Your JMUSB CAA Football Preview

First things first, let’s drop the “SEC of the FCS” talk when discussing CAA Football this year. It’s just not true any more. That’s not to say the CAA isn’t a damn fine football conference. It is. As Todd mentioned in his national notes though, the balance of power in the FCS appears to have shifted to the west. The CAA only put 3 teams in the playoffs last year. Three teams that collectively won one game. The league is still arguably the deepest in FCS. Unlike in years past however, it’s no lock that we’ll see multiple teams challenge for a trip to Frisco.

Alright, we got that out of the way. While all of the above is true today, that doesn’t mean we won’t see multiple CAA teams emerge as national championship contenders in the coming months. We might. The top half of the CAA is loaded. Loaded with experience, strong defenses, and some prolific rushing attacks. And in fact, with the league’s prestige taking a slight dip, pretty much every team in the league has a healthy little chip on its shoulder. There are teams that feel they were unjustly left out of the playoffs last year, new teams anxious to prove they belong in the CAA, and teams that know they’ve underperformed the past few years. And every team in the league wants to prove that the CAA is still the best league in the land. 

The Contenders

Villanova, Towson, New Hampshire, and Richmond took the top four spots in the CAA coaches preseason poll. And you’ll find plenty of people willing to tell you why each of those teams could win the league. Nova brings back 9 starters on an offense that led the CAA is rushing last year. Running back Kevin Monangai Jr and dual threat QB John Robertson should spearhead an offense that might be even better than last year’s.

New Hampshire might have a legit claim of Southern Bias. The Wildcats are often overlooked when discussing CAA power teams, yet they always end up in the playoffs. Last year they could light up the scoreboard. They also let other teams light it up. Expect the offense to once again be excellent. If the defense exceeds expectations, New Hampshire could be the team to beat.

Richmond and Towson were two very dangerous teams that played well down the stretch, only to be left out of the playoffs. Towson scheduled 2 FBS games and faced a number of tough CAA teams on the road last year. The schedule sets up more favorably for the Tigers this year. They’ll be breaking in a new QB, but running back Terrance West has 44 career TDs and is prepared to carry the load. Last year Richmond outperformed everyone’s expectations under first year coach Danny Rocco. The Spiders bring back 17 starters, including 9 on an offense that was second in the CAA in passing and averaged 33 points a game. Richmond also has the good fortune of avoiding New Hampshire and Nova on the schedule.

The Pretenders

Anything can happen and a surprise team could exceed all expectations and win the CAA. It’s fair to say that most people would be shocked if Rhode Island, Maine, William & Mary, or Albany actually do that though. Despite that, the Tribe faithful are confident that this could be a bounce-back year. William & Mary played a number of tough games last season, losing 5 games by 3 points or less. As any JMU fan will tell them though, until they have a clear cut number one QB, it’s going to be tough to compete for the title. Jimmy Laycocke has a reputation for coaching up QBs. He’s going to need to do it for the Tribe to avoid another losing season.

You could cherry pick stats to convince yourself Maine was decent last year. They had the tops scoring defense in the CAA and somehow had the 4th best passing attack. Or you could trust your eyes if you had the chance to watch the Black Bears last year and caught them on one of their bad days. Based on their awful performance against JMU alone, I can’t see them running with the favorites this year.

The situations with Albany, and Rhode Island appears to be more clear cut. Albany was a solid NEC program. The Danes might find the jump to the CAA, with its increased scholarships and tougher competition, to be a rough transition however. Rhode Island was just terrible last year. I don’t even have a joke about them. The Rams just weren’t good at football. Even a dramatic improvement would only place them in the middle of the pack.

The Rest

Now that we’ve got the top four and bottom four teams identified, it leaves us with the middle of the pack. In the middle we have CAA newbie Stony Brook, and former national champions Delaware and JMU. Obviously we all know (or have at least convinced ourselves) JMU could emerge from the middle of the pack and win the whole damn thing. We know that right? Because it’s true. We’ll discuss the Dukes more in detail later this week. Like the Dukes however, Delaware and Stony Brook could challenge for the title if they catch a few breaks.

By Delaware’s standards, the past few seasons have been rough. The Blue Hens struggled to a 2-6 league mark last year. As a result former head coach K.C. Keeler was shown the door. In his place steps Dave Brock, most recently the OC at Rutgers. He’ll have the benefit of having running back Andrew Pierce lead the offense. Pierce was banged up last year, but is healthy now. And he could challenge for the CAA rushing title.

Stony Brook is ready to prove that it can hang with the big boys of the CAA. And after knocking off Villanova in last year’s playoffs, they should have some deserved confidence they can do it. The Seawolves already have a CAA style program, built around a solid rushing attack and a dominating defense. It remains to be seen however, if they can sustain their high levels of play against better competition week in and week out.