SOUTH KINGSTOWN – There is a heartbeat inside the University of Rhode Island’s football program.

It’s a faint one, but it is there. Few people around the state, or even on the Rhody campus, have cared to notice but that’s no shock. That’s been the drill down here for about 30 years now.

In the season’s final home game Saturday, the program’s dozen seniors were introduced to a crowd of parents, friends and crickets. Then they went out and treated the 2,877 fans who did show up at Meade Stadium to a convincing 20-6 victory over Villanova.

If you’re one of the state’s casual sports fans who haven’t been to Meade in years (if ever) and wonder why URI even plays football, you won’t like this news. This program is progressing. It’s no longer a joke.

A year ago the Rams were thumped by the Wildcats on the Main Line, 35-0. That’s the Rhody football score fans in the state have come to expect. This time around the Rams controlled the game from kickoff to the final gun. Quarterback JaJuan Lawson, a Californian who transferred in from New Mexico, ran for a touchdown and connected with Cranston’s Marvin Beauvais on a 71-yard TD pass that broke the game open late in the third quarter.

The Rams had 19 first downs to ‘Nova’s 8. They outgained the Wildcats 416-171. It wasn’t close. That’s progress. Rhody is now 3-7 on the season (2-5 in the CAA), good for the most wins in coach Jim Fleming’s four seasons on the job.

“It’s shocking that that’s the most wins,” Fleming said. “Last year I thought three was a given until that 55-yard bomb at Towson, but I also thought there were six (wins) on the field two years ago. And this season there were a number of different outcomes that could have been had by our football team.”

The Rams lost in overtime on opening night at Central Michigan. They lost at Brown, 24-21, after missing a fourth quarter field goal. They put a scare into No. 7 ranked Elon before losing, 35-34. Flip a few of those scores and Fleming wouldn’t be in the position of always defending his program.

“Every step is a step forward. Every victory is a step forward,” Fleming said, “but it’s hard for me to jump up and down about three victories. It’s certainly not satisfying.”

Fleming says he’s seen so much progress in his program that he’s dreaming big dreams. While other beaten-down Rhody pigskin coaches limped out of the job, this guy is looking ahead. Check this out.

“Anybody who has any understanding of the game of football and has watched us over the last four years and the way our guys have developed understand there is a potential champion at this university in football,” he said. “We have to feed it and help let it grow.”

Champion? A championship is possible at a school that plays in a stadium high schoolers from Pennsylvania, Florida and Texas laugh at?

“I know that we have a good university to recruit to. I know that we’ve been able to get good, quality athletes that have put us in a competitive situation in this conference,” Fleming said. “So now it becomes a question of winning enough to get to the playoffs and keep taking steps. It’s not like every week, `wow, they are so much better than us.’’’

Fleming points out that Villanova has a FCS national title (2009) and a NCAA basketball championship (2016) to its name. He loves what Dan Hurley has done with Ram hoops and asks `why not us?’

“There’s got to be an embracing of my vision,” he said. “I love Rhode Island but it’s a Show Me state. Show me the money, show me the wins and maybe I’ll come on down to Kingston. If you put a first class football facility on this campus that the whole state uses, you continue to feed the growth of the university. Football can do the same thing that basketball has.”

Right now Fleming stands on a very small island of true believers in URI football. He should, of course. But he’s not backing down. He hears the calls for the program’s ouster and laughs. That’s not his vision, or the one shared by the school’s administration.

Maybe that’s why he was so happy to share a post-game laugh with one of his seniors, star running back Harold Cooper. He was part of Fleming’s first recruiting class and a “Pop Warner legend, a household name,” from a difficult background in New Haven, Conn. After four seasons and over 4,500 all-purpose yards, he’s ready to wrap up his career next week at Towson and graduate in the spring. Kids like Harold Cooper are what college football should be all about.

“It’s a fast four years. I’m still surprised that it’s been four years,” Cooper said. “I’m just happy with what I’ve done for the program and what the program has done for me.”

Asked what’s changed in the program over his four years, Cooper quickly answered “the atmosphere. People are starting to believe in us more. We’ve bought into the system. The fans believe in us more. The first year that really wasn’t the case but then we started to prove that we could win in this league.”

Fleming says his dozen seniors are tough kids, in large part because “the amount of negative that they’ve shouldered is not minimal.” But that negative is changing. The Rams don't deserve to be the butt of jokes anymore. Football in Kingston is far from dead.