The Governor’s Cup is one thing, but Bryant-URI is meaningful too.

The Rams will make the short trip to Smithfield to take on the Bulldogs in the regular season finale for both teams this Saturday. With a win, 15th-ranked Rhody will finish 10-2 and lock up an at-large bid into the FCS postseason, giving the program its first playoff berth since 1985. Meanwhile, Bryant limps in at 2-9, but a win for Chris Merritt’s team could make things real dicey for Jim Fleming’s squad.

Both coaches talked about this rivalry and the amount of respect there is between the two schools.

“It starts off with their motivation,” Fleming said during Monday’s CAA coaches Zoom call. “I think they’re extremely well-coached. I really like Coach Merritt and his staff. I think he does it the right way and he does it with the right intent…they’re another CAA team. It really is amazing, you’ve just have to throw the records out each and every week. These guys are going to come in loaded-for-bear because they want to be the state champion in the state of Rhode Island. It’s a significant honor.

“Both of us have a chance to knock that off on Saturday. We’re playing for a lot, but again, we’re playing to be able to beat Bryant right up the road and we need to be able to maintain…in a good world, dominance in the state. At least for this year. It’s going to change at some point in time, but we want to keep that moniker as long as we can.”

“The game is important,” added Merritt. “Our job is to let our guys know it’s important and they believe it. They have a tremendous amount of respect and we have a tremendous amount of respect for Rhode Island. It’s great to see a local team with the success that they’ve had this year. Our job in this football program is to get better each week.

“Just because it’s the last one, it doesn’t change that goal. The goal is still the same and we’re excited for the challenge…we’ve had the pleasure of playing almost every one of the Top 5 teams in the CAA this year and they’re right there.”

Oddly enough, the Governor’s Cup actually does play a little bit of a role here when talking about this game. Whichever team wins on Saturday would have the distinguished honor of being the Rhode Island state champ for 2024 since both URI and Bryant beat Brown.

The problem is, there’s no trophy to acknowledge that fact.

It’s something Fleming would be interested in, but not if it’ll tinker with the history of the Governor’s Cup rivalry against the Bears.

“I think once we all started playing one another and we’re committed to that for a long period of time, I think the state championship is something that should be awarded, should be recognized,” he said. “We can come up with some good ideas on how we do it. I think the Governor’s Cup has too much history to involve somebody else. But, I do think if there’s a state championship component that we can have and further publicize all of our programs, I think it would be healthy.

“What we have to come up with, I don’t know. Maybe it’s a battle for an anchor, battle for something. The anchor’s kind of ours, so we’ve gotta figure out something neutral to battle for. I’d love to see that. Any good ideas from anybody listening, let’s send them in and we’ll see what we can come up with.”

The Rams won’t get a trophy this weekend, but if they can become kings of the Ocean State again, they’ll have a chance to chase a trophy they haven’t been able to go after in 39 years. Bryant hopes to play a small part in shattering those dreams.

Rivalry week is here in New England.