Under .500 for the first time since 2021, William and Mary football (0-1, 0-0 CAA) opens conference play this weekend in search of its first win of the campaign.
Saturday, Sept. 6, the Tribe will make its Zable Stadium debut against Maine (0-1, 0-0 CAA), an opponent it faces only occasionally. Despite being two of the oldest programs in the Coastal Athletic Association, William and Mary and Maine have played just 17 times in history, with the Green and Gold holding a slight 9-8 advantage in the series. The teams last met in 2023, when the Tribe crushed the Black Bears 28-3 in Williamsburg, holding them to just 138 offensive yards; before that, however, Maine had defeated William and Mary in six of the previous seven meetings.
Maine impressively opened its season on the road against Football Bowl Subdivision foe Liberty (1-0, 0-0 Conference USA). The hosts drove down to the Black Bears’ eight-yard line minutes after kickoff, but as the game progressed, the visitors stifled one Liberty drive after another. The tension in Lynchburg, Va.’s Arthur L. Williams Stadium soon became palpable; going into the fourth quarter, the scoreboard read 7-7, with Maine on the verge of a historic upset. Although the Black Bears ultimately could not keep their opponents out of the end zone during the final period, allowing three Liberty touchdowns in ten minutes and a loss of 28-7, William and Mary head coach Mike London lauded Maine’s resilience. He made clear that the Tribe must display a heightened attention to detail to beat the Black Bears.
“I thought they did a really good job of, if you talk about playing ping-pong back and forth, just hanging in there, making those plays that are necessary, responding back to plays that Liberty may have gotten,” London said. “That’s part of the game. That’s how you play the game, and I think they did a really good job at doing that. So we’re going to have to make sure we’re on point and more detailed in how we go about doing our things as well.”
Despite London’s praise, Maine’s recent history is not illustrious. After a fantastic 2018 season in which they made the Football Championship Subdivision semifinals, the Black Bears’ coach, Joe Harasymiak, took an assistant job at Minnesota. His replacement, Nick Charlton, led Maine to a .500 conference record over three years before filling Connecticut’s offensive coordinator vacancy. Under the incumbent Jordan Stevens, hired in 2022, the Black Bears posted consecutive 2-9 records before jumping to 5-7 in 2024.
According to Travis Lazarczyk, who covers the team for the Portland Press Herald, Maine’s turnaround was sparked by an improved pass rush, which recorded 23 sacks in 2024 after 14 the year prior, and the addition of Mercer transfer quarterback Carter Peevy, who threw for 2,422 yards, ranking top four in the CAA in passing yards per game.
“His skillset just seemed to gel with the receivers and the rest of the weapons they had at the time,” Lazarczyk said.
Now a graduate student, Peevy was named a preseason All-CAA honorable mention; however, he was ineffective against Liberty, completing 13 of his 31 pass attempts for 132 yards and an interception. The Black Bears remained competitive thanks to their running back room, which produced 184 yards on 32 carries. Over the offseason, Maine fortified the unit and the offense as a whole using a unique strategy: scouring the lower levels of college football for talent instead of accumulating FBS down-transfers. It was by this method that the team acquired junior running back Sincere Baines, who rushed for 118 yards during the season opener, scoring Maine’s only points of the game with a 77-yard touchdown run.
“They brought in guys through the transfer portal, but it’s not guys you would expect to see [at FCS schools],” Lazarczyk said. “A lot of times at FCS schools, you get guys coming from FBS programs that just weren’t getting a lot of playing time or, for whatever reason, it didn’t work out, so they transferred to an FCS program. Maine got some of those — [graduate student] wide receiver Scott Woods transferred over from Harvard, and he had a solid game last week at Liberty — but running back Sincere Baines came out of UNC Pembroke, which is a Division II school. He ran really well down at Liberty.”
London singled out Peevy and Baines as the fulcrums of the Maine offense and the players to which William and Mary is paying special attention.
“The running back, Baines, obviously he’s got that speed to take it and go,” London said. “The quarterback, he does a great job as well. He can run the ball. So a very talented, very athletic team coming here, back to Virginia. [We] have a lot of respect for their team and how hard they play.”
According to Lazarczyk, Maine will deploy a balanced attack against William and Mary, giving Baines plenty of touches while allowing Peavy to drop back about 30 times and run the ball at his discretion. The Black Bears will also lean on sophomore running back Rashawn Marshall, a veteran wide receiver group and an offensive line with plenty of experience under its belt.
“Marshall did pretty well himself last week,” Lazarczyk said. “11 carries for 76 yards, averaged almost seven yards a carry. Peevy will run the ball a little bit — he ran nine times last week. They do have a couple experienced receivers in [graduate student] Molayo Irefin and [senior] Trevin Ewing to go along with Woods, who kind of jumped in immediately, but I think Baines will definitely see a lot of touches.”
“Maine likes to bring in their own offensive linemen from high school and develop them,” he added. “They’ve seemed to have been able to do that. They’ve had stability there this year, with all five of the starting linemen having seen significant playing time last year.”
Maine’s defense was the highlight of last week, holding a typically strong Liberty offense to 5.56 yards per play and 194 rushing yards and allowing the Flames to score seven points through three quarters. The unit, which London describes as “highly skilled” and “athletic,” boasts significant talent in its back seven, including graduate student linebacker Christian Thomas, redshirt sophomore safety Devin Vaught and redshirt junior cornerback Jamaree Gibson, all of whom were selected as preseason All-CAA honorable mentions.
“For three quarters, the defense played outstanding,” Lazarczyk said. “They were tied 7-7 with a team that’s been getting AP Top 25 votes. Going into the fourth quarter, they just kind of wore out, giving up 21 unanswered points in the fourth to lose that game 28-7. But linebacker Christian Thomas had 15 tackles, ten solo. Safety Devin Vaught had nine tackles, eight solo. They were the standouts on defense. Corner Jamaree Gibson had a decent game with six tackles. So, defensively, I think they got to be happy that they played so well for three quarters. They just need to finish a game, which probably will not be easy at William and Mary.”
In Lazarczyk’s estimation, Maine will show the Tribe an aggressive defensive look, bothering quarterback Tyler Hughes with its improved pass rush and pressing William and Mary receivers with its capable secondary. The Tribe is capable of navigating the Black Bears’ pressure; it displayed many moments of offensive promise during its 23-21 loss to Furman (1-0, 0-0 Southern), accumulating 435 yards to its opponents’ 252 and mounting two long touchdown drives in the third quarter. However, it must cut out the sloppy play and unforced errors — two botched field goals and a pick-six — that doomed it in the opener.
William and Mary’s defense stifled the ground game of Furman, a traditionally strong running team, limiting the Paladins to just 101 rushing yards. However, the Tribe has not yet seen a back as explosive and as speedy as Baines, and Peevy likely marks an upgrade at the quarterback position compared to Furman signal-caller Trey Hedden, who threw for just 179 yards last week. Maine will present the Tribe with a challenge that could determine the direction of William and Mary’s season.
