Five CAA Football Teams Ranked In STATS Preseason FCS Top 25 Poll

Five CAA Football Teams Ranked In STATS Preseason FCS Top 25 Poll

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Rob Washburn

STATS FCS PRESEASON TOP 25 POLL

RICHMOND, Va. (August 5, 2019) – Five CAA Football teams are ranked in the 2019 STATS FCS Preseason Top 25 poll that was released on Monday afternoon.

James Madison received 14 first-place votes and is ranked No. 2 to start the season. Defending CAA champion Maine opens the year at No. 7 in the poll, followed by No. 11 Towson, No. 21 Elon, and No. 22 Delaware. Five more CAA teams - Stony Brook, New Hampshire, Villanova, Richmond and Rhode Island - were among other teams receiving votes.

The CAA, Big Sky Conference and Missouri Valley Football Conference were tied for the most teams in the poll with five. Ten different conferences had at least one team ranked, with two-time defending national champion North Dakota State at No. 1.

JMU welcomes back 19 of 22 starters from last year’s 9-4 team that earned a FCS playoff berth for the fifth consecutive year. Third-team All-CAA quarterback Ben DiNucci is among nine regulars back from an offense that averaged 33.9 points per game a season ago. Ten starters return from a defense that ranked sixth nationally in points (14.6 ppg) and yards (289.5 ypg) allowed. First-team All-CAA standouts Ron’Dell Carter and Adam Smith are joined by leading tackler Dimitri Holloway. JMU also adds All-America cornerback Rashad Robinson, who missed all of 2018 due to an injury.

Maine is coming off the best season in school history, posting a 10-4 overall record, capturing its first CAA championship since 2013 and advancing to the semifinals of the FCS playoffs for the first time ever. Eight starters return from a defense that was No. 1 in the nation against the run (79.2 ypg), including all-conference standouts Manny Patterson, Kayon Whitaker, Charles Mitchell and Deshawn Stevens. Quarterback Chris Ferguson and receiver Earnest Edwards top a group of seven offensive starters back.

Towson returns 15 starters from a 7-5 squad that returned to the FCS playoffs for the first time since 2013. Senior quarterback Tom Flacco, the 2018 CAA Offensive Player of the Year, is back to lead a Tigers’ offense that averaged a league-best 365.0 yards and 34.5 points per game. He’s joined by All-America running back/returner Shane Simpson and first-team All-CAA wide receiver Shane Leatherbury. Senior All-CAA linebacker Robert Heyward tops a group of seven regulars back defensively.

Elon has seven starters returning on both sides of the ball from a 6-5 squad that made its second consecutive FCS playoff appearance. Quarterback Davis Cheek is back to lead a Phoenix offense that includes top rusher Jaylan Thomas, the 2018 CAA Offensive Rookie of the Year, and leading receiver Kortez Weeks. Cornerback Greg Liggs, Jr. and defensive end Marcus Willoughby earned All-CAA recognition defensively in 2018.

Delaware went 7-5 last season and returned to the FCS playoffs for the first time since 2010. Quarterback Pat Kehoe and top rusher DeJoun Lee lead a Blue Hens’ offense that features four returning starters on the offensive line. Defensively, all four starters are back up front, topped by defensive end Cam Kitchen.

2019 STATS FCS Preseason Top 25 Poll
  1. North Dakota State (142 first-place votes)
  2. James Madison (14 first-place votes)
  3. South Dakota State (1 first-place vote)
  4. Eastern Washington (3 first-place votes)
  5. UC Davis
  6. Jacksonville State
  7. Maine
  8. Weber State
  9. Wofford
  10. Kennesaw State
  11. Towson
  12. Nicholls
  13. Colgate
  14. Montana State
  15. Illinois State
  16. Indiana State
  17. Southeast Missouri
  18. Northern Iowa
  19. Furman
  20. North Carolina A&T
  21. Elon
  22. Delaware
  23. Sam Houston State
  24. Princeton
  25. Montana
RV: Stony Brook, New Hampshire, Villanova, Richmond, Rhode Island