With a punt return and interception for a touchdown in William and Mary’s 38-17 victory over Northeastern on Saturday night in Williamsburg, Derek Cox became the first player in school history to accomplish that feat in the same game. While he didn’t receive Colonial Athletic Association defensive player of the week honors, the senior from Winterville, N.C., managed to pick up special teams accolades.

CARY, N.C.—Making their first appearance in the ACC Championship match, Virginia Tech’s women’s soccer team was able to hang tough with top-ranked North Carolina before the Tar Hells pulled away with a 3-0 victory yesterday. Emily Jukich made the most attempts on offense for the Hokies, even getting a shot into the net, but her score was called back due to an offsides call.

There’s a new trend among schools: schedule more games under the lights, even as late as mid-November.

With its 34-14 victory at Towson on Saturday, No.14 William and Mary clinched a winning season for the first time since 2004. Three consecutive losing campaigns - tying for the longest stretch in coach Jimmye Laycock’s 29-year tenure - had marred the program, and Laycock was glad to be back on the other side. “It’s a great feeling,“ he said. “It’s something you can’t take for granted, especially playing in this league [Colonial Athletic Association]. You take every one of [the wins], and you’re excited about every one of them. If we were at the other level [Football Bowl Subdivision], we’d be bowl-eligible, I guess.“

After top-ranked JMU shut down Delaware’s offense for most of a gorgeous fall afternoon at Bridgeforth Stadium, Mickey Matthews was feeling a little better about his defense.

William and Mary linebacker Jake Trantin has been making his presence felt since the opening game, and the redshirt freshman from Severn, Md., made an even bigger impression in Saturday’s 34-24 win over Colonial Athletic Association foe Rhode Island. After starting the first six games at outside linebacker, Trantin moved over to middle linebacker when Josh Rutter suffered a foot injury the previous week vs. Delaware. Trantin responded with a career day, making 13 tackles (one for a loss), intercepting a pass and forcing a fumble.

VCU received the preseason nod in the CAA. But several coaches suggested they had a hard time determining the pecking order on their ballots. Almost every team has some question marks, from youth to transfers to taking the next step. Several coaches said the league is so balanced they don’t see clear-cut favorites. “I see nightmares,“ Delaware coach Monte Ross said. “For a team like us, we think we’ve gotten better. But we may not see any rewards for our work because the league is so tough and so difficult.“

Virginia Commonwealth University won’t surprise anyone during the upcoming Colonial Athletic Association women’s basketball season. The Rams, coming off a school-record 26-win season, were picked to finish second in the CAA in 2008-09 in a poll of coaches, sports information directors and selected media members. Results were announced at yesterday’s preseason media day in Washington. The top spot was awarded, predictably, to Old Dominion’s Lady Monarchs, who are chasing their 18th consecutive CAA championship.

With back-to-back wins over New Hampshire and Delaware, No.23 William and Mary (2-1, 4-2) has claimed consecutive road victories over Colonial Athletic Association foes for the first time since 2002. What does that mean to the program, which is seeking its first winning season since 2004? “I feel like it gives your players a sense of confidence,“ coach Jimmye Laycock said. “You walk a fine line. You want your players to feel good about themselves and feel positive about what they’re doing. Obviously, you don’t want them thinking all they have to do is show up, but you want them being confident.

Scotty McGee’s electrifying punt return in the final seconds against the University of Richmond on Saturday has attracted national attention.

Top-ranked James Madison heads into an open date on a six-game roll. The Dukes (4-0, 6-1) haven’t lost since the season opener at Duke. Is it necessarily a good time for a week off? “I think any football coach, when you’re playing well, you want to keep playing,“ JMU coach Mickey Matthews said. “We’ve been doing a lot of good things. But I’m glad we’re open this week, so we can regroup with some of the injuries we had Saturday. It couldn’t have happened at a better time because we’re running out of players on the defensive side.“

Trailing the fifth-ranked team in the country by eight points with 3½ minutes to go didn’t faze James Madison in the least yesterday. After all, these Dukes had been three touchdowns behind Appalachian State at halftime three weeks ago before rallying to beat the then-No. 1 team in the Football Championship Subdivision. Top-ranked JMU did it again, scoring 15 points in the final 59 seconds to stun the Spiders 38-31 in a Colonial Athletic Association showdown in front of 16,151 at UR Stadium.

James Madison plays at University of Richmond Stadium on Saturday at 3:30 p.m., but there may be more JMU Dukes’ fans than UR Spiders’ supporters on the premises.

James Madison football coach Mickey Matthews hasn’t softened his view of the way his Dukes performed in last season’s 17-16 home loss to the University of Richmond. “We didn’t show up on offense last year against them,“ Matthews said yesterday. “You’ve got to give some credit to Richmond. I thought Russ [Huesman, defensive coordinator] did a good job of defending us, but we absolutely stunk the place up offensively.

So which Football Championship Subdivision team is really No. 1? Is it Appalachian State, three-time defending FCS champion? Nope, lost to James Madison. How about the University of Richmond, which moved up when ASU was beaten. Nah, the Spiders lost to Villanova. Or is it JMU, which took over the top spot in the Sports Network poll this week when UR went down?