Virginia Military Institute coach Sparky Woods was glad to see that fullback Howard Abegesah was tired when he got on the bus for the trip back from Clinton, S.C., on Saturday. Abegesah responded to a significantly increased workload as VMI (1-3, 2-5) snapped a five-game losing streak and picked up its first road win since 2007 and its first Big South Conference road win since 2005 by beating Presbyterian 31-20.

The improvement, Virginia Military Institute football coach Sparky Woods said, is there. Now, the wins just need to come with it. The Keydets (0-1, 1-3) had a 10-point lead over Gardner-Webb going into the fourth quarter of their Big South Conference opener Saturday. But they couldn’t finish it while absorbing a 27-23 loss. “We were really sad after the loss,“ said Woods, whose team plays at Coastal Carolina on Saturday. “The reason we were so sad is we felt like we very easily could have won the game. That’s not always been the case here. We’re getting better. We’re improving. It’s unfortunate that it’s much easier to show that improvement after you win . . . than if you lose.

The stadiums are big, the crowds will be large and the odds long that Richmond, William and Mary or James Madison will pull off upsets in their season-opening football games. But the odds are not as long as they once were that on Saturday, Richmond will defeat Duke or William and Mary will beat Virginia. And JMU should not be counted as an automatic “W” for Maryland on Sept. 12.

If the state’s Colonial Athletic Association football members are going to repeat prior feats of beating ACC competition, this may be the season to do it. At least on paper, they have a better shot than usual. In early September, the University of Richmond plays at Duke, William and Mary plays at Virginia, and James Madison plays at Maryland. In the Sporting News College Football preseason magazine, UR is the No. 1 Football Championship Subdivision team. JMU ranks No. 10. W&M checks in at No. 12. Duke is projected as the last-place finisher in the six-team Coastal Division, behind fifth-place Virginia. Maryland is predicted to finish fifth among six Atlantic Division teams.

Richmond at Duke; William and Mary at Virginia; James Madison at Maryland; Delaware at Navy; Towson at Northwestern; Villanova at Temple; Hofstra at Western Michigan; Maine at Syracuse; Massachusetts at Kansas State; New Hampshire at Ball State; Northeastern at Boston College; Rhode Island at Connecticut.

In the estimation of the Sporting News, the University of Richmond’s 2009 football team will end this coming season where it finished last year: on top of the Football Championship Subdivision. The Spiders will be the Sporting News’ preseason No. 1 when the preseason issue appears on newsstands this summer. UR captured the 2008 FCS title by beating Montana 24-7 in the championship game, though the Spiders finished the regular season as the third-place team in the six-member Colonial Athletic Association South Division.

Ten players from Virginia schools were selected in the 2009 NFL draft. Only half were Hoos or Hokies. From colleges other than Virginia and Virginia Tech, the NFL’s 256-player harvest included: a third-rounder from William and Mary (CB Derek Cox); a fourth-rounder from the University of Richmond (DE Lawrence Sidbury); a fourth-rounder from Saint Paul’s (CB Greg Toler); a sixth-rounder from Norfolk State (CB Don Carey); and a seventh-rounder from Liberty (RB Rashad Jennings).

University of Richmond football coach Mike London seeks assistance. Gone from his 2008 FCS national championship staff are defensive coordinator Russ Huesman, wide receivers coach Mark Carney and strength-and-conditioning coach Brandon Hourigan. Huesman became the coach Tennessee-Chattanooga, his alma mater. Carney appears headed to the staff of Bowling Green, whose program is led by former UR coach Dave Clawson. Hourigan moved to the University of Virginia.