Rhode Island picked to repeat as CAA football champion in preseason vote

Rhode Island drew all 12 first-place votes and 144 points in the Coastal Athletic Association’s 2026 preseason football poll, an emphatic nod to Jim Fleming’s program after it won the outright CAA title in 2025 and finished 11-3 for the second straight year.

The Rams were picked July 21 to repeat as conference champions, with Monmouth second at 119 points, Elon third at 115 and New Hampshire fourth at 106. That spread shows why the vote matters beyond Kingston: the CAA again enters the season with enough depth to shape the FCS playoff race, but not enough separation to make the race feel settled.

Rhode Island’s case starts with the pieces back in place. Quarterback Devin Farrell and wide receiver Marquis Buchanan both announced in January that they were returning for 2026, keeping the passing game around the same core that helped carry the Rams through last fall. A.J. Pena, the edge rusher who became one of the program’s defining defenders, added another layer to the outlook when Rhode Island said he was the program’s first CAA Defensive Player of the Year and that six Rams landed on the preseason all-conference team.

That recognition came with a warning for the rest of the league. The Rams are not sneaking up on anyone after back-to-back 11-3 seasons, and the CAA’s preseason board left little doubt that voters viewed Fleming’s team as the safest bet in a conference where week-to-week outcomes can reshape the top of the standings. Campbell’s preseason report had the Camels eighth, while New Hampshire’s preseason report put the Wildcats fourth, underscoring how compressed the middle of the league looked even before kickoff.

The poll also sharpened the broader postseason question for the CAA. Conference champions usually enter the FCS bracket as seeds or at-large threats, and multiple teams from the league often stay in the playoff conversation deep into November. If Rhode Island backs up its No. 1 projection, the CAA can point to another national contender. If Monmouth, Elon or New Hampshire breaks through, the league’s case for multiple postseason bids gets stronger, not weaker.

Rhode Island will try to defend that status in a different setting as well, with its 2026 home games set for Centreville Bank Stadium. The Rams have the poll position, the returning names and the title history; now they have to turn all of it into another season that keeps the CAA relevant beyond the league schedule.