STONY BROOK, N.Y. — Circle March 6 on your calendars.
CAA Football released its full conference schedule for the upcoming season on Tuesday morning.
And the Stony Brook football team will open its six-game conference slate against Villanova at Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium on that date.
The Seawolves also will host Maine on March 20 and Rhode Island on April 17.
Stony Brook travels to Delaware (March 13), UAlbany (March 27) and New Hampshire (April 10).
Game times are to be determined. Tune in to FloSports to watch.
"We are excited about the spring 2021 schedule being released," Stony Brook head coach
Chuck Priore said. "It is a challenging schedule opening with Villanova, which was a top-10 preseason team for the fall of 2020."
VISIT THE STONY BROOK FOOTBALL SPRING 2021 SCHEDULE HERE
CAA Football will operate with two divisions for the abbreviated schedule.
The team with the best overall conference record will earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Football Championship. Should the divisional champions finish with the same conference record, a tiebreaking procedure will be used to determine the automatic qualifier.
The North Division includes seven teams: UAlbany, Delaware, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Stony Brook and Villanova.
The four-team South Division includes Elon, James Madison, Richmond and William & Mary.
Teams in the North will face each other once, while teams in the South will meet twice.
Towson announced on Oct. 19 that it would not compete during the 2021 spring season.
"We are pleased to announce the conference schedule for the 2021 spring football season, but understand this is just the next step in the planning process associated with playing football on each of our campuses," CAA commissioner Joe D'Antonio said. "Our unique divisional format was developed with the goal of enhancing safety and reducing the risks associated with travel during this difficult period of time, while still providing a fair and competitive model to determine a champion.
"Today's announcement hopefully provides an additional level of excitement for the student-athletes and coaches who have worked hard and made numerous sacrifices over the past eight months. As always, health and safety remain at the forefront of all return-to-play decisions that we, as a conference, continue to make."
Each team has a bye week in its schedule, which could provide flexibility to make up games postponed by the COVID-19 pandemic, if required.
Each institution has the option of adding up to two nonconference games to its schedule.
Institutions are able to schedule nonconference games against other conference members, but those games would not count toward the conference standings and the outcome would not be used in the tiebreaking procedures.
Based on NCAA guidelines, teams are allowed to begin nonconference competition as early as Jan. 23.
The NCAA Football Championship will feature 16 teams, with 11 automatic qualifiers and five at-large berths. The playoffs are set to begin on April 24, with a champion crowned in Frisco, Texas, on May 14, 15 or 16.
