Despite being eight years removed from playing his last game for Towson football, Darius Victor enjoys the program’s highs and detests the lows. So the team’s 14-13 loss to No. 5 Villanova on Saturday hit home for the running back.

“I was a little upset that we lost by one point to Villanova,” said the 30-year-old Victor, who played for the Memphis Showboats of the United Football League this past spring. “I thought we had it.”

Although the setback dropped the Tigers to 1-2, there seem to be seeds of optimism. They trailed Cincinnati of the higher-level Football Bowl Subdivision by only one score midway through the third quarter before eventually falling, 38-20. And they were a touchdown-nullified-by-an-illegal-formation-penalty and two missed field goal attempts away from upsetting a Wildcats squad that shared last year’s Coastal Athletic Association regular-season title with Albany and Richmond.

As Towson prepares for Saturday’s game at 2 p.m. at No. 2 and nine-time Football Championship Subdivision champion North Dakota State (2-1), two members of the 2013 team that lost to the Bison in the FCS championship game on Jan. 4, 2014, said they are encouraged by what they have seen in the current squad.“I think this year’s team looks pretty good,” said former quarterback Connor Frazier, a 31-year-old father of two daughters who works for Booz Allen and coaches the wide receivers at Urbana High in Frederick County. “They’ve got a lot of good pieces in various positions. Even this last week against Villanova, they had opportunities to win the game. … Playing close to a team like Villanova, which is highly ranked, should give them confidence, and playing well against an FBS school like Cincinnati should give them confidence. I think they just need to continue to build and get better each week and try not to look ahead.”

“I think this year’s team looks pretty good,” said former quarterback Connor Frazier, a 31-year-old father of two daughters who works for Booz Allen and coaches the wide receivers at Urbana High in Frederick County. “They’ve got a lot of good pieces in various positions. Even this last week against Villanova, they had opportunities to win the game. … Playing close to a team like Villanova, which is highly ranked, should give them confidence, and playing well against an FBS school like Cincinnati should give them confidence. I think they just need to continue to build and get better each week and try not to look ahead.”

Added Victor: “It seems like they’re competing this year, and that’s pretty good, especially in that first game at Cincinnati. It’s a lot better than it was last year. So that’s a good sign of things, and I’m excited about that.”

As pleased as he was by Towson’s performances thus far, coach Pete Shinnick is taking a pragmatic view of his team’s development.

“I think we’re close, but we’re still far away,” he said. “You’ve got to find ways to come out ahead in games like that. Winning close games is what propels a team to the next level.”

Last fall was the Tigers’ first under Shinnick, who had succeeded Rob Ambrose after 14 years at the helm. They enjoyed a 4-2 record on the road, but limped to a 1-4 home mark that contributed to going 5-6 overall and 4-4 in the CAA.

One of those setbacks was a 33-10 rout at Villanova on Nov. 11 during which the Wildcats raced to a 24-0 advantage by halftime and got a 299-yard, three-touchdown outing by fifth-year senior quarterback Connor Watkins.

On Saturday, Towson and Villanova were tied at 7 at halftime, and Watkins finished with only 116 passing yards (although he did throw two touchdown passes). Steve Pinone, who served as an analyst for the game broadcast on FloSports, came away impressed with what he saw from the Tigers.

“I thought they were very fundamentally sound,” he said. “I thought they had a really good game plan — especially defensively — on how they wanted to approach the Villanova game. They weren’t going to give up any big plays. They were going to keep everything in front and make Villanova go 10 or 15 plays to score. I thought they were very disciplined. That would be a change. I thought their discipline was at a different level.”

Pinone credited Shinnick with retaining several players from the previous season and reshaping Towson to fit his brand of football. Shinnick, in turn, shared that credit with the players.

“I’ve told our team from day one that it’s about how we practiced against each other, how we went against each other, how we continued to compete,” he said. “I love how we’re preparing, and I love how we’re approaching this, and I love how we have consistently put ourselves in a great spot. Now we’ve just got to find ways to put the final touches on it. I really do like where we’re at, and I like everything about us except our record right now. We’ve got to work to improve that.”

Another objective might involve capturing a CAA title that has eluded the program since 2012 or qualifying for a playoff berth for the first time since 2018. Pinone thinks the Tigers are poised to break through soon.

“I don’t see that big of a gap, and the league has really evolved with [James] Madison going out a couple years ago and Delaware moving on and Richmond moving on,” he said. “I would envision Towson being toward the top of this league in the near future.”

Towson fans would love to see Shinnick build a team that could mirror the 2013 squad that challenged North Dakota State for the national championship. For now, winning Saturday’s game might ease some of that pain — even if playing in the 19,000-seat Fargodome is widely considered one of the more intimidating venues in college football.

“It’s going to be a tough atmosphere, but just go in there and don’t feel pressed to make plays,” Frazier said. “Stay loose and just do your job and do your assignments. They have good football players just like Towson has good football players. So don’t press and try to make plays. A good sign would be competing. You should go into every game feeling like this is an opportunity to win. Trust the game plan, trust the guys next to you, and the chips will fall into the right place.”

Added Victor: “Towson’s been competing in every game. So I don’t see why not. I believe in them. I’ll be watching.”