HARRISONBURG — The uptick in buzz around Rhode Island football is real, according to Rams coach Jim Fleming.

Rhode Island hosts Delaware this Saturday at Meade Stadium in the Colonial Athletic Association’s first conference game of the year, and the venue received a makeover as part of a $4.1 million project this offseason. The contest will be the first on Meade Stadium’s brand new turf and under its brand new lights.

“Our kids are excited and they recognize the importance of this football game for our season and for our program,” Fleming said Monday during the CAA coaches teleconference. “It’s going to be an incredibly exciting week around here once the lights get turned on and we get the chance to get out underneath them. It’s going to be another step forward of where we want to take this football program.”

Since he got the job at Rhode Island in 2014, Fleming has had an uphill climb in his effort to reinvigorate the Rams’ program and make it competitive. Rhode Island had its best season in the last 17 years last year, finishing 6-5 for its first winning campaign since 2001.

Fleming said the success last fall all started with his team’s season-opening win at Delaware and added this week’s contest against the Blue Hens has similar importance.

URI dropped its opener 41-20 at FBS Ohio this past Saturday.

“First and foremost, we’d be 1-0 in the conference,” Fleming said. “And then, secondarily, you’d have a lot of people with a regenerated interest in Rhode Island football and to be able to roar them with a home victory will, I believe, keep them coming back. We’re going to have an electric environment here and it’ll be historic in terms of new surface and new lights, which has never happened here in a permanent structure. So to be able to go out and play our best football and beat a quality opponent like Delaware will be absolutely huge for us.”

William & Mary coach Mike London is now in third different job as a head coach at a school in the Commonwealth.

He returns to Virginia, where he led the Cavaliers from 2010 through 2015, on Friday when the Tribe plays in Charlottesville.

“The human nature part of it is I spent a lot of years there,” London said. “My daughter played basketball for the great Debbie Ryan. My brother, Paul, played for the great [former Virginia football coach] George Welsh. I had a chance to be there with some really great players, coaching the Chris Longs of the world, the Chris Cantys, the Ahmad Brooks and Darryl Blackstock, who is on my staff here. So there’s a community there that my kids grew up in.”

Both teams are 1-0. This past Saturday, William & Mary knocked off Lafayette in Williamsburg and Virginia won at Pittsburgh.

“I’m here at William & Mary,” London said. “And my charge is to get these guys ready to go up in Charlottesville and be competitive and try to win the football game. There are mixed emotions, but the main focus is to prepare a team to go play a really good team.”

Saturday’s opener at Holy Cross will be unlike any other New Hampshire has played over the last two decades.

The Wildcats will be without coach Sean McDonnell, who took a leave of absence last week for health-related reasons.

“His big thing was just for me to be myself,” UNH interim coach Ricky Santos said. “Obviously, he understands the type of giant that he is in this coaching profession. He’s going to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer. He’s two-time Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year, so it’s monumental shoes to fill. But his big thing was, ‘Put your stamp on it. Be yourself’ and don’t try to emulate some of the things he did, just put my spin on it.”

Santos played quarterback for McDonnell at New Hampshire before spending time as a player in the NFL and the CFL. This is his second stint on UNH’s coaching staff as he rejoined McDonnell to coach quarterbacks this offseason following three years in the same role at Columbia.

Santos named redshirt freshman Bret Edwards the Wildcats’ starting quarterback for Saturday’s game.

“The last scrimmage we had of camp, Bret was 17-of-18 for like 180 yards and a couple of touchdowns,” Santos said. “He was really efficient with the football. He took care of it and ultimately he took better care of it during camp, which is critically important at that position. I think he gives us a dynamic with his legs.”