Every year, someone seems to come out of nowhere and surprise the fans of the Atlantic-10 conference football; last year it was Northeastern’s own Tim Gale, who plowed his way to the all-conference team at the end of his sophomore campaign after red-shirting his sophomore season due to injuries. Through three games, it appears as if this year’s candidate will be Villanova sophomore quarterback Joe Casamento. The Fabius, N.Y. native completed 22-of-31 passes for 245 yards and three touchdowns in leading the Wildcats over New Hampshire 48-14 last weekend. That comes off the heels of Completing 28-of-37 passes for 347 yards and two touchdowns in Villanova’s 23-20 (2OT) victory over Division I-A Temple two weeks ago. The performance earned him The Sports Network National Offensive Player of the Week honor. Through three games, Casamento has completed 74-of-98 passes for 844 yards, along with eight touchdowns and no interceptions. After serving as Brett Gordon’s understudy for two years, he seems to have put everything together in his sophomore campaign.
Rold is Gold: For the third consecutive week, the Huskies had a player receive conference honors. This week’s honoree was junior linebacker Rold Louis, who collected career-high 11 tackles, including eight unassisted, along with an interception, a sack and a fumble recovery in Northeastern’s 42-39 victory over Rhode Island. After his fumble recovery in the first quarter, the Huskies scored on the ensuing play on a 42-yard scoring pass from Shawn Brady to wideout Cory Parks. His interception came on the final play of the game, preserving NU’s win. Last week it was Cory Parks, who was names conference Offensive Player of the Week, and before that it was freshman Shawnn Gyles, who was named A-10 Rookie of the Week.
Falling Into Place: To the surprise of absolutely no one, the top five teams in the Atlantic-10 are also the five teams that are ranked nationally in The Sports Network/CSTV Top 25 polls. Northeastern (5th), Villanova (6th), Massachusetts (10th), Delaware (11th) and Maine (18th) all hold down spots in the rankings; Delaware, Northeastern, and Villanova all sport 3-0 records (1-0 conference), while Maine comes in at 2-1 (1-0 conference). UMass rounds out the five at 1-1, with no conference games until this weekend, when the Minutemen travel to Maine.
Playing Up: It’s safe to say UMass coach Mark Whipple was bitter this week after losing to Division I-A power Kansas State last week, 38-7. “After a trip like that, you find out what a business college football is,” he told reporters during the league’s conference call Monday morning. “That was probably the most disappointing thing about the whole trip. They didn’t get a penalty until the third quarter and every time we did anything we got a flag thrown. If UMass stays close, they might lose some BCS money and we can’t let that happen. “We know it’s all about money,” he added. “Listen to SportsCenter, it’s all about money. Let’s not make any bones about it. It’s a great week to coach and everything else till all of a sudden you’re on the sideline and you don’t have a chance. You get the SC highlight because Chris Berman is a friend and that’s a good thing but when I look on Sunday night and no one is practicing because they’re all hurt [from Saturday’s game].”
Close but no cigar: URI coach Tim Stowers isn’t happy with playing a close game against conference favorite Northeastern on Saturday. Towers talked to reporters Monday on a conference call. “URI is a great place to work and live but at the same time with Rhode Island being the smallest state in the union, people tend to say you played good and gave a great effort … but to me that’s not satisfactory. It’s nice to entertain the fans, but at the same time you have to find a way to win the game.” Reporter: “Is that the attitude among your players?” Stowers: “I made sure that wasn’t their attitude Sunday.” Stowers didn’t have kind words for his defense, either. “We’re just not very good on defense right now,” he said. “We haven’t sacked the quarterback or intercepted a pass yet. I think we missed over 20 tackles again this weekend. We can’t stop the run and we can’t stop the pass. Pick your poison.
A-10 Game of the Week: Massachusetts at Maine Fresh off a pair of Division 1-A defeats to national powers NC State and Kansas State, the Minutemen head to Maine for a key early season conference clash. Maine coach Jack Cosgrove will keep an eye on dangerous UMass quarterback Jeff Krohn, a transfer from Arizona State two years ago. “Their quarterback is a poised guy in all situations,” Cosgrove said. “He makes his throws. And they protect the quarterback to set up those throws. They’re a team that can run and pass and really get after you on defense.” Both teams are conference contenders. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m.
– News Staff member Jack Weiland contributed to this story.
