Last year, Towson and Old Dominion shocked the league, having been predicted to finish in the last two spots in the standings. Instead, Towson won the conference title outright, and Old Dominion tied for second, with both teams making the FCS playoffs. This year, the two teams return 32 starters between them, and are expected to finish atop the circuit. Oddly, the national media has James Madison ranked higher than either team, so you can consider this a three-team race (though JMU is probably being overrated in the national poll).
Of course, Old Dominion might finish in first place yet not win the conference title, as they’ve been declared ineligible for the crime of agreeing to leave and join Conference USA. Also ineligible is Sun Belt-bound Georgia State, but they’re not relevant to the conference race. Next year, their places will be taken by two teams which made the playoffs last year (and should again this year), Albany and Stony Brook.
As always, this is probably the best conference in FCS, and when the playoff field is selected in November several of these teams will be there. Six teams are ranked in the FCS poll. But strange things happen in the Colonial, and you can’t be too surprised if they send five teams to the playoffs and two of them weren’t expected to contend. And with that… capsules: