Saturday, Sept. 13, William and Mary football (1-2, 1-0 CAA) was blasted by Atlantic Coast Conference foe Virginia (2-1, 0-0 ACC), falling 55-16 at Scott Stadium in Charlottesville, Va. The Cavaliers accumulated a school-record 700 yards to the Tribe’s 263 and converted 30 first downs to the Tribe’s seven. The hosts scored two touchdowns in the first quarter and four in the second quarter, taking a 42-7 lead into the break. The deluge slowed after halftime, but UVA’s 55 points are the most it has posted against the Green and Gold since 1990.
William and Mary head football coach Mike London, who led the Cavaliers from 2010 to 2015, was not greeted with a homecoming party. Virginia battered his squad from the game’s opening kickoff, flying down the field, converting a fourth-and-1 at the Tribe’s 49-yard line and claiming a 7-0 advantage courtesy of sophomore wide receiver Kameron Courtney. After a William and Mary three-and-out, the hosts struck again, breaking several Tribe tackles during a ten-play, 79-yard drive that concluded in a score from graduate student running back J’Mari Taylor.
Although the Tribe committed no turnovers and just two penalties on the day, it was hampered by execution mistakes on both sides of the ball, particularly during late downs. William and Mary converted only two of its 13 third downs and zero of its two fourth downs while allowing its opponents to go nine-for-16 on third downs and two-for-four on fourth downs, struggling to get off the field on defense. London pointed to the Tribe’s late-down miscues as a reason for its loss.
“We made some errors and things like that,” London said. “It obviously costs you if you don’t have people in the right gap, if you miss tackles, if you’re [two-for-13] on third down and you’re zero-for-two on fourth-down opportunities. So [Virginia] did everything they needed to do. We weren’t hitting on all cylinders. Hat goes off to them, we got a lot of work to do, correct, but that’s the thing. You play games, you keep score and you got to also make sure that you do the things necessary to give [yourself] an opportunity to be competitive, and we weren’t competitive in a lot of spurts.”
With four minutes remaining in the first quarter, William and Mary recorded its first tackle for loss as senior lineman Davin Dzidzienyo swallowed up Taylor on third-and-4. The following play, the Tribe forced an incompletion from Virginia graduate student quarterback Chandler Morris, taking over on downs at its own 44-yard line. However, the Green and Gold couldn’t sustain its momentum, posting its third three-and-out of the afternoon. William and Mary exited the first quarter trailing 14-0, having gained eight total yards and having moved the chains zero times.
The most impressive Tribe player of the period was graduate student linebacker Luke Banbury, who racked up eight tackles and one pass breakup over the game’s first 15 minutes. Banbury was named the Coastal Athletic Association Defensive Player of the Week after posting a career-high 16 tackles against Maine. Against Virginia, he reached half of that total in just one quarter. With 39, he now ranks third in the Football Championship Subdivision in total tackles. However, while praising Banbury’s performance, London diminished the importance of individual statistics in the face of defeat.
“I guarantee he would trade all that to be winning games right now,” London said. “He’s a good player, but we don’t necessarily look at individual stats to talk about ourselves. We look at a ‘we, ours and us’ approach to things. He’s done a good job, but we got to continue to keep making tackles.”
Early in the second quarter, Virginia extended its lead thanks to senior running back Xavier Brown, the hosts’ third different touchdown-scorer of the day, but the Tribe instantly responded. Junior quarterback Tyler Hughes dropped back in the pocket and saw graduate student receiver Deven Thompson streaking unmarked down the right sideline. The William and Mary signal-caller reared back and heaved the ball down the field. Thompson strutted 79 yards into the end zone, making the score 21-7 in favor of UVA.
Thompson, a transfer from Division II Edward Waters, leads the Tribe with 194 receiving yards on the year, with 108 of them coming against Virginia. In just three games with the program, he has emerged as William and Mary’s pre-eminent deep threat, averaging 21.6 yards a catch and scoring two touchdowns of 20 or more yards. The 6’4” Thompson is the Tribe’s tallest receiver, making him well-suited to hauling in long passes over opposing cornerbacks and safeties.
“Talk about the 50-50 ball, he goes up and gets it,” London said. “He’s got the strength. He’s got the height, the measurables to go do that. We just got to keep finding ways to make sure that we capitalize on somebody that we’ve got that’s a dynamic player. We want to create those explosive plays, and that’s part of the package, that’s part of third down, moving the chain, part of when you got to have a go-to player. He’s definitely in the mix of one of those guys, so he’ll only get better, and we’ll continue to keep trying to get him the ball to give us opportunities to win games.”
William and Mary’s short-lived resistance movement was squashed after Virginia junior running back Noah Vaughn juked Banbury in the secondary and ripped off a 54-yard rush, setting up a touchdown that restored the Cavaliers’ advantage to 21. The Tribe subsequently turned the ball over on downs at its own 34-yard line, allowing the hosts to claim seven more points. One drive later, Virginia junior receiver Suderian Harrison took a pass 56 yards, preceding yet another Cavaliers score. UVA’s explosive plays were the story of the quarter and of the game. On the afternoon, the Cavaliers had 11 rushing plays that gained ten or more yards and eight passing plays that gained 15 or more yards.
The Tribe trailed 42-7 at halftime, prompting London and Virginia head coach Tony Elliott to remove many of their first-stringers. The substitutions did not significantly alter the game’s results — on the Cavaliers’ first drive of the third quarter, UVA graduate student running back Harrison Waylee rumbled 97 yards for a touchdown, setting a school record — but sophomore quarterback Noah Brannock helped William and Mary move the ball more efficiently, as the Tribe recorded 163 yards in the second half compared to just 100 in the first half. With two minutes, 13 seconds remaining in the third quarter, Brannock scrambled into the end zone and scored his first career touchdown, cutting the Green and Gold’s deficit to 38 points. London noted the experience gained by Brannock, Hughes’ backup, could prove important in the future.
“Noah [Brannock], he did a good job operating the offense in terms of the looks and the reads,” London said. “He made some plays with his feet, threw some balls out there that were catchable and he did a good job. It’s good for him. You can’t just go through an entire season with just one guy and think that that guy is never going to get hurt and things like that. The opportunity presented itself for him to play, and I believe he made the most of it today.”
Due to the lopsided score and a smattering of injuries suffered by the Tribe, many of William and Mary’s youngest players saw the field after halftime. One of them, freshman defensive back Trevon “Speedy” Cannon, intercepted Virginia sophomore quarterback Daniel Kaelin during the third quarter, securing the only takeaway of the game for either side. Although London clearly preferred victory over anything else, he said the progression of the Tribe’s youth was a bright spot in the loss.
“Speedy’s going to be a really good player, along with a lot of young players that played today,” London said. “It’s great to see a development, but you’d rather talk about the development after a win, but it’s part of what you do. Kids come here to play, get a great education, and we’re humbled with this, and we got to do better. We got to go back to work and get ready for our next game.”
Virginia opened the fourth quarter by kicking a field goal before snapping the ball over its punter’s head, gifting William and Mary a safety. With six minutes, 32 seconds left in the game, the Cavaliers began kneeling the ball, running out the clock on their 55-16 win.
London identified “glimmers of hope” in his squad’s performance, lauding their effort in the second half, but said William and Mary was ultimately “outmanned” by Virginia. However, he deflected blame for the defeat from his players and vowed to bring the Tribe back stronger in the coming weeks.
“Nobody is pointing fingers in that locker room, and if anyone points a finger, point it at me,” London said. “I’m responsible for all this, but I guarantee you we’re going to come back with a more level-headed focus and get ready to get into common-like opponents.”
William and Mary returns home Saturday, Sept. 20, when it will take on Charleston Southern (0-3, 0-1 OVC-Big South) at Zable Stadium in Williamsburg, Va. The Buccaneers have claimed just one victory since the beginning of 2023, making them the Tribe’s weakest opponent of the non-conference slate on paper.
