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CAA Football Week 7 Takeaways: Josiah Silver, star special teams playmaker

CAA Football Week 7 Takeaways: Josiah Silver, star special teams playmaker

All five Week 7 games involving Coastal Athletic Association teams were decided by either a score or a one-point margin in the fourth quarter.

All five winners emerged victorious thanks to their great performances in the final stages. Here are three takeaways from a Saturday marked by clutch games around CAA.

Special teams get things done

Rhode Island, which has made a habit of winning hard-fought games en route to a 5-1 record, continues to find new ways to emerge victorious.

In Week 7 of the Governor’s Cup matchup with in-state rival Brown, the Rams’ special teams delivered the game-winning play.

Gabe Salomons, who had a monster game for the Rhode Island defense and had two tackles for loss, broke through and blocked Chris Maron’s field goal attempt with 8:44 left. The supposed game-winning kick instead allowed URI to slam the door.

The Rams groomed the Brown defense with running throws from Devon Silas and ate up more than six minutes before Devin Farrell scored a touchdown to seal the 31-21 win.

A blocked kick didn’t seal the victory for fellow CAA team New Hampshire in Week 7, but it turned the tide in the Wildcats’ 17-10 road win at Elon.

With the offense struggling to get anything going against the feisty Phoenix defense, UNH got the go-ahead it needed with Zeroun Skinner’s block on Elon punter Jeff Yurk.

That put Seth Morgan and the Wildcats on offense at the Elon 10-yard line just before halftime. Morgan capitalized on the opportunity with a touchdown pass to Logan Tomlinson, sending UNH into the break on a momentum that lasted into the second half.

However, it wasn’t just blocks that played a key role in CAA’s Week 7 wins. Specialists don’t often get the credit they deserve for a perfectly executed kick or good coverage, but UAlbany’s win over Bryant underscored the importance.

Great Danes punter Owen Lawson threw a 44-yard beauty score with less than three minutes to play, giving UAlbany a one-touchdown lead. The kick, downed at the one-yard line, gave the Bulldogs limited options on their game-winning drive.

UAlbany’s defense took advantage of field position, culminating in Marcus Winfield’s sack of Jarrett Guest on fourth down to give the Great Danes offense the ball inside the Bryant 10-yard line. A few scores from Jojo Uga later, UAlbany had a two-touchdown lead and was on its way to its second straight win, improving to .500 on the season with the 24-17 decision.

Defensive difference makers

Ahead of the 2024 season, New Hampshire standout Josiah Silver cited former Wildcats teammate and current Las Vegas Raider Dylan Laube as an inspiration. Silver recognized during Laube’s career that an NFL draft-worthy talent could attract the attention of the pros at UNH. And did Silver ever deliver an eye-catching performance in Week 7?

In one of the most dominant individual performances at any level of the game this season, Silver recorded five tackles for a loss, including four sacks against Elon.

Silver has now recorded at least one sack in three of New Hampshire’s last four games, and his 12.5 tackles for loss are the second-most in the country. In addition to proving his NFL potential, Silver has jumped to the top of the midseason conversation for the Buck Buchanan Award.

While Silver likely secured National Defensive Player of the Week honors, that wasn’t the only standout defensive performance in Week 7. With his second interception of the season, Ty Davis completely turned around Delaware’s 44-21 win over Maine.

Highlights: New Hampshire vs. Elon

The Black Bears were up to the challenge against the undefeated Fighting Blue Hens, climbing to a two-point lead in the fourth quarter thanks to another great special teams play. In this case, it was Trevin Ewing’s 60-yard return of a punt that got the Maine offense going in Delaware territory.

A goal-line touchdown rush by Tavion Banks capped the 35-yard drive and put the Black Bears within striking distance. But the Blue Hens, who went 74 yards in 10 plays to answer with a touchdown pass from Zach Marker to Jake Thaw, provided some breathing room — then Davis called the game off.

Other notable CAA defensive performances in Week 7:

  • UAlbany defensive back Chiebuka Aduaka made his first two sacks of the season, part of the Great Danes’ seven sacks of Bryant.
  • Xavier Holmes recorded 13 tackles, including two for a loss and a sack, in Delaware’s win over Maine.
  • Ryan Toscano added one to New Hampshire’s incredible nine sacks at Elon. He also broke up a pass and caused a quarterback rush – the best defensive performance of the season for the Wildcats.

Get through in the clutch

In a week filled with hard-fought matchups, the coolest performance of Week 7 may have come from Towson quarterback Sean Brown.

Brown’s two fourth-quarter touchdown passes to Jaceon Doss and Carter Runyon turned a two-point deficit into a two-touchdown lead for the Tigers. That proved invaluable down the stretch as Towson held off Norfolk State 28-23.

Towson improved to .500 in the second half of the season and has a winning streak heading into the big Week 8 matchup against Stony Brook. The Seawolves, inactive in Week 7, have been one of the most surprising teams in the first half of the 2024 season. The winner of next week’s showdown will be well positioned for a push into the postseason in the final month of the regular season.

When do the 2024 FCS College Football Playoffs begin?

The FCS playoffs begin November 30, 2024.

The 2024 Division I FCS College Football Championship game will be played on January 6, 2025 at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas.

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