ORONO, Maine -- The University of Maine football team opens the season Thursday, Aug. 30 at 7 p.m. when it hosts No. 7/9 New Hampshire at Alfond Stadium, presented by US Cellular. Tickets are available by calling 207.581.BEAR or online at
GoBlackBears.com/tickets!
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GAME STORYLINES:
- Maine and New Hampshire open the 2018 season for the second-straight season in the 107th 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.
- This meeting marks just the seventh time in history that the two teams are meeting to open the year. A year ago, UNH escaped with a 24-23 victory in the opener in Durham. Previous to last season, the two teams had not met to open a season since 1992, a 27-24 victory for the Black Bears.
- In last season's meeting, Chris Ferguson found Jason Simonovich for a 4-yd touchdown with 9:07 remaining. The score brought the Black Bears to within a point. However, Maine was unable to tie the game as it missed the extra point, ultimately allowing UNH to escape with the 24-23 decision. The game was the debut for Ferguson who threw for 239-yards and three scores. Defensively, Jaron Grayer also made his debut with a game-high 10 tackles including one sack.
- Maine is 26-27-3 all-time at home against New Hampshire. Maine's last win in the series came at home with a 16-13 overtime decision in 2010. All-time, Maine is 43-55-8 against UNH. UNH has won eight straight and 15 of the last 16 head-to-head meetings. The first ever meeting between the two squads dates back to 1903, a 10-0 road win for the Black Bears.
A UMAINE WIN WOULD...
...Be Maine's 44th against UNH.
...Snap an eight-game losing skid against UNH, bringing the Brice-Cowell musket back to UMaine for the first time since 2010.
...Be Maine's 27th home win against UNH (0-4 in last four road games against UNH).
...Be Coach Harasymiak's first win over the Wildcats.
...Be Maine's first home win against UNH since a 16-13 overtime victory at Alfond Stadium in 2010.
...Move Maine's all-time record in season-openers to 65-59-6.
...Be Maine's fifth season-opening win against UNH (first since 1992 - W, 27-24). Maine is 4-2-1 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)
SERIES NOTES:
Maine and UNH will be meeting for the 107th time in history dating back to a 10-0 Maine win at Durham in the inaugural 1903 matchup ... Maine is 26-27-3 at home in the series ... UNH has won the last eight meetings and 15 of the last 16 ... Maine's last win in the series came at home in 2010, a 16-13 overtime decision ... Maine's last win on the road in the series came in 2001 (57-24) ... Maine won the first eight meetings (1903-1911) ... UNH has won four in a row in Orono against Maine, and 7 of the last 8 in at Morse Field ... In the last meeting, Maine dropped a 24-23 decision to start the 2017 season in Durham.
SEASON NOTES:
Tough Slate Awaits in 2018
• The Black Bears will be challenged with one of the toughest schedules in all of FCS, including just four home games during the 2018 campaign.
• The Black Bears are scheduled to take on a pair of FBS opponents for the fourth straight season. Maine will take on Western Kentucky and Central Michigan. Each meeting will be the first in history between the two squads. Both Western Kentucky (Autonation Cure Bowl) and Central Michigan (Idaho Potato Bowl) appeared in Bowl games in 2017.
• Maine will also travel to meet Yale a year after the Bulldogs went 9-1, winning the Ivy League.
• Three of the CAA teams the Black Bears will face in 2017 begin the season ranked in the STATS FCS Top-25 and FCS Coaches polls, led by New Hampshire (7/9).
• Two of Maine's opponents (New Hampshire, Elon) were featured in teh 2017 FCS playoffs.
Defense Returns Strong
• The Black Bears return eight starters on the defensive side of the ball and a total of 11 with starting experience on defense.
• The Black Bears welcome back their top seven tacklers from 2017, led by Jerry Rice Award finalist
Jaron Grayer who ended the year with a team-high 79 tackles. Grayer finished the season ranked 11th in the CAA at 7.9 tackles per game.
• Maine returns six of its front seven starters. Preseason All-CAA selection
Kayon Whitaker leads the way on the defensive line. Whitaker led the CAA with 0.85 sacks per game (17th nationally). Whitaker also finished tied for third in the CAA in TFLs (14.0).
•
Manny Patterson, who led the CAA in pass breakups per game a year ago, returns at corner in his third season.
Preseason All-Conference Tabs
• At CAA Media Day, held on July 24 at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, it was announced that three members of the Black Bears were represented on the All-CAA Preseason Team; junior defensive lineman
Kayon Whitaker, junior kick returner
Earnest Edwards and senior specialist
Mozai Nelson.
• The Black Bears also received preseason accolades from Phil Steele. Junior defensive back
Manny Patterson was named to the Steele' Preseason All-American fourth team as well as to Steele's All-CAA second team. Whitaker and Edwards (KR) each earned spots on Steele's All-CAA first team while senior linebacker
Sterling Sheffield was named to the All-CAA second team. Sophomore center
Chris Mulvey and junior defensive lineman
Charles Mitchell each earned Steele All-CAA third team spots.
Third Down Defense
• The 'Black Hole' third down defense was a high point for the unit in 2017. The Black Bears finished the season ranked fifth in the nation, and tops in the CAA, in 3rd down conversion percentage defense, allowing opponents to convert on just 27.4% (37/137) of their attempts.
Offensive Line Gaps
• A key position that the Black Bears will be looking to fill in the 2018-19 season is on the offensive line. The Black Bears lost three, four-year starters in
John Reddington (29 starts),
Isaiah Brooks (39 starts) and
Jamil Demby (43), who was drafted in the sixth round to the LA Rams. Between the three the Black Bears lost 111 starts of experience.
• Last year, the OL unit finished third in the CAA in sacks allowed (1.9 per game) and produced the league's third highest rushing attack (174.2 ypg), behind All-American
Josh Mack, who transferred to Liberty.
Micah Wright climbing the charts
• Fifth-year wide receiver
Micah Wright looks to continue to climb up Maine's all-time receiver rankings.
• Wright begins 2018 ranked 12th all-time in receiving yards at UMaine (1,694) while his 121 receptions are just nine behind Kevin McMahan for 12th all-time (130).
• In 2015, Wright caught 61 passes for 818 yards. His 61 receptions rank tied for 9th on Maine's single-season all-time list while the 818-yards are tied for 10th all-time.
New Changes on Staff
•
Nick Charlton, who is in his fourth year on staff at UMaine, was promoted to Offensive Coordinator on Feb. 27, 2018. Charlton, who spent the 2017 season as the Special Teams Coordinator and Wide Receivers coach, replaces former OC Liam Coen, who accepted a job with Holy Cross before moving on to the LA Rams staff.
• Jared Keye was promoted to Special Teams Coordinator and will also continue to coach the outside linebackers.
•
Pat Denecke moves from tight ends coach to the offensive line, after former OL coach Brian Piccucci accepted a role with the Detroit Lions.
• The Black Bears welcome in two new assistant coaches for 2018.
Andrew Dresner joins the Black Bears and will coach the wide receivers,
Dean Petzing will mentor the tight ends and
Diamond Weaver will coach the cornerback grouping.
Need to Finishing Strong
• One of Coach Harasymiak's focuses has been on coaching the team to finish in the fourth quarter.
•In the 2017 season, Maine was leading or tied after three quarters in six of its 10 games.
•Looking at the stat even closer, Maine was within four points, tied or leading after three quarters in eight of its 10 games.
•The Black Bears lost their season opener and season finale each by just one point (at UNH, vs. Stony Brook).
-UMaine-
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