Thursday Night Throwdown: Football Opens Season at New Hampshire

Maine and New Hampshire square off in the 106th meeting between the two teams

Orono, Maine -- The University of Maine football team is set to open the 2017 season on Thursday evening when it travels to meet rival New Hampshire for the 106th meeting in this year's first-ever "Thursday Night Throwdown" at 7 p.m. live on CBS Sports Digital.

**Maine vs. No. 13/16 New Hampshire - Thursday, Aug 31 - Wildcat Stadium - 7 p.m.**
WATCH	LISTEN	LIVE STATS	@BLACKBEARSFB	MAINE NOTES	UNH NOTES

OPENING KICK:

Maine and New Hampshire open the 2017 season with the first-ever "Thursday Night Throwdown" in the 106th meeting between the two teams. The 'Battle for the Musket' has been a tradition since the late 1940s. Maine is looking for its first win in the series since 2010.
For the past four seasons, Maine and New Hampshire have met during the final regular season weekend. This will be the first time since 1992, and only the fifth time in history, that the two teams are meeting to open the year. The Black Bears won the season opener in '92, 27-24.
Maine is 4-1-1 in season openers against UNH. The Black Bears came away victorious in the 1903 (10-0), 1906 (7-0), 1944 (13-6) and 1992 (27-24) openers. UNH won the opener in 1984 (21-13) and the two teams tied 0-0 in 1916's opener.
The Black Bears finished 2016 4-2 on the road, sweeping all four of their CAA road contests. Maine's last CAA road loss came in 2015 at New Hampshire in the season finale.
Maine returns nine with starting experience on offense but will feature a new starting quarterback. Redshirt freshman Chris Ferguson will be making his collegiate debut under the lights in Durham. However, he will have some help with four of five starters on the offensive line returning, headlined by preseason All-Conference tackle, Jamil Demby.
Defensively, Maine returns six starters and will be looking to replace All-CAA players Pat Ricard (DL) and Christophe Mulumba Tshimanga (LB). The strength comes in the secondary, where Maine returns all four starters, with a total of 43 starts between them, led by Preseason All-CAA corner, Najee Goode (20 starts).
Maine is 17-27-4 all-time on the road against New Hampshire. Maine's last win on the road in the series came with a 57-24 victory back in 2001. All-time, Maine is 43-54-8 against UNH. UNH has won seven straight.
Maine will face arguably the toughest schedule in all of FCS football in 2017. Outside of a pair of FBS contests (Central Florida, UMass), Maine will face five FCS foes who were ranked to start the 2017 campaign, including defending national champion and preseason No. 1 ranked James Madison. Maine's first three CAA contests are all on the road, beginning with the first annual Thursday Night Throwdown with rival New Hampshire. Maine will then face preseason ranked No. 9/10 Villanova on the road. Four of Maine's other FCS opponents received votes in the preseason poll.
Maine returns four of its five starters across the offensive line. Not only are the four starters, they are veterans, featuring three, three-year starters in Isaiah Brooks, Jamil Demby and John Reddington. Brooks, Demby, Reddington and Cody Levy have 105 games of experience under their belts.
Coach Harasymiak is entering his second-year at the helm of the Black Bears and returns eight of his 11 coaches from 2016. Brian Picucci moves from running backs coach to offensive line while former Black Bear Justin Flores ('15) takes over running back duties. Andrew Kukesh joins Maine from Yale as an assistant defensive backs coach.
On the defensive side, the Black Bears returning strength is in its secondary, led by preseason all-conference selection Najee Goode. Goode returns with 30 games of experience under his belt. Goode is joined on the opposite corner by Manny Patterson, who started all 11 games in 2016 as a true freshman. Between the corner pairing is DeAndre Scott (8 games/6 starts), who spent his first two years at Arizona St., and Darrius Hart who has seen action in 20 game.

A MAINE WIN WOULD...

...Be Maine's 44th against UNH.
...Be Maine's fifth-straight CAA road win.
...Snap a seven-game losing skid against UNH, bringing the Brice-Cowell musket back to UMaine for the first time since 2010.
...Be Maine's 18th road win against UNH (0-7 in last 7 road games against UNH).
...Be Maine's first road-win against UNH since a 57-24 victory at Durham in 2001.
...Move Maine's all-time record in season-openers to 64-59-6.
...Be Maine's fifth season-opening win against UNH (first since 1992 - W, 27-24). Maine is 4-1-1 in when opening the season against UNH.
...Give Maine a 1-0 start in CAA play for the first time since 2015.
...Be Maine's first season-opening win since 2014 (W, 10-6, Norfolk St.).
...Be Maine's first win over a ranked opponent since defeating No. 17 UAlbany on 10/15/16
...Be Maine's highest ranked win since defeating No. 8 Richmond (2014)