CAA Football Announces 2013 Schedule
RICHMOND, Va. – CAA Football officially released its 2013 schedule on Monday, with the conference slate consisting of 85 games over a 13-week span. The new-look CAA will welcome proven powers Albany and Stony Brook into the league this year and maintain a one-division 11-team conference in which each member program will play eight conference contests over the course of the fall.
The 2013 CAA Football season includes a total of 44 conference games that kick off in the season’s second week when Rhode Island hosts Stony Brook at Meade Stadium in what will be the Seawolves’ inaugural CAA matchup.
Of the league’s 41 nonconference contests, 10 feature foes from the Bowl Subdivision classification, including five teams that qualified for bowl games last year: William and Mary/West Virginia (Aug. 31), New Hampshire/Central Michigan (Sept. 7), Richmond/NC State (Sept. 7), Delaware/Navy (Sept. 14) and Maine/Northwestern (Sept. 21).
The league’s additional FBS contests include Towson traveling to UConn on Aug. 29 and Villanova’s visit to Boston College two days later. The second week of the season features James Madison’s trip to Akron and Maine’s matchup against former CAA Football member Massachusetts on Sept. 7. Stony Brook squares off against Buffalo on Sept. 14 and Albany closes out the month with a contest at Old Dominion. Rhody rounds out the nonconference slate with a showdown with the Monarchs on Nov. 2.
CAA Football has historically fared well in nonconference competition, recording a 265-157 (.628) record against non-league foes over the last decade that includes an 18-7 mark against FCS nonconference foes in 2012. The league has also had consistent success against Bowl Subdivision squads, with last season serving as the first since 2005 that a member program did not topple an FBS team.
The 2013 season should once again be a promising one for CAA Football, traditionally one of the strongest leagues at the FCS level. The conference tied for tops in the country by sending three teams to the postseason and led the nation with six teams ranked in both major polls to end the year.
CAA Football’s parity is also unrivaled, as four teams earned a share of the league title last year. The strength of the conference will only be augmented by the additions of Albany and Stony Brook after both closed out their 2012 campaigns as co-champions of the Northeast Conference and Big South Conference, respectively.
Game times and television broadcast announcements will be made public throughout the summer and as the season approaches in the fall. The CAA and CAA Football are in the second year of a five-year broadcast agreement with NBC Sports Group, a contract that has only further bolstered the conference’s national television presence. CAA Football will have five conference games televised nationally on NBC Sports Network, while 13 of the league’s contests will be televised by The Comcast Sports Group’s regional outlets.
CAA Football is on Twitter @CAAFootball and uses the official hashtag #CAAFB. We can also be found on Facebook, Instagram and blogging on our official Every Day Is Saturday blog at caafootball.wordpress.com. All CAA Football video productions can be found on our YouTube Channel.