Buy Season Tickets
2017 CAA Football Composite Schedule

RICHMOND, Va. – CAA Football officially revealed its 2017 schedule on Monday, which includes a challenging non-conference slate highlighted by 12 games versus Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) opponents that sets the stage for the always-competitive league race.
 
The 2017 season starts on Sunday, August 27 when Richmond travels to Sam Houston State for a 7 p.m. game that will be televised nationally on ESPNU. The Spiders and Bearkats both advanced to the quarterfinals of the FCS playoffs in 2016 and are ranked in the top 10 nationally in preseason polls.
 
Every CAA Football member plays a complete Division I schedule, and there are 12 contests against FBS foes from six different conferences. CAA Football teams face opponents from the American Athletic Conference (UCF, East Carolina, South Florida, and Temple), Atlantic Coast Conference (Virginia and Virginia Tech), Big Ten Conference (Maryland), Conference USA (Old Dominion), Mid-American Conference (Central Michigan and Toledo) and the Sun Belt Conference (Georgia Southern). In addition, Maine meets FBS independent UMass in a game that takes place at historic Fenway Park in Boston on November 11. Eight of the league's 12 FBS challengers competed in a bowl game last season. Dating back to 1998, CAA Football teams have beaten at least one FBS opponent in all but four seasons.
 
The remaining portion of the non-conference schedule features games against FCS members. Last fall, CAA Football led all leagues with a 24-7 record against FCS opponents and went 8-3 in the postseason, capped by James Madison capturing the 2016 National Championship in Frisco, Texas.
 
Richmond's opener at Sam Houston State is one of four games against an FCS opponent that reached the postseason in 2016. The other contests feature Elon welcoming Charleston Southern to Rhodes Stadium on Sept. 16, Towson visiting Saint Francis (Pa.) that same weekend, and Villanova opening the year at Lehigh on Sept. 2.

Elon will be guided by first-year head coach Curt Cignetti who joined the Phoenix following a successful six-year stint as the head coach at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP). 

In six seasons at IUP, Cignetti led the Crimson Hawks to a 53-17 (.757) record, including a 33-11 (.750) mark in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference. In 2011, Cignetti inherited a team that finished 4-10 against conference foes two years prior to his arrival. IUP made three NCAA Division II Playoff appearances in 2012, 2015 and 2016 and finished this past season ranked No. 12 in the nation. Cignetti helped the Crimson Hawks to a 4-3 record in postseason play, as well. It marked the first time IUP made back-to-back NCAA Playoff appearances since 2002-03.
 
IUP finished the 2016 season ranked first in the nation in passing efficiency (183.44), third in scoring offense (46.3 points per game), fourth in rushing offense (279.8 rushing yards per game), and 12th in total offense (489.6 yards per game). The Crimson Hawks also ended the year first in the country in turnover margin (+2.08) and third in third down conversion percentage (.566). IUP racked up 50 or more points in a game four times in 2016, including a 62-point outburst in the first round of the NCAA Playoffs.

Cignetti was hired on coach Nick Saban's original staff at Alabama, helping the Crimson Tide to a national title in 2009 and back-to-back SEC West championships in 2008 and 2009 as the recruiting coordinator and wide receivers coach. Alabama won 29 consecutive regular season games during Cignetti's stint in Tuscaloosa. Cignetti brought in the consensus No. 1 recruiting class in the country in 2008, the first of three consecutive top-five recruiting classes.
 
In addition to the national title, Cignetti was part of Alabama teams that posted a record of 33-3 over four seasons, including a berth in the 2008 Sugar Bowl. Among his recruits was Mark Ingram, who won the 2008 Heisman Trophy, and Cignetti also coached Julio Jones, the Associated Press SEC Freshman of the Year and Columbus Touchdown Club National Freshman of the Year.
 
Cignetti joined the staff at Alabama after spending seven seasons (2000-06) as the recruiting coordinator at North Carolina State while also coaching tight ends from 2000-02 and 2005-06 and quarterbacks during the 2003 and 2004 campaigns. NC State qualified for five bowl games during that time, including the 2002 Gator Bowl, when the team set a school record with 11 victories. One of his last recruits before moving to Alabama was quarterback Russell Wilson, who played at NC State before moving on to Wisconsin as a senior. Following his record-setting collegiate career, Wilson was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks and led the team to a Super Bowl XLVIII victory.
 
Two of Cignetti's recruiting classes at NC State ranked in the top 10 in the nation, and Rivals.com named him one of the top 25 recruiters in the nation in 2004. While working with the NC State quarterbacks, Cignetti had the opportunity to coach 2003 ACC Player of the Year Philip Rivers and help prepare him to become the fourth pick in the NFL draft the following spring.
 
Cignetti first served as a recruiting coordinator during a seven-year stint (1993-99) at the University of Pittsburgh. He also coached the Panthers' tight ends and quarterbacks at various times under College Football Hall of Fame head coach Johnny Majors. Cignetti began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Pitt during the 1983 and 1984 seasons and was part of the team's Fiesta Bowl participant his first year. He coached quarterbacks and receivers at Davidson in 1985 and was the quarterbacks coach at Rice (1986-88) and Temple (1989-92).