November is winning time in the Football Championship Subdivision. The three-week stretch to conclude the regular season separates playoff contenders from the rest of the field, and in the Coastal Athletic Association, a bevy of teams remain in contention for postseason bids. 

Two such teams, William & Mary and UAlbany, meet in a high-stakes Week 10 showdown. 

William & Mary's late-game block of a Monmouth field-goal attempt helped the Tribe avoid a fourth straight and potentially bubble-bursting loss last week. 

"It takes everybody's effort," Tribe coach Mike London said. "The mindset is the thing that's been created here in the past, and what was needed to be exemplified out there on the field." 

Darius Wilson's touchdown pass to JT Mayo with 6:10 remaining, which proved to be the game-winner, capped arguably the best game Wilson's played this season. He finished 24-of-33 for 283 yards with a pair of scores and no interceptions, and perhaps found a new No. 1 target in Sean McElwain. The tight end earned CAA Rookie of the Week with his six grabs for 113 yards. 

The departure of Lachlan Pitts from the starting tight-end position left a noticeable void in the William & Mary passing attack this season, but McElwain may be poised to fill that role for the stretch run. 

"You take some of the pressure off the run game — even though Malachi Imoh had over 100 yards — allowed Darius to be multi-dimensional," London said.

With Bronson Yoder sidelined, William & Mary needs continued upticks in production from every position on offense, which extends to Wilson supplementing Imoh in the run game. 

Last week's game-winning drive, coupled with the combination of the defense keeping Monmouth out of the end zone and special teams coming up with the block, courtesy of Gent Veizi, could be the kind of gutsy sequence that propels William & Mary back to the postseason. 

Ahead of it this week is a considerably difficult challenge, however, with UAlbany making its own postseason push. 

The Great Danes aren't just undefeated on Bob Ford Field this season; with a 35-10 rout of Rhode Island on Oct. 21, they improved their average margin of victory there to 22.3 points per game. 

Making that number all the more impressive, every opponent UAlbany has beaten at home is currently above .500 on the season. Villanova, the last ranked opponent to visit, left in a 31-10 loss that's the Wildcats' lone conference blemish. 

If UAlbany can remain perfect at home in the closing weeks, it means no fewer than eight wins — typically the magic number for entry into the Playoffs. Holding off a William & Mary with one of the most talented defenses in the CAA, if not the FCS, will test the Great Danes' home magic. 

Both teams this week boast some of the best pass-rushing talent in the country. UAlbany comes into Saturday's matchup tied for the fifth-most sacks in FCS with 26, and 10th in sacks per game at about 2.9. William & Mary is just behind in per-game production, checking in at No. 11 with 2.75 and a total of 22 for the season. 

Spearheading the production are Anton Juncaj for UAlbany, whose 10 sacks are second-most in the nation; and Nate Lynn, who checks in at No. 4 in the subdivision with eight. AJ Simon and John Pius are both also in the top 10 nationally. 

The production of each defense's front seven puts a heavy burden on the opposing offensive lines to set the tone Saturday. UAlbany has dealt with injuries to a veteran line up front, but the young reserves moving into the primary rotation have acquitted themselves well. 

In last week's 37-21 defeat of Maine, freshmen Sean Dugery and Nolan Latulippe started on the front five. They did their part in preventing quarterback Reese Poffenbarger from being sacked. The Great Danes rolled up 473 yards of total offense between Poffenbarger's 324 through the air and 149 on the ground, 141 of which came from Faysal Aden. 

MarQeese Dietz and Brevin Easton caught for 150 and 129 yards, with Easton hauling in two touchdowns. Easton's rolling of late with five touchdown receptions in the last three games, each of which UAlbany has scored at least 31 points. 

"They're making plays right now," Great Danes coach Greg Gattuso said of UAlbany's passing offense. "[Poffenbarger] is putting the ball — we call it the catch zone — if you put the ball in a certain area, good receivers should catch it. And I think we're getting some of that right now and getting some confidence in our pass game."

"Those two [Easton and Deitz] did a really good job, and Julian Hicks continues to be a good player [who the defense] has to know where he's at," Gattuso continued. "When you've got three good receivers and a really solid tight end [Ian Renninger] and a good quarterback, you've got a chance to win some games." 

A clicking offense and an aggressive defense could be enough to keep UAlbany undefeated at home and on track to return to the postseason for the first time since 2019. 

PREDICTION: UAlbany 34, William & Mary 24 

Elon at Delaware 

Perhaps the most emphatic case the 2022 Elon Phoenix made for a playoff at-large came at the expense of fellow postseason participant Delaware. Elon rolled in a 27-7 romp at Rhodes Stadium that included Caleb Curtain making the first interception of what is fast becoming an impressive tenure for the defensive back with the Phoenix defense. 

This season, no FCS defense has held Delaware to seven points — not even close. The Blue Hens return home to The Tub for the first time since Oct. 14 this week having scored a combined 98 points in their two dominant road wins over Hampton and Towson. 

Delaware is now up to 34.6 points per game on the season, and more than 38 points per game against FCS opponents after its two blowout wins away from home. 

Making its production all the more impressive these last couple outings is that Delaware played without quarterback Ryan O'Connor. Zach Marker stepped in and shined, including last week roaring to a 16-of-18, 307-yard and two-touchdown performance in the romp at Towson. 

Marker went out with injury, however, casting uncertainty on the quarterback spot once again. Nick Minicucci went 6-of-8 for 79 yards coming in for Marker. Which quarterback will take the field on Saturday may not be evident until kickoff, though.  

"We're still not sure about any of our injuries," Blue Hens coach Ryan Carty said on Monday. "We're going to play whoever's healthy...We'll have them prepared to go out there and give Elon a fight."

No matter who it is, Delaware could lean on its run game early. Elon is allowing 5.2 yards per carry and 188.6 rushing yards per game, while the multifaceted Blue Hens offense is averaging 5 yards per carry and 180.2 rushing yards a contest. 

While Delaware has lost quarterbacks in recent weeks, Elon got its top playmaker, Matthew Downing, back for the Oct. 21 win over Monmouth. Downing missed the loss at Villanova, and his absence behind center showed in a 21-0 defeat. 

Likewise, his presence made an immediate impact for the positive in the win two weeks, starting with a 59-yard touchdown strike to Chandler Brayboy less than a minute into the game. 

Elon needs a similar well-rounded and explosive offensive effort against a Delaware defense that has been every bit as good as the Blue Hens prolific offense. Delaware defenders got into the backfield for six tackles for loss at Towson against a good Tigers front. 

PREDICTION: Delaware 30, Elon 21

Villanova at New Hampshire 

The nation's most productive special teams when it comes to blocking kicks, New Hampshire made another last week to force overtime at Rhode island. That wasn't enough for the Wildcats to get over the hump against the Rams, however, and the 34-28 final sent UNH to 4-4 with its losses by a combined 16 points. 

Regardless the margin, New Hampshire has its back against the wall for a closing stretch. Saturday's home date with Villanova is a must-win for UNH's playoff chances, but the visiting Wildcats have stakes of their own. 

Villanova is in position to claim no worse than a share of the CAA championship, its second in three seasons, if it can win out. That also means padding a playoff resume that could be strong enough to garner national seeding should the Wildcats end the campaign on a six-game winning streak with road wins over a tough New Hampshire bunch and currently top 5-ranked Delaware. 

Since its lone FCS loss on Sept. 30 at UAlbany, Villanova has been cruising. The Wildcats have scored an average of 35.3 points per game in wins over North Carolina A&T, Elon and Stony Brook, while limiting their opponents to just nine points per. 

Look for the New Hampshire offense to buck that trend. With do-everything back Dylan Laube, who Villanova coach Mark Ferrante compared to CAA legend Matt Szczur, and quarterback Max Brosmer putting up the biggest passing numbers in the nation, the UNH Wildcats present the greatest challenge to the Villanova Wildcats defense the latter may see all season. 

The question on Saturday in Durham then comes down to how effectively can New Hampshire limit what has become an equally explosive Villanova offense. 

Connor Watkins' performance at quarterback has been nothing short of electrifying in recent weeks, whether in the passing game or carrying the ball. Ferrante credited an outstanding performance from the Villanova rushing attack two weeks prior vs. Elon for Stony Brook playing up early last week, which allowed Watkins to attack the Seawolves through the air on the way to 361 yards and four touchdowns. 

Jaaron Hayek had his best game since returning to the lineup from injury, joining Jaylan Sanchez and Rayjuon Pringle in the century club with 102. Hayek also caught a pair of touchdowns to complement Sanchez's 103 yards and Pringle's 196 with one touchdown each. 

"Connor's doing a really good job in his second year starting," Ferrante said. "He can hurt you with his feet a little bit, then to have him put the ball downfield as accurately as he did this past weekend, that was a good thing to have. Obviously, it all starts with protection." 

The element Ferrante noted about protection offers a potential key for UNH this weekend. In its only conference against UAlbany, Villanova gave up seven sacks. The New Hampshire defense has been at its best when the edge-rushing tandem of Dylan Ruiz and Josiah Silver cause havoc. 

PREDICTION: Villanova 35, New Hampshire 31 

Stony Brook at Monmouth

The last time a player led the Football Championship Subdivision in rushing yardage over two separate seasons, the FCS label didn't yet exist. What's more, when Brown running back Nick Hartigan accomplished the feat in 2005, he didn't do it in consecutive campaign; he finished seventh in 2004 after leading Div. I-AA in 2003. 

One must go back to 1998 and 1999 when Sacramento State's Charles Roberts was the last rushing leader to do so in consecutive seasons. Monmouth All-American Jaden Shirden heads into the final stretch of the Hawks' 2023 campaign with that milestone in sight, however, pulling ahead both in overall rushing yards at 1,173 — Butler's Jyran Mitchell is the nearest competitor at 1,088 — and yards per game. 

Shirden sits at 146.6 a contest, 18.5 more than Merrimack's Tyvon Edmonds Jr. 

Coming off a 251-yard performance against William & Mary, Shirden's gone over 250 twice in the last three games and has eclipsed 100 yards in six of Monmouth's eight outings this year. 

Shirden completed his stellar 2022 campaign with back-to-back 200-plus-yard games before a tidy 155 yards with a touchdown and a 64-yard last year vs. Stony Brook. Another big game against the Seawolves this season could set the human highlight reel ball-carrier on his way to the Walter Payton Award after finishing in the top three of voting a season ago. 

Stony Brook coach Chuck Priore compared Shirden to former Seawolves standout Miguel Maysonet, who rushed for 1,964 yards in 2012. 

PREDICTION: Monmouth 42, Stony Brook 27