A potential showdown of the Colonial Athletic Association's last remaining unbeatens hit a snag in Week 7. Now, a Week 8 pairing between the CAA's sole remaining undefeated team in conference play, New Hampshire, becomes a potential separation game for the Wildcats. 

But on the flipside, Saturday's Top 25 pairing with Elon might also further muddle the CAA championship picture. Such is conference competition in the Colonial. 

Six teams in the CAA have one league loss ahead of Week 8. Elon's return visit to New England after dropping a heartbreaker at Rhode Island last week is this Saturday's only game between teams at or near the top of the conference standings. 

That means Week 8 is either a time for some separation between the CAA's realistic title contenders, or an opportunity for even more gridlock with just a month remaining in the regular season. 

Elon at New Hampshire 

Elon went into Week 7 the CAA's hottest team, having won five straight — two in dramatic fashion over nationally ranked conference foes William & Mary and Richmond — without surrendering a second-half touchdown. Rhode Island's 17-10 win snapped both those impressive runs. 

Coach Tony Trisciani relayed the perspective he shared with Elon the day after the Phoenix's first CAA loss. 

"I told them, 'Hey, we just lost a football game; a close football game. And so did Alabama, so did USC, and so did Oklahoma State, and they're pretty good football teams, too,'" he said. "I don't have much concern about us bouncing back." 

The defeat doesn't change Elon's prospects for winning a first-ever CAA championship, nor for returning to the Playoffs for the first time since 2018. It does, however, heighten the stakes for the Phoenix in Week 8. 

A return to Rhodes Stadium for a marquee matchup with Delaware looms, and Elon aims to avoid going into a two-game hole against New Hampshire with the head-to-head in the Wildcats' favor. 

"Our guys understand that we play in a highly competitive league, and we need to improve week-to-week," Trisciani said. "The team that's going to win this league is going to be the team that...gets better on the back-half of the season." 

New Hampshire looks to continue its own improvements while building on its league-leading 4-0 mark. Since losing at home to North Carolina Central in Week 3, 45-27, the Wildcats have held three FCS opponents to a combined 28 points. They've won those games by no fewer than 10 points, a run capped last week with a defensively dominant, 14-0 showing against two-time reigning Ivy League champion and in-state rival Dartmouth. 

The degree of difficult picks up for New Hampshire this week, with Elon as the first of three consecutive Wildcats opponents currently ranked in the Top 25. For the Phoenix, New Hampshire is their fourth ranked opponent in five games. 

Ranking aside, UNH head coach Rick Santos knows what to expect from Elon, himself having been recruited to New Hampshire by Trisciani when the Phoenix head coach was a Wildcats assistant. 

"Extremely well-coached, disciplined team," Santos said. "The first thing that jumps off the tape for me is how many turnovers they create." 

Elon's generated 13 total takeaways, including a nation's best 10 from fumbles. Marcus Hillman and Jamir Malone each have forced seven fumbles, tied for fourth-most among all FCS players. As a result, the Phoenix rank second in the CAA with a plus-four turnover margin for the year. New Hampshire comes in negative-three in overall turnover margin. 

MARCUS HILLMAN! #AED pic.twitter.com/14MsgZwXLQ

— Elon Football (@ElonFootball) September 24, 2022

That will be one subplot to watch. Another is the New Hampshire rushing attack. 

Dylan Laube, who ranked second in FCS for all-purpose yards through Week 6, missed the Dartmouth game as "a game-time decision" with Santos opting to give the potential All-American an additional week for recovery. Isaac Seide stepped in and went for 127 yards on 26 carries. 

"He took some vicious hits early, and really, it was the yards-after-contact that, as we watched the tape and took a deeper dive, were really excited to see," Santos said of Seide. 

.@UNH_Football defense pitches 1st shutout since Oct. 27, 2018 and Isaac Seide rushes for a career-high 127 yards in a 14-0 win at Dartmouth. 'Cats improve to 5-2 overall. pic.twitter.com/pSPyxNLvs2

— UNH Insider (@UNHInsider) October 15, 2022

Whether it's Laube or Seide seeing the bulk of carries in Week 8, an outstanding New Hampshire offensive line poses the stingy Elon defense a firm challenge. 

Rhode Island at Monmouth 

Sparked by what Rhode Island coach Jim Fleming called a "signature win," the Rams look to build from that momentum into their first playoff appearance since 1985. But Fleming knows full well, after last year's snub despite a 7-4 record, that every conference weekend is a potential pitfall that can burst a team's bubble. 

"The CAA, we always speak about it every week," he said. "You never know how those games are going to unfold." 

Replicating its defensive performance from Week 7 will be crucial in Rhode Island's Week 8 matchup opposite the Colonial's highest-scoring offense. 

"Big, gnarly offensive line; I think the receiving corps is good, the running back [Jaden Shirden] is special. The quarterback [Tony Muskett] makes plays," Fleming said. "We've got our hands full."

Monmouth was scoring almost 40 points per game before last week's trip to Maine. And while the Hawks managed 28 points and 404 yards of total offense, an 0-3 turnover margin including a pick-six proved too much for Monmouth to overcome. 

The setback snapped a four-game winning streak for the Hawks, who were knocking on the door of the Top 25 prior to the loss. But at 2-2 in the CAA and 4-3 overall, Monmouth still has a playoff berth within its reach over the final four games — but according to coach Kevin Callahan, "need to be better wrong than we were [at Maine].

"They understand exactly what happened on Saturday: Maine was better on third down, they were better in the red zone, they were better on turnovers, they were better on the scoreboard," Callahan said. "We just need to concentrate more on the details of what we're doing." 

Among the phases that were instrumental to Monmouth's winning streak the Hawks will aim to reignite against Rhode Island: the run game's production. Shirden still leads the nation in rushing yards by a comfortable margin with 1,013 — no one else in FCS has more than 856, and Illinois' Chase Brown is the only other Div. I rusher to have eclipsed 1,000 thus far in 2022 — but Maine limited the Walter Payton Award contender to 4.5 a carry. 

He came in averaging 9.6 per run. 

Rhode Island held Elon to just 3.5 yards per carry last week, and is holding opponents to 3.8 for the season. 

Richmond at Hampton 

Although just 86 miles separate their campuses, Richmond and Hampton have played just three times prior to their first-ever encounter as conference counterparts. The Spiders are undefeated in the series, though the last meeting in 2015 was a nail-biter. 

Richmond rallied from a two-score deficit in the fourth quarter to win, 31-28, on Kyle Lauletta's touchdown pass to Reggie Diggs and a Jacobi Green two-point conversion. Though it was seven years ago, that contest certainly fits the theme for both Hampton and Richmond coming into Saturday's meeting. 

Each won hard-fought conference games in Week 7, determined in the fourth quarter for the Spiders and in overtime for the Pirates. Richmond's 20-10 defeat of Villanova, sealed with a pair of Andrew Lopez field goals down the stretch, kept the Spiders in the mix for the CAA championship. 

Hampton, meanwhile, rallied from down two scores to force overtime at UAlbany, then made the decisive stop on a two-point conversion attempt to score the Pirates' first-ever CAA win. 

Jadakis Bonds scored what proved to be the game-winning touchdown, giving him two for the game and bolstering his growing case for All-American consideration. Containing the standout Hampton receiver marks another significant challenge for a Richmond defense that limited Villanova's big-play offense a week ago — though Spiders coach Russ Huesman notes the Pirates pack plenty of punch outside of their star Bonds. 

Hampton strikes first in OT with Mays finding Bonds for the touchdown!

📺 #CAAFB on @FloFootball
➡️ https://t.co/wZhH1155bM pic.twitter.com/SsJzh6Gpg0

— CAA Football (@CAAFootball) October 15, 2022

"He's a dangerous player, and we're going to have to figure out how we're going to defend him," Huesman said. "But the one thing is, they do have other receivers out there. Their backs [Darran Butts and Elijah Burris] are really good, their quarterback [Malcolm Mays] is really good. They've got other weapons, so you can't just say, 'Alright, every snap, we're going to figure out a way to take [Bonds] out of the game,' because they've got a lot of other people who can make plays." 

Hampton coach Robert Prunty offered similar praise for the Richmond offense. Despite playing a defensive grinder last week, the Spiders still rank in the nation's top 20 for passing offense, and quarterback Reece Udinski's among the most effective distributors in the country. 

He's thrown 14 touchdowns with just two interceptions and completed an astonishing 76.3 percent of his attempts. 

"You go back to the offensive coordinator coming from VMI [Billy Cosh], he's very detailed," Prunty said. "You've got to be very careful with him, because he can put up some points really quick on you. He has a great offensive scheme, great offensive mind." 

UAlbany at Villanova 

Both UAlbany and Villanova understand the narrow margin for error in CAA competition. Villanova's closer-than-its-final 20-10 loss last week at Richmond dropped the defending Colonial champion Wildcats to 1-2 in the league, with both defeats determined in the waning moments of the fourth quarter. 

Each of UAlbany's four losses to FCS opponents, meanwhile, have been decided by one possession. A 38-37 overtime decision dropped last week to Hampton came down to literal inches, as a gang of Pirates tacklers held Todd Sibley out of the end zone on a would-be game-winning, two-point conversion attempt. 

The Great Danes' average margin of defeat against FCS opponents is four points; 4.25 in CAA contests. 

"We've made progress, but obviously not enough," UAlbany coach Greg Gattuso said, citing defensive misfires in particular.

Offensively, the Great Danes have been outstanding at 31.8 points per game, including four straight of at least 31. Quarterback Reese Poffenbarger threw for four touchdowns against Hampton and still has yet to give up an interception as he furthers his case for the Jerry Rice Award. 

Reese Poffenbarger threw three TD’s of 35 or more yards and added a 15-yard scoring toss in overtime for @ualbanyfootball

It was his fifth straight game with 250+ pass yards and he has 13 TD’s with no interceptions for the year pic.twitter.com/UZaMMe06sG

— CAA Football (@CAAFootball) October 17, 2022

Villanova's Connor Watkins has had his own flashes of brilliance, which includes putting together two of the top three passing-efficiency performances of the season. The Wildcats' challenge for the final stretch of the season, and returning to the Playoffs after last year's quarterfinals run, is putting together all phases in one contest. 

The offense has looked unstoppable at times, but sputtered at Richmond on an afternoon that the defense slowed one of the nation's premier passing attacks. Against Monmouth, the Wildcats could do virtually no wrong with the ball, but couldn't generate stops on the other side of it. 

"All in all, I thought our defense made some strides of improvement," Wildcats coach Mark Ferrante said. "Love the effort, love the physicality of our guys, we just didn't play well enough to come out and win a close game." 

Another close game seems inevitable, so those handful of pivotal plays on either side of the ball figure to once again be the difference for UAlbany and Villanova.