[NU Sports] Unfortunate Day

[warneradams]

The day started out beautifully with a good crowd lining Walker Way to greet
the team and the usual terrific set-up in Wildcat Alley.  They've expanded
the pregame bbq and added even more stuff for the kids.  The band arrived on
time and for the first time in several years we have a baton twirler!  

Sadly we looked unprepared for UNH's game plan in the first drive as they
used some misdirection and well-timed crossing passes to move quickly to
their first score.  The turnover that followed was a real surprise and a
13-0 hole was not what most of us expected.   It didn't take long to see we
could clearly move the ball on the ground with relative ease and I think the
game plan was to use that advantage and control the clock.  What was
surprising to me was UNH's third scoring drive in which they started to mix
in a few more runs with as much success as they had throwing the ball.  That
14 play march really took away a lot of the momentum that we had gained when
taking a 14-13 lead.  

Although UNH had two TD drives of less than 20 yards (thanks to our
turnovers) DC Colby and Coach Fitz must be a little stunned that UNH was
able to reel off 3 TD Drives of more than 75 yards each.  With a more
experienced QB we might have been able to win a shootout but I don't think
winning those types of games is a sign of long term success anyway.   There
were a lot of open receivers on both sides of the ball today but their QB
did a better job of finding his.

No question that UNH has some real talent and that they were the better team
today.  However, I know that whenever I hear of a I-AA school beating a I-A
school I think of it as an embarrassment for the I-A program and it doesn't
get forgotten for a long time.  I'm sure the punditry won't forget it
either.  It will now go up on ESPN whenever there is a list of recent
David-Goliath victories and it will only be one more black mark we have to
overcome.  Fortunately, winning can cure all of that and we have a lot of
time left to do so.