No. 20 URI off to Harvard

Defense eying improvement

KINGSTON — This past week has been anything but a bye week for the URI football team. With their national ranking continuing to improve – all the way up to No. 20 despite not playing last week and losing the week before that – they can’t afford to get stagnant. The Rams visit Harvard tonight at 7 o’clock in a contest that could determine if they remain ranked or not.

The Rams only won three times last year, but one of their victims was the Crimson. Normally one of the teams at the top of the Ivy League, Harvard struggled their way to a 5-5 record in 2017.

It seems as if the 17-10 loss to Rhody has the Crimson still smarting: Rams head coach Jim Fleming shared on the CAA weekly conference call that the staff at Harvard declined to exchange film with them.

“It’s a little disappointing,” he said, noting that the refusal was a rarity. “I didn’t think people did business like that anymore.

“[Harvard] will be a hardnosed football team. They will establish the run game. They have three really good backs from what I’ve been able to see. They have some legitimate threats at the wide receiver position.

“Defensively, they have a deep line. Eight guys they run up in there. They play a lot of guys in the linebacker corps as well.”

Fleming and his staff may not watch the Crimson on film, but they did have the advantage of their next two opponents playing each other last Friday. In Brown’s home opener, Harvard took away the victory, 31-17.

“Probably has some value to it,” Fleming said. “You’re able to watch both teams operate. It’s a reasonable distraction [from] focusing on Harvard and winning this week. I don’t think you could read too much into it. We had a bunch of kids go up and watch the game. That’s helpful.”

The Rams have had to turn to the TV broadcasts of Harvard’s first two games and what they’ve picked up from playing them in each of the last two seasons. An equally important part of the Rams time off has been taking a look inward, however.

“We gave ‘em off a couple days,” Fleming said. “We went back on Wednesday, just working on the passing game. We went for two full-blown practices on Thursday and Friday just to keep an edge. Stay game-ready.

“We did some self-study. We looked at the things we want to improve. It comes down to the same thing as how I felt after the UConn game: offense is playing pretty well, defensively we have to tighten some things up.”

The defense allowed a season-high in points and yards, while failing to sack Husky quarterback David Pindell once. The turnover-happy unit still did manage to fall on a fumble and pick off a pass in the loss.

“We gave up a potful of yards and a potful of points last time we were out,” Fleming said. “There have been stretches where we played spectacularly. We’ve been physical and aggressive in getting the ball out. We have to be much more consistent in our gap control and in the run game.

“As a group, their best is still ahead of them.”

The offense, on the other hand, has been firing on all cylinders. Led by fifth-year senior JaJuan Lawson, the Rams are averaging 426 yards a game. 286 of those yards are coming through the air.

“His development has been great,” Fleming said of his quarterback. “He continues to grow within our system. Developing more and more timing with his receiving corps. He has a symbiotic relationship with his coaches. They think the same way. It’s cool to watch. He’s starting to do things on the field that you expect from a fifth-year guy.

Success on the ground has helped open up \space for Lawson and his receivers. Zoe Bryant handled most of the rushing duties through the first two weeks, but after he was injured during the UConn game, juco transfer Naim Jones stepped in.

Jones ran for 95 yards and a touchdown in his first real collegiate action. At his previous stop – Nassau Community College in Garden City, NY – Jones compiled 1,300 rushing yards over two seasons.

“We have a couple legitimate backs we can use,” Fleming said. “Naim Jones came into the forefront during the UConn game. That was his first real live action. I thought he did a great job after Zoe Bryant went down.”

The Rams hope to add to their win column this week and next against the pair of Ivy League opponents, but they know that no matter what happens, their 2-0 CAA record will keep them in first place for the foreseeable future.

“One game at a time, one play at a time is where we are,” Fleming said.