A time zone (and soon enough, Richmond) are two of the only things that the CAA and the Patriot League have in common. The CAA’s 16 teams and the Patriot’s seven overlap in non-conference play, but once late-October league schedules really take over, the conferences have much different FCS playoff paths based on sheer membership size.
This week, however, a theme of “separation Saturday” is prevalent in both the CAA and Patriot League’s schedules.
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With teams about to round the bend into November, postseason positioning will gain clarity when Stony Brook hosts No. 16 William & Mary in a matchup of 5-2 CAA teams. The Seawolves are turning it around under first-year head coach Billy Cosh and they are led by No. 1 CAA rusher Roland Dempster at tailback.
Dempster’s 114.7 ground yards per game will collide with W&M and Bronson Yoder’s 105.4 average. It will be two of the CAA’s three century-mark rushers on the same field Saturday.
The other triple-digit runner in the conference is Zach Palmer-Smith (108.7), who takes No. 18 Richmond up to Bryant on Saturday. The Spiders can get separation from No. 15 Rhode Island by avoiding a letdown after knocking off Delaware last week in Virginia.
URI will try to stay in step with Richmond as part of the CAA’s unbeaten pair in league action when the Rams deal with Maine on Saturday. Maine is coming off a takedown of then-No. 5 Villanova 35-7, and the Black Bears have to see the opportunity here in possibly getting back-to-back CAA upsets before schlepping to Oklahoma on Nov. 2.
With a win over Rhody, Maine would have a pair of the CAA’s best wins and can advance to 5-3 overall before seeing playoff-eliminated Bryant and Elon later in the schedule.
In a show of the CAA’s depth, all of this is not to mention the Wildcats-on-Wildcats game that sees New Hampshire head to No. 13 Villanova. The tandem of 2-1 CAA records will battle as Nova seeks to correct course and UNH also has ground to make up after ceding it to Rhode Island.
UNH especially needs to avoid a fourth overall loss before November because these Wildcats have a slate of tricky games down the stretch: vs. Monmouth and Stony Brook and at Maine.
In another CAA separator, Towson visits Monmouth on Saturday. The Tigers’ four overall losses are at FBS Cincinnati, at Villanova by one point, at North Dakota State, and most recently home vs. Stony Brook. Towson is one game behind Monmouth in CAA record.
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In the Patriot League, the favorites of recent years meet up as Holy Cross travels to Lafayette for Saturday’s kick. The Crusaders are 3-5 overall but 2-0 in the Patriot entering the contest with the Leopards and their 1-1 PL mark.
The winner of HC-Lafayette will likely have some interest in the outcome of Bucknell vs. Georgetown. That tilt sees the Bison and Hoyas enter at PL records 1-0 and 1-1, respectively. Bucknell still has to play Lafayette and Holy Cross, but the Bison will best position themselves for those tests by finding a way against Georgetown.
Because the Patriot League is potentially destined for one bid to the FCS playoffs given resumes across the board this season, the PL’s compact conference schedule with head-to-heads such as these can have the effect of win-or-go-home just in the regular season.
Before Richmond arrives next fall to cloud the auto-bid race, Patriot League top-line programs like Holy Cross and Lafayette are entering the 2024 separation stage while the Spiders and CAA colleagues do the same – just in a longer standings tab.
