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.“

TOWSON, Md.—Jake Phillips threw a pair of third-quarter touchdown passes, and William and Mary rallied with 27 unanswered second-half points in a 34-14 victory over Towson yesterday. Phillips finished 21 of 32 for 265 yards and three touchdowns for the Tribe (4-1, 6-2). Brian Pate kicked two field goals for W&M, which rolled up 504 offensive yards to Towson’s 238.

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.

WILLIAMSBURG—After two periods today at Zable Stadium, William and Mary trailed Rhode Island 10-7 and had only 115 yards of offense. Not exactly what coach Jimmye Laycock and a homecoming crowd of 9,383 expected from the Tribe in this Colonial Athletic Association meeting. “Going into the locker room, we were pretty upset about not being able to put points on the board in a quicker fashion,“ said W&M quarterback Jake Phillips.

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.

Monacan High School graduate Brandon McRae is enjoying a breakout season as a wide receiver at Mississippi State University. Heading into this weekend’s date with Tennessee, McRae led the Bulldogs in receptions (33 for 302 yards) and touchdowns catches (2). He contributed five receptions for 39 yards to last weekend’s 17-14 upset of Vanderbilt. The Commodores were unbeaten and ranked No.13 at the time.

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.“

CINCINNATI—Jake Russell scored for the second consecutive match and Richmond tied Xavier 1-1 yesterday in Atlantic 10 conference play. In the 12th minute Russell took Ty Williams’ cross and slammed it in the right corner to give the Spiders the lead. Ricardo Sutherland converted a penalty kick with 14 seconds left to tie the match for the Musketeers.

Jake Phillips connected with D.J. McAuley for a 17-yard touchdown with 22 seconds left to lift William and Mary to a 38-34 win over New Hampshire yesterday. The Wildcats (1-1 Colonial Athletic Conference, 4-1) went ahead 31-28 with 4:40 left in the fourth quarter when Mike Boyle caught a 34 yard touchdown pass from R.J. Toman, who threw for 305 yards and two interceptions. Toman also had a 31-yard passing score to Scott Sicko earlier in the quarter.

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.

The turning point in a football game usually doesn’t occur on the opening series of the afternoon. The Colonial Athletic Association meeting yesterday between William and Mary and Villanova might have been an exception. The Tribe took the opening kickoff and drove down the field behind backup quarterback R.J. Archer, only to have a 32-yard field-goal attempt blocked.

WILLIAMBURG When he arrived at William and Mary as a walk-on three years ago, Adrian Tracy had two goals: “My main thing was working to getting a scholarship and proving that I belonged . . . that I was a good player,“ Tracy said yesterday. Mission accomplished. As a redshirt freshman, the defensive end finished second among conference rookies with 70 tackles and ranked in the top 10 for tackles for losses (15½) and sacks (six). The Sterling native was rewarded with a full scholarship.