BETHLEHEM, PA – In 2022, the ECAC announced the last formal winner of what was then the ECAC Lambert Cup, the College of the Holy Cross. In 2025, with a brand new reorganized set of legacy Lambert Cup voters, the Lambert Cup committee has awarded the FCS Lambert Cup retroactively for the years it went unawarded.
Taking over from where the ECAC left off, the Lambert Cup has been awarded to the best “small college” football team in the East since 1957. Through the years, “small college” has had different meanings. In 1981 the Lambert Cup was awarded to the top team in I-AA football, and since that time the Lambert Cup has been awarded to the top team in Eastern FCS football.
Through a vote of a group of independent voters on the awards, we’re thrilled to retroactively award the Lambert Cup to the fall 2021, 2023, and 2024 winners. The 2025 Lambert Cup Ccommittee consists of regional and national FCS Football media members and conference representatives.
The retroactive winners of the 2021 Fall season Lambert Cup were the James Madison Dukes, who were coached by Curt Cignetti.
In his third year as head coach of the Dukes, Cignetti led JMU to an 12-2 overall record and the No. 3 seed for the FCS Playoffs, advancing to the national semifinals and falling in a tough hard fought road game to eventual FCS National Champions North Dakota State.
QB Cole Johnson turned in one of the top performances by a JMU quarterback in single-season history, as he was 287-of-422 for 41 touchdowns with just four interceptions. Johnson also rushed for 236 yards and a team-best six touchdowns.
Other standouts on the 2021 James Madison Dukes were WR Antwane Wells Jr. (1,250 yard receiving, 15 TDs), WR Kris Thornton (1,097 yards receiving, 13 TDs), OL Nick Kidwell, DL Bryce Carter (21 Tackles for Loss, including 9 sacks) and PK Ethan Ratke (63/64 extra points, 29/32 field goals, longest 47 yards).
The fall 2021 Lambert Cup if the Dukes’ eighth and presumably final Lambert Cup, the end of an incredible streak of winning five Lambert Cups in a six year stretch (2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, and 2021). The only interruption to James Madison’s dominance was Colgate in 2019. Currently, James Madison is a contender for the Lambert Trophy, awarded to the best team in Eastern FBS football.
2021 Lambert Cup, Official Vote Results
1. James Madison (19)
2. Villanova (11)
T3. Dartmouth (6)
T3. Holy Cross (6)
5. Princeton (2)
The retroactive winners of the 2023 season Lambert Cup were the Albany Great Danes, who were coached by Greg Gattuso.
In 2023, the Great Danes reached incredible new heights. The program recorded its first ever CAA Championship, its first 11-win season (previous high of nine), and first appearance in the NCAA FCS Semifinals – all with individual players shattering the UAlbany record books. The football program now sits with field hockey (2014) and men’s lacrosse (2018) as the only programs in UAlbany history to reach a Final Four. In addition to all of these accolades, it’s long overdue to add a Lambert Cup – their first ever – to their honors for this historic season.
Gattuso won many awards in the Great Danes’ amazing season, including CAA Coach of the Year, FCS Football Central Coach of the Year, AFCA Region 1 Coach of the Year, and ECAC Coach of the Year. QB Resse Poffenbeerger led the offense responsible for 246 points, leading all of the FCS (36 passing TDs, 5 rushing TDs), while LB Dylan Kelly led all of FCS in tackes (159), while also recovering 2 fumbles and notching 2 interceptions.
2023 Lambert Cup, Official Vote Results 1. Albany (23)
2. Villanova (12)
3. Delaware (4)
T4. Harvard (3)
T4. Lafayette (3)
ORV: Duquesne, Howard
The retroactive winners of the 2024 season Lambert Cup were the Rhode Island Rams, who were coached by Jim Fleming.
Fleming led Rhode Island to a program-best 11 wins, the most in 129 seasons of URI Football. He was named the New England Football Writer’s Association Division I Coach of the Year after helping the Rams to their first playoff appearance in 39 years, which resulted in a win over Central Connecticut State 21-17 before bowing out to Mercer in the following round. Rhode Island won a CAA co-championship, the Rams’ first football conference title since winning the Yankee Conference title in 1995.
At the end of the season, the Rams received a slew of All-American honors from the Associated Press, Stats Perform and Phil Steele. LB A.J. Pena was a First Team AP All-American and received similar honors from the other two organizations after a dominating 2024 campaign ().
For the first time in program history, the Rams had a 1,000-yard rusher (RB Malik Grant) and a 1,000-yard receiver (WR Marquis Buchanan). Grant broke Rhode Island’s single-season rushing record with 1,390 rushing yards, overtaking RB David Jamison’s mark of 1,302 in 2001.
The 2024 Lambert Cup is Rhode Island’s third-ever Lambert Cup. The Rams won back-to-back Lambert Cups in 1984 and 1985 under head coach Bob Griffin.
2024 Lambert Cup, Official Vote Results 1. Rhode Island (20)
2. Lehigh (11)
3. Villanova (5)
4. Richmond (4)
ORV: Central Connecticut State, Columbia, Dartmouth, Duquesne, Harvard
Congratulations to all the winners!