Towson University Athletics

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Football 10.21.2012

Sunday Morning Quarterback: ODU Edition

Losses are never easy, but Towson football's 31-20 loss at home on Saturday night was as painful as one can get. The loss to Old Dominion (ODU) dropped the Tigers fell to 2-2 in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) behind UNH (4-1), Villanova (4-1), Old Dominion (3-1, but not eligible for CAA Championship), James Madison (3-1) and Richmond (3-2).

Towson now must win out if the Tigers have any shot of returning to the FCS Playoffs, while another CAA Championship will be extremely tough.

The Tigers are also tough to figure out on the offensive end. They returned four starters on the offensive line, most of their key running backs and wide receivers and starting quarterback. Graduated fullback Tyler Wharton was a key loss for Towson, particularly in running situations and in play-action and bootlegs.

On Saturday night against Old Dominion, sophomore Terrance West sat out due to a death in the family.

"Terrance had an extremely severe loss in his family this week, and he was in no way shape or form ready to go," said Towson head coach Rob Ambrose.

With West, Towson had averaged 4.9 yards per carry and 199 yards rushing. He had averaged 6.7 yards per carry and had just 194 carries in 11 games last year. This season, West leads the team with 538 yards but averages 4.6 yards per carry.

After the first half, Towson had just six points, four penalties and two turnovers. After Old Dominion kicked a field goal on its opening drive, sophomore Derrick Joseph was hit by Fred Credle during the ensuing kick off and fumbled the ball. ODU recovered it at the Towson 22 and four plays later, QB Taylor Heinicke found Antonio Vaughan in the corner of the end zone for a 11-yard touchdown. Towson never really recovered from the early turnover (adding an interception later in the quarter), but certainly had chances throughout the game.

"There's no way we can give up the ball twice in the first quarter, blow red zone chances like that and expect to be a top 10 team," said Ambrose.

But this season, despite averaging 395 yards of offense per game and playing two very good FBS defenses in Kent State and LSU, Towson is averaging just 23.3 points per game.

On Saturday night, senior quarterback Grant Enders rushed for 94 yards and threw for 290 yards, while the Tigers amassed 450 yards to 404 yards for Old Dominion. Towson held Heinicke to 264 yards passing - he averages 427.3 ypg in the air - but the Monarchs were much more efficient. They converted nine of 17 third down conversions and three of four fourth downs.

"You saw dropped balls tonight that you've never seen before," said Ambrose. "A couple of those were pretty big. Once again, we got whooped up front in the red zone. It's a story I'm getting tired of hearing, and we actually made some changes because of it."

The bottom line is the offense isn't doing the same things that made it successful last season. Towson averaged 34.8 points per game, lost just seven fumbles and had 10 interceptions last season, while intercepting 13 passes and recovering 12 fumbles. This year the Tigers have forced six fumbles and picked off just one pass. That's 16 turnovers to just seven forced - not a very good ratio.

There's no rest for the weary as Towson now must prepare for Villanova, one of the most improved teams in the league. The Tigers face the Wildcats on the road next Saturday at 3:30 pm on Comcast Sports Network. This is the same VU squad that beat the Monarchs on the road last week, 38-14.

*****

Villanova improved to 6-2 on the season with an easy road win over Georgia State, 49-24. In their final year in the CAA before moving to the Sun Belt, the Panthers are 1-7 overall and 1-4 in the CAA. Villanova running back Kevin Monangai ran for 130 yards and rushed for one score to lead the Wildcats.

Elsewhere in the CAA, Delaware (5-2, 2-2) downed Rhode Island, 47-24, to move to 5-2 overall and 2-2 in the CAA. Richmond (5-3, 3-2) held on to upset James Madison, 35-29. and New Hampshire (6-2, 4-1) beat Maine on the road, 28-21.

As for non-conference teams Towson has faced this year, Kent State improved to 4-0 in the MAC and 6-1 overall, after defeating Western Michigan at home, 41-24. LSU was victorious at Texas A&M, 24-19, to improve to 7-1 overall and 3-1 in the SEC. St. Francis (Pa.) fell at home to Wagner, 31-24, to drop to 3-5 on the season.

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