Williamsburg - The sixth-ranked College of William and Mary and 11th-ranked Hampton open the 2004 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship with their Saturday afternoon contest at Zable Stadium. The Tribe, winner's of four-straight, captured the Atlantic 10's automatic bid into the 16-team playoff field as co-champions, while the Pirates, champions of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, were also automatic qualifiers after posting a 10-1 mark in the regular season, 6-1 in the MEAC. Kickoff is set for 12 p.m.

Site
Cary Field at Zable Stadium (12,259, natural grass)

On The Air
Radio - The Tribe Football Radio Network will broadcast today's game across the Commonwealth of Virginia. The veteran broadcast duo of Jay Colley (play-by-play) and Bob Sheeran (color) will call the action. Stretching over 150 miles across Virginia, the William and Mary radio network originates from its flagship station, WMBG 740 AM in Williamsburg, and can be heard on WSRV 92.3 FM in Williamsburg, WBRG 1050 AM in Lynchburg, WTOX 1480 AM in Richmond. The game can also be heard on TribeAthletics.com Listen Live!

Media Room
NCAA Division I-AA Scoreboard

W&M Notes (PDF)
A10 Weekly Update( PDF)
MEAC Weekly Update (PDF)
Hampton on the web

Weather Forecast
Click Here for Saturday's weather forecast from Intellicast.

First and 10
The sixth-ranked College of William and Mary hosts 11th-ranked Hampton in the first round of the NCAA Division I-AA Playoffs Saturday at 12 p.m. It marks the Tribe's first home playoff game since a first-round matchup with Jackson State in 1996, and W&M's first appearance in the tournament since 2001. Hampton last appeared in the NCAA playoffs in 1998. The College captured a piece of the Atlantic 10 Championship last weekend and the league's automatic bid with a 38-14 win over Richmond, while the Pirates, Champions of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, finished their regular season with a 58-7 victory at Savannah State.

The Last Meeting
#12 William and Mary 41, #2 Hampton 34
HAMPTON, VA (10/31/98) - Senior All-American quarterback Mike Cook threw a 65-yard touchdown pass to sophomore wide receiver Chris Rosier with 2:53 remaining to lift 12th-ranked William and Mary over previously unbeated and second-ranked Hampton, 41-34, at Armstrong Stadium in Hampton.

It was the third time Cook and Rosier connected on scoring passes, as Cook completed 21 of 37 attempts for 339 yards and three touchdowns. Rosier hauled in seven catches for 150 yards and established a career-high for touchdown receptions.

The game-winning strike came just 33 seconds after the Pirates' Montrell Coley, cousin of current Triber RB Delmus Coley, knotted the score at 34-34 with a five-yard TD run, his second of the game.

Sophomore tailback Hameen Ali carried 25 times for 133 yards and two touchdowns to pace the Tribe ground attack, and four different players recorded an interception, as W&M overcame 505 yards of total offense by Hampton.

Pirates' quarterback Roy Johnson threw for 353 and two TDs, including an 80-yard scoring strike to wide receiver Warren Broughton in the second quarter, but was interceted by the Tribe's Mike Beverly, Jimmy Cerminaro, Komlan Lonergan and Hasani Cameron.

W&M Last Week
#6 W&M 38, Richmond 14
WILLIAMSBURG, VA (11/20/04) - All-American and Payton Award candidate, senior quarterback Lang Campbell threw for a school-record 174 yards and three touchdowns in the third quarter, as sixth-ranked William and Mary defeated archrival Richmond, 38-14, in the 114th meeting between the schools.

With the victory, the Tribe earned a share of the Atlantic 10 Conference Championship and secured the league's automatic bid to the NCAA I-AA Playoffs.

The Tribe reeled off 24 straight points in the third period to turn a 14-point halftime lead into a 38-0 advantage heading into the final quarter.

Campbell completed 21 of 28 passes for 291 yards and four touchdowns, which matched his career-high set earlier this season at Delaware. His three third-quarter TD passes matched a W&M single-quarter record, also set at Delaware this season.

Junior tight end Adam Bratton caught two of Campbell's scoring passes in the third, and redshirt freshman Joe Nicholas pulled in his thid touchdown reception of the season in the frame.

Junior defensive end Jonas Watson led an inspired defensive effort for the Tribe, sacking UR quarterback Stacy Tutt twice. W&M recorded five sacks in the game and limited the Spiders to 150 yards through the air.

With 291 passing yards, Campbell established a W&M 11-game, regular season record with 3,037 passing yards, while also setting an 11-game, regular season record for total offense (3,238).

HU Last Week
Hampton 58, Savannah State 7
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) -- Ardell Daniels ran for 191 yards and four touchdowns to lead Hampton University to a 58-7 rout of Savannah State on Saturday.

The Pirates (10-1), who clinched a berth in the Division I-AA playoffs by beating North Carolina A&T last week, bolted to a 27-0 lead in the first 12 minutes of the game.

Savannah State's (2-8) only score came on a 48-yard pass from Clyde Tullis to Bryant Baynes early in the second quarter, cutting Hampton's lead to 34-7.

The Pirates wasted no time getting that touchdown back when Jerome Mathis returned the ensuing kickoff 80 yards for a score.

Daniels, who had 26 carries, scored on runs of 13, 2, 11 and 7 yards.

Alonzo Coleman added 120 yards on 13 carries, including a 25-yard scoring run in the third quarter.

Calvin Bannister returned a fumble 32 yards for another Pirate touchdown and Shepherd Prince connected with Jerome Mathis on a 46-yard scoring pass. Andrew Paterini closed the scoring with 2:20 to play with a 37-yard field goal.

The Coaches
W&M: Jimmye Laycock (W&M, 1970)
Record at W&M: 168-112-2 (25th year)
Career Record: same
All-time vs. HU: 2-0

HU: Joe Taylor
Record at HU: 109-40-1 (13th year)
Career Record: 170-69-4 (22nd year)
All-time vs. W&M: 0-2

Coach Laycock

Silver Linings: Jimmye Laycock is in his 25th season as the Tribe's head coach. The school's all-time winningest coach, Laycock has compiled a 168-112-2 career record at W&M. He ranks fourth on the A-10 career victories lists (65). W&M will make its ninth postseason appearance under Laycock on Saturday, and the Tribe has now posted winning ledgers in 18 of the past 22 seasons.

Good Company: Tribe head coach Jimmye Laycock, in his 25th season on the W&M sidelines, ranks third among all current Division I-A and Division I-AA head coaches in terms of most years at their current school. The two coaches ahead of Laycock are Penn State's Joe Paterno (37 years) and Florida State's Bobby Bowden (26 years).

Tribe Tidbits
Postseason History: In earning the Atlantic 10 Conference's automatic bid, and the NCAA's No. 3 seed, the Tribe will be making its seventh appearance in the NCAA I-AA Playoffs. The Tribe has played eight total games in its six previous visits (all during head coach Jimmye Laycock's tenure), advancing to the quarterfinals on two occasions. The Tribe has won two of the eight games, including its last two home games (1996 and 1990).

The last time W&M hosted a home game in the playoffs was after the 1996 season, which also saw the College run off a 9-2 regular season record and capture the conference's automatic bid. The Southwestern Athletic Conference's Jackson State was the opponent on that afternoon, which saw the Tribe jump out to an early lead and eventually capture a decisive 45-6 win.

The Tribe is 2-1, all-time, in playoff contests at Zable. The following is a complete list the Tribe's home playoff contests.

1986 - Delaware, L 51-17; 1990 - UMass, W 38-0; 1996 - Jackson St., W 46-6

Since the Tribe is a seeded team, and has submitted bids to host for the first three rounds, the squad is assured a second home game, should it prevail on Saturday, vs. the Pirates. A win would bring the College its first quarterfinal home game in school history.

Against the Pirates: Saturday's game with Hampton will mark the biggest stage the young series between the two Tidewater powers has seen since the teams first met in the season opener of the 1997 season. The College has prevailed in both contests, but the last meeting (in 1998) came down to the wire as a then-second ranked Pirates squad was not defeated until W&M safety Komlan Lonergan pulled down an interception in the end zone with less than a minute remaining to secure a 41-34 Tribe win.

With less than forty minutes of interstate separating the two campuses, bragging rights for the Peninsula hang in the balance. When the Tribe started the 1997 season off with a 31-6 win over Hampton, the Pirates proceeded to rip off 10-consecutive wins to end that year and earn its first NCAA Division I-AA playoff bid. Then, HU started its 1998 season with another seven-straight wins and was ranked second nationally before the Tribe visited the Hampton campus and ended the run with the cliff-hanger victory. Despite the setback to the College, the Pirates were still counted among the nation's elite teams and eventually made a visit to the NCAA Playoffs that season as well.

Certainly, a series that is just two games old doesn't really lend itself much towards establishing trends, streaks or such, especially when the last meeting came a full seven years ago, but since its all there is, I present the following:

• In two games vs. Hampton, the Tribe has thrown for 580 yards and six TDs, completing 41 of 69 attempts (.600). Included in those 41 completions are six touchdown passes, against just one INT (former Tribe All-American Mike Cook is responsible for the majority of the numbers). Conversely, the Pirates have thrown seven interceptions over the two meetings, vs. just two scoring passes. But, the squad had completed 46 of 85 total attempts (.541) for 543 yards.
• Speaking of turnovers, Hampton committed nine in the two games, vs. just three total for the College.
• The Tribe has scored an average of 36 points in the two games, while it had limited the Pirates to an average of 20 points.
• Hampton out gained the Tribe in the second meeting, 505 total yards to 494, on the strength of a series-best 353 passing yards by QB Roy Johnson, but was slowed by his four interceptions that afternoon.
• In the first contest, at Zable Stadium, Cook was an extremely efficient 18 for 27 for 243 yards and three scores (in just over a half of work).
• The College also holds a slight edge on the ground, as it has out rushed the Pirates 246 yards to 216 in the two games. W&M is averaging 3.8 yards an attempt vs. Hampton, while HU's ground game averaged 2.6 yd/attempt in the two games.

The only possible factor that could give the numbers above any significance is the fact that both teams have retained its head coaches since the last meeting. Hampton's Joe Taylor has been one of the more consistent winners in the I-AA ranks in recent years and has been widely recognized as one of the nation's respected coaches in his 13 years on the Pirates' sidelines. Much the same can be said for the Tribe's Jimmye Laycock, as he has shaped the College into one the nation's premier programs in his 25 years at the top of the Tribe program.

Did You Know?: That former Pirate standout running back Montrell Coley is the cousin of current William and Mary sophomore tailback Delmus Coley. Montrell was a first team All-MEAC selection and a Third Team Sports Network All-American in his senior season. Delmus seems to be ready to follow in his cousins' large footsteps, as he led the Tribe in rushing as a redshirt freshman a season ago and is preparing to make a strong comeback from a knee injury suffered in the 10th game of 2003 that sidelined him for the entire 2004 season.

Coincidence?: Including the 2004 season, the Hampton Pirates have faced the Tribe in every season that they've made an NCAA I-AA Playoff appearance (1997 and 1998 being the other years HU has played in the I-AA postseason).

Poll Watching: With its second consecutive week with a No. 6 billing in the Sports Network I-AA Top 25, William and Mary has been ranked in the top-10 for the third consecutive week. It also is the Tribe's highest ranking since Oct. 19, 1998, when W&M was also tabbed No. 6. The Tribe was ranked No. 9 in the TSN preseason poll that year and slipped to No. 10 in the Sept. 2, 2002 poll, after a season-opening loss to Indiana. It had been 39 consecutive polling weeks since the Green and Gold appeared in the top 10, before entering at No. 10 on Nov. 7.