Three CAA Football Teams Earn NCAA FCS Playoff Berths

Three CAA Football Teams Earn NCAA FCS Playoff Berths

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Rob Washburn

NCAA FCS Playoff Bracket

RICHMOND, Va. (November 23, 2025) – Three CAA Football teams were chosen to the 24-team field for the NCAA FCS playoffs on Sunday afternoon, marking the 18th time in the past 20 years that the conference has had at least three teams selected.

CAA champion Rhode Island was joined by New Hampshire and Villanova. CAA Football was one of four conferences with three or more teams in the field.

Rhode Island (10-2, 8-0 CAA) received the No. 9 national seed and will host Northeast Conference champion Central Connecticut State (8-4) at Noon on Saturday. The Rams, who are on a six-game winning streak, are making their second consecutive FCS playoff appearance and fifth appearance overall. Rhode Island and Central Connecticut met in the first round a year ago, with the Rams picking up a 21-17 victory. The winner of that game will travel to No. 8 seed UC Davis.

Villanova (9-2, 7-1 CAA) was awarded the No. 12 national seed and will entertain Harvard (9-1) at Noon on Saturday. Villanova, which has won eight straight games, made the FCS playoff field for the fifth time in seven years, having advanced to the quarterfinals in 2021 and 2023. The Wildcats have 17 playoff appearances in their history, which includes the 2009 national championship. The winner of that game will head to No. 5 seed Lehigh.

New Hampshire (8-4, 6-2 CAA) travels to No. 14 national seed South Dakota State (8-4) at 1 p.m. on Saturday. The Wildcats, who closed the year on a five-game winning streak, are making their 19th appearance in the FCS playoffs and third in the past four seasons. UNH had an amazing run of 14 consecutive playoff appearances from 2004-17. The winner of that game will go to No. 3 seed Montana.

All first and second-round games will air on ESPN+.

CAA Football has now had multiple teams selected to the FCS playoff field for the 35th consecutive year. The conference has had at least one team in the quarterfinals in 28 of the past 29 seasons and has had a team advance to the semifinals of the playoffs in 10 of the past 12 years. The CAA has had a team reach the national championship game 11 times since 2003.