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2024 Richmond vs Campbell

CAA Football Week 11 Takeaways: Richmond Paves Road to Undisputed Title

CAA Football Week 11 Takeaways: Richmond Paves Road to Undisputed Title

On a Saturday full of thrilling finishes, Richmond's last-second field goal to beat Campbell left the Spiders alone atop CAA football.

Nov 11, 2024 by Kyle Kensing
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Coastal Athletic Association football has not had an undisputed champion since James Madison in 2019. Through Week 11 of the 2024 campaign, Richmond is on target to become the first since then. 

The Spiders outlasted Campbell in one of three CAA games decided by four points or fewer, each of which involved teams jockeying for the FCS Playoffs. When Brandon Peskin's 35-yard field goal attempt sailed through the uprights at Barker-Lane Stadium, Richmond was left alone atop the conference standings with just two weeks remaining in the regular season. 

That's because earlier in the day, Rhode Island — after winning seven straight and six overall decided by 10 points or fewer — finally dropped one of those close calls. The Rams' 24-21 defeat at Delaware marked URI's first loss in conference play. 

Richmond's Road to an Undisputed Championship is Set 

Here's a breakdown of CAA championships in the last half-decade: 

  • 2023: UAlbany, Richmond, Villanova 
  • 2022: New Hampshire, William & Mary 
  • 2021: James Madison, Villanova
  • Spring 2021: Delaware, James Madison

As noted, that's four consecutive seasons of shared titles. Of no coincidence as Richmond looks to become the first undisputed champ since 2019 is that the 2019 campaign was the last full season in which a team ran the table in the CAA. 

The inability of title contenders to go through the conference unscathed for an entire regular season is a testament to the collective strength of the CAA. Richmond's narrow escape from Buies Creek is another testament to that end. 

Much like Bryant taking Stony Brook to overtime a week ago, Campbell giving league-leading Richmond all it could handle reiterated the need to bring it every week of CAA play. The Camels played what was arguably their best game since beating Western Carolina in Week 2 on both sides of the ball. 

Campbell held Spiders ball-carriers to an average of 3.9 yards per carry, and shut down one of the Coastal's top rushers in Zach Palmer-Smith. Although Palmer-Smith got into the end zone, his 53 yards were his fewest since Week 2. 

Offensively, quarterback Mike Chandler II was electric carrying the ball. He rushed for 121 yards and a touchdown to go with his passing touchdown to Sincere Brown. 

It made for an exciting back-and-forth with Richmond's Camden Coleman, who continued his outstanding dual-threat playmaking that has been central to the Spiders' six-game winning streak. Coleman rushed for a team-high 55 yards and passed for a pair of touchdowns to Ja'Vion Griffin and Nick DeGennaro. 


The Camels and Spiders were evenly matched, but Richmond's defense bowing up after Brandon Guzman's interception of Coleman gave Campbell possession late forced a quick punt. The ensuing Richmond drive set up the game-winning field goal, and set the Spiders up for a simple scenario to win the CAA. 

Beat Hampton, which lost to Towson in Week 11; then knock off William & Mary in the Capital Cup, and the championship is Richmond's. 

Not to look past Richmond's visit to Hampton next week, but season finale vs. William & Mary at Robins Stadium is especially intriguing. After losing a 40-36 shootout against Elon in Week 11, the Tribe are 6-4 and likely need to win out to make the Playoffs. 

Matchups between William & Mary and Elon since Mike London and Tony Trisciani became head coaches of the two programs have provided some of the best drama in any given CAA season. The 2024 installment may be the most exciting yet, and arguably the game of the year, with four lead changes in the final 8:58. 

Matthew Downing's 15-yard touchdown pass to Onuma Dieke capped a 13-play, 72-yard drive on the last of those lead changes, and was as close as there is to a walk-off in football. It was Downing's fourth touchdown throw to his fourth different target, joining Isaiah Fuhrmann, Zimere Winston and Chandler Brayboy. 

Rhode Island Still Controls Its Playoff Fate 

A tantalizingly close CAA championship is not out of reach for Rhode Island after Week 11, when a close game finally went against the Rams for the first time in 2024. Rhody was without quarterback Devin Farrell, but Hunter Helms came on and performed admirably with touchdown passes to Marquis Buchanan and Greg Gaines. 

The latter came in the fourth quarter, cutting a 10-point Blue Hens lead to three. The score seemingly set up Rhode Island for another of its patented comeback wins, as the Rams defense forced a Delaware punt to take possession with 59 seconds left and 89 yards to go. But Gavin Moul's interception ended hope of a perfect regular season against FCS competition for Rhode Island. 

The Rams now head into the final two weeks needing some help if they're to claim a share of the CAA crown. Making the FCS Playoffs for the first time since 1985 is still very much in Rhode Island's control, however. 

URI coach Jim Fleming said earlier this season that when the 2021 team was knocking on the door of the postseason, he felt eight was the magic number for entry. A loss in the final week relegated the Rams to 7-4 that year. 

Rhody sits at eight wins heading into the final two weeks, but the addition of an extra game this year might mean eight is no golden ticket to the Playoffs. Now at 8-2, Rhode Island closes out facing UAlbany and Bryant and presumably needs to win one of the two to feel confident about an at-large berth. 

Beating both teams, which are sub-.500 on the season, guarantees Rhode Island a spot with the program's first 10-win campaign since — you guessed it — 1985. 

Also sitting at 8-2 through Week 11 are Stony Brook and Villanova, both of which won on Saturday. 

Can New Hampshire Play Its Way into the Playoffs? 

In the weeks since tracking the FCS Playoffs landscape here at FloFootball, New Hampshire has been nowhere on the radar. Falling to 4-4 with a pair of offensively anemic losses to Villanova and Rhode Island seemingly ended any hope of the Wildcats returning to the postseason. 

However, the Wildcats quietly improved to 6-4 while putting up 31 and 33 points in wins over UAlbany and Monmouth. 

As significant as New Hampshire's offensive resurgence the past two weeks, the Wildcats defense gave up a combined 34 points. The 20 points to which he held Monmouth in Week 11 was the second-lowest output the prolific Hawks offense managed all season. 

Wande Owens was outstanding on Saturday, recording a team-high eight tackles, forcing a fumble and recovering another. Doing his part in New Hampshire's sixth win, Owens and the Wildcats defense rolls into a high-stakes Week 12 showdown. 

It's not unrealistic to suggest if UNH runs the table, it will play its way into a playoff berth. That's in part due to the quality of is final two opponents. The Wildcats next week host a Stony Brook that, at 8-2, is presumably one win away from being locked into the postseason. 

If UNH can knock off Stony Brook, which is likely to be ranked in the top 15 with the release of the Nov. 11 poll, that would set up the 7-4 Wildcats against dangerous Maine for the Brice-Cowell Musket. Maine has had an up-and-down 2024 — but when the Black Bears are up, they are way up. 

They already proved their ability to not just compete with playoff-caliber competition, but dominate, with a blowout of Villanova on Oct. 19. Carter Peevy delivered his best performance since that win in Week 11, throwing for four touchdowns in a 38-26 defeat of Bryant. 

Maine moved to 5-5 beating the Bulldogs, and closes out with a visit to Elon before hosting New Hampshire. While unlikely, a showdown for the Musket pitting a 7-4 UNH against a 6-5 Maine being for a playoff bid doesn't seem entirely impossible. 

CAA Week 11 Scores

  • Stony Brook 24, UAlbany 6
  • Maine 38, Bryant 26 
  • Delaware 24, Rhode Island 21 
  • Elon 40, William & Mary 36 
  • Towson 27, Hampton 10 
  • New Hampshire 33, Monmouth 20 
  • Villanova 31, North Carolina A&T 3 
  • Richmond 27, Campbell 24 

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