The Rhode Island Rams football program is the intercollegiate

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

team for the

University of Rhode Island The University of Rhode Island (URI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is the flagship public research as well as the land-grant university of the state of Rhode Island ...

located in the U.S. state of

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

. The team competes in the

NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athletic ...

(FCS) and are members of the

Colonial Athletic Association The Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I whose full members are located in East Coast states from Massachusetts to South Carolina. Most of its members are public universi ...

(CAA). Rhode Island's first football team was fielded in 1895. The team plays its home games at the 6,555 seat

Meade Stadium Meade Stadium is a 6,555-seat multi-purpose stadium in Kingston, Rhode Island. It is home to the University of Rhode Island's Rams football team. The facility opened in 1928 and was originally named Meade Field, in honor of John E. "Jack" Meade, ...

Kingston, Rhode Island Kingston is a village and a census-designated place within the New England town, town of South Kingstown, Rhode Island, South Kingstown in Washington County, Rhode Island, Washington County, Rhode Island, United States, and the site of the main ...

Conference affiliations

Rhode Island has played as both an independent and conference-affiliated team. * Independent /

Athletic League of New England State Colleges The Athletic League of New England State Colleges (ALNESC) was one of the earliest college athletics conferences in the United States, with its membership centered in the northeast United States. Membership * Massachusetts Agricultural College ( ...

(1895–1946) *

Yankee Conference The Yankee Conference was a collegiate sports conference in the eastern United States. From 1947 to 1976, it sponsored competition in many sports, but was a football-only league from mid-1976 until its dissolution in 1996. It is essentially the an ...

(1947–1996) *

Atlantic 10 Conference The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I. The A-10's member schools are located in states mostly on the United States Eastern ...

(1997–2006) *

(2007–present)

Playoffs

The Rams have appeared in the Division I-AA/FCS Playoffs three times, but not since 1985. They have just four winning seasons since that time, with 2018 being the first since 2002. Their combined record is 2–3.

Championships

Conference championships

The Rams have won seven conference championships, all of which were won during their tenure in the

, highlighted by two separate runs of numerous championships (four in five years during the 1950s and three in four years during the 1980s) and respective droughts between those runs, with a 24-year drought between titles in 1957 and 1981 and an ongoing drought since Rhode Island's last title in 1985 of over 30 years.

Divisional championships

The Rams have won one division title, in 1995: the Yankee Conference's New England Division.

Rivalries

Brown

UConn

Notable former players

* Derek Cassidy *

Chy Davidson Chy Davidson (born May 9, 1959) is a former American football wide receiver who played two seasons with the New York Jets of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the New England Patriots in the eleventh round of the 1981 NFL Su ...

Frank Ferrara Frank Ferrara, Jr. (born November 7, 1975) is a former American football defensive end in the National Football League, playing three years for the New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles. He played college football at the University of Rhode Isl ...

Andy Gresh Andrew "Andy" F. Gresh III (born October 26, 1974) is an American sports broadcaster in New England. His coverage includes both professional and college football. He was formerly a co-host with Scott Zolak on WBZ-FM in Boston. Also he formerl ...

* Chris Hixson *

Pat Narduzzi Patrick Regan Narduzzi (born April 22, 1966) is an American football coach and former player. He is the head coach at the University of Pittsburgh. He was formerly the defensive coordinator at Michigan State. He attended Youngstown State Universit ...

* Steve Furness

Current NFL players

As of December 9, 2022, there are no former Rhode Island Rams player listed on team rosters in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL).

Future non-conference opponents

Announced schedules as of December 9, 2022.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rhode Island Rams Football American football teams established in 1895 1895 establishments in Rhode Island