This season, the Stony Brook football team will enter its second year as a member of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA). But, 2014 will be a season of firsts for the Seawolves as they will play 12 regular season games, the highest total in the program’s history. Eight of those games will be against conference opponents.
The Seawolves kick off their 2014 campaign on Thursday, Aug. 28, at home against Bryant University. This will be the first time LaValle Stadium has hosted a Thursday night game. The game also will fall within the first week of school for fall semester students.
For the past few years, athletics has hosted “Wolfie’s Walk” for students to celebrate the first game of the season with games and barbecue food in the Mendelsohn Pit. Athletics and the Undergraduate Student Government are working together to offer a similar event for this year’s opener.
The Seawolves will then hit the road against FBS opponent University of Connecticut (UConn). This marks Stony Brook’s seventh game against a team from Division 1-A (FBS). On Sept. 20, the Seawolves will have another out of conference road matchup when they travel to play the University of North Dakota. It will be the second matchup between the two teams since 2009.
The CAA portion of their schedule will begin Sept. 27 with the Seawolves hosting William & Mary for their 2014 Homecoming game. This will begin a stretch of eight games against conference opponents for Stony Brook.
On Oct. 11 Stony Brook will have a difficult task when they host Maine, the defending conference champions.The Seawolves played tough in their matchup with the Black Bears last season, but fell 19-14 in a loss that eliminated them from FCS playoff contention.
In November, both James Madison and Rhode Island will visit LaValle Stadium in consecutive weeks. Stony Brook was able to defeat both teams last season on the road.
Stony Brook will travel to North Carolina on Oct. 18 to face the CAA’s newest member Elon University. Other road opponents include Towson (10/4), New Hampshire (10/25) and rival Albany (11/22).
SBU will not have to take on Villanova or Richmond this season, two teams that they suffered losses to last season.
The Seawolves will look to improve on the 2013 campaign in which they finished 5-6 overall and 3-5 in CAA play.
Joe Galotti contributed to this article.
