With four teams making the postseason, the Coastal Athletic Association displayed why it’s one of the most highly-regarded conferences at the Football Championship Subdivision level this season.
Every week throughout the year, the Good Five Cent Cigar sports staff has come up with a ranking of all 16 teams within the conference. As the postseason continues to progress, here’s how all the teams stand in our final rankings of the season:
16th Place: North Carolina A&T University Aggies (1-11, 0-8) (-)
When your only win of the season comes against a Division II opponent in overtime, it’s safe to say that it was a pretty disastrous year. Not only did the Aggies end their season on a 10-game losing streak, but they also lost nine of these 10 games by two or more possessions.
All in all, it’s going to be really difficult to find any silver lining for NC A&T in a season where it ranked last in the conference in both points scored per game and points allowed per game.
15th Place: Bryant University Bulldogs (2-10, 0-8) (-)
Bryant’s quest for its first CAA win is going to have to stretch into its second year as part of the conference next season.
The Bulldogs had their fair share of close calls, including a 31-30 overtime loss to Stony Brook University on Nov. 2, but ultimately were never able to break through and ended the season on a seven-game losing streak.
14th Place: Campbell University Fighting Camels (3-9, 1-7) (-1)
The Fighting Camels were hoping to end their season on a high note in front of their home crowd, but allowed 24 fourth-quarter points in a 45-23 loss to Towson University. Defense became a glaring weakness for Campbell down the stretch, as it allowed 40 or more points in three of its final four games.
Ranking in the bottom five in the conference on both sides of the ball, Campbell will head into the offseason searching for answers.
13th Place: University at Albany Great Danes (4-8, 2-6) (+1)
Coming off a CAA title and an appearance in the FCS quarterfinals last year, there’s no sugarcoating the fact that this season was a failure for the Great Danes. Their struggles can all be circled back to their offense, as they scored more than 17 points in just three of their 12 games.
One positive that Albany can take away from this tough year is being able to close it out with a fourth-quarter comeback in a 41-34 victory over Hampton University.
12th Place: Hampton University Pirates (5-7, 2-6) (-)
After moving to 5-3 with a win over Elon University back on Oct. 26, the Pirates were thinking about a potential run at a playoff spot. Ultimately, their season went in the complete opposite direction, as they dropped their final four games to finish under .500.
The continuous theme throughout the season for Hampton was coming up just short against some of the top teams in the conference. The Pirates lost by just one possession to three FCS playoff teams: the University of Rhode Island, the University of Richmond and Villanova University.
11th Place: University of Maine Black Bears (5-7, 3-5) (-)
Maine’s season came to an end in fairly uneventful fashion when it allowed 27 unanswered points in front of its home crowd in a 27-9 loss to the University of New Hampshire.
The Black Bears closed their season by losing four of their last five games to finish under .500 for the third-straight season.
10th Place: Elon University Phoenix (6-6, 5-3) (-)
After starting 2-6 and 1-3 in conference play, Elon couldn’t have drawn up a more perfect finish to its season with four straight victories. The Phoenix fought back to officially get back to the .500 mark for the first time since September with their season-ending 31-21 win over NC A&T.
It was truly a tale of two halves this season for the Phoenix, as they scored more than 17 points just once in their first six games, then scored 30 or more points in five of their final six games.
9th Place: College of William and Mary Tribe (7-5, 4-4) (-2)
The Tribe went into their final regular season game against Richmond still clinging onto hopes of pulling off an upset to sneak their way into the postseason. Those dreams were quickly shattered, though, when they garnered just 164 yards of total offense and got shutout in a 27-0 loss.
William and Mary started its season 4-0 against FCS competition, but it was unable to sustain any sort of consistency down the stretch with no consecutive wins after September.
8th Place: Towson University Tigers (7-5, 5-3) (+1)
Towson saved its best for the second half of the season with wins in four of its final five games, all of which came by a double-digit margin. The Tigers closed the year with a 45-23 win over Campbell to complete their best season since 2019.
Getting off to a 3-4 start kept the Tigers short of reaching the postseason, however they will be able to carry plenty of momentum from this strong finish into the offseason.
7th Place: Monmouth University Hawks (6-6, 4-4) (+1)
The Hawks averaged 39 points per game this year – the highest mark in the CAA – and their high-powered offense was out in full force when they closed the season with a 55-47 win over Stony Brook.
Despite a couple of ranked wins over Villanova and Stony Brook to close out the year, Monmouth has to be left feeling like it didn’t take full advantage of its explosive offense with just a .500 record and no postseason appearance.
6th Place: #19 University of New Hampshire Wildcats (8-5, 6-2) (-)
By winning its last four games of the regular season, New Hampshire not only got back into the postseason picture, but ended up hosting a playoff game as the 16th-seed. The momentum didn’t carry over to the postseason, though, as the Wildcats suffered a 41-10 loss to the University of Tennessee at Martin in front of their home crowd on Saturday.
The Wildcats were dominated on both sides of the ball in the blowout loss with just 124 yards of total offense, compared to 482 yards allowed.
5th Place: #24 Stony Brook University Seawolves (8-4, 5-3) (-)
Coming off a winless 2023 campaign, this season felt like a fairytale for the Seawolves when they were 8-2 and appeared to be destined for a postseason appearance. Unfortunately, this fairytale didn’t have a storybook ending, as back-to-back losses to New Hampshire and Monmouth left Stony Brook as one of the first four teams left out of the FCS playoffs.
Overall though, the 2024 season will be considered a major success for Stony Brook and it will assuredly go into next year feeling good about the direction of its program.
4th Place: #12 Villanova University Wildcats (10-3, 6-2) (-)
Villanova was in serious danger of being upset by Eastern Kentucky University in the first round of the FCS playoffs when it fell behind 14-0 in the first quarter. However, the Wildcats kept their season alive by outscoring the Colonels 13-0 in the second half on their way to a 22-17 victory.
The Wildcats will seek to reach the FCS quarterfinals for the third time in four seasons when they travel to take on the University of the Incarnate Word on Saturday.
3rd Place: University of Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens (9-2, 6-2) (-2)
Delaware’s time as a member of the CAA came to a disappointing conclusion with a 38-28 loss to Villanova on Nov. 23. Due to the jump the Blue Hens are making to the Football Bowl Subdivision level next year, they were ineligible for postseason play.
Even with the loss in their regular season finale, the Blue Hens had a strong final campaign as an FCS program, scoring 40 or more points in more than half of their games.
2nd Place: #9 University of Richmond Spiders (10-3, 8-0) (-)
Richmond was riding high heading into the playoffs with a 10-game win streak and a second-straight CAA title. However, the Spiders quickly learned that anything can happen in the postseason when they got upset by Lehigh University in the first round on Saturday.
To make matters worse, Richmond was leading 16-7 with just over 10 minutes remaining, but its conference-leading defense allowed 14 unanswered points on the way to a 20-16 loss to end its season.
1st Place: #10 University of Rhode Island Rams (11-2, 7-1) (+2)
Historic feats just keep stacking up for Rhode Island this season, as it won its first postseason game since 1985 and reached 11 wins for the first time in program history with a 21-17 victory over Central Connecticut State University in the first round of the playoffs.
For a team with nine come-from-behind victories this year, it was only fitting that the Rams’ first playoff win in 39 years came down to the wire. Rhode Island finish as the kings of our rankings and will look to keep its magical ride alive in a second-round matchup on the road against Mercer University on Saturday.