Hampton starts on the road in I-AA playoffs
Mid Eastern Athletic Conference football champion Hampton University has a short trip to Williamsburg, Va., Saturday (Nov. 27) at 12 noon to take on the College of William & Mary in the first round of the 2004 NCAA Division I-AA Football playoffs.
Hampton's Pirates and the Tribe of William & Mary are two of the 16 teams that will vie for the I-AA championship which will be held on Friday, Dec. 17 in Chattanooga, Tn. The championship field was announced on Sunday.
Hampton earned an automatic bid to the playoffs by winning the
MEAC title with a league record of 6-1. The Pirates finished 10-1 overall. The
same can be said for the Tribe of William & Mary, as they won the Atlantic 10
automatic bid by capturing a share of the title with a win over Richmond
Saturday. The Tribe holds a 9-2 overall record and will host next Saturday's game as the
#3 seed in the playoffs.
Hampton, in effect, is ranked 13th in the 16-team playoff field. Gateway Conference champion Southern Illinois (10-1) is the top seed in the playoffs while 9-2 Furman, co-champion of the Southern Conference, is the second seed.
Zable Stadium on the campus of William & Mary will be the site of the third meeting of the two schools separated by just 20 miles. They last met on October 31, 1998 at Hampton with W&M prevailing in a close, 41-34 contest. The only other meeting was on August 30, 1997 at W&M with the Tribe winning 31-6.
William & Mary opened its 2004 season with a tough 49-38 loss to Div. I ACC-member North Carolina and suffered its only other loss to defending I-AA champ Delaware, another A-10 playoff participant, 31-28 on Oct. 30. The A-10, the highest rated I-AA conference in the Sagarin rankings, placed four teams (the others, James Madison and New Hampshire) in the playoff field.
The Tribe is led by senior QB Lang Campbell, who has completed 66% of his passes (215 of 326) while throwing for 3,037 yards and 21 TDs with an astounding one interception. Dominique Thompson is his leading target, hauling in 55 receptions for 1,186 yards, averaging 21.6 yards per catch with 10 TDs. The Tribe offense averages 33.3 points per game.
OTHER I-AA PLAYOFF MATCHUPS At Carbondale, ILL E. Washington (8-3) at No. 1 S. Illinois (10-1) At Huntsville, TX W. Kentucky (9-2) at Sam Houston State (9-2) At Missoula, MONT. Northwestern St. (8-3) at Montana (9-2) At Statesboro, GA (6 p.m. Eastern on ESPN 2) N. Hampshire (9-2) at No. 4 Ga. Southern (9-2) At Newark, DE (Time TBD on CSTV) Lafayette (8-3) at Delaware (8-3) At Bethlehem, PA James Madison (9-2) at Lehigh (9-2) At Greenville, SC Jacksonville State (9-1) at No. 2 Furman (9-2) |
Defensively, the Tribe surrenders 22.9 points and 155 rushing yards per game.
Those numbers appear Taylor-made (as in Hampton head coach Joy Taylor) for a Hampton offense that scores at a 44.4 point per game clip and averages 235 rushing yards per contest. Alonzo Coleman (1,100 yards) and Ardell Daniels (1,046 yards) are the first Hampton duo to reach 1,000 rushing yards in the same season and have combined for 27 touchdowns (13 Coleman, 14 Daniels).
The Pirates also have weapons in wide receiver/kick returners Jerome Mathis and Marquay McDaniel. Mathis, an all-American sprinter on the Hampton track team, has returned four kickoffs for touchdowns and leads the MEAC and all of I-AA averaging 34.4 yards per kickoff return. As a receiver Mathis averages 29.0 yards on 24 receptions and has scored another seven TDs. McDaniel leads the MEAC and is third in the nation in punt returns averaging 17 yards per return with two touchdowns.
Hampton was only allotted a small number of tickets for the game. Tickets are available by calling the William & Mary ticket office at (757) 221-3340. Ticket prices are as follows: $20 for sideline seats; $17 for end zone seats; $5 for William & Mary students. Tickets will go on sale Monday morning at 10 a.m. Ticket office hours are from 10 a.m. through 5 p.m. including Thanksgiving Day.
© 2004 Azeez Communications, Inc.