Can William and Mary Keep the Cup?
William and Mary has announced its football schedule for the fall of 2012. The Tribe will play the usual list of CAA opponents, including James Madison, Delaware, New Hampshire, Villanova, Old Dominion and Maine. The Tribe will also play the Penn Quakers for the sixth time ever (the Tribe leads the series 4-1) and the first time since 1995, when the Tribe defeated a # 22 Penn team 48-34 at Zable stadium. (This blogger was in attendance; the game, as I recall, was punctuated by rain showers.) As always, the Tribe will end the season playing for the Capital Cup, pictured above, against intra-state and CAA rival the University of Richmond. This is the oldest rivalry in the South; the teams first played in 1898 and have played each year except 1900, 1902 and 1943, for a total of 119 games. The Tribe leads the series 61-55-5 and has won the last two outings. (See here for a description of the rivalry and a summary of the scores from each game over the years.)
Other highlights include the opening game, against ACC powerhouse Maryland This blogger was in attendance when the Terps defeated the Tribe 27-14 in 2006, Maryland's first win in the series. (William and Mary had prevailed in the teams' two previous meetings.) The last time William and Mary defeated an FBS opponent was in September, 2009, when, as previoulsy described on this blog (this blogger was in attendance) the Tribe bested UVA, in Charlottesville, 26-14.
Here is the schedule. All games take place on Saturday; game times will be announced as the season approaches. Games marked by an asterisk are against CAA conference opponents.
Sept. 1 at Maryland
Sept. 8 Lafayette
Sept. 15 at Towson *
Sept. 22 Delaware *
Sept. 29 Georgia State (Family Weekend) *
Oct. 6 at Penn
Oct. 13 at James Madison *
Oct. 27 Maine (Homecoming) *
Nov. 3 at New Hampshire *
Nov. 10 at Old Dominion *
Nov. 17 Richmond *
