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The Central Connecticut football team has won four Northeast Conference titles since 2004. Central won the outright title in 2009, and shared titles in 2004, 2005 and 2010. According to the NEC Coaches on Wednesday, the Blue Devils were picked to win it again in 2011.

"It's always an honor to be picked first by the coaches in the preseason poll," sixth-year head coach Jeff McInerney said on Wednesday. "But that doesn't mean we can rest on that. We still need to work hard on the practice field and perform each and every Saturday on the field if we want to win an NEC title and earn a berth to the NCAA playoffs."
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Central was 5-0 at home in 2010, and enters the 2011 season with a 14-game home winning streak, the second-longest active home winning streak in the country. In McInerney's five seasons the Blue Devils are 38-18, and have posted a winning record in each of his five seasons. Central has posted three straight perfect seasons at home, and hasn't lost on Arute Field since the final game of the 2007 season. They are 22-2 at home in the five years under McInerney.

"We take great pride in what we have built with this program, especially at home," McInerney said. "We're the only team in the league to post an overall and conference record above .500 in each of the last five seasons, and we are going to work hard to maintain that consistency."

A quartet of Dukes - senior offensive lineman Ron Dunn (Abington, Mass./Milford (N.Y.) Academy), junior running back Larry McCoy (Wytheville, Va./George Wythe), senior defensive lineman Alex Inda (San Fernando, Calif./St. Genevieve) and junior defensive back Serge Kona (Gaithersburg, Md./Gaithersburg) - were named to the NEC Football Preseason All-Conference Team.

Dunn, a 6-6, 320-pound tackle, will anchor an offensive line that returns four starters. McCoy, who leads all returning FCS juniors with a 95.4 career per game rushing yardage average, carried 252 times for 1,291 yards and six touchdowns last season. All six of his 100-yard games last season came in conference play. Both Dunn and McCoy were second team All-NEC picks last season.

Inda, a 6-2, 267-pound tackle, led all Duquesne linemen with 55 tackles last season. Kona, DU's top returning tackler, made the move from linebacker to safety in the spring. He had a team-high 12 tackles for loss among his 64 stops last season. The 5-11, 223-pounder, who forced a team-high three fumbles last season, ranks tied for fifth nationally among FCS returnees in career fumbles forced per game.

rebla 49er wrote:Where would Rhode Island finish this year if the Rams were in it? Maybe #3?

danefan wrote:

rebla 49er wrote:Where would Rhode Island finish this year if the Rams were in it? Maybe #3?

After some of the wins they racked up late in the year last year (UMass and Nova), I'd be hard pressed to be them anywhere but #1.

They're still playing with CAA recruiting classes though.

AZGrizFan wrote:

danefan wrote:
After some of the wins they racked up late in the year last year (UMass and Nova), I'd be hard pressed to be them anywhere but #1.

They're still playing with CAA recruiting classes though.

When do they switch? Next year?

BDKJMU wrote:... but me thinks there will only be 22-24k butts in seats, but will look 80-90% full.