Late summer with its long days, warm weather, and kickoff of the college football season feels like it was just yesterday. Now, autumn gives way to winter, and Saturdays on the gridiron are winding down. For some of the teams in the Coastal Athletic Association, Week 13 marks the end of the 2024 season.
For others, the regular-season finale is either a chance to improve positioning in the upcoming FCS Playoffs or a necessary springboard to land in the field.
Matchups between Hampton and UAlbany, Elon and North Carolina A&T, and Towson and Campbell send the winners into the offseason with a positive stepping stone into 2025. The other five games slated for Week 13 all carry playoff implications.
Rivals William & Mary and Richmond meet for the 135th time in a series dating back to 1898. This season’s the last with both the Tribe and Spiders under the Coastal Athletic Association banner, as Richmond joins the Patriot League in 2025.
The Spiders will go into their new conference having won at least a share of back-to-back CAA championships, and they can become the league’s first outright winners since 2019 with a victory over William & Mary.
Richmond is also out to claim its fourth Capital Cup in the last five seasons after outlasting the Tribe a season ago, 27-26. The thriller in Williamsburg was the sixth in the series last seven installments decided by a one-score margin.
The competitive nature of this series in recent years is a byproduct of head coaches Mike London and Russ Huesman being so familiar with one another. Huesman was the defensive coordinator on the 2008 national championship team at Richmond that London headed up.
With London now at William & Mary, the two are meeting for the sixth time on opposite sidelines. Huesman’s Richmond team holds a 3-2 advantage. The Spiders seek back-to-back wins and a possible top-eight seed in the FCS Playoffs in this installment.
For William & Mary, a victory might get the Tribe back into the postseason for the second time in London’s tenure.
“I don’t know,” if beating Richmond gets his team into the Playoffs, London said, adding: “The first thing we do know is a win gets the Capital Cup back here. [The selection committee] will decide [about the Playoffs]…Our main focus is to go up there, win the game, and bring back the Cup.”
A Richmond defense that ranks second in the CAA in points allowed per game at 19.1, and third vs. the run with 133.2 a game and the league’s second-fewest rushing touchdowns given up (10), faces one of the best run-based offenses in the nation. William & Mary is putting up an average of 248.1 yards per game behind three of the CAA’s top 13 ball-carriers.
Quarterback Darius Wilson, who Huesman said the Richmond coach nominated for preseason All-CAA has gained 489 yards. Malachi Imoh has gained 602 yards. Both have nine touchdowns.
Bronson Yoder, meanwhile, is one of three CAA running backs to have eclipsed 1,000 yards on the season before Week 13. He’s at 1,083 with 10 touchdowns. Richmond counters with its tenacious front seven, adept at getting into opposing backfields to shut down the run before it can start.
The Spiders also boast one of the trio of CAA ball-carriers to have already surpassed 1,000 yards, Zach Palmer-Smith. He has 1,146 yards and 12 touchdowns to bolster a Richmond offense that has come alive in the past month, commensurate with dual-threat quarterback Camden Coleman taking over.
The similarities should make for another classic installment in the Capital Cup. Expect another one-score difference, and if Richmond wins, the Spiders to be introduced as a top-eight seed on Selection Sunday.
A difficult fourth quarter last week at New Hampshire denied Stony Brook its ninth win of the season, in the process upping the ante on the Seawolves’ regular-season finale. They presumably need to reach nine wins to feel comfortable about their place on Selection Sunday.
Monmouth, meanwhile, aims to complete its third CAA season on a particularly high note heading into the 2025 offseason, claiming a second Top 20 win in as many weeks. The Hawks accomplished what few teams have in 2024, piling up points against a stout Villanova defense en route to a 40-33 in Week 12.
Derek Robertson was sensational in the win, going 22-of-23 passing, while Sone Ntoh reached the end zone for a program record 23rd time on the season. After a late-season lull for what was the most prolific offense most of the first two months, Monmouth kicked back into gear vs. Villanova.
The Hawks now look to parlay that momentum against another one of the CAA’s top defenses for much of the season. Stony Brook held its opponent in six contests to 21 points or fewer, including four in which the Seawolves gave up no more than 13 points. Among that company is William & Mary, which saw its multifaceted rushing attack limited to just 120 yards when the Tribe visited Long Island on Oct. 26.
While Stony Brook officially gave up 31 points in last week’s stunning, 31-30 loss at New Hampshire, two of the Wildcats’ three late-game touchdowns that flipped the three-score Seawolves loss into a a defeat were the result of turnovers.
First-year Stony Brook coach Billy Cosh described Week 12 as an example of his team having three great quarters before they “lost our fundamentals late.”
Protecting quarterback Tyler Knoop from the pass-rush defense is critical for Stony Brook to avoid the late miscues that cost it vs. New Hampshire. That’s also integral to free up CAA-leading rusher Roland Dempster, whose 1,237 yards are the program’s most since Miguel Maysonet cleared 2,000 yards in 2012.
Dempster can also become the first Seawolves back to score at least 20 rushing touchdowns since Maysonet that same year. He’s two away heading into Saturday.
In-state counterparts Rhode Island and Bryant met each of the previous three seasons, but never before with both under the CAA banner. Bryant’s inaugural Coastal campaign concludes on Saturday at Beirne Stadium with the Bulldogs looking for both their first-ever win in CAA play and the program’s first defeat of Rhode Island.
The two Ocean State counterparts come into the regular-season finale on much different trajectories, with reverse-mirroring records of Bryant’s 2-9 and Rhode Island’s 9-2. The Rams likely sealed their first FCS Playoffs berth in 39 years with last week’s ninth victory, a 20-17 comeback against UAlbany.
Bryant, meanwhile, fell to 0-7 in the CAA. But in hanging tough with William & Mary in a 22-12 decision, the Bulldogs have continued to battle late in the season. They went to overtime with Stony Brook earlier this month and can propel the program into a big spring by getting over the hump against one of the CAA’s playoff contenders.
“I was proud of the fight…for four quarters,” Bulldogs coach Chris Merritt said of his team’s loss to William & Mary. “You have the ball inside the two-yard line two times in the fourth quarter and lose by 10 points, it’s frustrating. But the strides don’t always come through in the record.”
If anyone understands that building a program from the ground up in the CAA is a process, it’s Rhode Island’s Jim Fleming. The Rams have undergone steady growth since Fleming arrived a decade ago, transforming from conference cellar dwellers to a playoff-bound squad with some of the best players in the FCS.
Among them is A.J. Pena, the All-America caliber linebacker who is having a special junior season. His two sacks against UAlbany give him 10 on the season, with the national lead in reach. He’s 1.5 behind fellow CAA standouts Jeremiah Grant (Richmond) and Josiah Silver (New Hampshire).
Marquis Buchanan needs 103 yards receiving for 1,000 on the season, while Malik Grant needs to rush for only 37 yards to hit the 1,000-yard mark. Look for both milestones to be met as Rhode Island puts the finishing touch on its first 10-win campaign since 1985.
The Brice-Cowell Musket is among the most unique and history-rich rivalry-game artifacts in college football. Having played for the award before becoming head coach at their alma maters, both New Hampshire’s Rick Santos and Maine’s Jordan Stevens understand intimately what claiming the Musket means.
For New Hampshire, the Brice-Cowell Musket game this year also carries FCS playoff implications. A Wildcats win marks their fourth straight to close the 2024 regular season, elevating them to 8-4 overall and very much in the conversation for a playoff berth.
“Whatever’s going to happen after Saturday’s contest is not up to us,” Santos said. “[We are] preparing for our best game of the year, because I’ll tell you what, so much credit to coach Stevens and his staff. What Jordan’s doing right now, those guys are playing inspired.”
Maine dropped a 31-25 decision last week at Elon, the Black Bears’ third loss in four games. One of those came against Oklahoma, however, and another in a tightly contested matchup with Rhode Island.
Maine’s blowout win over Villanova is the mantlepiece of a promising season.
“We’re impressed with our leadership and impressed with a lot of our key guys [who] have been here and continue to get better and right things to continue to grow,” Stevens said.
Six wins is a meaningful milestone in Stevens’ tenure, signaling continued growth heading into his fourth year at the helm. What’s more, claiming the Musket for the first time in Maine’s three tries under Stevens provides an invaluable cornerstone for 2025.
A Blacks Bears lineup heavy on upperclassmen, including defensive standout Xavier Holmes and quarterback Carter Peevy, who’s been excellent in his one year in Orono, will undoubtedly leave it all out on the Alfond Stadium turf on Saturday. But the same is true of New Hampshire in pursuit of the Playoffs.
UNH’s midseason has been remarkable, most notably the offense coming on behind quarterback Seth Morgan. Morgan’s outstanding two-way playmaking was clutch in the fourth-quarter comeback vs. Stony Brook.
Flex Ruiz was also terrific on defense, playing one of the best individual games from a CAA defender all season. He has competition from Josiah Silver, the nation’s leader in sacks.
New Hampshire’s dual pass-rush threat should come up big again for the Wildcats in securing an eighth win.
The Battle of the Blue dates back to 1895, but faces an uncertain future with Delaware’s impending move to FBS competition.
“It always has a little bit more to it,” said Villanova coach Mark Ferrante, who has been involved in the rivalry since 1987. “Any maybe, just the fact that this is potentially the last time, might add a little bit of emotion. But sometimes, the emotion lasts for a first possession or two and then you got to get back to business.”
Getting back to business for the Wildcats means regaining their edge on defense after Monmouth scored 40 points last week, a highly uncharacteristic yield.
That’s a tall task this week against Delaware, which is averaging 35.6 points per game. The Blue Hens owe a fair bit of their offensive success to maintaining possession, with their eight turnovers the fewest in the CAA and among the lowest in the nation.
Villanova’s defense hasn’t been reliant on takeaways, though, more so excelling at simply limiting opponents’ ability to move the ball. The Wildcats rank No. 19 nationally in yards given up, a little more than 315 per game.
The dynamic Villanova linebacker corps of Shane Hartzell and Brendan Bell lead the charge in slowing Delaware’s outstanding running back Marcus Yarns. Yarns was slow to get rolling in his return from missing nearly a month due to injury, but he’s gone off for 127, 174, and 134 yards in the last three contests.
Villanova must find ways to limit Yarns’ production and put the onus on quarterback Nick Minicucci. Since stepping in for the injured Zach Marker, Minicucci has three starts with more than 61 percent of his pass attempts completed and eight total touchdowns.
Putting the pressure on Minicucci to carry the burden in his biggest spot yet shapes this edition of the Battle of the Blue. With its future in the air, and Villanova having won 11-of-12, this is the highest-profile game of Delaware’s transitional 2024.
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