The phrase "win or go home" was uttered by several players interviewed after Towson's thrilling 34-27 overtime victory over Delaware from Newark on Saturday.
That's understandable considering the fact that the Tigers went into last week's Villanova game at 3-4 overall and 2-2 in the CAA. They now find themselves at 5-4 overall and 4-2 in the CAA, following two straight victories. Did somebody mention "Turnaround Tigers"? On Saturday, it was more like "Cardiac Cats."
"This was a very big win for us," said senior safety Jordan Dangerfield. "Nobody on this team had beaten Delaware. The mindset was win or go home. We built on that all week, win or go home. Now we have to win these next two games."
This was a remarkable game, played on a day where 43 degrees felt much colder due to the wind blowing from the northwest at 15 mph. This was the first game where weather really played a factor. It played a factor in Delaware kicker Sean Baner missing two field goals, as he came into the game making 14-of-15 kicks.
Towson junior kicker D.J. Soven did not attempt a field goal but missed a rare extra point (apparently) for just his second missed extra point all season.
But this game came down to as head coach Rob Ambrose said, the "battle of the least amount of mistakes, least amount of turnovers."
The Tigers did commit six penalties for 57 yards and the defense allowed sophomore quarterback Trent Hurley to complete 25-of-36 passes for 309 yards. But they didn't commit a turnover and forced one, as junior Jordan Love picked Hurley off in overtime.
The sophomore transfer from Bowling Green was superb in the second half, leading the Blue Hens to two touchdowns and one field goal in four possessions. On the team's third possession, which took place in the fourth quarter, he drove the Blue Hens 64 yards in 12 plays wasting 5:24 off the clock, but Bader missed a 37-yard field goal attempt. Towson caught a break, down 24-20 with time left for another drive or two.
That miss allowed senior quarterback Grant Enders to leads the Tigers on another remarkable drive. Though this wasn't quite as dramatic as the one at Old Dominion last year ("4th and 29"), Enders was poised and efficient.
He took the team from the 20-yard line with 7:21 left down all the way down the field in 15 plays, leaving just 44 seconds on the clock.
The season was on the line and Enders delivered but had to convert two huge third-down plays and one fourth-down conversion. On third and three from the Delaware 47, Enders attempted a quarterback draw and lost four yards. So on fourth-and-seven, Enders once again went to his reliable target, senior Tom Ryan who got eight yards to extend the drive to the Delaware 43.
Then it was Terrance West time. The sophomore rumbled 24 yards to the Delaware 19. After an Enders six-yard run and West's 12-yard scamper, the Tigers had first-and-goal at the Delaware one with less than two minutes left. West appeared to stretch out for the Tigers and cross the plane, but there was no touchdown signal.
Ambrose was forced to use two timeouts in that sequence. After calling their first timeout after West was stopped on first down, West then lost a yard. Towson called timeout with 49 seconds left to prepare for third and goal at the two.
"I thought we were in (on West's first-down run), but it really wasn't a bad thing when we weren't," said Ambrose. "The conversation between my brother (QB coach Jared) and I was that I didn't want too much time left for them. They changed the defensive front and we blew a block on second down. So we lost a couple of yards, but it didn't hurt because the clock was still running. I let it run a little bit and I called a timeout because then there were conversations about what we wanted to really do. We changed the play three times due to their defensive alignments. Once they changed the front, I knew we were going to throw it."
The Tigers went with the I-formation on third-and-two, with West and freshman fullback Emmanuel Holder in the backfield. Enders went play-action, faked a hand-off to West and threw the ball to an open Holder in the end zone, who was next to senior tight end Cory Kirby, with no Delaware defender near him. Towson took the lead by three with 44 seconds left, 27-24.
"We thought we were in on that T-West run," said Enders. "We had great protection on that last drive. The receivers made plays. Tom (Ryan) made great plays. Coach Jared and Coach Ambrose made great calls."
Delaware answered quickly as Hurley led his team, against the wind, in five plays down the field which took just 40 seconds. Baner nailed a 40-yard field goal into the wind to force overtime.
Towson had the ball first and once again, it was West, rushing three times for 12 yards. Enders had a seven-yard pass to senior Gerard Sheppard which moved the ball from the Delaware 25 to their six-yard line. One first-and-goal at the six, Enders rushed for three yards and then threw an incomplete pass to Ryan. On third-and-goal, West broke outside to the left corner and ran it in to give the Tigers a 34-27 lead.
Delaware was given the ball at the Towson 25 on the next possession but failed to move the ball on four straight downs. When Hurley's pass was picked off by Love at the Towson one-yard line, the entire Towson team ran out on the field.
Enders didn't put up historic numbers, completing 21-of-26 for 187 yards with two touchdowns and rushed for 41 yards. But the "CAA's Offensive Player of the Week" was calm and collected, leading his team to drives that took 8:42, 6:18 and 6:37 off the clock.
"In this league, and any league, as the quarterback goes, so goes your team," said Ambrose. "We changed the play three times late in the game and he knew exactly why it was being changed. He didn't blink. He knew exactly what we were trying to do and why, and he exuded confidence and thus you have a confident offense."
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Towson sits at 4-2 in the CAA, behind New Hampshire (6-1), James Madison (5-1) and *Old Dominon (5-1) (*-not eligible for CAA title.) Villanova, who was off this week and Richmond are tied with Towson at 4-2.
The Tigers have to win out to have an opportunity to win the CAA title or at least earn an at-large bid. They take on Rhode Island (0-9, 0-6 CAA) this Saturday at home at 3:30pm. The Rams fell at Richmond on Saturday, 39-0.
Towson needs to defeat the URI Rams next week and then New Hampshire on the road the following week to have any shot at returning to postseason. The Wildcats came back to defeat William & Mary at home, 28-25 on Saturday. They are a half-game ahead of James Madison, who defeated Maine on the road, 31-7.
The Dukes have a tough road ahead, but have the edge on the Tigers in the CAA Championship race with their earlier win (13-10) on Oct. 6. JMU takes on Villanova on the road next week and then meets Old Dominion at home in their season finale.
The two FBS non-conference teams the Tigers faced early in the season are having excellent years. Kent State improved to 8-1 on the season and 5-0 in the MAC with a victory over Akron, 35-24. LSU blew a 17-14 fourth quarter lead at home to #1 Alabama, 21-17 to fall to 7-2 on the season and 3-2 in the SEC.
