W&M sits at 5-3 on the season, but there’s a lot to unpack beneath that record.
BY: Pietro Marino ’23
Football is a fickle sport. In the NFL, infamous sayings such as “You are what your record says you are” and “Just win baby” exemplify the idea that in the NFL, you don’t need style points, you just have to keep winning.
Unfortunately for W&M, in the college football world, that same notion doesn’t ring true. The Tribe sit at a respectable 5-3 and have an extremely favorable schedule remaining against the three bottom dwellers of the CAA followed by a Capital Cup clash at Richmond to end the regular season. It is not hyperbole to say that the ceiling for this team record-wise is 9-3 while the floor is 8-4.
Sounds promising right?
Yet, even if W&M runs the table to end the season at 9-3, the Tribe could very well be on the outside looking in for the playoffs this season.
Here’s why.
As we head into the second-half of the season, it’s become pretty clear W&M has had one of the more favorable in-conference schedules in the CAA. Over the next three weeks, the Tribe will play Elon, Bryant and NC A&T who have a combined record of…5-19.
Put another way, W&M doesn’t just need to beat each of these teams, they need to dismantle them one by one. College football is funny in that a 21 – 20 win next weekend at NC A&T would essentially be a loss in the mind of voters. So, the Tribe simply cannot afford to get into a dogfight (pun intended) with 2-6 Bryant or 1-7 NC A&T.
The Tribe’s out of conference slate, in which the team swept their three SoCon opponents (Furman, Wofford and VMI) and dropped a respectable contest against Coastal Carolina, is also aging rather poorly.
Notice a pattern emerging with the records here?
Look, you can only beat who’s in front of you on your schedule, but that also means the loss at Towson and this most recent against 24th ranked Stony Brook hurt that much more. W&M will no doubt drop in the two polls after the Stony Brook game, and as I’ve just laid out above, the only game in the next month that would substantially help the Tribe’s case for the playoffs would be Richmond.
Is the Tribe’s signature win of the season going to be their 49 – 7 drubbing at home of Hampton? It is certainly trending that way.
Maybe it’s not “You are what your record says your are,” but rather, “You are who you beat.” Well if you only beat the bad teams, and lose to the good ones, what does that make you?
Which leads me to believe that, despite the on-paper numbers looking great for W&M, this team just hasn’t passed the eye test.
I watched Campbell quarterback Chad Mascoe shred our passing defense to the tune of 320 yards, 4 touchdowns and a 76.9% completion percentage…in front of a packed and loud homecoming crowd no less.
I have seen our veterans on offense repeatedly get careless with the football in late-game situations throughout the season.
And I see the defense still struggles to get a consistent pass rush on a weekly basis.
As a Dallas Cowboys fan, I’ve seen this script play out in a familiar fashion for nearly the past decade. Beat up on the bad teams which causes the underlying stats to look good, then struggle against the good teams but still end up with a decent overall record.
This next month will tell us a lot about Coach London’s crew. A win against Richmond feels not only necessary for their playoff hopes, but for the morale of the program in general.
It feels like we’ve been trying to chase that high from the 2022 – 2023 season, and it just hasn’t come all together yet. Last year’s game against UVA (which we should have won by the way) was the closest I think we’ve gotten to that turning point.
This is the last dance for some key players on both sides of the ball, and I know they’ll be looking to make some noise on their way out. Ripping off a four-game winning streak with a dominant win at Richmond would be a great way to do so.
In the NFL, they don’t ask how, they ask how many. In college football, they ask both.
I’m confident that our guys will put those two together over these last four weeks.
The William & Mary Sports Blog 
Glad I’m not the only one who’s been wondering this all season!
Well, step 1 is accomplished. A 28-0 halftime lead and 45-7 final score at NCA&T may not say much, but it does say that W&M can destroy bad teams. Now it’s back to Williamsburg for Steps 2 and 3, which is to do the same thing to Elon and Bryant.
That 49-7 win over Hampton looks a little better now, too, after the scare the Pirates put into VIllanova (who should have beaten Hampton by 20+, not one touchdown).
But the important thing is to curbstomp Elon and Bryant, and then send Richmond out the CAA door with a solid kick to their collective rear end. I think that would guarantee at least a top-5 finish in a 15-team CAA (Delaware doesn’t count for this purpose, as they’re ineligible for the playoffs). Does a 15-team CAA get 5 bids? …mmmmmmmmmaybe. But I gotta agree with you, this sprt of strong finish is the only way the Tribe can even sniff at the postseason this year.