By Dave Johnson
W&M Athletics
Coming into the season, conventional wisdom had it that William & Mary would be strong on defense. But there's strong, and there's dominant. Not giving up a touchdown in three consecutive games qualifies as dominant.
The Tribe allowed next to nothing Saturday in a 28-3 win over Maine at Zable Stadium. The Black Bears were held to 138 total yards (2.9 per play), seven first downs and a 3-of-13 conversion rate on third down. W&M had three quarterback sacks, two (along with two hurries) by All-American end
Nate Lynn.
It's been since the final seconds of the season opener at Campbell, a 34-24 win, that the Tribe's defense has allowed anyone to reach the end zone. Over the last 12 quarters, which has seen 31 possessions by the opponent, W&M has given up only three field goals.
That's not just dominant, it's flat-out dominant.
"I feel like this year we've been a little bit tighter and closer," said cornerback
Ryan Poole, whose third-quarter interception set up W&M's second touchdown. "We've been together for a few years, so it's kind of natural. Things are just clicking.
"No touchdowns. Hopefully that continues — knock on wood. But we've got to get an official doughnut."
A doughnut, of course, is a shutout. That nearly came the previous week at Charleston Southern, but the kickoff team gave up a 100-yard return. The defense itself allowed 77 yards, the fewest in program history since 1988.
"We always set the bar high," Lynn said. "This excellence has been amazing and we're trying to sustain it. That's the biggest thing. Being consistent, being the same defense day in and day out."
There were two key moments in Saturday's rain-soaked win. The first came after the Black Bears drove from their 49-yard line to the Tribe's 7, where they had first-and-goal just past the midway point of the second quarter.
After picking up 5 yards on first down, Maine had second-and-goal from the 2. But with consecutive stops by linebacker
Alex Washington and Poole, all the Black Bears got was a 20-yard field goal to cut W&M's lead to 7-3 with 4:39 left in the half.
Maine got the ball to start the third quarter. On the second play, wide receiver Montigo Moss ran a quick hook route to the left side. Quarterback Derek Robertson went his way.
Poole jumped it perfectly, and his 17-yard return set up a first down at the Black Bears' 15. Quarterback
Darius Wilson scored on a keeper six plays later to make it 14-3.
"We knew that we could do some things that were going to impact those type of throws they were making," Tribe coach
Mike London said. "At that moment, we had an opportunity to read the route, read the quarterback's release, and Ryan did a great job of intercepting it and returning it.
"That's who he is. He was an all-conference performer last year, and we're going to need him to be that again this year."
Poole gave credit to co-defensive coordinators
Ras-I Dowling and
Bo Revell for the right preparation.
"They were showing that (route) on film all week," Poole said. "It's one of the plays we practiced all week, so I trusted what I saw, my keys and my coaching. The ball came and I made the play.
"Coach Bo and Coach Dowling do a good job putting the game plan together. Guys in the locker room do a good job of studying in the film room, and it's all coming together."
Poole, Lynn and sack machine
John Pius get plenty of well-deserved attention, but it's linebacker
Kevin Jarrell who leads the team in tackles with 28, 18 of them solo. Safety
Marcus Barnes is next with 24.
Going into a week five trip to Elon, the only CAA team it lost to last season, W&M is first nationally in total defense with 175.2 yards allowed. That's 26 yards fewer than No. 2 Princeton. The Tribe is also first in third-down conversion defense (.163) and tied for first in scoring defense (10 points a game).
"I've been doing this a long time, and those are numbers that when you add them up are pretty special," London said. "That's what we did in this game, and we've got to move on to the next game and do it all over again. That's what you do in college football."
That's what the Tribe has been doing — with dominance — for three consecutive weeks.
