Football
The football team has won eight conference championships. While a member of the Southern Conference, W&M were champions or co-champions in 1942, 1947, 1966, and 1970. In the 1960s, future Willis Group Holdings Chairman & CEO Joe Plumeri played on the football team on scholarship as a halfback for Lou Holtz. After joining the Yankee Conference, the Tribe won the Mid-Atlantic Division in 1993 and won the conference championship in 1996. After the Yankee Conference's 1997 merger with the A-10 Conference, the Tribe were co-champions in 2001 and 2004. After the Colonial Athletic Association began sponsoring football with the 2007 season, the Tribe were co-champions in 2010.
The 2004 season saw William & Mary reach the Division I-AA national semi-finals before finally falling to rival James Madison University.
In 2008, the Tribe played Richmond, at home, on the very last game of the season. While Richmond was assured of a berth in the playoffs, having played and won an extra game due to a 12 game schedule that year (Tribe only played 11 games), the Tribe entered the game needing a win to secure a playoff spot. William & Mary trailed by 14 points going into the 4th quarter but made a huge comeback (largely due to Derek Cox) to send the game into overtime. The Tribe lost in overtime after Richmond blocked a field goal attempt during the Tribe's possession, then kicked a successful field goal during its possession. By failing to beat the Spiders William & Mary missed the playoffs. Richmond, however, would go on to win the NCAA Division I Football Championship by defeating Eastern Kentucky, Appalachian State, Northern Iowa, and the University of Montana 24–7 in the National Championship Game in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
In 2009, the Tribe played the Virginia Cavaliers (UVA), in a season opening match-up for both schools in Charlottesville for the first time since 1986. The Tribe upset Virginia 26–14. It was the second Tribe win over UVA in as many tries and mirrored several other recent wins by CAA (FCS) programs over those in the ACC (FBS), including three by Richmond over Duke (2006, 2009, 2011). The Tribe finished the year 11-3, after a run to the national semifinals that ended with a 14-13 loss to CAA rival and eventual champion Villanova.
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Famous quotes containing the word football:
“Idon’t enjoy getting knocked about on a football field for other people’s amusement. I enjoy it if I’m being paid a lot for it.”
—David Storey (b. 1933)
“You can’t be a Real Country unless you have A BEER and an airline—it helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a BEER.”
—Frank Zappa (1940–1993)
“People stress the violence. That’s the smallest part of it. Football is brutal only from a distance. In the middle of it there’s a calm, a tranquility. The players accept pain. There’s a sense of order even at the end of a running play with bodies stewn everywhere. When the systems interlock, there’s a satisfaction to the game that can’t be duplicated. There’s a harmony.”
—Don Delillo (b. 1926)