CAA Football Announces 2014 Schedule
2014 #CAAFB Grid Schedule | 2014 #CAAFB Team-By-Team Schedule | 2014 #CAAFB Weekly Schedule | 2014 #CAAFB Online Schedule
RICHMOND, Va. (May 7, 2014) – CAA Football officially released its 2014 schedule on Wednesday, with the conference slate consisting of 94 games over a 13-week span. The league welcomes one new proven member this coming fall in Elon, after Albany and Stony Brook each embarked in the program’s first full season in 2013. CAA Football will maintain a one-division 12-team conference in which each member program will play eight league contests over the course of the upcoming campaign.
The 2014 CAA Football season officially begins with conference games starting in Week 4, with UAlbany visiting Rhode Island, Villanova hosting James Madison and New Hampshire heading to Richmond. In Week 6 (Oct. 4), Elon squares off versus UNH at its own Rhodes Stadium for the Phoenix’s inaugural CAA matchup.
Of the league’s 46 non-conference contests, 11 feature foes from the Bowl Subdivision classification, including seven teams that qualified for bowl games last year: Delaware/Pitt (Aug. 30), Elon/Duke (Aug. 30), James Madison/Maryland (Aug. 30), Maine/Boston College (Sept. 20), Rhode Island/Marshall (Sept. 6), Villanova/Syracuse (Aug. 29) and William & Mary/Virginia Tech (Aug. 30).
The league’s additional FBS contests include New Hampshire opening its season at Toledo on Aug. 30 and Richmond’s visit to inner-state foe Virginia one week later (Sept. 6). The second week of the season also features Stony Brook’s trip to Connecticut and Towson’s tilt at West Virginia. Ualbany, James Madison and Villanova round out the league’s out of conference slate with contests featuring Colgate at home, Charlotte on the road and Morgan State at home, respectively, on Oct. 25.
CAA Football has historically fared well in non-conference competition, recording a 270-164 (.622) record against non-league foes over the last decade which includes a 27-11 mark against Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) non-conference foes in 2013. The league also has had consistent success against Bowl Subdivision squads, with two teams – Towson and Maine – earning victories over Connecticut and Massachusetts, respectively, last season. In fact, over the last nine years, league members failed to topple an FBS opponent just once – during the 2012 campaign.
This coming season will also be the second-straight in which all but one CAA Football member will play at least one FBS foe. Similarly, all but one of the 94 total contests set to take place include matchups versus Division I opponents.
Following another successful season in 2013 which saw Maine win its first-ever CAA Football crown, the league was also represented in the national FCS semifinals by two teams, New Hampshire and Towson – with the Tigers advancing to the championship game. Traditionally one of the strongest leagues at the FCS level, the conference had five teams compile at least seven wins last fall, including three with at least 10 victories, all of which were mentioned above and earned postseason berths into the NCAA Championship field.
Elon, formally of the Southern Conference, should help increase the unrivaled parity in CAA Football, as the strength and intensity of the conference is only expected to strengthen. During their time in the SoCon, the Phoenix produced 17 All-Americans, two NFL Draft picks, three conference Defensive Players of the Year and also spent 40 consecutive weeks in the top-25 at one point.
Game times and television broadcast announcements will be made public throughout the summer and as the season approaches in the fall. The CAA and CAA Football are in the third year of a five-year broadcast agreement with NBC Sports Group, a contract that has only further bolstered the conference’s national television presence.
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