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For the first time since 2017, the Lehigh Mountain Hawks (8-3) will be returning to the FCS Playoffs, and their opponents they drew, the Richmond Spiders (10-2), couldn’t be a more interesting opponent.
Like many things in the history of the NCAA, the survival of the Yankee Conference a a football-only construct was an accident.
Richmond, and their Rivals, William & Mary, were medium sized schools in medium sized markets with successful programs for their size and ambitions. Thanks to an entity called the “College Football Association”, or CFA, Richmond and William & Mary’s world was about to tear apart.
Richmond has been a master at surviving – they have been, and continue to be, the spider that cannot be stomped.
The Blue Hens will be exiting the all-sports conference that they called home since 2005, and exiting the football structure now called “CAA Football” since 1986.
Instead of moping about their record and their loss last week, they went back out on homecoming and walloped Lehigh 49-7, scoring 42 unanswered points in a quarter and a half.
In an upset, in Easton, Lafayette hung on to beat Monmouth 28-20 in an outcome that really couldn’t have worked out much worse for the Brown and White.
Since I can’t do anything half-assed, here’s a detailed Lehigh fan’s guide to the Mountain Hawks’ 2023 non-conference opponents. There’s no easy win penciled in here, as you will see.
After a promising drive stalled ending with a missed 40 yard field goal attempt, Monmouth (3-2, 1-1 CAA) would score the next 35 points en route to a humbling 35-7 win over Lehigh (1-4, 1-0 Patriot), handing the Mountain Hawks their third straight defeat.
What might have happened to the Patriot League had the Presidents genuinely gave a fair hearing, and accepted, Monmouth as a member?
You are probably coming to this preview to get a breakdown on the big game in Murray Goodman Stadium this weekend, where Richmond (0-0, 1-1) will take on Lehigh (1-0, 1-1) in a really tough out-of-conference battle for the home team. Indulge me for a moment, though, while I talk Lord of the Rings.
In front of 6,101 enthusiastic fans, many of them students, the No. 5 ranked Villanova Wildcats did what was expected of them, running out to a big lead en route to a 45-17 victory.
When I look at Lehigh’s 2022 season opener this weekend at Villanova, I see the ingredients of a possible rivalry, but the truth is, the game between the Mountain Hawks and Wildcats is not a rivalry.
The CAA’s move to become a 13 team superconference begs a different question for the FCS – what if that’s the only way forward for any number of smaller FCS conferences? Are we on the brink of a new era, where five, six, and seven member conferences are a thing of the past?
FCS SEMIFINAL PLAYOFF MATCHUP: JAMES MADISON AT NORTH DAKOTA STATEWHERE: FARGODOME, FARGO, N.D.WHEN: FRIDAY, DECEMBER 17, 8:15 PM CSTTV/STREAMING: ESPN2 / WATCHESPN This JMU-NDSU rivalry has been blooming over the past five seasons but like all good things, they have to come to an end. This will be the last meeting (at least with both at.
Fans of James Madison, who will be competing in the Sun Belt next season, feel like this is the “rubber match” between the two programs and would be a fitting sendoff for the Dukes to avenge that semifinal loss. Montana fans, however, would like a different type of sendoff.
This game will mark the second matchup between SDSU and Villanova on the gridiron. The first meeting also took place in the postseason, with the Jackrabbits pulling out a 10-7 victory on a late field goal in 2016 in a game played at Brookings.
Villanova has never lost to a Patriot League school in the postseason; one of their victories came against Holy Cross in their national championship season in 2009 by a 38-28 score.
These two teams have never faced each other. Both offenses are prolific.
The CAA has two locks for playoff berths – James Madison and Villanova. If both of those teams win they will both wind up seeded as well. After that it’s a question of whether there will be another CAA team in the playoffs.
The big news was off field in the mid Atlantic last week rather than on the field. James Madison has accepted an invite to the Sun Belt conference.
The CAA is looking at three playoff bids this season most likely. The rest of the conference is beating itself up.
If you weren’t following the key FCS Playoff matchups last week involving the playoffs, boy did you miss out!
Last week’s results in the CAA left us with one team unbeaten in conference and six others with a single loss. Villanova is clearly in the driver’s seat, but the battle for playoff spots is far from decided in the CAA.
It’s a packed slate this weekend in the CAA with six games, five in conference. Elon takes the week off.
This was unquestionably “hard reset” week for the Top 25 as this was the first real slate of games that changed the way people thought about their ballots.
This week we look forward to five conference matchups including two featuring two ranked teams.
This week, we have four conference games with one ranked matchup. Maine, Towson, Villanova and William & Mary will take the week off.
This week, there are another 5 CAA teams against FBS teams and one conference matchup. Albany, Delaware, James Madison, and Rhode Island take the week off.
This week’s schedule brings three conference matchups and one out of conference game. Chattanooga and The Citadel both have this week off before eight straight weeks of conference play.
Coming up this weekend for the CAA is a big conference matchup and a huge out of conference matchup. All 12 teams are in action with a third of the conference playing FBS opponents.
All 12 teams are in action this week with three conference matchups.
CAA football is back in the fall! After a postponement of last falls’ schedule to the spring, a semi normal season returns this year.
The CAA should be strong again in the fall with several teams looking for playoff berths.
The Dukes return to action in the fall with a Frisco or Bust mentality. They are loaded throughout the entire lineup and have Cole Johnson returning to be the starting quarterback.
This spring, it all came together for the Blue Hens and they went unbeaten in the regular season and won two playoff games before falling in the semifinals to South Dakota State.
Villanova has, in recent memory, battled two things: the injury bug and the ill-timed loss. They always have the talent to be one of the top teams in the CAA and FCS, but injuries derail them or they lose to a team they shouldn’t. They’ll need to avoid that this fall.
Richmond was down for the last few seasons after the graduation of Kyle Lauletta. But if the spring is any indication, with a strong defense and capable quarterback, the Spiders should contend for a playoff berth all season.
To lose at home is rare for the Wildcats. They’ve only lost seven total games on their home turf since 2015. That’s an advantage they will look to regain this year. They have two of the teams projected to finish above them in the standings – James Madison and Richmond – at home this year.
Maine was an uneven 2-2 in the spring but enter the fall season with hopes of returning to the playoffs.
Towson opted out of the spring season. When we last saw them, Towson had a high flying offense and an improving defense.
Albany struggled to a 1-3 record in the spring, but that doesn’t really tell the story of what kind of team they have.
William & Mary only played three games in the spring. But what we were able to see from Hollis Mathis showed a lot of potential for growth as we head into the fall.
Elon had a dreadful spring season going 1-5 with the lone win coming against non-scholarship Davidson by three points. To be fair, the Phoenix were riddled with injuries for the spring and never really had a chance.
Stony Brook went 1-3 in the spring season before pulling the plug and cancelling their last two games. It was good for the Seawolves to get their players live reps.
The Rams went 2-1 last spring with overtime road victories against Villanova and UAlbany before having its season cut short by COVID. The glimpse we got of the Rams before the shutdown showed a lot of potential for the fall season.
With a matchup between two of the top teams in the FCS over the last decade, College Sports Journal went to its two writers who have covered these two teams closely all season.
This week, the Gang got together and talked about their big takeaways from the FCS quarterfinal games this past weekend.
Find everything you need to know about this weekend’s FCS Playoff games and the SWAC Championship, including full previews, and our staff’s predictions on how the games are going to go.
These two teams both play a similar style. Both like to run the ball on offense to set up the pass.
