FCS Notebook: Will Inflated CAA Records Help Or Hurt On Selection Sunday?

The FCS Notebook is a blog-style article series featuring an assortment of news, rumblings, quick hitters, and commentary on various topics.

A new FCS Notebook will be published multiple times a week.

Will Inflated CAA Records Help Or Hurt On Selection Sunday?

It was going to be impossible for the CAA to replace a departing program like James Madison. Same with Delaware. There aren’t any replacements in that region that could rival those two programs and how they treat/support football.

What the CAA did was try and strengthen itself in numbers by adding teams like Bryant, Campbell, Hampton, Monmouth, and NC A&T. Those last two additions were strong adds at the time.

But similar to the FCS getting watered down as teams leave for the FBS and D2 teams come up, the CAA watered itself down by ballooning to 16 members this year. That number drops to 14 next season when Delaware departs and Richmond moves to the Patriot League.

The CAA has taken its lumps from FCS followers and media from all corners of the country, calling out the conference for getting too big and adding teams with a lack of football success, which could lead to inflated records. And that criticism has hit the nail on the head as we look at the CAA standings.

Five teams are already at seven or eight overall wins with zero or one loss in CAA play.

Those records look great on the surface for playoff positioning, plus you have William & Mary at 6-3 who could hit eight or nine wins.

But remember, the playoff committee didn’t have any CAA teams ranked in their Top 10 last week despite Rhode Island being undefeated vs. the FCS and Richmond being 6-1 vs. the FCS.

The issue is while the five teams above have good overall records, they lack multiple ranked wins and quality non-conference victories. Plus, they mostly avoid each other.

Rhode Island plays 1 team out of the other 4 in that Top 5. Richmond plays 1 of the 4. Delaware plays 3 of the 4. Stony Brook plays 1 of the 4. Villanova plays 2 of the 4.

Those five have played a combined zero non-conference opponents who are currently ranked in the polls. Villanova has the lone then-ranked non-conference win, a seven-point victory over Youngstown State, who is now 3-7.

How is the committee supposed to get a good gauge of the top CAA teams when there aren’t great non-conference wins and they barely even play each other?

Now to balance this out, let’s also defend the CAA. The conference had skeptics last year too, and it performed well in the playoffs. UAlbany made a run to the semifinals, while Villanova advanced to the quarterfinals and gave eventual national champs SDSU its toughest game. We can question what quality wins top CAA teams have on their resumes to earn Top 8 seeds, but you could also say that about SEMO, UIW, and even South Dakota as of right now.

The CAA has good talent and sends plenty of guys to the NFL. The CAA is near the top of the FCS in the number of players getting a shot in NFL rookie camps every year. The CAA is a solid FCS conference. The CAA has a lot of teams currently ranked. And the CAA improved its reputation last year in the playoffs.

Those things can all be true while also questioning how playoff committee members are going to view their arguments for playoff seeds. If the Top 10 rankings last week are any indication, committee members want to see more quality wins.

The pressure will be on to perform well in the postseason again. Because if the conference gets 4-5 teams into the bracket who have 8-10 wins but minimum ranked victories, and they all exit in the first and second rounds, the noise will get louder about the CAA and how it schedules conference and non-conference games.

2 Ranked Matchups This Week

There are two games this week between ranked opponents (using the Stats Perform Media Poll):

No. 3 SDSU at No. 21 UND
No. 4 UC Davis at No. 7 Montana (ESPN2)

FCS Teams Still Undefeated vs. FCS Opponents

Records against FCS opponents

NDSU 9-0
SEMO 8-0
Montana State 8-0 (9-0 overall)
UC Davis 8-0
Rhode Island 8-0
Duquesne 5-0

Dropped after this weekend’s results:
Dartmouth, Tarleton State

Past FCS Notebooks

Ivy League Considering Allowing Its Teams Into The FCS Playoffs … READ MORE

Expect Big Changes In The FCS Playoff Committee’s Top 10 Between Now And Selection Sunday … READ MORE

FCS Playoff Committee Releases In-Season Top 10 Ranking … READ MORE