By Dave Johnson
W&M Athletics

If the past year has proven anything, it's that nothing should be unexpected. That includes having your second game of the spring football season postponed as COVID-19 again rears its ugly head.

That's what happened with William & Mary vs. No. 1 James Madison, which was scheduled for Saturday in Harrisonburg but has been put on hold because of issues within the Dukes' program. The Tribe now has an unexpected open date before (hopefully) its home opener against Elon on March 20.

"We're not playing, but what we can do is take this week to get ready and correct the things we saw (last) Saturday," said W&M coach Mike London, referring to a 21-14 loss at Richmond. "We can get more players opportunities to be involved … and prepare for Elon.

"We've dealt with being resilient over a year now. We literally live hour-to-hour, moment-by-moment, day-by-day. So many factors are contributing to whether we practice or not."

It's unclear when or even if the game will be played. Both teams are scheduled to have their final game of the regular season on April 10, and the NCAA playoffs are to begin the following week.

Rebuilding the offensive line on the fly.

London had to deal with the unexpected going into last week's loss at Richmond. The offensive line was supposed to be a team strength, but that was before starting offensive guards Dan Evers (left) and Bart Francois (right) were declared unable to play.

Marcus Crowell, a sophomore backup at both tackle spots, started at left guard. Corey Ryder, the backup center, started at right guard.

"We had to do it," London said. "It could be that position today and another position tomorrow. I'm looking forward to getting some guys back and healthy now."

London and his staff spent much of preseason practice working players further down the depth chart, and players at different positions for that matter, in case they are needed.

"You have to come up with some what-if scenarios," he said. "If you look (at) when the FBS was playing and pro football, we're going to try to create some scenarios where the third-team wide receiver is going to get reps because he might have to play significantly because of contact tracing or whatever it may be.

"The younger kids that came here to play, you give them an opportunity to play because of this year (being) an additional year of eligibility. We'll try to cover as many options as possible knowing that something will ultimately happen that we haven't prepared for."

Hollis Mathis shows his development

A bright spot in Saturday's loss at Richmond was the play of sophomore quarterback Hollis Mathis, who threw for a career-high 204 yards and a touchdown. He hit on 18-of-28 passes, a 64-percent clip that is the second-best of his career behind an 8-of-10 day in 2019 vs. Albany.

His 45-yard pass to Cole Blackman, which set up first-and-goal from the 5, was a dart. His 2-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Mague on fourth-and-goal was the result of a brilliant play-action fake.

"What I saw was more maturity and more of an ability to trust his reads," London said.

Of note …

William & Mary played a turnover-free game on Saturday, its first since the next-to-last game of the 2018 season. …

Ten true freshman played in Saturday's game: DreSean Kendrick, Imari Smith, Malachi Imoh, Alex Washington, Quinn Osborne, John Kearney, Ethan Chang, John Pius, Charles Grant, and Tyler Rose.

Talk about a flip: In the third quarter, W&M's time of possession was 11:45 to Richmond's 3:15. In the fourth quarter, the Spiders had the ball for 11:44 to the Tribe's 3:16. …

A key stat Saturday was third- and fourth-down conversions. Richmond was 8-of-16; W&M was 6-of-18.