University of New Hampshire Athletics
Sean McDonnell became only the third coach in CAA history to reach 100 league wins Saturday night. (Gil Talbot photo).
9/12/2021 3:50:00 PM | Football, UNH Insider
'Happy for Coach. Happy for Us.'
DURHAM, N.H. – Saturday night some 20, maybe 25, minutes after his University of New Hampshire football team celebrated its second straight win to open the season, this one a 26-14 Colonial Athletic Association triumph over Towson in Wildcat Stadium, Sean McDonnell sat for just a bit in his office and was asked to look back for a moment.
Back to Sept. 4, 1999.
That day, McDonnell won his first game in his debut as head coach of the Wildcats. UNH's league was the Atlantic 10 at the time and McDonnell's group went on the road to knock off rival Rhode Island, 37-14, for his first overall and league win all rolled into one.
"I remember it vividly," McDonnell said. "Ryan Day was the quarterback. Dan Curran was the running back. . . . We played our tails off. Ryan, first college start. We played pretty well. It was a heck of a win for us."
There have been many since.
Flash forward to Saturday night and Wildcat Stadium and the CAA triumph over Towson. It was CAA win No. 100 for McDonnell. He's only the third coach to collect that many regular season league wins.
Grad student safety and captain Evan Horn, who helped deliver the win Saturday with a pair of interceptions, was just over 15 months old the day that McDonnell won his first.
The milestone wasn't a subject that came up a lot around the team, Horn said.
"We knew," Horn said. "But I was just telling them (the media): He doesn't care. He probably doesn't want me to talk about it either. It's just 1-0 on Saturday night. I have the same mindset as him. He has 100 wins, which is awesome. He's a legendary coach. Everybody knows that. He doesn't need all the accolades. We're on to the next one."
The next one is Saturday at Lafayette at 12:30 p.m. as the Wildcats go after their first non-conference win of the season.
They move on from there to their FBS game, at the University of Pittsburgh in Heinz Field on Saturday, Sept. 25 at a time yet to be announced.
Then it's back to Wildcat Stadium to face James Madison for Homecoming on Saturday Oct. 2 at 3:30 p.m. Season and single game tickets are available at www.unhwildcats.com or by calling the UNH Box Office at 603-862-4000.
The Wildcats got Saturday's victory led by another strong defensive performance and a balanced offensive attack led by sophomore quarterback Bret Edwards.
Horn's picks gave him 13 for his career and fellow safeties senior Pop Bush and redshirt freshman Noah Stansbury each had an interception as well.
"We have a good defense and they're very opportunistic," McDonnell said. "They fly to the ball and stuff like that. One thing that we've always prided ourselves with is getting to the ball and getting the ball out. We created a ton of turnovers again tonight. And also had a ton of knockdowns and PBUs and pressures on the quarterbacks. It all adds together. Now we've got to shore up a couple of things in the run game, but that part of it will come."
Edwards completed a career high 24 of his 32 passes in his third career start with a pair of scores. His completions went to nine different players and junior Sean Coyne had a career-high nine catches for 113 yards, including a 54-yard TD.
"Distributed the football really well," McDonnell said. "Proud again of Bret. He's got an uncanny ability to get open. By getting open I mean he scrambles, he takes time. Any time he's throwing a ball away, people wonder why: it keeps us out of long distances. That's really good. It's smart on his part."
Edwards has completed 75.5 percent of his passes (40-53) through the first two games for 494 yards and five touchdowns and has not been intercepted.
"That great touch to Sean Coyne on that 3rd and 9 pass down the seam, that's an unbelievable pass," McDonnell said. "He threw a couple in the hole to Kyle Lepkowski. He's just got to keep growing on it."
Sophomore Dylan Laube scored on a 32-yard run and on a 2-yard pass from Edwards.
Junior Carlos Washington Jr. opened the scoring with a 4-yard rushing TD in the first quarter.
It all turned into that 2-0 start overall, 2-0 in the CAA.
And, for an added bonus, CAA win No. 100 for Coach Mac.
One to 100.
Curran ran for 167 yards and three touchdowns in that first win. Day completed 15 of his 26 passes for 223 yards and a touchdown. Imion Powell, a 5-foot-3, 180-pound running back, McDonnell recalled, returned a punt 88 yards for a touchdown.
Several folks from the first win stayed in football.
To name a few, Powell is the head coach at Maple Shade High School in New Jersey. Curran is the head coach at Merrimack College and Day, you may have heard, heads up Ohio State University's program. The offensive coordinator that game - calling the plays and making the decision in consult with McDonnell to go with Day as the starter - was Chip Kelly, now the boss at UCLA.
"A lot has changed since then," Horn said. "It's remarkable, really. Happy for coach. Just happy for us to get the win tonight."
McDonnell smiled at the names and recollections.
"Had a lot of help," he said. "A lot of help."
NEXT UP
NOTEWORTHY
QUOTABLE
"It means a lot to get that win at home for him. For everything he does for us, for the type of coach he is and the type of leader he is."
Junior receiver Sean Coyne
"We flew around today. A lot of the picks and stuff we had were tips. The one Pop had went off the guy's foot. Stuff like that happens. When you run to the ball, you get stuff like that. We just rallied up. There weren't a lot of solo tackles tonight in terms of tackling, 31 is a tough guy to bring down. We had a lot of gang tackles."
Grad student safety and captain Evan Horn
"It's not often you get two conference games to start. Usually we're going to play an FBS team or out of conference. You get two conference games out of the way and 2-0 is a great start obviously. It's good for us and we need to keep it rolling."
Evan Horn
"They're been playing well. Last week they played out of their minds and same thing tonight. The two sacks they had on first and second downs on the one drive just killed the drive. They were getting pressure and when they can do that it's always in the back of the quarterback's mind."
Horn on pressuring the quarterback
UNH BY THE NUMBERS
Allen Lessels
@UNHInsider
Allen.Lessels@unh.edu
Back to Sept. 4, 1999.
That day, McDonnell won his first game in his debut as head coach of the Wildcats. UNH's league was the Atlantic 10 at the time and McDonnell's group went on the road to knock off rival Rhode Island, 37-14, for his first overall and league win all rolled into one.
"I remember it vividly," McDonnell said. "Ryan Day was the quarterback. Dan Curran was the running back. . . . We played our tails off. Ryan, first college start. We played pretty well. It was a heck of a win for us."
There have been many since.
Flash forward to Saturday night and Wildcat Stadium and the CAA triumph over Towson. It was CAA win No. 100 for McDonnell. He's only the third coach to collect that many regular season league wins.
Grad student safety and captain Evan Horn, who helped deliver the win Saturday with a pair of interceptions, was just over 15 months old the day that McDonnell won his first.
The milestone wasn't a subject that came up a lot around the team, Horn said.
"We knew," Horn said. "But I was just telling them (the media): He doesn't care. He probably doesn't want me to talk about it either. It's just 1-0 on Saturday night. I have the same mindset as him. He has 100 wins, which is awesome. He's a legendary coach. Everybody knows that. He doesn't need all the accolades. We're on to the next one."
The next one is Saturday at Lafayette at 12:30 p.m. as the Wildcats go after their first non-conference win of the season.
They move on from there to their FBS game, at the University of Pittsburgh in Heinz Field on Saturday, Sept. 25 at a time yet to be announced.
Then it's back to Wildcat Stadium to face James Madison for Homecoming on Saturday Oct. 2 at 3:30 p.m. Season and single game tickets are available at www.unhwildcats.com or by calling the UNH Box Office at 603-862-4000.
The Wildcats got Saturday's victory led by another strong defensive performance and a balanced offensive attack led by sophomore quarterback Bret Edwards.
Horn's picks gave him 13 for his career and fellow safeties senior Pop Bush and redshirt freshman Noah Stansbury each had an interception as well.
"We have a good defense and they're very opportunistic," McDonnell said. "They fly to the ball and stuff like that. One thing that we've always prided ourselves with is getting to the ball and getting the ball out. We created a ton of turnovers again tonight. And also had a ton of knockdowns and PBUs and pressures on the quarterbacks. It all adds together. Now we've got to shore up a couple of things in the run game, but that part of it will come."
Edwards completed a career high 24 of his 32 passes in his third career start with a pair of scores. His completions went to nine different players and junior Sean Coyne had a career-high nine catches for 113 yards, including a 54-yard TD.
"Distributed the football really well," McDonnell said. "Proud again of Bret. He's got an uncanny ability to get open. By getting open I mean he scrambles, he takes time. Any time he's throwing a ball away, people wonder why: it keeps us out of long distances. That's really good. It's smart on his part."
Edwards has completed 75.5 percent of his passes (40-53) through the first two games for 494 yards and five touchdowns and has not been intercepted.
"That great touch to Sean Coyne on that 3rd and 9 pass down the seam, that's an unbelievable pass," McDonnell said. "He threw a couple in the hole to Kyle Lepkowski. He's just got to keep growing on it."
Sophomore Dylan Laube scored on a 32-yard run and on a 2-yard pass from Edwards.
Junior Carlos Washington Jr. opened the scoring with a 4-yard rushing TD in the first quarter.
It all turned into that 2-0 start overall, 2-0 in the CAA.
And, for an added bonus, CAA win No. 100 for Coach Mac.
One to 100.
Curran ran for 167 yards and three touchdowns in that first win. Day completed 15 of his 26 passes for 223 yards and a touchdown. Imion Powell, a 5-foot-3, 180-pound running back, McDonnell recalled, returned a punt 88 yards for a touchdown.
Several folks from the first win stayed in football.
To name a few, Powell is the head coach at Maple Shade High School in New Jersey. Curran is the head coach at Merrimack College and Day, you may have heard, heads up Ohio State University's program. The offensive coordinator that game - calling the plays and making the decision in consult with McDonnell to go with Day as the starter - was Chip Kelly, now the boss at UCLA.
"A lot has changed since then," Horn said. "It's remarkable, really. Happy for coach. Just happy for us to get the win tonight."
McDonnell smiled at the names and recollections.
"Had a lot of help," he said. "A lot of help."
NEXT UP
- The Wildcats play at Lafayette on Saturday at 12:30 p.m.
- The Leopards fell to 0-2 with a 24-3 loss at William & Mary on Saturday.
- They lost their opener, 35-14, at Air Force, an FBS school.
- William & Mary intercepted three Lafayette passes.
- John Garrett is in his fifth season at Lafayette.
- Among his other stops, Garrett worked for the Dallas Cowboys when his brother, Jason, was the head coach.
- UNH's next home game is against James Madison for Homecoming on Oct. 2 at 3:30 p.m.
- Season and single game tickets for home games are available by calling the UNH Box Office at 603-862-4000 or at www.unhwildcats.com.
- UNH plays its FBS game at Pittsburgh on Sept. 25.
- After JMU, UNH plays Dartmouth at home on Oct., 16 at 1 p.m. for Family Weekend.
- The Wildcats play Richmond at home on Oct. 30 at 1 p.m. for Halloweekend.
- They take on Maine in the Border Battle for the Brice-Cowell Musket at home on Nov. 20 at 1 p.m.
NOTEWORTHY
- Only Andy Talley of Villanova (142) and Jimmye Laycock (111) of William & Mary have more regular season CAA wins than McDonnell.
- Talley and Laycock are retired.
QUOTABLE
"It means a lot to get that win at home for him. For everything he does for us, for the type of coach he is and the type of leader he is."
Junior receiver Sean Coyne
"We flew around today. A lot of the picks and stuff we had were tips. The one Pop had went off the guy's foot. Stuff like that happens. When you run to the ball, you get stuff like that. We just rallied up. There weren't a lot of solo tackles tonight in terms of tackling, 31 is a tough guy to bring down. We had a lot of gang tackles."
Grad student safety and captain Evan Horn
"It's not often you get two conference games to start. Usually we're going to play an FBS team or out of conference. You get two conference games out of the way and 2-0 is a great start obviously. It's good for us and we need to keep it rolling."
Evan Horn
"They're been playing well. Last week they played out of their minds and same thing tonight. The two sacks they had on first and second downs on the one drive just killed the drive. They were getting pressure and when they can do that it's always in the back of the quarterback's mind."
Horn on pressuring the quarterback
UNH BY THE NUMBERS
- Senior Elijah Lewis and sophomore Derek Thompson led the Wildcats with nine tackles each.
- Lewis had two sacks.
- Junior Gunner Gibson also had a sack.
- Horn and sophomore linebacker Bryce Shaw each had eight tackles.
- Horn broke up three passes as well.
- Bush and Horn are tied for second in the league with two interceptions each.
- Freshman Dylan Ruiz had a quarterback pressure that led too a sack.
- Sophomore Kyle Lepkowski had three catches for 53 yards and junior C.J. Turner had three for 42 yards.
- Laube carried 11 times for 77 yards and a score.
- Washington Jr. carried 10 times for 69 yards and a score.
- The Wildcats had 139 yards rushing and 261 passing for an even 400 yards of total offense.
- Towson had 154 yards rushing and 198 passing for 352 total.
- UNH collected the four interceptions.
- The Wildcats turned the ball over once on a fumble.
Allen Lessels
@UNHInsider
Allen.Lessels@unh.edu
Players Mentioned
S
/ Football
WR
/ Football
QB
/ Football
DE
/ Football
S
/ Football
RB
/ Football
TE
/ Football
DT
/ Football
DE
/ Football
LB
/ Football
S
/ Football
CB
/ Football
WR
/ FootballSaturday, October 17
Sunday, October 04
Saturday, September 19
Sunday, September 13