TOWSON, Md. - At 2-0, Towson is starting to turn people into believers.
Right now, the Tigers sit alone in first place in the CAA standings. Of course, the Tigers and Villanova were the only teams to play conference games in the first two weeks of the season. But, it's certainly nice to see Towson sitting atop the league when they were picked last in the preseason poll.
Andy Talley has just about seen it all in his 26 years as head coach at Villanova. He won an FCS National Championship two seasons ago and last year, his Wildcats reached the national semifinals.
The Wildcats dominated the Tigers in 2009 and 2010, winning by a combined score of 92-14. While his team had struggled in their opener against Temple and he was playing with 17 first-year players, there's no way he could have envisioned his team losing by 31-10 to the Tigers on Saturday night. So, he was impressed with what he saw.
"Obviously I like Towson's team very much," said Talley. "I think three years of rebuilding is finally starting to pay off. I like their quarterback (Grant Enders) a lot. I think they are ready to compete very well in the CAA. I'm impressed with them."
Talley wasn't impressed with his own team's play, saying "We are not ready to compete in the CAA. We are turning the ball over.
"I said if we turned it over three or four times against Towson, we would get beat pretty good," Coach Talley added. "Assuming Towson is a nice team in the CAA, you can't compete and play that way with them."
Talley also went on to say, "Seeing a team like Towson that is more experienced and a team like ours that is playing with 17 first-year players, it's just going to take some time. And that's kind of where we are."
Villanova will face Monmouth at home this week while the Tigers are on a bye week. After dominating for the last four years and compiling a 40-13 record, the Wildcats are going to face some adversity this season with such a young squad. Towson Coach Rob Ambrose knows all about the "R" word (rebuild).
"After spending a good 6-8 months really evaluating what this program was before I got here, I knew it was going to take a lot of building," said Ambrose Saturday night. "I remember saying to somebody that if we didn't start winning a couple of games by Year 3, I hope we were going to have a good furniture budget because I was going to break some stuff.
"I looked back at the history of teams from this league and some of them have been playing football since the 1800s," Ambrose added. "We've been playing since around 1970. Villanova is a historical program. Just to be uttered in the same breath with them fills you with respect. It's another block in the building project. This one just feels a lot better."
Around the CAA
Let's take a look at how the CAA fared this week in non-conference play. The big game featured Old Dominion against Georgia State from the Georgia Dome. Old Dominion is the newest member of the CAA and Georgia State will join the league next season. The Monarchs won this game handily, 40-17, as Colby Goodwyn ran for 190 yards and a touchdown.
On October 15, the Monarchs will have their first Homecoming game in the CAA and the opponent will be none other than the Towson Tigers.
In other CAA action, New Hampshire needed overtime to defeat Lehigh on the road, 48-41 while William & Mary routed VMI on the road, 24-7. Maine gave Pittsburgh all they could handle before dropping a 35-29 decision at Heinz Field.
Rhode Island also faced a Big East opponent in Syracuse, losing 21-14 at the Carrier Dome while Delaware beat Division II West Chester, 28-17 at home. James Madison held on to defeat Central Connecticut at home, 14-9, in front of a school-record crowd of over 25,000 fans and Richmond defeated Wagner at home, 21-6.
