this season, and return a few key starters, including QB Reese Poffenbarger. This game shouldn’t worry us, but it does because of the Tribe’s terrible history travelling north. Regardless, unless the weather is awful, it should not be close. Roll Tribe Roll.
Prediction: Win (9-0)
Week 11 (November 11): at Hampton (1:00 PM)
Can someone tell us how we ended up playing AT Hampton for the second year in a row? While we don’t understand the scheduling behind it, the Tribe will head to Hampton for a Week 11 matchup against the Pirates. Hampton was picked to finish last in the CAA, but don’t let this fool you. Last season, a 7-1 W&M team went into Hampton as the heavy favorites and escaped with just a 20-14 victory. In fact, Hampton was even leading late into the third quarter. We don’t know if the Tribe was overconfident, looking ahead to the next game, or what, but they better not make the same mistake this time. Come out flat footed against any team in the CAA and you can lose, even Hampton. Now, we expect the Tribe to learn from last year’s mistake and put Hampton away early. We know Coach London will not let the Tribe overlook this Pirate team. The Tribe has never lost to Hampton, winning all 8 of their matchups, and we expect that to continue here.
Prediction: Win (10-0)
Week 12 (November 11): vs Richmond (1:00 PM)
It all comes down to this. The Capital Cup. The only thing keeping the Tribe from a historic UNDEFEATED season is those pesky Richmond Spiders, who year in and year out always seem to have a good team. And this year is no different. Richmond was picked to finish #3 in the CAA, behind only W&M and UNH. A season ago, the Spiders had their best season since 2016, and went 9-4 (6-2 in conference), losing to W&M and BARELY to Elon in Double OT. Thankfully for the Tribe, they no longer have their 2 stud grad transfers in QB Reece Udinski and WR Jakob Herres, who gashed the Tribe a season ago, albeit in a losing effort. QB will be the question mark for Richmond, but the defense won’t be, returning 5 Preseason All-CAA selections, including 3 on the front 7 (including All-America LB Tristen Wheeler) and both safeties. They also return 6 starters on offense. This is a deep and experienced Richmond team, more than worthy of their #3 ranking in the CAA.
Here is a fun stat for you. W&M has played Richmond 133 times. Do you know what the all-time series is? DEAD EVEN at 64 wins, 64 losses, and 5 ties. Now that is just remarkable. Before last season, Richmond had been dominant in recent history, winning 9 of the previous 11 matchups, but the Tribe is turning a new leaf. With all the marbles on the line, in front of a raucous W&M crowd, we think the Tribe will do the unthinkable. Beat the Richmond Spiders, take the all-time series lead in victories, and cap off an UNDEFEATED REGULAR SEASON. We have chills just thinking about it.
Prediction: WIN (11-0)
Conclusion
As you just read, we think it is about to be a historic and special season in Williamsburg. Undefeated regular season, most regular season wins in program history, and back to back FBS upsets. If this team can stay healthy, the sky is the limit come FCS Playoffs. In our predictions, an 11-0 season has the Tribe as a top 4 seed, meaning they wouldn’t need to travel until the FCS Semi-Finals at the EARLIEST. While we won’t make any excuses about the weather in the quarterfinals against Montana State a year ago, we all know that game could of been a lot different if it were played in Williamsburg. Get excited Tribe fans, this season has the chance to be one we will NEVER FORGET. See you all soon. ROLL TRIBE!
The William and Mary Sports Blog 