Record-setting special teams performance keeps playoff hopes alive
“Was that the greatest special teams game in NCAA history?” a reporter asked William and Mary head football coach Mike London after the Tribe’s (5-4, 4-2 CAA) 37-7 win over Albany (1-8, 0-5 CAA) Saturday, Nov. 1, at Zable Stadium in Williamsburg, Va. “I’ll tell you what!” a smiling London replied, weighing the question.
Although the Tribe coach ultimately did not go that far, instead describing his team’s performance as “really significant and really neat to watch,” no one would have faulted him for speaking in absolutes. William and Mary dominated its opponent in the third phase, using a fake field goal to score the game’s opening touchdown before blocking three Albany punts for safeties. At the end of the first quarter, sophomore running back Josh Miller burst past a mass of Great Danes and swatted the ball through the back of the end zone. On the visitors’ next drive, sophomore linebacker Stephon Hicks did the same. Midway through the third quarter, freshman linebacker Xavier Dillard improbably repeated the feat.
According to Hicks, who is now tied for the Football Championship Subdivision lead in blocked kicks with three, William and Mary’s punt coverage unit did nothing out of the ordinary, simply obeying the playmaking philosophy preached by Tribe special teams coordinator Darryl Blackstock.
“They were back at the one [yard line], the two [yard line], so we just wanted to come after it,” said Hicks. “They had a bunch of open lanes, and as long as everybody does their job, somebody’s gonna come free.”
When asked why Albany failed to adjust its game plan after the first block, Hicks did not have an answer.
“I thought they would make a change,” Hicks said. “But they didn’t.”
All the better for the Tribe, which accumulated six points from safeties, a mark nearly high enough to win the game on its own — only a garbage-time touchdown prevented the Great Danes from being shut out. William and Mary’s three blocked punts and three safeties were both one shy of tying FCS single-game records.
The blowout took shape during the Tribe’s first drive of the afternoon, when London and offensive coordinator Winston October caught the Great Danes off guard with a gutsy red zone playcall. After Albany won the toss and elected to defer, William and Mary mounted a methodical campaign down the field, a 13-yard rush by junior quarterback Tyler Hughes carrying the Green and Gold deep into opposing territory. However, graduate student running back Tariq Sims was swallowed in the backfield on second and goal, a negative play that eventually forced the Tribe to settle for a field goal — or so it seemed.
Redshirt freshman holder Joey Tomasso received the snap at the 12-yard line, but he did not tee the ball up for graduate student kicker Keegan Shackford. Instead, Tomasso hit the ground running, dashing around a sea of blockers for a William and Mary touchdown. Although London was secretive about what exactly prompted him to call the fake, he indicated that the Tribe had exploited a weakness it identified on film.
“[Albany] just so happened to line up in a formation we practiced against,” London said. “To get down that close and have first downs to continue on and then not have a chance to score — I just thought, ‘We’re already down there.’”
The Great Danes responded with a productive drive of their own, but it ended in a missed field goal so errant as to bounce onto the Zable Stadium track. From there, the onslaught began. Although the Tribe’s offense was not the sharpest in the late first and early second quarters, posting three total points across three drives, Albany’s attack was even less potent. After giving up two safeties, the Great Danes punted, leading to a 21-yard touchdown by Tribe redshirt freshman receiver Armon Wright, and threw an interception at their own 39-yard line, resulting in a score from sophomore tight end Jackson Blee. Another Albany punt gave the Tribe the chance to extend its 28-0 lead, but Shackford could not convert a 48-yard field goal attempt as the clock ran out on the first half.
William and Mary is accustomed to playing from behind, falling into a deficit against its previous four opponents. However, it was never threatened by the Great Danes. London said going into halftime with an advantage allowed the Tribe to adopt a more relaxed posture, dissecting Albany’s scheme rather than frantically playing catch-up.
“[A lead] makes it a lot easier to see how the game is going to be played and what they’re going to do to try and catch up,” London said. “You know, you have coaches that are in the box. You have technology that allows you to see on an iPad what they’re doing. You have a chance for coaches to communicate with each other: ‘Let’s do this again, because they’re continuing to stay in the same look.’”
Like Hicks, London could not identify a reason as to why the Great Danes made the same special teams mistake three times.
“That’s what kind of surprised me a little bit, that we lined up in the same way and [Hicks] and other guys kept getting back there to block the kicks,” London said. “You know, they didn’t change, and we still kept doing what we were going to do.”
The visitors failed to convert a fourth down on their first drive of the second half, and the last of their kicking blunders all but sealed William and Mary’s victory. Albany senior kicker/punter Owen Lawson desperately tried to ward off the Green and Gold rushers, madly waving his blockers around before receiving the snap, but to no avail. After Dillard staked the Tribe to a 30-0 advantage, Sims picked up 43 yards on a trick play, leading to a touchdown from graduate student running back Rashad Raymond that marked William and Mary’s final points of the afternoon. Following an uneventful fourth quarter, the Green and Gold improved to 5-0 at home with a 37-7 victory.
On offense, the Tribe did what it needed to: Hughes completed 25 of 38 passes for 245 yards and a touchdown, Raymond ran for 76 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries and seven different Tribe wideouts finished with double-digit receiving yards. On defense, the Tribe dominated. Albany senior quarterback Jack Shields was just nine for 30 through the air, taking two sacks and throwing a pick to freshman defensive back Trevon Cannon. The Great Danes were slightly more efficient on the ground, but that only netted them 99 rushing yards, 29 of which came in the fourth quarter.
William and Mary maintains its hopes of making the FCS playoffs. Although the Tribe lost to New Hampshire (5-4, 3-2 CAA) last week and, sitting at fifth in the CAA, has little hope of winning a conference title, an at-large bid could be in reach if London’s squad wins out. The Green and Gold must beat Campbell (2-7, 2-3 CAA) and Hampton (2-7, 0-5 CAA) on the road before knocking off Richmond (5-4, 2-3 Patriot) at home. Its postseason fate could be decided by the Capital Cup’s result.
First, though, William and Mary has to make it past Campbell Saturday, Nov. 8, at Barker-Lane Stadium in Buies Creek, N.C. London praised the Fighting Camels, calling their offensive and defensive lines “big” and “athletic,” and said the Tribe needs to pull out a win in order to “realize any of the goals or the opportunities that may be in front of us.”
