William and Mary fans are looking forward to the Tribe's 7:00 PM home opener tonight against the Hampton University Pirates at Zable Stadium in Williamsburg. Like Hampton, the Green and Gold will be looking for its first win, after narrowly dropping its first game against FBS opponent West Virginia in Morgantown, 24-17. (Go here for a story about the game and here for highlights.) (Hampton dropped its first game to Western Illinois, 42-9.) (See here). Neither team is ranked in the top 25, although William and Mary received eight votes in the most recent coaches' poll. For extensive game notes prepared by the William and Mary Athletic Department, go here. (Game notes prepared by Hampton University were not available at the time of this post.)
Saturday night's clash will be only the fourth meeting between the two peninsula universities, and the Tribe leads the series 3-0. The last such meeting took place in Williamsburg in the first round of the 2004 FBS playoffs, where the Tribe, powered by 592 yards total offense and three touchdowns by wide out Dominique Thompson (including a 92 yard kickoff return), edged the Pirates 42-35. The Pirates led 13-0 at the end of the first quarter, in an exciting seesaw contest witnessed by this blogger that saw several lead changes.
Good luck to both teams, and Go Tribe!
