WILLIAMSBURG — William and Mary’s last two seasons ended in excruciating similar fashion — with a do-or-die loss to Richmond. Both times, the Tribe needed a win to make the NCAA playoffs. And both times, it lost.
With a quick glance at the 2015 schedule, the Spiders again close out the season on Nov. 21. This time, W&M’s goal is to have the playoffs wrapped up by then — but, of course, to win the game, anyway.
“We’ve been there the last two years knocking on the door coming into Richmond,” quarterback Steve Cluley said. “I don’t want the Richmond game to be, like, win or lose to get in. I want to know we’re in.
“Let’s get this thing rolling. I think we can win every game, and that’s our mindset.”
Playing a CAA schedule, not to mention a non-conference trip to Virginia on Sept. 19, will make that an Everest-like challenge. But with so many positives, William and Mary should have a strong chance of ending its four-year postseason drought.
Returning on offense is Cluley, who became the Tribe’s first quarterback to start every game since 2009. Also returning is tailback Mikal Abdul-Saboor, whose 1,266 rushing yards in 2014 were the sixth-most in school history.
The silver lining to last year’s crazy rash of injuries to the offensive line is that seven players who have started at least seven career games are returning. And defensively, though three starters up front are gone, tackle Tyler Claytor, linebacker Luke Rhodes and safety DeAndre Houston-Carson return.
“The goal every year is the playoffs,” Claytor said. “We strive to win the CAA, so we go through every week trying to play as well as we can. We’re really excited internally.”
Even with all that went wrong last season on the offensive line, W&M was so close to making the playoffs. The Tribe led Villanova 31-28 late in the fourth quarter. But the Wildcats scored a touchdown with 52 seconds remaining for the win.
Two weeks later came the season’s most bitter moment. Early in the fourth quarter, W&M led James Madison 24-13. But the Dukes closed with 18 consecutive points, the game-winning touchdown coming with 47 seconds left, for the win.
Put those losses in the win column, and a postseason bid wouldn’t have come down to the Richmond game.
“I think we were a playoff team last year, but we just didn’t have some things go our way,” Abdul-Saboor said. “This year, our motto is, ‘Finish.’ Every year, the last two seasons, we’ve gone 7-5 and come up one game short.
“What it came down to is finishing those close games out, and that’s what we have to do this year. I feel confident we can do that.”
Things are never easy in the CAA, of course. The key month will be October with consecutive conference games against Delaware, Villanova, New Hampshire and James Madison.
Nova, JMU and UNH are the top three teams in the coaches preseason poll. Villanova and New Hampshire are ranked Nos. 3 and 7, respectively, in the preseason FCS coaches poll.
“It’s a challenge,” Tribe coach Jimmye Laycock said. “We tell our players, if anybody shows up and they’ve got ‘CAA’ on their uniforms, you’d better be ready to play.
“I don’t care who they are or where they’re from, you’d better be ready to play. I don’t care if somebody is ranked first or last, you’ll get a heck of an effort.”
Johnson can be reached by phone at 757-247-4649.
William and Mary
2014: 7-5, 4-4 CAA.
Opening game: Sept. 5, 6 p.m. at Lafayette.
