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Towson To Battle Maine For First Place In CAA
By Simon Habtemariam
Saturday will mark a heavyweight matchup between the top two teams in the premier conference of the NCAA FCS. With first place on the line, the No. 14 Towson Tigers (6-2, 4-1 CAA) will travel to face the top team in the Colonial Athletic Association, the No. 7 Maine Black Bears.
The Black Bears, coached by former Maine quarterback Jack Cosgrove, sit atop the conference with six straight wins. This is a huge feat in the CAA, but winning is no stranger to Cosgrove, who is currently third among CAA coaches in career conference wins with 71.
Cosgrove trails only Villanova's Andy Talley (112) and William & Mary's Jimmye Laycock (90), both of whom have fallen to Rob Ambrose's revamped Tigers.
Ambrose suffered a humbling loss last week, as the Tigers dropped their first conference game to rival Delaware. The Blue Hens and Tigers fought a full 60-minute battle last week in raging winds and unseasonable rain and snow. Both teams were too battered to score during the fourth quarter.
"Our youth showed its face today, finally," Ambrose said. "We have not faced a challenge like this all year. We finally lost a hand.
"But we will be back in the office tomorrow. We will find our mistakes. We will fix them. We will eat it, just so it tastes really bad, smells really bad so that we remember it all week long. And we won't taste it again."
Though Ambrose and the Tigers came out swinging, mental errors and second-half turnovers allowed the Blue Hens to capitalize. During a game with five lead changes between two schools 50 miles apart from each other, energy and momentum played the biggest role in Delaware's win.
Delaware, who had not won a road game all season, had plenty of bulletin-board material -- traveling to face a program who hadn't lost a game against an FCS opponent, let alone a game at Johnny Unitas Stadium.
"We played a great football team," Delaware coach K.C. Keeler said. "Coach Ambrose will get my Coach of the Year vote. We needed a win against a good team. We needed to beat a Towson team, not a West Chester."
Freshman sensation Terrance West recorded another multi-touchdown game for the Tigers. The top scoring player in the nation, West now leads a Towson offense that ranks first in the CAA with 226 rushing yards per game.
Ambrose's team, who did not win a conference game a year ago, will face another challenge containing the Maine offense. While the Black Bears lack much of a rushing attack, senior quarterback Warren Smith ranks second in the conference in passing yards and touchdowns. Smith will be the best quarterback the Tigers have faced all season.
The Tigers and Black Bears kick off in Orono, Maine, at 12:30 p.m. Saturday.
Simon Habtemariam will be covering the Tigers for the 2011 Season. Follow Simon on Twitter @Simon_HWT and online at http://simonhabtemariam.com for live score updates, recaps and more from the gridiron.
Posted Nov. 3, 2011 |
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