The Rams explosive offense went quiet in Saturday’s blowout loss against Villanova. PHOTO CREDIT: gorhody.com (Shane Donaldson)
From one streak to another.
After starting the season 5-0, the University of Rhode Island Football team has now dropped two games in a row after a blowout, 44-0 loss at No. 5 Villanova University on Saturday.
The Rams’ woes from the previous week continued, allowing a season-high 511 total yards, with 297 of them on the ground, to the Wildcats while only gaining 165 yards and turning the ball over four times. Quarterback Kasim Hill was also held below 100 yards for a second consecutive game, going 4-for-13 passing for 22 yards.
“It was a tough outing,” Rhode Island Head Football Coach Jim Fleming said. “We didn’t play very well, and Villanova played very well. A comedy of errors made it a tough football game to watch from the sidelines.”
This game was all Villanova from the jump. For the second straight week, Rhody fumbled the ball on their first possession of the game. A bad snap from center Sebastian Delasoudas left Villanova at Rhode Island’s 31-yard line. With excellent field position, the Wildcats quickly moved down the field and scored, courtesy of a 3-yard run from running back Jalen Jackson to make it 7-0.
On the ensuing possession, the Rams put together their best drive of the afternoon, moving the ball all the way to Villanova’s 32-yard line, but it would be meaningless as they turned the ball over on downs. Once again, the hosts took the ball and marched down the field to make it 14-0 with 22 seconds left in the first quarter. This time, quarterback Daniel Smith found tight end Todd Summers on a slant route for the 5-yard score.
Villanova continued the scoring in the second quarter when Smith found receiver Rayjoun Pringle in the back of the end zone for a 22-yard touchdown pass to make it 21-0 and kicker Cole Bunce closed the half with a 41-yard field goal to make it 24-0.
Just when it seemed as though the bleeding would stop, the Wildcats picked up where they left off in the second half, putting up an additional 20 points. Jackson scored again midway through the third quarter to put the Wildcats up 31-0. Two more field goals and a rushing touchdown from TD Ayo-Durojaiye gave us the game’s final score.
The loss marks the first time that the Rams have been shutout since 2016, also against Villanova. Rhody has also been held scoreless in the last seven quarters of game action, dating back to Justice Antrum’s 18-yard score with 21 seconds left in the first quarter last week against Towson.
Another big part of the team’s recent struggles has been turnovers. In the first five games of the season, the Rams posted a turnover margin of +6 and scored 44 points off of turnovers. Since then, the margin has dropped to +2 and opponents have scored 20 points off Ram turnovers.
“You guys jinxed us,” Fleming joked. “It comes and goes. We had our hands on a couple balls [Saturday] that we couldn’t bring in, but it will turn back on for us. Turnover margin is huge for this program.”
The Rams hope to get back on track on Saturday when they return home to face the University of Maine Black Bears. According to Fleming, the message is simple heading into the game.
“Beat Maine; plan and simple,” he said. “It’s going to take everything we have. We’re not going to stop working; we’re not going to stop practicing. We gotta count on coaching getting better, players getting better and we gotta make sure that we’re lined up in an emotional feat ready to go play another tough CAA opponent.”
Kick off is scheduled for 1 p.m. and the game can be seen on Yurview Cox Channel 4 and streamed on FloFootball.