Bridgewater, NJ — The target will remain on the back of defending Northeast Conference (NEC) football regular season champion Central Connecticut in 2025. 
 
One year after the Blue Devils made a late push down the final stretch of the conference slate to knock off fellow co-champ Duquesne and claim the league’s AQ to the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) Playoffs, the seven-time regular season champs have been identified as the team to beat this upcoming season, according to the league’s head coaches.
 
Central Connecticut pulled in five first-place votes to come out on top in the annual NEC Preseason Coaches’ Poll. Duquesne, which has claimed at least a share of the regular season crown in each of the past two years, received a pair of top tallies to take the second slot in the predicted order-of-finish. 
 
Robert Morris garnered the final first-place pick and was ranked third, alongside LIU, in the vote. 
 
The Sharks and Colonials were followed by Wagner and Saint Francis U, which took fifth and sixth, respectively, while Mercyhurst (seventh) and Stonehill (eighth) rounded out the eight-member preseason poll.
 
NEC newcomer New Haven was not included on the annual preseason poll ballot because the reclassifying Chargers will not be playing a full conference slate until the 2026 campaign.
 
It should be noted that the odds have not been in favor of a repeat on the NEC circuit. In eight of the past 11 iterations of the NEC Preseason Coaches’ Poll, the reigning regular-season champion and recipient of the league’s automatic qualifier to the NCAA Division I FCS Playoffs has been tabbed the favorite to run it back and hoist the trophy the ensuing year.
 
Of those eight instances where the defending champ prevailed as the favorite in the annual preseason poll, the head coaches’ forecast of a reigning NEC champion running it back the following year has only come to fruition twice.
 
Under the guidance of Adam Lechtenberg, the 2024 NEC Coach of the Year, Central Connecticut will look to buck that trend and prove the coaches right this season. 
 
Posting one of the most impressive single-season turnarounds in conference history and defying all expectations in 2024, the Blue Devils, who were picked to finish dead last in last year’s preseason poll, have several key pieces in place to make it back-to-back banner raising campaigns for just the second time in program history, and the first time since 2009 and 2010.
 
On the offensive side of the gridiron, Central Connecticut’s roster is bolstered by not one — but two — former NEC Offensive Players of the Year. 
 
Senior running back Elijah Howard (Knoxville, TN/Baylor School (Virginia Tech)), who was pegged the league’s top offensive weapon in 2024, ran for 934 yards and an NEC-best eight rushing scores on a league-leading 228 carries. Five of his touchdowns came in Central Connecticut’s final four conference games, all of which were key victories that led to the program’s third FCS Playoff berth. 
 
The Blue Devils will beef up their offense with the addition — and NEC return — of 2023 NEC Offensive Player of the Year Donovan Wadley (Newark, NJ/Weequahic (Merrimack)). The dynamic triple threat wideout/kick returner — and newly named Stats Perform Preseason All-American — finished as the FCS’s statistical leader in kickoff return touchdowns (3) and yards per kickoff return (37.9) at Merrimack in his last season in the conference. The Garden State product also racked up the third-most kickoff return yards (645) in that campaign. 
 
The Blue Devils also return a strong core of offensive linemen that offered some of the best pass protection in the circuit. Central Connecticut quarterbacks were sacked just nine times in 13 games, a figure that ranked the Blue Devils’ O-Line fourth in the FCS with 0.64 sacks allowed per game.
 
Defense played a huge part in Central Connecticut’s late push for the title. In their final four regular season matchups, the Blue Devils held three competitors below the 20-point threshold, limiting Wagner, Stonehill and Duquesne — the top offensive squad in the loop — to 17 points or fewer.
 
Just one other team in the nation — NCAA Division I FCS Champion North Dakota State — registered more turnovers than Central Connecticut in 2024. The Blue Devils forced the opposition into a miscues 32 times, including eight in the winner-take-all season finale against the Dukes on Nov. 23. 
 
Redshirt sophomore Christopher Jean (Rochester, NY/Rochester), the reigning NEC Defensive Rookie of the Year, helped the Nutmeg State squad seal the deal and hoist the league’s trophy by totaling one forced fumble, a pair of fumble recoveries, seven tackles and three picks over the final two regular season contests against Robert Morris and Duquesne. The defensive back closed out his debut campaign ranked second in the FCS with four fumble recoveries, while his three interceptions and two forced fumbles were good for second in the conference.
 
Longtime Duquesne head coach Jerry Schmitt has his eyes set on an NEC regular season three-peat, a feat that has been accomplished just on other time in conference annals when Robert Morris won at least a share of the crown in the first five iterations of NEC football from 1996 through 2000, a stretch that included four solo titles. 
 
A new face will be calling the shots at quarterback for the Dukes, however the league’s top offense still has plenty of firepower with the return of redshirt senior running back Taj Butts (St. Louis, MO/De Smet (Missouri) and graduate wide receiver Joey Isabella (Mayfield, OH/Mayfield). 

Robert Morris' return to the NEC in 2024 was a successful one. The Colonials went 4-2 in the conference and were in the mix for the NEC title and an FCS Playoff berth with just two weeks remaining in the regular season. Several new faces will look to steer the Keystone State squad back to the summit of the NEC, territory they have not reached since 2010. One mainstay will be at quarterback, though, where Zach Tanner (Winter Haven, FL/Auberndale) saw action in eight games. Robert Morris also has options at the signal caller position, as the roster has been bolstered by the addition of Harvard graduate transfer Ameer Dudley (Aliquippa, PA/Central Valley (Harvard)).
 
It was a tale of two halves for LIU head coach Ron Cooper and his Sharks, as they flipped the script on an 0-6 start with victories in four of their final six contests. Included in that season-opening slate were single-possession defeats to 2025 FCS Playoff squads Lehigh and Villanova as well as UAlbany. Coming off the heels of a fourth place showing in the 2024 standings for the program’s third consecutive finish in the top half of the league, LIU has the luxury of returning All-NEC second teamer Ethan Greenwood (Baldwin, NY/Kellenberg (The Citadel)) at quarterback. Joining Wadley as a Stats Perform Preseason All-American, the Empire State product was an x-factor to the Sharks’ late success, throwing for six touchdowns while running for five more over the final seven contests of the year. 
 
All nine NEC squads will make their debuts on opening weekend, with Mercyhurst and Saint Francis U kicking things off on Thursday, Aug. 28 against Youngstown State and Louisiana Monroe, respectively. The first league game of the slate is set for Saturday, Sept. 13, when Saint Francis U visits Central Connecticut. 
 
Starting this fall, Stonehill will be eligible for NCAA postseason competition, including the NCAA FCS Playoffs, as the NCAA Division I Board of Directors accepted the recommendation from the NCAA Strategic Vision and Planning Committee to approve the NEC member for full NCAA Division I membership in 22 of its 23 varsity sports programs. The Skyhawks were originally on a four-year reclassification track after transitioning to the Division I level in the summer of 2022, but they accelerated the process thanks to updated NCAA legislation passed this January. 
 
Mercyhurst and NEC newcomer New Haven will be ineligible for NCAA postseason competition due to their current statuses as reclassifying institutions. 
 
About the Northeast Conference
Now entering its 45th season, the Northeast Conference is an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic association consisting of ten institutions of higher learning located throughout six states. Media coverage of the NEC extends to a number of the largest markets in the United States including New York (#1), Chicago (#3), Boston (#9). Hartford/New Haven (#32) and Syracuse (#88). Founded in 1981 as the basketball-only ECAC Metro Conference, the NEC has grown to sponsor 25 championship sports for men and women and now enjoys automatic access to 16 different NCAA Championships. NEC full member institutions include Central Connecticut, Chicago State, FDU, Le Moyne, LIU, Mercyhurst, New Haven, Saint Francis U, Stonehill and Wagner. For more information on the NEC, visit the league’s official website (www.northeastconference.org) and digital network (www.necfrontrow.com), or follow the league on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, all @NECsports.