PHILADELPHIA REGION COLLEGE FOOTBALL PREVIEW
Rock Hoffman
Widener University wide receiver Anthony Davis leads the Pride into Glassboro to take on Rowan Friday night.BY ROCK HOFFMAN
After a first week of the college football season that saw one Philadelphia-region team pull an upset and another nearly do so, week two has the Division II and III teams joining the fun.
It starts Friday night when Rowan, ranked 15th in Division III, will host Widener at Coach Richard Wackar Stadium at 7.
Despite sitting only 20 miles from each other, this will be just the second meeting ever between two of the more successful Division III programs – Rowan topped the Pride 41-0 in 2007 in the only other match. The Profs are coming off a 9-3 season that saw them fall in the second round of the playoffs to Mary Hardin Baylor. Widener was 6-4 a year ago and will be playing under their third head coach in as many years as Mike Kelly takes over for Bobby Acosta, who left to take a job at Syracuse.
While Rowan has eight starters back on each side of the ball and Widener returns six players who made all conference in 2013 including a pair of defensive linemen and quarterback Seth Klein, who was the MAC Offensive Rookie of the Year; each team will feature a marquee player on offense either of whom is worth the price of admission.
For Widener, it’s wide receiver Anthony Davis, who was named a Preseason All-American by four different organizations. In 2013, he had 91 catches for 1056 yards and 10 touchdowns. Rowan running back Wit Marcelin had 1438 yards and 11 touchdowns on the ground while adding 118 yards and one score receiving.
Also Friday night in the Garden State, Ursinus visits The College of New Jersey for a 7 PM kickoff in Ewing at Lions Stadium. The Bears are looking for a school-first sixth straight winning season. TCNJ is trying to avenge a 24-20 loss to the Bears at the start of last season.
On Saturday 1 PM at Lincoln Financial Field, Temple has their home opener against Navy. The Owls (1-0) will be looking to build on their improbable 37-7 win over Vanderbilt. Navy (0-1) gave Ohio State all they wanted before ultimately submitting 34-17. The Midshipmen’s option-attack gashed the Buckeyes defense for 370 yards on the ground. “That’s always going to be an issue when there’s a big win,” said Owls’ head coach Matt Rhule when asked if he was worried about a letdown, “but they know this is a real good team. It might be the best team we face all year.”
After having a chance to win in regulation before falling in two overtimes to Syracuse 27-26, Villanova hosts Fordham at 3:30 Saturday afternoon. In a similar situation last season the Wildcats suffered a close loss to Boston College and then traveled to face the Rams, Wildcats head coach Andy Talley was concerned that his team wouldn’t be fully focused for the game. It turned out he was right, the ‘Cats committed five turnovers and lost 27-24 to start the season 0-2. This year, Talley doesn’t have the same feeling about his 7th ranked team. “They have our attention,” said Talley referring to the 10th ranked Rams, “our players know who we’re playing and what we’re up against.”
Saturday evening Delaware hosts Delaware State in the Battle for the First State Cup. Both teams are looking for their first win. Delaware lost to Pitt 62-0 while the Hornets fell 52-21 at Monmouth. Keeping it in Delaware, No.5 Wesley hosts No. 22 Thomas More in the season opener for both teams. It’s a game that will feature two of the top three all-time winningest Division III programs by win percentage. Thomas More is first with a .706 winning percentage while the Wolverines are third with .697.
Saturday afternoon at 1, Delaware Valley opens the season at Montclair State. It will the head coaching debut for Duke Greco, who took the reigns of the program from Jim Clements. Clements is now the head coach at Kutztown University. Perhaps there is nobody better suited to run the Aggies program than Greco, he played, graduated from and spent 11 years there as an assistant coach. For the last eight seasons, he has been the assistant head coach and offensive coordinator. To show how things have come full circle, the last time Del Val played Montclair was in 2000 and it was Greco’s first career start at quarterback.
“The biggest transition has been dealing with the stuff off the field,” Greco said. “The kids have helped me, knowing that I’ve been here and I’m staying here with them has been a big help for me.”
Fresh off a deep run in the Division II playoff, West Chester opens the season ranked 11th and playing at the University of New Haven. Golden Rams head coach Bill Zwaan summed up how many coaches feel as they nervously enter a new season without having as much practice as they would like because of NCAA mandated rules.
“It’s really hard to put the kids under the kind of pressure you want to put them under in camp and see how they respond,” he said. “It’s another thing we’re all worried about as coaches.”
Email Rock Hoffman at rock@footballstories.com
