DOVER, De. — With the announcement from the Colonial last week, Fake FCS adds a second bi-monthly show to discuss conference specific details and games. I got ahold of the two primary benefactors of the recently conceived “CAA Today”: Youngstown State’s Bernie and Delaware State’s Mattrngio2019. These two discussed their short and long-term plans for the podcast as well as their excitement for the Colonial’s season.

THE CAA TODAY WILL START ON SUNDAYS AROUND 4-5pm EST

The Genesis of CAA Today

Whatever the finished product, no one doubts the work the entire CAA has put into creating the show. The initial idea is credited to newly signed head coach Mattgio before week 1. The idea was supported by numerous parties within the Colonial and pre-production began promptly. Credit goes to James Madison’s head coach, door_nav, for the creation of both the logo and conference stats. Bernie and Mattgio also wanted to thank SpiderSquad (Richmond) and Edge (Villanova) for their ongoing participation and involvement in designing the show. An unnamed Big Sky member was also credited with creating a channel for CAA Today. Determined to not waste the hard work of many new and established coaches, Bernie had this to say:

“We mostly just wanted to make sure that we’d be able to do this well and have it last. It would be more trouble than it’s worth if we just ended up making one episode… I think we’ll take this season to make sure that we can sustain a good product and then start thinking about bigger goals. We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves before even recording an episode.”

When compared with the wildly successful Shine and Shade Show (the ASUN sponsored “broad”cast) which airs for a half-hour, CAA Today will ideally fill a larger time slot. Bernie stated that he hopes each episode will be “45 min[utes long] to one hour.” The co-host assuaged worries about the longer time frame by making it clear the show would also cover topics around the league, hopefully extending the potential talking points. To encourage the participation of outside coaches, he welcomed non-CAA members to call or chat about various topics they would like to be covered:

“We want to be a show for the masses…we want people to participate in the discussion, bring on lots of guests, and talk about what people want to hear us weigh in on”

For those eager to get more involved with CAA Today, both Bernie and Mattgio expressed a desire to receive community questions. Both believe that in order for the podcast to retain a long-term listener base it will need to cater to a wide variety of conference and individual wants and desires. For this reason, the CAA Today show is going to be a malleable product. While several basic elements will be carried over from episode to episode such as CAA Power Rankings and game previews, the hosts want to be community driven and directed:

“we’ll start with a CAA focus and then move into listener questions. We’ve already received a few, would be happy to take any others in advance of the podcast, but also happy to react to them as they come in while we’re live”

Those who have topics or questions they would like answered by CAA Today should contact Mattgio2019 or ngreiner16 over Discord or get involved in the #caa-today-chat.

As far as planned sketches or segments, Bernie and Mattgio were both close-lipped, but from what I have been able to gather it appears that a Power Ranking and CAA-centric weekly review will likely be on the episode agenda. Rumors of a possible Colonial mascot fighting bracket have been floated around; it appears likely that some form of Mascot combat will take place this Sunday. Another rumored conversation topic is the mini-challenge between the CFC and CAA and what it could mean for the future of both conferences.

Offseason Heroes: Bernie and the CAA

While the MVC added the most big-time coaches and the ASUN proved it has the staying power, the CAA quitely scooped up a whopping six new coaches in the offseason. One can only conclude that the burst of Colonial activity is a direct result of these offseason moves. Bernie proudly agreed and believes the CAA is “… going in the right direction.” With three of the new Colonial coaches playing prominent roles in the production of CAA Today and an increased Discord presence, the CAA is out to prove it is a power conference. With the first week drawing to a close, the CAA is currently 5-3 in games and has an interesting 3 game mini-challenge with the CFC next week. If they can dominate next week coupled with a strong viewership on Sunday, we could be witnessing the rise of the Colonial Era in the FFCS.