With just two weeks remaining in the regular season, the Coastal Athletic Association remains as competitive as ever with four teams inside the Football Championship Subdivision top-25 rankings and the conference title still up in the air.
Every week, The Good Five Cent Cigar sports staff comes up with a ranking for all 16 teams in the conference. Here’s where everyone stands following week ten:
16th Place: North Carolina A&T University Aggies (1-9, 0-6) (-)
In a season full of woes, NC A&T reached another low on Saturday as its losing streak was extended to eight games in a 31-3 loss to Villanova University. The loss now marks three straight games where it hasn’t reached double-digit points.
Ranking last in the conference in both points per game and points allowed per game, the Aggies are hoping to just take away anything positive from this agonizing season in these final two games.
15th Place: Bryant University Bulldogs (2-8, 0-6) (-)
The Bulldogs showed some fight on Saturday after falling behind 35-0 in the first half, but it fell short in a 38-26 loss to the University of Maine. Despite both being losses, Bryant can take solace in two of its three best offensive performances of the season coming in the past two weeks.
As it still searches for its first ever CAA win, Bryant will hope this newly-found offensive firepower can push them over the edge against the College of William and Mary this week.
14th Place: University at Albany Great Danes (3-7, 1-5) (-1)
Coming off a season where it won a share of the conference title, the struggles for the Great Danes have been inexplicable this year. With its 24-6 loss to Stony Brook University on Saturday, Albany has lost its past four games and hasn’t scored more than 14 points in any of those losses.
All that’s left for Albany at this point is to try and play spoiler and it’ll have a chance to do so when it travels to play the University of Rhode Island this week.
13th Place: Campbell University Fighting Camels (3-7, 1-5) (+1)
Campbell fought until the very end to try and hand the University of Richmond its first conference loss on Saturday, but a last-second field goal resulted in a 27-24 defeat.
The Camels will try to rebound from this heartbreaking loss with another tough task on the road against the University of Delaware this week.
12th Place: Hampton University Pirates (5-5, 2-4) (-2)
With a second-straight loss to Towson University on Saturday, any remaining glimmer of hope for an FCS playoff spot for the Pirates was erased. They have the third-ranked offense in the conference this season, but have been held to 14 or less points in their past two contests.
Hampton will hope it can get the offense back on track when they welcome in conference-leading Richmond this week.
11th Place: Elon University Phoenix (4-6, 3-3) (+1)
Elon has found some late-season firepower on offense as it has combined for 90 points on its way to back-to-back wins for the first time this year. Although the Phoenix still rank in the bottom half of the conference in points per game, you wouldn’t know that by watching these two games.
The season didn’t start the way it envisioned at 2-6, but Elon still has a chance to fight its way back to .500 with wins in the final two weeks.
10th Place: Monmouth University Hawks (4-6, 2-4) (-3)
The season continues to slip away from the Hawks as its losing streak stretched to three games with a 33-20 loss to New Hampshire this week.
With a top-ranked offense in the conference, yet still sitting two games under .500, Monmouth fans will likely leave this season asking, “what could have been?”
9th Place: Towson University Tigers (5-5, 3-3) (+2)
Towson returned home after a two-game road trip on Saturday and its defense put on a show for the home crowd, holding Hampton to just 10 points in a 27-10 win. This has been a common trend for Towson in conference matchups with this marking the third conference game where it’s allowed 14 or less points.
With last-placed NC A&T coming into town, the Tigers have to feel good about its chances to get over .500 for the first time all season this week.
8th Place: University of Maine Black Bears (5-5, 3-3) (-)
Maine came out with vengeance following back-to-back losses as they jumped out to a 35-0 lead against Bryant this week on its way to a 38-26 win.
The theme of the season has been inconsistency for the Black Bears with no winning or losing streaks lasting more than two games. In order to break this trend, it will need wins in its final two games of the season against Elon University and the University of New Hampshire.
7th Place: College of William and Mary Tribe (6-4, 3-3) (-1)
William and Mary was involved in a thrilling, back-and-forth game against Elon, but came out of the fight with a 40-36 loss after a last-second touchdown. The loss dropped the Tribe out of the top-25 rankings and is a big hit to its FCS playoff hopes.
The final two games on the schedule for William and Mary are against Bryant and in-state rival Richmond, with both feeling like must-wins for a chance to sneak into the postseason.
6th Place: University of New Hampshire Wildcats (6-4, 4-2) (+3)
The Wildcats have responded from a two-game losing streak in the exact way it needed to to get back in the playoff conversation with back-to-back wins. The key has been finding a groove offensively with 30 or more points on the board in each of the two wins.
New Hampshire will have a chance to make a strong statement this week when it welcomes in Stony Brook, who are on a four-game win streak.
5th Place: #16 Stony Brook University Seawolves (8-2, 5-1) (-)
Speaking of the Seawolves, its magical season continued with another convincing 24-6 win over Albany on Saturday. Three of the four victories during its streak have come by three or more possessions.
With two games remaining, the dream of going worst-to-first in the conference is still alive as the Seawolves are just one game out of the top spot in the conference.
4th Place: #9 University of Villanova Wildcats (8-2, 5-1) (-)
Villanova did exactly what was expected of a top-10 team on Saturday with a dominating 31-3 win over lowly NC A&T. The Wildcats have proved time and again that nothing will come easy against its staunch defense with a conference-best 16 points allowed per game.
This should make for an interesting matchup this week as Villanova will travel to take on Monmouth, who have the best offense in the conference.
3rd Place: #15 University of Rhode Island Rams (8-2, 5-1) (-2)
All good things must come to an end, which is exactly what the Rams learned on Saturday as its seven-game win streak was snapped in a 24-21 loss to Delaware.
Despite the loss, sights are still sky high for Rhody with a strong chance to secure its first FCS playoffs bid since 1985. Taking care of business against Albany at home this week should put them in a very good position to achieve this goal.
2nd Place: #11 University of Richmond Spiders (8-2, 2-0) (-)
Then, there was one. By the skin of its teeth, Richmond became the only remaining undefeated team in conference play by defeating Campbell, 27-24, on a last-second field goal. The Spiders have won eight-straight games since an 0-2 start and now control its own destiny to a second consecutive conference title.
Richmond will focus on regrouping after the scare against Campbell as it travels to take on Hampton this week.
1st Place: University of Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens (8-1, 5-1) (+2)
Delaware rightfully takes over the top spot in our rankings this week as it took down the previous kings of the rankings, Rhode Island, in a 24-21 win. Having said that, it’s important to note that the Blue Hens are ineligible to win the conference title or qualify for the FCS playoffs due to its jump to the Football Bowl Subdivision next year.
Still, the Blue Hens continue to display why the program is capable of making this jump and will head into the homestretch looking to win its final two games as members of the CAA.