2018 Rhode Island Rams football team

The 2018 Rhode Island Rams football team represented the University of Rhode Island in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by fifth-year head coach Jim Fleming and played their home games at Meade Stadium. They were a member of the Colonial Athletic Association. They finished the season 6–5, 4–4 in CAA play to finish in seventh place.

2018 Rhode Island Rams football
Conference	Colonial Athletic Association
2018 record	6–5 (4–4 CAA)
Head coach	Jim Fleming (5th season)
Offensive coordinator	Will Fleming (2nd season)
Defensive coordinator	Pete Rekstis (5th season)
Home stadium	Meade Stadium (Capacity: 6,555)

2018 CAA football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 4 Maine $^		7	–	1					10	–	4
No. 9 James Madison ^		6	–	2					9	–	4
No. 16 Stony Brook ^		5	–	3					7	–	5
No. 20 Towson ^		5	–	3					7	–	5
No. 24 Delaware ^		5	–	3					7	–	5
No. 19 Elon ^		4	–	3					6	–	5
Rhode Island		4	–	4					6	–	5
William & Mary		3	–	4					4	–	6
New Hampshire		3	–	5					4	–	7
Villanova		2	–	6					5	–	6
Richmond		2	–	6					4	–	7
Albany		1	–	7					3	–	8
$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

Previous season

The Rams finished the 2017 season 3–8, 2–6 in CAA play to finish in a tie for tenth place.

Preseason

CAA Poll

In the CAA preseason poll released on July 24, 2018, the Rams were predicted to finish in last place.[1]

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	James Madison	241 (21)
2	New Hampshire	206 (2)
3	Delaware	182
4	Stony Brook	169
5	Elon	168 (1)
6	Villanova	164
7	Richmond	127
8	Maine	81
9	Albany	78
10	Towson	74
11	William & Mary	55
12	Rhode Island	39

Preseason All-CAA Team

The Rams had two players selected to the preseason all-CAA team.

Offense Aaron Parker – WR Defense Brandon Ginnetti – DL

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 30	7:00 p.m.	at No. 15 Delaware		Delaware Stadium Newark, DE	CBSI Digital/CBS SportsLive	W 21–19	17,945
September 8	1:00 p.m.	Albany		Meade Stadium Kingston, RI	FCS/FSGO	W 45–26	6,520
September 15	12:00 p.m.	at UConn*	No. 25	Rentschler Field East Hartford, CT (rivalry)	SNY/ESPN3	L 49–56	20,691
September 28	7:00 p.m.	at Harvard*	No. 22	Harvard Stadium Allston, MA	ESPN+	W 23–16	9,123
October 6	1:00 p.m.	Brown*	No. 18	Meade Stadium Kingston, RI (Governor's Cup)	CAA.tv	W 48–0	6,141
October 13	12:00 p.m.	No. 21 Maine	No. 16	Meade Stadium Kingston, RI	CAA.tv	L 36–38	7,301
October 20	6:00 p.m.	at No. 18 Stony Brook	No. 22	Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium Stony Brook, NY		L 14–52	12,701
October 27	12:00 p.m.	William & Mary		Meade Stadium Kingston, RI	CAA.tv	W 21–10	1,688
November 3	1:00 p.m.	at No. 8 Elon		Rhodes Stadium Elon, NC		L 21–24	10,513
November 10	2:00 p.m.	at No. 9 James Madison		Bridgeforth Stadium Harrisonburg, VA	MASN/SNY	L 31–48	24,199
November 17	12:00 p.m.	New Hampshire		Meade Stadium Kingston, RI	CAA.tv	W 24–21	3,012
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

• Source: Schedule

Game summaries

at Delaware

	1	2	3	4	Total
Rams	0	7	14	0	21
No. 15 Fightin' Blue Hens	0	10	3	6	19

See also: 2018 Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
9–22	2015	W, 20–0

Albany

	1	2	3	4	Total
Great Danes	7	0	0	19	26
Rams	14	17	14	0	45

See also: 2018 Albany Great Danes football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
2–3	2017	W, 31–14

at UConn

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 25 Rams	7	21	14	7	49
Huskies	14	28	7	7	56

See also: 2018 UConn Huskies football team and Rhode Island–UConn football rivalry

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
34–51–8	2009	L, 10–52

at Harvard

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 22 Rams	2	14	7	0	23
Crimson	3	0	6	7	16

See also: 2018 Harvard Crimson football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
1–2	2017	W, 17–10

Brown

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	0	0	0	0	0
No. 18 Rams	3	24	14	7	48

See also: 2018 Brown Bears football team and Governor's Cup (Rhode Island)

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
27–73–2	2017	L, 21–24

Maine

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 21 Black Bears	7	7	8	16	38
No. 16 Rams	10	6	14	6	36

See also: 2018 Maine Black Bears football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
34–59–3	2017	L, 27–51

at Stony Brook

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 22 Rams	0	7	0	7	14
No. 18 Seawolves	10	14	14	14	52

See also: 2018 Stony Brook Seawolves football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
0–5	2017	L, 18–35

William & Mary

	1	2	3	4	Total
Tribe	7	0	3	0	10
Rams	14	0	7	0	21

See also: 2018 William & Mary Tribe football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
3–13	2013	L, 0–20

at Elon

	1	2	3	4	Total
Rams	7	0	0	14	21
No. 8 Phoenix	0	21	0	3	24

See also: 2018 Elon Phoenix football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
1–1	2017	L, 34–35

at James Madison

	1	2	3	4	Total
Rams	7	7	10	7	31
No. 9 Dukes	14	13	7	14	48

See also: 2018 James Madison Dukes football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
3–10	2017	L, 3–38

New Hampshire

	1	2	3	4	Total
Wildcats	0	0	7	14	21
Rams	3	7	7	7	24

See also: 2018 New Hampshire Wildcats football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
28–59–5	2017	L, 14–28

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final
STATS FCS	NR	RV	25	23	22	18	16	22	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV
Coaches	NR	RV	RV	23	20	17	15	23	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV

References

1. Washburn, Rob (July 24, 2018). "James Madison Favored To Win Fourth Straight CAA Football Title in 2018". Colonial Athletic Association. Retrieved July 24, 2018.