THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 9, 1995 TAG: 9509090390
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ED MILLER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
As a student at William and Mary, Troy Keen rarely comes up short in the vocabulary department.
But Keen, the Tribe's starting fullback, can't find the words to describe his feelings about James Madison, William and Mary's opponent today at Zable Stadium in Williamsburg.
``I don't have a word in my vocabulary to describe it,'' he said. ``I just don't like them.
``The school doesn't like them. I'm serious. (By Tuesday) I had at least 10 people come up to me and tell me, `You guys have to kill Madison. I hate Madison.' ''
For William and Mary, Richmond and VMI are older rivals. So is Delaware, for that matter. But no team gets the blood boiling like James Madison.
``I can't think of a single guy on this team that likes Madison even a little bit,'' guard Josh Beyer said.
For the better part of a decade, William and Mary and James Madison have vied for the right to be called the state's best Division I-AA team. These days, a meeting between the Tribe and the Dukes usually has national implications. JMU enters today's contest ranked No. 7 in the nation. William and Mary is 16th.
Throw in the fact that both schools are in the Yankee Conference and that they are separated by just a few hours' driving time, and you have the makings of a top-drawer rivalry.
``Every time we play William and Mary, there's a lot of hype,'' James Madison linebacker Alonzo Bowler said. ``A lot of people have a lot of things to say in the paper. Most times, it ends up on somebody's bulletin board.''
As rivalries go, James Madison-William and Mary is not an old one. William and Mary has fielded a football team since 1893, but James Madison didn't start playing until 1972.
The teams first met in 1978, when James Madison was a Division III school. The Tribe won the first three meetings, and six of the first seven. Since 1986, though, James Madison holds a 5-4 advantage, and it has won three of the last four.
Eight of the 16 games in the series have been decided by a touchdown or less, including six of the last eight.
``Most of the time we play, both of us are ranked, and the game means a lot,'' Bowler said. ``To a lot of people here on campus, it's a big game. There are a lot of people from Tidewater who go to JMU, and everybody seems to know somebody (at William and Mary).''
Last year's game in Harrisonburg was touted as perhaps the biggest in JMU football history. James Madison was unbeaten and ranked 12th in the nation. William and Mary, with one loss, was ranked 14th.
``They were fired up and ready to play,'' Keen said. ``And we weren't, at least not as much.''
The result was a 33-7 James Madison victory, an anomaly in the normally tight series.
Today, as usual, there is no clear favorite. James Madison is 1-0 but wasn't tested last week in a 76-7 win over Morgan State. William and Mary, meanwhile, held its own at times in a 40-16 loss to Virginia.
``They're a top-10 team, they're a state rival, and they're Madison,'' Tribe center Charlie White said. ``I can't think of a better setup for a big game.'' by CNB