William and Mary was able to exhale, finally, but its next breath needs to revive its offense.
The Tribe dives into its Colonial Athletic Association schedule after an unexpected struggle Saturday with Division II New Haven.
William and Mary, ranked fourth in Division I FCS, survived with a 13-10 victory in a misty rain. W&M was plagued yet again by issues with its offense in general and its passing game in particular.
Tribe coach Jimmye Laycock benched starting quarterback Michael Paulus after the first half. The senior transfer completed just 2 of 6 passes for 7 yards and had one interception. The giveaway wasn't pretty. Paulus snuffed a drive when he tried to float a pass over a 5-foot-9 linebacker along the sideline.
Redshirt sophomore Michael Graham started the second half. He provided a boost, going 6 of 11 for 112 yards and one TD. Graham's biggest pass was a 56-yard bomb to D.J. Mangas up the seam that led to Drake Kuhn's decisive 28-yard field goal with 5:28 left in the game.
"Mike wasn't doing very well," Laycock said. "It's just like anything else. If he ain't doing real well, I'm going to give somebody else a chance. He was making some mistakes with his throws. He was making some mistakes with some of the calls out there. It wasn't his night."
Laycock said it was too early to name a starter for next week's game against James Madison. Graham had thrown five career passes — all in the opener against Virginia — coming into the game.
"I was ready to go," Graham said. "I knew our offense needed a spark. I thought I brought the spark the team needed."
The Tribe had a punt blocked and had to get a 21-yard field goal from Kuhn as time expired to go into halftime tied 3-3. Tailback Jonathan Grimes had 101 yards at halftime. But with Paulus struggling, William and Mary sometimes ran the ball on passing downs, including a third-and-goal from the Chargers' 6.
Graham helped engineer a 59-yard TD drive on his first series. He completed passes of 15, 16 and 11 yards, the final one a screen pass Grimes carried in for a touchdown to put William and Mary ahead 10-3.
"I think he gained our confidence pretty fast." Grimes said.
After Kuhn missed a 30-yard field goal, New Haven tied the game with an 80-yard drive. Ryan Osiecki (19 of 35, 213 yards) capped it with a 17-yard TD pass to a wide open Demetrius Washington-Ellison with 11:30 left in the game.
The Chargers, driving for at least a tying field goal, reached William and Mary's 21 with four minutes left. Linebacker Jabrel Mines ended that by intercepting a pass at the goal line. The Tribe had three interceptions.
"We knew it was a situation where they were going deep," Mines said. "We studied film all week. Coach told me in that drop to get deep. I got as deep as possible. "
William and Mary (2-1) starts its CAA schedule with a telling four-game stretch: 13th-ranked James Madison next week at home, at unranked Villanova, at No. 7 Delaware, and 11th-ranked New Hampshire at home.
"I'm concerned about mistakes that we made and things we didn't do well," Laycock said. "But whether we're going into JMU or whether we're going into whoever, we're concerned about becoming a better football team. . . . We want to get better. That's all."
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