Four CAA Football Teams Receive NCAA FCS Playoff Berths For Second Straight Season

Four CAA Football Teams Receive NCAA FCS Playoff Berths For Second Straight Season

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Rob Washburn

NCAA FCS FOOTBALL PLAYOFF BRACKET

RICHMOND, Va. (November 24, 2024) – For the second consecutive season, four CAA Football teams were chosen to the 24-team field for the NCAA FCS playoffs on Sunday afternoon.

CAA champions Richmond and Rhode Island were joined by New Hampshire and Villanova. It is the ninth time that CAA Football has had four teams selected to the field and the third straight year that at least four squads were selected.

Richmond (10-2, 8-0 CAA) earned the No. 9 national seed and will host Patriot League champion Lehigh (8-3) at 2 p.m. on Saturday. The Spiders are making their third consecutive playoff appearance, which is the first time they’ve achieved that feat since 2014-16. Richmond, which is in the playoffs for the 14th time overall, has advanced to the second round for the past two years and was the 2008 national champion.

Rhode Island (10-2, 7-1 CAA) received the No. 10 national seed and will host Northeast Conference champion Central Connecticut State (7-5) at Noon on Saturday. The Rams are making their first FCS playoff appearance since 1985 and fourth appearance overall. Rhode Island set a program record with 10 regular season wins in 2024.

Villanova (9-3, 6-2 CAA) was awarded the No. 11 national seed and will entertain Eastern Kentucky (8-4) at 2 p.m. on Saturday. Villanova made the FCS playoff field for the fourth time in six years, having advanced to the quarterfinals in 2021 and 2023. The Wildcats have 16 playoff appearances in their history, which includes the 2009 national championship.

New Hampshire (8-4, 6-2 CAA) earned the No. 16 national seed and will welcome Big South-OVC quad-champion UT Martin (8-4) at 1 p.m. on Saturday. The Wildcats are making their 18th appearance in the FCS playoffs and first since 2022, when they advanced to the second round. UNH had an amazing run of 14 consecutive playoff appearances from 2004-17.

All first and second-round games will air on ESPN+. CAA Football’s four teams in the field are tied with the Missouri Valley for the second-most among FCS conferences, trailing only the Big Sky with five.

CAA Football has now had multiple teams selected to the FCS playoff field for the 34th consecutive year, and it’s the 14th time that at least four teams were chosen. The conference has had at least one team in the quarterfinals every year since 1995 and has had a team advance to the semifinals of the playoffs in 10 of the past 11 years. The CAA has had a team reach the national championship game 11 times since 2003.