University of New Hampshire Athletics
UNH's defensive front swarms Albany running back Karl Mofor.
Photo by: Jess Speechley
3/6/2021 12:16:00 PM | Football, UNH Insider
DURHAM, N.H. – This one got away.
Playing under historically unique circumstances in a cold and blustery Wildcat Stadium, the University of New Hampshire football team had a couple of chances late to sneak away with a victory, but was not able to pull off the comeback and fell to Colonial Athletic Association rival the University at Albany, 24-20, on Friday night.
Never before had the Wildcats played a regular season game in March. They likely haven't played many – if any - games with temperatures in the mid-20s with a windchill in the single digits.
For the first time in more than 75 years - when World War II caused a three-year suspension of play – the program had gone well over a full year since playing a game.
Plus, head coach Sean McDonnell had been absent from the sidelines for a year longer than his team – since Nov. 17, 2018 – and because of COVID-19 regulations no fans were allowed in the stadium for the first time in . . . forever?
So yes, Friday night was historic and unique.
But strip all that away and here's what you have: A game very important to a shortened season, the CAA standings and perhaps a national tournament picture, that came down to crunch time.
Albany made the plays when it mattered most.
"It was good to be back out there," McDonnell said. "But I'm disappointed. I'm really disappointed because as I tell the kids, that's what defines us and we were sloppy tonight. We got penalties. We had offsides. All these things start at the top. Obviously, I didn't communicate well enough how important the little things are to win a football game. We'll figure that out and get that going."
McDonnell stressed leading up to the opener that there is little room for error in a season that will include only six games, all of them CAA contests.
Now the Wildcats have had a misstep out of the gate.
There were plenty of good signs, to be sure.
The defense, led by a front group of ends Brian Carter and Gunner Gibson and defensive tackles Elijah Lewis and Niko Kvietkus, played well against the run and got pressure on Albany's talented quarterback, Jeff Undercuffler.
They held the Great Danes to 32 yards rushing, thanks in part to getting four sacks of Undercuffler for 36 lost yards.
The Wildcats recovered a blocked punt for a touchdown – Zedane Williams blocked it and J.J. Jerome hustled after it and covered the ball in the end zone – for the first time since a Sept. 27, 2014 game against Dartmouth.
Sophomore quarterback Max Brosmer led the Wildcats on a long TD drive to start the season and passed for a pair of touchdowns to junior receiver Sean Coyne.
The Wildcats had their chances to win the game late. Penalties hurt. Missed connections, too.
"That was real encouraging, but we just couldn't come up with it," Gibson said.
The Wildcats are off now until they play Delaware at home on Saturday, March 20 to start a string of five straight Saturday games. Delaware rolled past Maine, 37-0, in its home opener against Maine on Saturday.
One theory, McDonnell noted, is that it's better to get right back at it after a tough loss and work at straightening things out.
The coach and quarterback said in their post-game talks that the bye week is coming at a good time.
"I think we need to do a lot of teaching, we've got to do a lot of coaching and do a lot of learning in the next week and see what Delaware brings," McDonnell said.
"I think the bye week is going to help us get all the gears tightened and make sure we're all on the same page offensively," Brosmer said. "I think it's good."
NEXT UP
FOLLOW THE WILDCATS
CONNECT WITH THE WILDCATS
QUOTABLE
"It was one of those tough ones that get you in the end. We had multiple opportunities to win the game at the end and we weren't to get on with it."
Sophomore quarterback Max Brosmer
UNH BY THE NUMBERS
Allen Lessels
@UNHInsider
Allen.Lessels@unh.edu
Playing under historically unique circumstances in a cold and blustery Wildcat Stadium, the University of New Hampshire football team had a couple of chances late to sneak away with a victory, but was not able to pull off the comeback and fell to Colonial Athletic Association rival the University at Albany, 24-20, on Friday night.
Never before had the Wildcats played a regular season game in March. They likely haven't played many – if any - games with temperatures in the mid-20s with a windchill in the single digits.
For the first time in more than 75 years - when World War II caused a three-year suspension of play – the program had gone well over a full year since playing a game.
Plus, head coach Sean McDonnell had been absent from the sidelines for a year longer than his team – since Nov. 17, 2018 – and because of COVID-19 regulations no fans were allowed in the stadium for the first time in . . . forever?
So yes, Friday night was historic and unique.
But strip all that away and here's what you have: A game very important to a shortened season, the CAA standings and perhaps a national tournament picture, that came down to crunch time.
Albany made the plays when it mattered most.
"It was good to be back out there," McDonnell said. "But I'm disappointed. I'm really disappointed because as I tell the kids, that's what defines us and we were sloppy tonight. We got penalties. We had offsides. All these things start at the top. Obviously, I didn't communicate well enough how important the little things are to win a football game. We'll figure that out and get that going."
McDonnell stressed leading up to the opener that there is little room for error in a season that will include only six games, all of them CAA contests.
Now the Wildcats have had a misstep out of the gate.
There were plenty of good signs, to be sure.
The defense, led by a front group of ends Brian Carter and Gunner Gibson and defensive tackles Elijah Lewis and Niko Kvietkus, played well against the run and got pressure on Albany's talented quarterback, Jeff Undercuffler.
They held the Great Danes to 32 yards rushing, thanks in part to getting four sacks of Undercuffler for 36 lost yards.
The Wildcats recovered a blocked punt for a touchdown – Zedane Williams blocked it and J.J. Jerome hustled after it and covered the ball in the end zone – for the first time since a Sept. 27, 2014 game against Dartmouth.
Sophomore quarterback Max Brosmer led the Wildcats on a long TD drive to start the season and passed for a pair of touchdowns to junior receiver Sean Coyne.
The Wildcats had their chances to win the game late. Penalties hurt. Missed connections, too.
"That was real encouraging, but we just couldn't come up with it," Gibson said.
The Wildcats are off now until they play Delaware at home on Saturday, March 20 to start a string of five straight Saturday games. Delaware rolled past Maine, 37-0, in its home opener against Maine on Saturday.
One theory, McDonnell noted, is that it's better to get right back at it after a tough loss and work at straightening things out.
The coach and quarterback said in their post-game talks that the bye week is coming at a good time.
"I think we need to do a lot of teaching, we've got to do a lot of coaching and do a lot of learning in the next week and see what Delaware brings," McDonnell said.
"I think the bye week is going to help us get all the gears tightened and make sure we're all on the same page offensively," Brosmer said. "I think it's good."
NEXT UP
- UNH plays Delaware at home on Saturday, March 20 at noon.
- Delaware senior Dejeun Lee took the opening kickoff 87 yards for a touchdown and the Blue Hens never looked back in Saturday,s 37-0 home win against Maine.
- Lee added a 12-yard scoring run later.
- The Blue Hens piled up 224 rushing yards and 370 yards of offense overall.
- They held Maine to 51 yards rushing and 112 total yards.
- Delaware plays Stony Brook at home next Saturday.
- UNH dropped a 16-10 decision at No. 24 Delaware on Oct. 19, 2019.
- The Wildcats play at Villanova on Saturday, March 27 and at Rhode Island on Saturday, April 3.
- They return home to play Stony Brook on Saturday, April 10 at noon.
- UNH closes out the spring season with a game at Maine on Saturday, April 17 at 2 p.m.
- A 16-team FCS tournament wraps up the spring.
- The Wildcats open their 11-game 2021 fall season with a game at Stony Brook on Sept. 4.
FOLLOW THE WILDCATS
- UNH's three home games during the spring will be on NBC Sports Boston.
- All games will be available on FloFootball.
- They games will also be on the radio over the Wildcat Sports Network.
CONNECT WITH THE WILDCATS
- Wildcat virtual spring memberships offer a chance for fans to engage with the team.
- Virtual spring memberships include virtual huddles on gamedays, question-and-answer sessions with Wildcat coaches, the opportunity to be selected as the Dunkin' Fan of the Game, raffles and more.
- Raffle prizes include an autographed jersey and a VIP gameday experience for Homecoming in the Fall 2021 season, including seats in the Service Credit Union Victory Club.
- UNH football season ticket members who have already renewed for the fall are automatically enrolled in the virtual spring membership.
- Other fall season ticket members can become virtual spring members with a $25 deposit on their Fall 2021 season tickets.
- The Wildcat virtual spring memberships costs $50 for all other fans.
- Information on UNH football Fall 2021 season tickets and virtual spring memberships is available at www.unhwildcats.com and by calling 603-862-4000.
QUOTABLE
"It was one of those tough ones that get you in the end. We had multiple opportunities to win the game at the end and we weren't to get on with it."
Sophomore quarterback Max Brosmer
UNH BY THE NUMBERS
- Albany had 32 yards rushing on 37 attempts.
- Williams and sophomore defensive back Randall Harris led UNH with nine tackles each.
- Harris had one of the four UNH sacks.
- Gibson had 1.5 sacks.
- Kvietkus had the one sack and Carter had half a sack.
- Great Dane running back Karl Mofor was held to 79 yards on 28 carries, an average of 2.8 yards per attempt.
- Brosmer completed 20 of his 35 passes for 128 yards and two scores.
- Undercuffler was 23-for-36 for 192 yards and three TDs.
- Coyne had five catches for 34 yards.
- Junior Brian Espanet had five for 33 yards.
- Albany had an edge in total offense, 224-186.
- UNH rushed 24 times for 58 yards.
- Sophomore Dylan Laube had four carries for 33 yards.
- The Wildcats got the ball at the Albany 7-yard line with just over a minute to play after the Albany punter fumbled the ball and then received a penalty for kicking it forward.
- A couple of penalties knocked UNH back to the 17-yard line and they were not able to get advance.
- Kvietkus sacked Undercuffler and forced a fumble that linebacker Oleh Manzyk returned 13 yards to start a fourth quarter rally.
- Brosmer hit Coyne for an 18-yard score to pull UNH within 24-20.
- The conversion kick was blocked with 6:48 left in the game, which meant the Wildcats could not tie the contest with a late field goal.
- Albany had seven penalties for 43 yards, UNH 12 for 95.
Allen Lessels
@UNHInsider
Allen.Lessels@unh.edu
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