Williamsburg - First and 10: W&M hosts Delaware on Saturday at Zable Stadium in the final home game of 2005. The College will recognize 18 student-athletes who will finish their eligibility this year in Senior Day ceremonies prior to kickoff.

The Tribe, which dropped to No. 24 in this week's Sports Network Top 25, is coming off a 30-29 loss to James Madison on Saturday night, which dropped W&M to 5-4 overall and 3-3 in the Atlantic 10. In the first regular season night game in Zable Stadium history, Dukes' kicker Paul Wantuck hit a 44-yard field goal with three seconds remaining to give the defending national champions the victory.

Senior place-kicker Greg Kuehn broke the W&M career record for field goals with three on Saturday, as he brought his career total to 59, which surpassed Steve Christie's (1986-89) record of 57. With 11 points on the evening, Kuehn brought his career scoring total to 339 points, which ranks third in NCAA I-AA history for kickers.

Delaware dropped a 35-7 decision to Massachusetts in Newark on Saturday, which dropped the Blue Hens to 4-5, 1-5 in the league.

These two teams met twice last year, with the Hens taking a 31-28 victory at home during the regular season, before W&M claimed a 44-38, double-overtime victory at Zable Stadium in the NCAA Quarterfinals on Dec. 4. Since W&M began conference play in 1993, the Tribe has faced the Blue Hens 13 times, winning six of those contests. Of those 13 games, nine have been decided by a touchdown or less, with the Tribe winning five of these.

Site
Cary Field at Zable Stadium (12,174, natural grass)

Game Day Information
2005 PARKING INFORMATION

On The Air
Radio - 12:30 p.m. 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
W&M Notes (PDF)
Delaware Notes (PDF)
A10 Weekly Update (PDF)
Delaware on the web

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

The Coaches
W&M: Jimmye Laycock (W&M, 1970)
Record at W&M: 175-117-2 (26th year)
Career Record: same
All-time vs. UD: 11-14

UD: K.C. Keeler (Delaware, 1981)
Record at UD: 34-16 (Fourth year)
Career Record: 122-37-1 (13th year)
Record vs. W&M: 2-2

Scouting the Blue Hens
UD enters today's came with a 4-5 mark overall, 1-5 in A10 play ? The Hens are coming off a 35-7 loss to fifth-ranked Massachusetts at Delaware Stadium last week ? The loss was the most lopsided in head coach K.C. Keeler's four-year tenure at Delaware and was just his fourth setback in 29 home games ? The loss was the worst for the Hens since a 38-7 setback to Georgia Southern in 2001 and its most lopsided at home since a 55-14 loss to Arkansas State in the 1986 NCAA I-AA quarterfinals ? The Hens' lone A10 victory came against James Madison on Oct. 22, in a battle of the last two I-AA national champions ? UD's offense is led by sophomore Payton Award candidate Omar Cuff and senior quarterback Sonny Riccio ? Cuff is tied for second in the nation in scoring (10.7 ppg) and ranks 11th in all-purpose yards per game (149.4) ? Riccio is averaging 173.6 yards passing per game and has thrown for 11 touchdown against five interceptions, three of which came in the loss to UMass Saturday ? Senior linebacker John Mulhern ranks ninth in the A10 in tackles per game (8.9) ? Junior defensive back Rashaad Woodard is tied for eighth in the A10 with eight passes defended ? Senior defensive tackle Tom Parks leads the team with 3.0 sacks.

The Last Meetings

#6 William and Mary 44, #10 Delaware 38 (2 OT)

WILLIAMSBURG, VA (12/4/04) - Senior tailback Jon Smith scored from seven yards out in the second overtime and the Tribe defense held on a fourth-and-goal from the 9-yard line, as William and Mary knocked defending national champion Delaware out of the NCAA I-AA Championship with a 44-38 double-overtime victory in the quarterfinals at Zable Stadium.

The Tribe, which erased a 31-10 deficit heading into the fourth quarter, became the first team in school history to advance to the national semifinals and win 11 games in a season.

Payton Award Winning quarterback Lang Campbell completed a career-high 30 passes on 53 attempts, also a career-best, for 342 yards and three touchdowns, including a 15-yard toss to redshirt freshman Joe Nicholas with 1:52 remaining to send the game into the extra session knotted at 31.

Junior cornerback Stephen Cason intercepted a pass on the first play of the fourth quarter and returned it 62 yards to cut the deficit to 31-17, and Smith scored on a two-yard run to pull W&M within 31-24 with 9:56 left.

After yielding 406 total yards in the first half, the Tribe surrendered just 85 in the second half, including minus-6 rushing yards in the fourth quarter.

Nicholas set a freshman record with 11 receptions, which went for 94 yards and two TDs. All-American wide receiver Dominique Thompson caught nine passes for 185 yards, his sixth 100-yard receiving game of the season.

#3 Delaware 31, #14 William and Mary 28

NEWARK, DE (10/23/04) - Despite a record-setting performance from All-American wide receiver Dominique Thompson and four TD passes from All-American Lang Campbell, the 14th-ranked Tribe dropped a hard-fought 31-28 decision to third-ranked Delaware in front of 22,058 fans at Delaware Stadium.

Thompson set a W&M single-game record with 244 receiving yards, surpassing the previous mark of 240 set by Dave Conklin against VMI in 1997. He also caught all four of Campbell's TD passes, matching a W&M record also held by Vito Ragazzo (1949, vs. WFU) and Corey Ludwig (1993, vs. Maine).

Campbell completed 20 of 30 passes for 355 yards and a career-best four TDs, surpassing the 300-yard mark for the fourth time this season.

The duo connected on scoring plays of 10, 62, 87 and 64 yards with the 87-yard completion tying the longest pass play in W&M history (Dan Henning to Tom Scott vs. Navy, 1961).

W&M scored on its first three possessions and held a 21-7 advantage in front of shocked sellout crowd at the end of one quarter, but the defending I-AA National Champions outscored the Tribe 24-7 to close the game, capped by a 25-yard TD pass from Sonny Riccio to Joseph Blaymaier with 4:41 remaining.

All-conference linebacker Chris Ndubueze and all-conference corner Stephen Cason shared the team-lead with 11 tackles apiece, while sophomore end Josh Wright recorded a career-high 10 stops in the loss.

Tribe Tidbits
Senior Salute: Prior to today's kickoff, W&M will recognize 18 senior student-athletes for their contributions to the Tribe football program. Those individuals are Adam Bratton, Stephen Cason, Michael Grenz, Jerome Griffin, Greg Kuehn, Ryan Lumm, Josh Lustig, James Miller, Leonard Muldrow, Patrick Mulloy, Adam O'Connor, Larry Pendleton, Matt Ridjaneck, Jon Shaw, Jordan Troester, Jake Walker, Jonas Watson and Thad Wheeler.

For Starters: The College's announced crowd of 12,287 for Saturday's game versus James Madison was the largest regular season crowd in Zable Stadium since the ninth game of the 1995 season when 13,925 turned out for a homecoming victory over Villanova (18-15). Saturday's contest was the largest crowd, regular or post season, since the capacity at Zable was adjusted from 15,000 to its current capacity of 12,174 when the end zone stands were redesigned.

A Winner: William and Mary Head Coach Jimmye Laycock enters this Saturday's contest as the A10's active career leader in conference winning percentage, sporting a mark of .653 (68-36). Delaware's K.C. Keeler is second, as he has fashioned a .625 winning clip (20-12) in his four seasons at the helm of the Blue Hen program.

Milestone: The Tribe's Homecoming win over Towson stood as the 175th in Laycock's 26-year career at the top of the program.
In his 293 career games, Laycock currently sports a 175-116-2 record, making him the winningest coach in school history.
The College has now posted 23 consecutive seasons with five, or more, wins. While five wins may not sound all that impressive, consider that in just the last 12 years (since 1993), every current member of the Atlantic 10 has experienced at least one season of four, or less, wins.

Selfish: Despite being one season removed from setting the NCAA's 11-game single season record for fewest turnovers (7), the Tribe has actually improved its turnover margin from a season ago. The biggest factor for this has been a defense that is among the league's finest in forcing turnovers. Coming off a four turnover effort vs. James Madison, the team's 24 forced miscues already surpassed the team's 14-game total of 19 from a year ago. By allowing just 14 turnovers, the Tribe is second in the conference, and tied for fifth nationally, with a +10 turnover margin, an average of 1.11 a game.

Did You Know?: The 24 turnovers (17 interceptions) the Tribe's defense has produced is the second highest mark in the league. The 17 interceptions lead the conference, as do the Tribe's four defensive scores, all of which have been interception returns.

Poll Watching: On the heels of Saturday's loss to James Madison, W&M slipped eight spots to No. 24 in this week's Sports Network Top 25. W&M has now been ranked in 20 consecutive polls dating back to Oct. 4 of last season, including the 2004 final rankings and the 2005 preseason. With its 42-10 win over No. 1 New Hampshire, the Tribe is now 7-2 in its last nine games vs. ranked opponents.

Seeing Red: Coming off a 6-for-6 effort In the red zone vs. James Madison (three TDs/three FGs), the College has continued what has been a remarkable run inside the opponent's 20-yard line. As has been the case for the last several years, one of the trademarks of the Tribe offense has been its consistency in the red zone. Currently, the College is the league's most efficient squad in converting inside the opponent's 20-yard line. After Its effort vs. James Madison, the Tribe has now turned 38 of its 42 red zone opportunities (.920) into points, including 30 touchdowns.

While only New Hampshire has had more red zone opportunities (45), the Tribe's 30 red zone touchdowns are a league high, as a conference-best .714 of its ventures inside the 20 found paydirt.

The ability to find the end zone paid its largest dividends in the extra frames against Northeastern, as the Huskies were forced to settle for a field goal on its second of two overtime possessions, while the Tribe found the end zone on both.

There was a very similar pattern in the Tribe's success over then top-ranked UNH. The Wildcats came into the game featuring the league's stingiest red zone defense, but at the end of the day it was W&M's ability to finish drives, as five of six ventures inside the UNH 20 yielded touchdowns, and its defense's success in keeping New Hampshire out of the end zone, as UNH converted just two of its five opportunities, that helped pave the way for the upset.

Scoreboard Watching: By putting up 29 points against a stingy James Madison defense on Saturday evening, the Tribe season scoring average sits at 36.7 points a contest. This average is second in the A10 behind New Hampshire's 39.0 average and is 10th nationally.
The Tribe has scored 40-plus points in all five of its victories on the season and has outscored its opposition by a count of 227 to 71 in those games.

Record Breaker: By knocking through all three of his attempts on the evening against James Madison, Tribe All-American place-kicker Greg Kuehn moved his career total to 59, surpassing Steve Christie's school record of 57 set between the 1986-89 seasons.

Already the school's record holder for career points (339), the three-time all-conference selection and reigning league Special Teams Player of the Year has now converted 13 of his 18 field goal attempts on the season and is a perfect 4-for-4 from beyond 40 yards. His 13 field goals tie him for the league lead. His average of 8.7 points per game leads the league's kickers and is third among all A10 players.
For the Tribe faithful, nothing has become so taken for granted than the point after touchdown, as Kuehn has all but taken the drama out of the task, hitting on 39 of his 40 attempts this season and an impeccable 162 of his 167 (98%) for his career.
The following are some bullet point highlights of what has been a remarkable four-year career for the Potomac Fall, VA native:

• His 339 career points is the third-highest total among all kickers in NCAA Division I-AA history. He already is the A10's all-time leader in points by a kicker, surpassing former Tribe great Brian Shallcross, who amassed 272 points between the 1994-97 seasons. The Tribe was not in a league during Christie's playing career, so he passed Christie's previous school career record of 279 points, set between the 1985-89 seasons, by hitting for three field goals at Rhode Island earlier this season.
• With 59 field goals in his 85 career attempts (69%), Kuehn is three field goals from gaining a share of seventh-place on the NCAA's career listings. The NCAA career record for field goals is 72, set by Nevada's Marty Zendejas' between the 1984-88 seasons.
• Kuehn already has become the Atlantic 10 Conference's all-time leader in career field goals this season, as his total of 59 broke Hofstra's Chris Onarato's one-year old record total of 50, set between the 2000-04 seasons.
• With 39 extra-points this season, he moved his career total to 162 and is second on the league's all-time listings [former Delaware kicker Sean Leach holds the record with 167]. His fourth extra-point vs. VMI in the season's second game moved him past Shallcross and into first place on the Tribe's career PAT listings.
• He has made three field goals in one game on three separate occasions this season and has accomplished the feat nine times on his career.

What to Watch: The next record within Kuehn's formidable reach is the Atlantic 10 Conference's career extra point mark, currently held by former Delaware standout Sean Leach (167). Kuehn needs just six more successful conversion attempts to surpass Leach's record total.

Running Strong: Junior tailback Elijah Brooks turned in another solid effort on Saturday evening vs. James Madison, as the 5-9, 210-pound workhorse powered out 92 yards on 21 attempts. During the four-quarter battle with the Dukes, Brooks got better as the game progressed. In a second half that featured three lead changes, Brooks accumulated 55 of his evening's total after the break on just six carries. Included in his total was a season-long 28-yard scamper on the last play of the third quarter that led to an eventual 17-yard TD catch by Joe Nicholas.

Brooks needs just 131 yards over the final two contests to become the first Tribe back in eight years to break the 1,000-yard barrier. Hameen Ali (?01) is the last Tribe back to turn the trick, as he gained 1,022 over 11 games in 1998.

Brooks' 869-yard nine-game total already stands as the Tribe's highest single-season rushing total since Ali's breakout 1998 campaign.

Growing Pains: While the outcome of the contest was disappointing, the play of redshirt freshman quarterback Jake Phillips remained very encouraging. Playing on his biggest stage, against one of the league's most proven and aggressive defenses, Phillips turned in a solid performance by accounting for 259 total yards (202 passing, 57 rushing) and two touchdowns (one passing, one rushing). Phillips completed 15 of his 28 attempts and finished the evening with no interceptions. His 57 rushing yards (on 15 attempts) stands as his career high.
The following is a brief list of some of accomplishments of the Warm Springs, VA native to this point in the season:

• By reaching 10 TDs for the season, he joins David Corley, Jr. as just the second redshirt freshman to record double-digit TD passes in the 26 years Laycock has been at the helm of the Tribe program. Corley set the school's freshman record for TD connections at 18 during the 1999 season.
• His QB efficiency rating of 156.1 is currently third in the conference and 11th in the nation.
• His six rushing touchdowns is a record for Tribe freshman QBs (breaking Corley's record of four, set in 1999).
• Has earned the league's Rookie of the Week honor on two occasions this season (at VMI and at Northeastern) and has also been named league's Offensive Player of the Week (at Northeastern).

Lustig Large: Senior team quad-captain Josh Lustig led the team with six catches for 76 yards in the loss vs. James Madison. This effort pushed his season total to 36 catches (for 462 yards). The figure surpasses his entire career total entering into the 2005 season, as he had amassed 35 catches (for 537 yards) in his three previous seasons in the program. The gritty veteran is currently second on the team in receptions, yards and touchdown catches (three).

Air Traffic Control: With three interceptions in Saturday's loss to JMU, W&M brought its season total to 17, which is the highest total since the Tribe also picked off 17 passes in 2001. It was W&M's third game this season with three interceptions and second in as many weeks. The Tribe's three picks at Villanova on Oct. 29 brought its season total to 14, which eclipsed last season's entire total of 12. W&M's 17 interceptions are tied for third in Division I-AA with Eastern Illinois, trailing only Wagner (19) and Davidson (18).

The Tribe's 17 interceptions is the eighth-best single-season total in school history, dating back to 1948, which is as far as we could effectively research. The school record for interceptions in a season is 25, set in 1972.

Turning It Around: On its 17 interceptions this season, the Tribe has amassed 325 total return yards, led by Ryan Nickell's even 100. The Tribe's interception return total is the fourth-best mark dating back to 1948, which is again as far as effectively possible to research it. Its' the third-best mark under Laycock, following 356 in 2003 and 346 in 1996. The school record for interception return yards is 437 in 1948.

On the Campaign Trail: Senior Stephen Cason added further credentials to his national postseason awards campaign, after again rising to the occasion in a big game with nine total tackles and an interception against JMU on Saturday night. Cason had four solo stops on the night and added an assist on a tackle behind the line of scrimmage. Cason returned his pick 25 yards, bringing his season total to 82 return yards on four interceptions.

Cason's career-high four interceptions lead the team and rank second in the Atlantic 10 and 15th in Division I-AA, while the total is the best for a Tribe defender since 2002 when Billy Parker recorded five interceptions.

Against top-ranked New Hampshire on Oct. 8, Cason, a second team All-Atlantic 10 selection in 2004, returned the opening kickoff 92 yards for a touchdown, his first career return for a TD. It bolstered his season average to 29.6 yards per kickoff return and earned A10 Special Teams Co-Player of the Week honors.

Defensively, Cason tallied a team-high nine total tackles against UNH, including six solo stops, and added his third interception of the season by picking off the league's top passer in the W&M end zone for a third-quarter touchback, as the Tribe held the nation's top offense scoreless in the second half.

On the year, Cason has tallied two touchdowns, including a 57-yard INT return for a score at VMI on Sept. 10. Cason is fifth on the squad with 49 total tackles.
He ranks fourth in the league in kickoff return average (23.6) and tied for eighth in total passes defended (8).

Running Mate: Joining Cason on the postseason awards campaign trail is redshirt freshman linebacker Josh Rutter, who has undoubtedly made a strong case for all-conference honors in his rookie season. Perhaps the most consistent producer on the defensive side of the ball this season, Rutter leads the team with 88 total tackles and has now recorded double-digit tackles in four games and led the Tribe in tackles in five contests.

Against JMU, Rutter produced his fourth double-figure tackle game with 10 total stops, including five solos, to maintain his season average of 9.8 tackles per game, which ranks seventh in the A10 overall and fifth among players listed as linebackers in the league stats. Rutter's clip of 9.8 tackles per game leads all of the league's rookies.

At Villanova, Rutter tallied 12 total tackles for his third double-digit performance. Against Towson on Oct. 22, Rutter led the team in tackles, tying Jon Shaw with seven total stops. Rutter also recovered a fumble in the victory, his second of the season.

After leading the squad in tackles in the first four games of the year, Rutter added a 10-tackle effort at Northeastern. It was the second time this season Rutter reached double-digit tackles, with the first coming in the season opener at Marshall where he registered a career-best 16 stops in his first collegiate game.

Finishing Strong: As his career winds down, senior free safety James Miller has put together back-to-back standout performances for the Tribe defense. Saturday against JMU, Miller led the squad with 11 total tackles, his second-straight double-digit tackle outing and ninth-career, and recorded his second interception in as many games. Miller added a solo stop and also intercepted the Dukes' two-point conversion attempt in the forth quarter that preserved a 29-27 Tribe lead at the time.

Miller broke out with a career-high 16 tackle performance at Villanova two weeks ago, which included an 80-yard interception return for a touchdown.

It was Miller's second-career interception return for a touchdown, with the first coming in the 2003 season finale at Richmond when Miller returned a pick 77 yards for a score at UR Stadium. Miller's return at Villanova was the longest INT return for a touchdown by a Tribe defender since Darren Sharper ran a pick back 88 yards for a score in a 26-21 loss to James Madison on Oct. 12, 1996. Miller now has seven career interceptions for 289 yards and two touchdowns.