# 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.

## Preseason
### CAA Poll

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

## Schedule

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

## 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 |

### Albany

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

### At UConn

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

### At Harvard

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

### Brown

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

### Maine

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

### At Stony Brook

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

### William & Mary

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

### At Elon

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

### At James Madison

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

### New Hampshire

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

## Ranking movements

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking — = Not ranked RV = Received votes :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Final |
| STATS FCS | — | RV | 25 | 23 | 22 | 18 | 16 | 22 | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | |
| Coaches | — | RV | RV | 23 | 20 | 17 | 15 | 23 | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | |