‘No lead is going to be big enough’: Hampton expecting tough fight from ranked Rhode Island this weekend
HAMPTON — The drive from Zable Stadium on the campus of William & Mary back to Hampton University is about 35 minutes. Hampton interim head coach Trent Boykin and the Pirates made that trip Saturday night and spent it in near silence.
After all, losing 49-7 will do that to you.
“I’ve said it before, there’s the good, bad and uglies in those situations,” Boykin said. “I thought our guys were disappointed in how they performed. You didn’t have to say (it) — it was very, very quiet on the bus. Very quiet on Saturday. I did have to remind them we are 3-2. We are 3-2 and get to play again this Saturday. But you can see their maturity of more like, ‘We let this one get away, we’re not happy about our performance and so we want to do something about that.’”
Unfortunately for Boykin and the Pirates, things won’t be getting any easier. W&M was just the beginning of a brutal conference slate that includes all three of last year’s CAA co-champs. And after losing to an FCS Top 25 team last week, Hampton will have to face another ranked team this week in No. 25 Rhode Island.
It can be difficult to get over a brutal loss knowing you have another high-caliber opponent on the immediate horizon, but Boykin said he was encouraged by how his team responded to the loss to the Tribe in practice this week.
“I can say yesterday’s practice was probably one of the better practices that we’ve had,” Boykin said. “Guys were locked in, they were focused, they were communicating with each other. So it was good to see because, again, it’s that fine line. You don’t want to get on them too much, but also there’s some things that we need to fix and correct. The way that they responded in practice yesterday, I was very pleased. Our staff was very, very pleased to see that.”
An otherwise dominant Hampton offense was dormant in the loss to William & Mary. The Pirates entered the game averaging 410 yards and 31.2 points per game, but only strung together 214 yards and one score. Hampton punted a season-high eight times against the Tribe after it had totaled eight punts in the previous three games.
After some time going over the game tape, Boykin said the Pirates had a problem with self-inflicted setbacks.
“We had times where we were moving and then all of a sudden, you get a holding penalty, you get a false start,” Boykin said. “You got penalties in times where we were starting to kind of get ourselves moving. Again, a team like that, when you’re second-and-15, it’s tough.”
This isn’t the first time Boykin has spotlighted penalties as a problem for the Pirates.
Hampton has been penalized 31 times this season for 272 yards — about six flags a game for around 54 yards. The Pirates committed six penalties for 35 yards against William & Mary.
“When you have penalties against good football teams and when you had those penalties, all of them came at insufficient times where you thought, ‘Hey, we’re about to maybe get on a roll, get moving,’ ” Boykin said. “You get a first down and you get a holding penalty. It brings it back. You get a 6-yard run to get in front of the chains, and then you get a false start. When you play those teams, and again you try to preach it and you try to talk about it with your guys, but until it actually happens, hey, you’re not going to be able to get away with this when you’re playing good teams.”
Boykin and the Pirates will be in for a tough matchup against the Rhode Island defense Saturday in addition to trying to stop momentum-killing penalties.
URI coach Jim Fleming and the Rams’ defense received high praise from Boykin during his weekly press conference. Rhode Island’s defense is just outside of the top five in the conference, but sits at No. 5 nationally in red-zone defense.
Rhode Island is 3-1 after beating Long Island 28-21 last week. The win was the Rams’ second gritty come-from-behind victory of the young season.
“This is gonna be a 12-rounder,” Boykin said. “… We’ve been telling them, these guys aren’t going to quit. … This is going to be a four-quarter game and no lead is going to be big enough to feel like you can relax or be satisfied.”
Michael Sauls, (757) 803-5774, [email protected]
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