Monmouth Faces Another Challenge Saturday When It Travels To Towson

WEST LONG BRANCH – Monmouth head coach Kevin Callahan repeatedly states that when it comes to playing a Coastal Athletic Association opponent, you can throw out the season record of both teams; they’re meaningless. And that goes for this Saturday’s game when the Hawks travel to Towson University (3-3, 1-1) to take on the Tigers at Johnny Unitas Stadium in Towson, Maryland.

“When you get into conference play, it’s not about what a team's record is,” said Callahan at last Saturday’s post-game press conference. “You can have a team coming in that hasn’t won a game, and you can have the other team that has won every game, and it all comes down to the three hours on the field and who has played better during those three hours. And our goal this week and every week from now on is to be that better team in those three hours on the field.”

On paper, Monmouth (4-1, 1-0) – ranked No. 11 in the latest AFCA weekly top 25 football poll- should be the prohibitive favorite against Towson this Saturday. But as Callahan knows from experience, every game in the CAA is a dog fight, and Saturday, more likely than not, will be just that.

All that the Hawks have to do to prove the point is to look back at last season’s home game against Towson. The Tigers entered the game with a 3-4 record and were coming off a 52-24 beatdown by Stony Brook the previous Saturday. Monmouth, on the other hand, had just won four out of five games, including its first-ever FBS win against FIU and a brutal 42-35 loss to Delaware, in a game that could’ve gone either way.

Monmouth appeared to be a strong favorite in the game, especially at home. However, Towson dominated the Hawks 26-14, sending them on a three-game skid that took them out of FCS playoff contention.

“They did a tremendous job against us last year, and all the credit goes to Towson and the staff down there,” said Callahan. “They really boxed us in pretty good. We had trouble throwing the ball, could not run the ball, and they got after our quarterback really effectively. They really had us off guard the entire game. One of the few games where we really couldn’t find the end zone, and that’s obviously an area of concern for us going into this week.”

If that’s not enough for a little extra motivation, I don’t know what is.

Towson opened the season with wins against Michael Vick’s Norfolk State team and then Morgan State before losing to FBS foe University of Maryland, 44-17, and to No.20 Youngstown State, 31-28. They rebounded with a 26-24 win against Bryant University before losing to Elon (4-2, 2-0), 17-3 in a game where they held Elon, which received votes in the AFCA top 25 this week, to 10 points in the first 53 minutes and failed to score twice inside the Elon 10-yard line in the fourth quarter.

The Tigers rank 12th in the CAA in points scored per game (21.3) and fifth in points allowed per game (24.2). Their offense averages 310.0 yards per game (12th in the CAA), and the defense allows, on average, 386.7 yards per game – eighth in the CAA.

“Offensively, they’re doing a good job,” Callahan said on Monday’s CAA Zoom call. “They have a freshman quarterback, but they surround him with some very talented players, most notably at the receiver position, where they’re playing four, five, and six guys every single game. They’re an older group that has outstanding ability, and they have big play potential at that position. They have two talented running backs. One is a big, strong, experienced player, and the other is a little, younger, and smaller, but is exceptionally fast. Their offensive line has tremendous size. They’re 6-foot-4, 320-pound average across the board, which is much bigger than we are on the defensive side.

“And on the defensive side, there are a lot of new faces, but they’re an experienced group, meaning that they’re guys who have come in as seniors or graduate students and have played a lot of football,” said Callahan. “And they’re a team that is in the top five in scoring defense in the CAA. It’s a unit that features good players on all three levels, including the defensive line, linebackers, and secondary. We’re going to have to be extremely balanced on offense to be able to move the ball.”

Starting quarterback Andrew Indorf is a true freshman out of St. Aquinas High School in Miami Beach, where he passed for 2,868 yards and 39 touchdowns as a senior. He led Broward County in passing yards and was 15th in the state of Florida, while leading his team to the Florida Class 5A championship.

This season at the next level with Towson, he’s completed 99-of-166 passes for 1166 yards and seven touchdowns with three interceptions.

“He’s got a tremendous amount of poise, and nothing seems to rattle him,” said Callahan of Indorf. “He’s smart and distributes the ball to a group of very talented receivers, and he’s very athletic. When he pulls the ball down and wants to run, he picks up positive yards. He’s a very competitive kid. You wouldn’t know watching him that he’s a freshman player that you are watching.”

2025 Preseason All-CAA Honorable Mention wide receiver John Dunmore leads the team in receptions (26) and has 271 yards receiving with three touchdowns. Junior Jaceon Doss is Towson’s deep threat wideout, averaging 28.55 yards per catch on 11 receptions for 314 yards and three touchdowns. Six-foot, 225-pound Al Wooten III has rushed for 272 yards on 71 attempts and three touchdowns, while Kamarrion Battles has 51 carries for 206 yards and one touchdown. Three-year starter at left tackle, Dan Volpe (6-foot-6, 305 pounds), anchors the offensive line. Volpe is out of Colts Neck High School, where he was a first team All-Shore selection.

2025 Preseason All-CAA selections, safety Xavier Terry, and cornerback Myles Brode head up a talented secondary that also has leading tackler Jason Shiggs (41 tackles, 1 INT, 1 BU) at safety. 2025 All-CAA Honorable Mention linebacker Rodney Roane (26 tackles, 3 TFL, two sacks, FF, QB hit) and fellow linebackers C.J. McClendon (40 tackles, 5 TFL, 1.5 sacks, BU) and Ja’Mez Drummer make up an elite second level group. Aaron Clark and Elijah Tarlton anchor the defensive line.

KEYS:

Monmouth needs to get its running game going again after rushing for over 250 yards last week, including Rodney Nelson’s 203 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. That would open up some passing lanes and loosen coverage for quarterback Derek Robertson, while taking some of the pressure off him to complete every pass he throws.

Monmouth’s defense is third in the CAA in sacks with 15, including five each for defensive ends Lamont Lester Jr. and Josiah Graham, who lead the CAA. If they can continue to apply pressure and rattle the freshman quarterback into making mistakes, it will go a long way toward getting the defense off the field.