W&M and UR may reach season-ending game with no FCS losses
The series that began in 1898 is tied 64-64-5 and on Nov. 18, the football regular season closes for the University of Richmond and William & Mary. The Spiders and Tribe just might be undefeated against FCS competition when they meet at Zable Stadium.
If that lands as an audacious projection, appreciate that both teams are ranked in the Stats Perform FCS Preseason Top 25 – W&M at No. 4, UR at No. 18 - and then examine their schedules.
Because of the playing rotation cycle CAA Football uses to determine eight-game conference obligations for each member of a 15-team league, the Tribe and Spiders are not facing a formidable group of league opponents in 2023.
W&M, the CAA Football favorite, does not play New Hampshire (picked second in league preseason poll), Delaware (fourth), Rhode Island (sixth) or Villanova (seventh). The Tribe are playing Campbell (12th), Maine (13th), Albany (11th) and Hampton (15th).
UR, picked to finish third in CAA Football, does not meet New Hampshire, Delaware or Villanova. It does face Stony Brook (14th), North Carolina A&T (10th), Maine, Campbell and Hampton.
In nonleague play, Richmond faces Morgan State and Delaware State at home, and visits Michigan State. W&M outside of CAA Football competition meets Wofford in Williamsburg, and goes to Charleston Southern and Virginia.
The conference schedule presents the Spiders and Tribe with opportunities to make bold statements and get in advantageous positions for home games in the FCS playoffs by earning high seeds in the 24-team postseason field. Eight teams are seeded and each receives a first-round bye. Each seed is guaranteed to host a second-round game.
The No. 1 and No. 2 seeds get home-field advantage through the semifinals, and 11 of the last 12 teams in FCS championship games have played only home games before a neutral site title game, in Frisco, Texas.
The down sides of the schedules for the Tribe and Spiders is that they do not meet historical CAA Football opponents in games that generate greater interest (Villanova, Delaware), and could be at risk of having impressive records but poor schedule strengths because of opponents’ struggles. That may affect how high W&M and UR are seeded in a postseason bracket and when and where they travel in the playoffs.
Last season, W&M and UR qualified for the FCS playoffs, with the Tribe earning a No. 5 seed. Their season ended at No. 4 Montana State 55-7 in frigid night weather in the quarterfinals in Bozeman, Montana. Unseeded Richmond lost 38-31 in the second round at No. 2 Sacramento State.
The schedules of William & Mary and Richmond demonstrate what can happen when a league expands to 15 by bringing in members of a lower-level league, the Big South Conference, and adheres to that rotational system to determine opponents.
Hampton and Monmouth joined CAA Football from the Big South last year and N.C. A&T and Campbell come into CAA Football from the Big South this year. Bryant, a Big South member, joins CAA Football next year as its 16th member.
CAA Football used to be known as the FCS’ premier league, top to bottom, when James Madison and 11 others comprised the conference roster. That last happened in 2021, before JMU shifted to the FBS and Sun Belt Conference.
In a post-pandemic world in which budget belts were tightened by FCS programs, CAA Football schools chose expansion and approached it in a way to secure their futures together. "Financial sustainability” are two words often used by the league commissioner, Joe D’Antonio.
Travel expenses – flights - are the big-ticket item, so expansion design included an increased emphasis on schools located in the league’s geographic footprint and amplified regional competition.
William & Mary opens at Campbell Thursday night and Richmond hosts Morgan State on Sept. 2.
