UNH Wildcats Football Blog

The New Hampshire Wildcats suffered their first loss of the season by the score of 38 to 34 at the hands of the William & Mary Tribe. Despite the electric environment of homecoming weekend the Wildcats were not able to pull out the win. With the loss the Wildcats lost their sole first place ranking in the CAA north and they will also lose their top 5 FCS ranking.

The Wildcats looked good early jumping out to a 21-7 lead at the half, but could not hold off the Tribe. The difference in the game was the third  quarter, as the Wildcats were outscored 14-0. With 4:40 remaining in the game the Wildcats took a 34-31 lead on a Mike Boyle touchdown reception, however the Tribe responded with a game winning drive scoring with just 22 seconds remaining to seal the win.

The Wildcats will look to rebound next week when they travel to Northeastern.

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After a bye week the New Hampshire Wildcats return to CAA conference play with a home matchup against the William & Mary Tribe. The Wildcats enter the contest with an unblemished 4-0, while the Tribe stand at 2-2. This could very well be the toughest test so far this season, as the Wildcats played an inferior non-conference schedule and a weak Rhode Island team. On the other side of the coin the Tribe will be playing for their first CAA victory, while the Wildcats look to continue their undefeated season.

Despite losing Chad Kackert to a knee injury the Wildcats managing plenty of offense against the seemingly incapable Dartmouth defense. The Wildcats have had an extra week to rest and should come out firing. Look for more of the same on the offensive side of the ball. Robert Simpson will be counted upon to deliver a smashmouth style of running while Sean Jellison will be the change of pace back. Simpson and Jellison both looked good last week and the whole season for that matter, but this week will be the first time they will face a quality opponent as the primary backs.  As for R.J. Toman, expect him to hit his favorite targets early on until he can pick apart the defense like he did a few weeks back in Albany.

As For the Tribe they are coming off a tough loss to Villanova last week and are looking to pull what would be the biggest CAA upset this year. Running backs Terrence Riggins and Jonathan Grimes have been the workhorses for the Tribe this season as the two of them combine for 517 yards an an average of about 8.0 yards per carry. Backup quarterback R.J, Archer will starting again for the Tribe and he has had a fast start to 2008. It will be a tough test for the Wildcats as the Tribe will look to exploit the pass defense of the Wildcats, arguably their weakest point on defense.

With their first real CAA test and an electric homecoming atmosphere for this weekend’s game look a shootout in Durham tomorrow. The Wildcats will look to continue their perfect season and get one win closer to 500 all time.

Prediction : UNH 42 W&M 34

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Although they had a bye week the New Hampshire Wildcats moved up one spot in the recent Sports Network Poll and now ranks as the #4 team in the FCS. Despite not registering a win against any top 25 team, the Wildcats have earned a place in the top 5. However they will have a tough test at home this week against William & Mary.

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Northeastern 38 Towson 28
Next: (Northeastern vs. Massachusetts) (Towson vs. Rhode Island)

Rhode Island 37 Brown 13
Next (Rhode Island @ Towson)

Massachusetts 17 Delaware 7
Next: (Massachusetts @ Northeastern ) (Delaware vs. Maine)

Richmond 56 Virginia Military 16
Next: (Richmond vs. James Madison)

James Madison 56 Hofstra 0Next (James Madison @ Richmond) (Hofstra @ Bucknell)

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Northeastern 1-3 (0-0) Towson 2-3 (0-1) October 4, 12:00 pm

William & Mary 3-1 @ #14 Villanova 3-1 (0-0) October 4, 1:00 pm

Brown 2-0 @ Rhode Island 1-4 (0-1) October 4, 1:00 pm

#6 Richmond 2-2 (2-1) @ Virgina Military 2-2 October 4, 1:30 pm

Hofstra 2-2 (1-0) @ #1 James Madison 4-1 (2-0) October 4, 1:30 pm

#16 Delaware 2-2 (0-0 )@ # 18 Massachusetts 2-2 (0-1) October 4, 3:00 pm

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The New Hampshire Wildcats moved up 2 spots to 5th in the most recent network poll. Fresh off their dismantling of Dartmouth the Wildcats will have a week off before facing CAA contender William & Mary. To see the top 25, click here .

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Hofstra 48 Stony Brook 3 (Friday)
Next: (Hofstra @ James Madison)

Northeastern 27 UC Davis 10
Next: (Northeastern @ Towson )

Boston College 41 Rhode Island 0
Next: (Rhode Island vs. Brown )

Villanova 26 Richmond 20
Next: (Villanova @ William & Mary ) (Richmond @ VMI)

Towson 31 Columbia 24
Next: (Towson vs. Northeastern)

James Madison 24 Maine 10
Next: (James Madison vs. Hofstra) (Maine @ Delaware)

Delaware 38 Albany 7
Next: (Delaware vs. Maine)

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The New Hampshire Wildcats defeated the Dartmouth Big Green 42-6 today in Dartmouth’s home opener. The Wildcats scored 35 unanswered points to open the game which was never really in doubt for fans back in Durham. With the win the Wildcats improve to an impressive 4-0 and Dartmouth drops to 0-2.

The Wildcats offense put up another 500+ yard performance Saturday and did so without their starting tailback, Chad Kackert. Sources say the Kackert has knee surgery this week - what kind of knee surgery? I dont know. I wish Chad a speedy recovery.

The Wildcats effectively used a two back tandem today to run the ball. Senior running back Robert Simpson got a bulk of the carries rushing for 84 yards and a touchdown. Sean Jellison also got some carries and he finished with 64 yards and 2 touchdowns on just 8 carries. Wide Reciever Travis Negron also scored on a 6 yard run in the first half.

Quarterback R.J. Toman picked apart the Big Green defense throwing for 208 yards and a touchdown. Toman also added a  4 yard touchdown run. Toman was not needed much today, but he was an efficient 17-23 throwing the ball before backup Kevin Decker came into the game. Decker threw 7 passes, completing 5, and totaling 57 yards in his first appearance of the season.

Defensively the Wildcats held Dartmouth to just 238 yards and forced three turnovers.

With the win the Wildcats continue their undefeated season as they look ahead to week by week CAA competition. The Wildcats knotted up their all time series record against Dartmouth 17-17-2. New Hampshire now needs just 2 more victories to reach 500 wins for the program.The Cats will travel home next week to play CAA opponent William & Mary.

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Hofstra 2-2 (1-0) 48 Stony Brook (1-4) 3 (Friday)

UC Davis (1-3) @ Northeastern 0-3 (0-0)  12:00pm

Rhode Island 1-3 (0-2) @ Boston College (2-1) 1:00pm

Richmond 2-1 (2-0) @ Villanova 2-1 (0-0) 3:00pm

Columbia (0-1) @ Towson 1-3 (0-1) 3:00pm

James Madison 3-1 (1-0) @ Maine 2-1 (0-1) 6:00pm

Albany (1-2) @ Delaware 1-2 (0-0) 6:00pm

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The New Hampshire Wildcats look to continue their undefeated season this Saturday as they travel across state to play rival Dartmouth. The Wildcats enter the Granite Bowl with a record of 3-0, while the Big Green are winless at 0-1. Head coach Sean McDonnell might try to play off this noon time kickoff road match as a “trap game ” to try to motivate his players. New Hampshire pummeled The Big Green 56-14 last season.

The Wildcats offense looks to continue its hot streak this week. R.J. Toman has transformed from backup to starter quicker than we could have imagined and this week’s favorable matchup should pad his stats just a little more. Toman has already thrown  for 702 yards and 9 touchdowns in just 3 games. As for the running game the Wildcats continued to have success last week against Albany, especially in the second half. Starter Chad Kackert averages a remarkable 8.7 yards per carry this year. Robert Simpson has also contributed to the backfield production on the young season. Scott Sicko is beginning to look like a preseason FCS All-American as he and Mike Boyle share the team lead in touchdowns with 3.

Defensively  the question continues to be whether or not the Wildcats can stop enough of the opponent’s pass attack. This week we may not need spectacular pass defense, but as the season continues opposing offensive coordinators will look pick apart our secondary before running the ball.

As for Dartmouth their defense kept them in the game against Colgate last week before dropping the game 34-20. Offensively quarterback Alexander Jenny threw for 343 yards and a touchdown. Looks like Dartmouth will try to throw the ball and I don’t blame them. Leading receiver Phillip Galligan should be the #1 target for Jenny, as Galligan hauled in 10 passes for 146 yards last week.

Dartmouth’s home opener is this week and they should come out pretty fired up especially after last year’s shellacking. With a win the Wildcats could tie the all time series record which currently stands at 17-16-2 in favor of the Big Green.

Prediction: UNH 52  Dartmouth 21

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