The immediate issue for the University of New Hampshire football team is Army, which lost to Temple 35-7 on Friday night (see more on the upcoming season opener in tomorrow’s New Hampshire Union Leader). This weekend’s college football openers also offered a clue of what else is just ahead for the Wildcats. . . . UNH is at Rhode Island on Sept. 13 and plays its home opener against Albany on Sept. 20. . . . URI, under new coach Darren Rizzi, debuted its spread offense in a 27-24 win at home over Monmouth. URI outgained Monmouth 350-320 yards and quarterback Derek Cassidy completed 18 of 31 passes for 257 yards and a couple of scores. . . . Albany gained 353 yards to the 307 of Massachusetts, but lost 28-16 in Amherst on Saturday night. . . . Running back David McCarty carried 24 times for 125 yards and a score and also caught four passed for 72 yards and another TD.
Army kicks off its season tonight at home against Temple and the folks from UNH will be watching, in particular, to see how the Black Knights’ new option-based run attack looks. “We’ve heard 18,000 different rumors about what they’re going to run,” said UNH coach Sean McDonnell. “If it’s option, that’s a whole ‘nother thing for us to prepare for. It’s something we don’t see every day, every week.” . . . UNH opens at Army next Saturday. . . . The ironic thing is that as Army goes back to the option it ran through much of the ’80s and ’90s, Rhode Island’s new coach, Darren Rizzi, has replaced the option with a spread attack and plans to have his team pass a lot more than it has in recent years . . . . UNH plays Rhode Island in its second game, in Kingston, on Sept. 13. . . . Rhode Island starts with Monmouth, 4-6 last year, at home tomorrow.
Lance Mailloux, a 5-10 and 230-pound defensive lineman from Bedford and Manchester West, made the most of his increased playing time in UNH’s final pre-season scrimmage Thursday. With Steve Young and T.J. Taylor among the Wildcats sitting out the scrimmage with various ailments, Mailloux started on the defensive front. . . . “He’s in the rotation up front,” said head coach Sean McDonnell. “He’s battled some knee injuries and battled some things up there. Lance is playing well for us and we’re excited about him. He’s got some athletic ability and he’s the strongest kid, pound for pound, on the football team. He’s a kid who’s going to get some reps. Mailloux and John Murray are both very capable kids and we’re excited about both of those guys.”
UNH football coach Sean McDonnell said senior offensive tackle Josh Droesch, a major cog up front at 6-6 and 290 pounds, is ready to go. Droesch has been out of practice the last week or so with swelling of his knee that was surgically repaired after last season. McDonnell said Droesch is now good to go. He is not expected to take part in tomorrow’s final pre-season scrimmage, but will be back at practice after that. . . . . McDonnell also said that sophomore defensive tackle Steve Young out of Spaulding High School has suffered a minor concussion. He, too, will be held out tomorrow, but should be all set for the Sept. 6 opener at Army. . . . “We have some hamstring pulls and things like that, but probably nothing that will knock anybody out of the first game,” McDonnell said.
UNH football coach Sean McDonnell said today that starting quarterback R.J. Toman and the offense, which struggled to sustain an attack in a scrimmage last Thursday, has been coming on in recent practices. . . . “I think R.J.’s starting to feel a rhythm and the offense has settled on some stuff that he likes and the protection has gotten better,” McDonnell said. “I sense he has a little better feel for things. It’s tough compared to what’s going on in the spring. Then you go every other day and have a lot of time to watch film. In the fall, it’s bang, bang, bang. And it’s not just at quarterback, it’s the line, the receivers, everybody.” . . . UNH has its final pre-season scrimmage Wednesday afternoon and then begins to prepare for its opener at Army on Sept. 6.
One of the offensive highlights of a UNH football scrimmage that featured mostly defense on Thursday was a nice pass-and-catch play by quarterback R.J. Toman and sophomore wide receiver Kevon Mason. Facing a 4th and 18, thanks to a couple of penalties, the pair earned a first down and kept a two-minute drive alive. . . . “That was a huge play, a great catch by Kevon,” Toman said. “He went up for it and got the ball and made me look good on that play. That’s what he’s there for, he’s a big receiver.” . . . Mason, 6-4 and 215 pounds, is part of a deep group at receiver that includes senior Mike Boyle and sophomores J.T. Wright and Terrance Fox. Mason caught four passes last year, including a 12-yarder for a touchdown against Dartmouth. Wright had 31 catches and two scores and Fox caught 10 passes. Boyle had 50 catches for 842 yards and seven touchdowns.
UNH was ranked No. 16 in The Sports Network’s pre-season poll of Football Championship Subdivision teams released this morning. . . . The Wildcats are one of a half dozen Colonial Athletic Association teams in the Top 25. Four CAA teams made the top nine. Richmond is No. 4, Massachusetts No. 5, James Madison No. 6 and Delaware No. 9. Villanova is No. 21. . . . UNH does not play Richmond, JMU or Delaware during the regular season. . . . The Wildcats are at Villanova on Nov. 8 and have Massachusetts at home on Nov. 15. . . . Appalachian State, the three-time defending national champion, was a near-unanimous No. 1 in the poll. The Mountaineers, who upset Michigan last season and play at LSU on Aug. 30, received 97 of 101 frst-place votes. James Madison was picked first on three ballots and North Dakota State, the pre-season No. 2 team, got one first-place vote.
Freshman defensive end Randi Vines, a 6-3, 240-pound defensive end from Oxnard, Calif. and Santa Clara High School, has been one of the impressive young players in the early stages of UNH’s football camp. “Guys like him and Alan Buzzbee (a freshman linebacker) have a natural feel for it,” said coach Sean McDonnell. “They can’t tell you every defense we’re doing, but you can see some natural things from them.” . . . . Senior captain and linebacker Matt Parent on Vines, in particular: “He’s going to be good. He’s got size, speed, athleticism. If he gets the New Hampshire mentality, grinding it out every day, wanting to become better, taking it a step at a time, he’s going to be pretty darned good.”
Based on last year’s records at least, UNH’s football schedule is decidedly back-heavy. That is, only one of the first seven Wildcat opponents had a winning record last season. The first seven and their records look like this: Army (3-9), Rhode Island (3-8), Albany (8-4), Dartmouth (3-7), William & Mary (4-7), Northeastern (3-8) and Towson (3-8). . . . The flip side is three of the last four were over .500 a year ago: Hofstra (7-4), Villanova (7-4), Massachusetts (10-3) and Maine (4-7). . . . All of which, of course, means not a thing to UNH coach Sean McDonnell. “I’m not worried about what other teams’ records were over the last couple of years,” he said. “That’s like saying the polls and pre-season rankings and all that stuff are important. You’re judged on what you do right now and how you do it. That’s one of the big messages to these guys. What are we going to do this season and how are we going to do it?”
Ready to crank it up after a break and a beautiful wedding in beautiful Breckenridge, Colo. . . . First up, UNH junior running back Chad Kackert is at No. 17 in a Top 20 of Football Championship Subdivision tailbacks listed by The Sports Network. . . . The only other Colonial Athletic Association back drawing a number was Eugene Holloman at No. 9. Maine’s Jhamal Fluellen was included among “others to watch.” . . . Kackert totaled 380 yards rushing last year, averaging 4.8 yards per carry on 80 attempts. He also caught 20 passes for another 196 yards. He scored four touchdowns rushing, a couple passing and another on a 94-yard kickoff return against Northern Iowa in the playoffs. . . . Slowed by a leg injury early in the season, Kackert scored at least once in each of UNH’s final five games. Besides the kickoff return against Northern Iowa, he later scored on a 15-yard run with 1:16 left to give the Wildcats a 35-31 lead they were not able to hold. . . . Holloman, whom UNH does not face in the regular season, missed all but two games with a knee injury last season. He ran for 1,085 yards in 2006. . . . Fluellen ran for 1,052 last season.
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