"Physical. Great coaching. Just an all-around good league." 

That's how Colonial Athletic Association newcomer and Hampton coach Robert Prunty described the CAA with the Pirates three games into their tenure. It's a common refrain predating Hampton joining the conference, and Prunty adds fresh perspective to the chorus. 

"I was telling one of my colleagues the other day," Prunty recounted, "it's like the SEC. Every week, you've got to bring your best. Everyone's so evenly matched, you don't know what's going to happen. One week, you're right there. The next week, you're a little bit short. 

"The CAA is everything it was advertised," he added. 

First-ever CAA victory for @HUAthletics1868 ❗️

Malcolm Mays passed for 208 yards and four touchdowns as Hampton rallied past UAlbany, 38-37 in overtime #CAAFB pic.twitter.com/R1fiw6EHH9

— CAA Football (@CAAFootball) October 16, 2022

Hampton's truly experienced the weekly grind its last two outings, rebounding from a home loss in which Maine mounted a second-half comeback to rally from down two touchdowns and win in overtime at UAlbany. The Pirates' two nail-biters encapsulate the overall theme of 2022, a season in which the CAA has arguably been at its top-to-bottom strongest. 

An FCS-best six teams represent the CAA in the Top 25. Seven of the nation's 45 highest-scoring offenses come from the CAA (most in the subdivision), while seven of the 41 stingiest defenses reside in the Colonial (also tops). Some of this season's top individual performers hail from the league. 

And as for Prunty's comparison to the Southeastern Conference — typically viewed as the deepest FBS league — that's not the first time the parallel's been drawn. Such comparisons to the CAA also predate the same public declarations from the Big Sky, MVFC and even ASUN. 

But whereas SEC strength is often defined in one team emerging as clearly better than the rest of the conference — it's typically Alabama — this year's CAA has more of a true any given Saturday feel. 

To wit, William & Mary beat Delaware, which beat Rhode Island, which knocked off Elon, which rallied for a win over William & Mary. Then there's Richmond, which ground down defending CAA champion Villanova one game after losing a double-overtime thriller to Elon. 

Each of Delaware, Elon, Rhode Island, Richmond and William & Mary are ranked heading into Week 8, which is no surprise. But that none is ranked better than No. 12? 

Very un-SEC-like. 

Poll fluctuation among CAA teams is nothing short of confounding. To illustrate the peculiarities, let's compare a few blind resumes: 

Team A: 5-1, lost a one-score game at home to a ranked conference opponent; has wins over a current Top 25 opponent and an FBS program. 

Team B: 5-1, lost a one-score game at home to a ranked conference; has no Top 25 wins. 

Team C: 5-2, lost at a Power 5 FBS opponent; lost a one-score conference game on the road to Top 25-ranked competition; has wins over two Top 25 teams. 

Team D: 5-2, lost at a Power 5 FBS opponent; lost a one-score conference game at home to a Top-25 opponent; has beaten no Top 25 teams yet this season. 

Team E: 6-1, lost at a Power 5 school; has not played an FCS opponent with a record of .500 or better. 

Team F: 5-1, lost at  a Power 5 school; has not played an FCS opponent with a record of .500 or better. 

Team G: 5-1, beat an FBS opponent; won at a Top 25 FCS opponent, with a one-score loss on the road against another Top 25 opponent. 

If you haven't looked it up or don't already know, Team A is 12th-ranked William & Mary — which, when applying the AFCA Coaches Poll, has two Top 25 wins with its early-season rout of Campbell. Team B is Montana, ranked No. 7. 

Team C is Elon. The Phoenix peaked at No. 14 despite boasting one of the strongest 2022 resumes any FCS programs built thus far on the season, then tumbled seven spots to No. 21 for losing 17-10 at Rhode Island. Team D, also coming off a Week 7 loss? North Dakota State. 

The Bison own the most impressive resume in all college football over the last decade, and possibly ever. But in the context of his season alone, has yet to score a statement win. They're ranked No. 4. 

Teams E and F are SoCon counterparts Chattanooga and Mercer, who play in Week 8. The No. 10-ranked Mocs and No. 11 Bears are each other's first above-.500 opponents. Team G, Delaware, is ranked behind both at No. 13 yet played four above-.500 opponents, two of which are ranked in the Top 25; both those games were on the road. 

Collective strength in this sense becomes paradoxical. Will what makes the CAA tough — the ability of multiple teams to beat one another — be treated as a negative come playoff seeding time?    

Making An In-Rhode

In December 2013, Jim Fleming was defensive coordinator for a UCF Knights team that, with its 17-13 defeat of American Athletic Conference counterpart SMU, sealed an invitation to the Fiesta Bowl. 

UCF ranked 17th nationally in scoring defense, 26th in turnovers generated, and after a Fiesta Bowl defeat of future Big 12 Conference foe Baylor, No. 10 in the final Associated Press Top 25 poll. 

While there had been outstanding Knights teams before that season and Heisman Trophy-caliber performers in Daunte Culpepper and Kevin Smith, the 2013 squad can be fairly labeled the first to bring UCF onto the national stage. 

"The way they built the program," Fleming told the Orlando Sentinel in December 2013, "It will overcome my departure and they will play their tails off like they do every week." 

And how. In 2017, UCF finished with the only perfect record in all of Div. I football. But Fleming's tenure as defensive coordinator and that 2013 season helped lay a foundation. And at Rhode Island, he's overseen an entire construction project.  

Weeks after sealing the pivotal 2013 American Athletic title, Fleming left UCF for the head-coaching vacancy at Rhode Island. He was exiting a program that won 12 games in the 2013 season for a program that won 12 games combined from 2009 through 2013.  

URI isn't a program with much historical success, but that wasn't a deterrent for Fleming. 

"Unless you’re in an exclusive group of people, head-coaching jobs choose you," he said ahead of Week 8. "Anybody can sit there and say, ‘Hey, I’m not taking that head-coaching job,’ if that’s what you want to do and be a head coach. You get an opportunity, you take it. 

"I’ve never been one to look at a job and say, that’s just not doable," he added.

It's one thing to see the potential in a program with a historic track record of struggles, and a whole other to undertake the work necessary to actually cultivate that potential. Fleming's doing the latter at Rhode Island and beginning to see some of the rewards. 

The Rams' 17-10 win over Elon in Week 7 encapsulated the program's steady growth, and not just because the Phoenix were a top 15-ranked opponent playing arguably the best ball of any team in the CAA. Falling on URI Homecoming, the game brought together Rams football alumni. 

"It’s been a steady progress and there’s a lot of kids who have been through our same program with limited amounts of success," Fleming said. "That’s what makes it very rewarding on a Homecoming game, when you see 2014 guys all the way through now, [who] come back and understand they paid the price too. They didn’t get the victories, but take a lot of pride in the program and the way it’s developed."

New Hampshire Homecoming 

Another Elon road trip this week marks another homecoming. Unlike last week at Rhode Island, however, it's the Phoenix who have reason to celebrate the occasion — or at least, one Phoenix in particular. 

New Hamsphire native and former Wildcats assistant coach Tony Trisciani, now heading up Elon, is back in Durham for the first time since the 2019 season. Although Rick Santos coached the Wildcats in an interim capacity that season, Week 8 marks the first head-to-head meeting between Trisciani and Santos since the former UNH quarterback Santos became a full-time head coach. 

"I have the utmost respect for coach Trisc' and he's just a tremendous mentor of mine," Santos said. "He's a friend. He was someone in the recruiting process who I just remember being extremely honest.

"I always respected the heck out of him then. He's a tremendous head coach. He's a leader, he's a leader of men," Santos added. "I love the man. I do. I wouldn't be where I am today if it wasn't for him and him believing in me." 

The connection between Santos and Trisciani reflects the overall significance of the illustrious Sean McDonnell coaching tree — to wit, Trisciani's recounting of recruiting Santos out of Bellingham High School in Massachusetts includes pressure from former Wildcats offensive coordinator Chip Kelly, who's now in the heat of a College Football Playoff hunt at UCLA. 

But perhaps more importantly, that history and friendship is another reflection of the deeply rooted respect among coaches that shapes the CAA. 

Ending The Stigma 

Hampton defensive back Byron Perkins has played a key role in the Pirates smooth transition to the CAA. His production in 2022 includes a pair of pass break-ups and an interception. 

More importantly, Perkins is lending his voice and platform to others as the first openly gay HBCU football player. Perkins told OutSports.com this week: 

Especially at an HBCU, young Black gay men need an outlet. They need a support system. There hasn’t been an out gay football athlete at an HBCU. I want to end the stigma of what people think. I want people to know they can be themselves.

Perkins and Hampton facing Richmond in Week 8 provides a notable coincidence: Kevin Grayson, a leading wide receiver on the 2008 Spiders national championship team was an Allstate Good Works honoree for organizing support systems for gay students during his time at UR. Grayson came out in 2013, the same year that Michael Sam won SEC Defensive of the Player shortly before publicly coming out.