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Usual CAA powers struggling to make FCS playoffs
(STATS) - Some of the FCS playoff staples from CAA Football are facing an uphill battle as they try to get back there next month.
With only three weekends remaining until the announcement of the 24-team field, Richmond and Villanova are merely .500 teams and New Hampshire is battling to gain a significant strength of schedule as they seek at-large bids.
"We can still get a winning season and if we win out can we make the playoffs? I don't know, I can't control that," Villanova first-year coach Mark Ferrante said. "Our next goal is to go 1-0 against Richmond" next Saturday.
New Hampshire has appeared in the playoffs for 13 straight seasons - the longest active streak in the FCS - but with a 21-0 loss at top-ranked James Madison on Saturday, the No. 17 Wildcats fell to 5-3. Without Delaware, Richmond and Villanova to bolster their conference schedule, coach Sean McDonnell's squad might have to win its final three games so as not to sweat out the selection committee's decision. The last two seasons, the Wildcats rallied to 7-4 to keep their playoff streak alive.
UNH owns a win over an FBS program, but it was against a winless Georgia Southern squad, and the Wildcats followed up that victory with a 25-point loss to Holy Cross, which is 3-6.
Richmond, the 2008 FCS champion, has been to the last three playoffs, and Villanova, the 2009 champ, has been to six of the last nine. But after both lost at home on Saturday - No. 19 Richmond fell to Stony Brook 27-24 and No. 13 Villanova lost to Elon 19-14 - they are 4-4 overall and 2-3 in the CAA.
They meet at Villanova in a week with each team needing a win to stay alive for a playoff bid.
All three perennial powers gained some help on Saturday with No. 23 Delaware's 18-17 loss at Towson. But in a CAA that had seven nationally ranked teams this week, the margin for error is thin.
