The University of Maine football team is off to a 3-0 start this season and is taking on arguably the best team they’ve played to date.
UMaine is traveling to Chicago this weekend to play the No. 18 Northwestern University Wildcats, the Black Bears’ second Football Bowl Subdivision opponent this season. The Wildcats are 3-0 and play in the prestigious Big 10 conference.
“It’s the best football team I’ve prepared to play against, personally, since I’ve been here,” head coach Jack Cosgrove said.
“To put it in perspective, if we were getting ready to play a ranked football team this would be a huge game. It puts it in perspective as to the challenge we’re facing and the result will be determined on Saturday,” he continued.
UMaine’s first matchup against an FBS school this season resulted in a win against the University of Massachusetts Minutemen Sept. 7. The Black Bears’ last contest, a 35-22 victory over the Bryant University Bulldogs last Saturday, turned out to be their toughest challenge yet.
“My respect for Bryant went way up when I watched the tape,” Cosgrove said. “They just played very solid and played hard.”
Bryant jumped out to a 16-7 lead against the Black Bears before UMaine came back, kept their poise and earned the win to stay perfect in 2013.
The Black Bears can’t afford to start off the game the way they did last week in hostile territory against one of the best teams in the nation.
“My biggest concern is we haven’t started well. We need a great start to this game,” Cosgrove said.
The Wildcats’ three wins this season have come against the University of California, Syracuse University and the University of Western Michigan. They are led by an offense that is in the top 25 in points with 43.3 a game. Northwestern’s defense has given up around 24 points a game so far this season.
But don’t count the Black Bears out: they have a defense that has given up an average of 14 points per game and could be trouble for the Wildcats if they begin strong.
“The goal is to prepare to win. It’s a long football game and it starts with the opening kickoff,” Cosgrove said. “How we respond to the environment, how we execute our fundamentals and how they play will determine the end result.”
UMaine will look for senior quarterback Marcus Wasilewski to continue his stellar play and for the defense to force some turnovers if the Black Bears are to have a shot.
“We know it’s going to be a challenge,” Wasilewski said. “Northwestern has a great team this year but at the same time we look at it as any other game and we’re going to prepare for it as any other game and prepare to play our best.”
The Black Bears are used to being the underdogs in these types of games and really thrive on being counted out.
“We’re used to being the underdog, throughout all our years here, and we love it,” Wasilewski said. “We love being the underdog and not getting respect because it just drives us even harder and that’s one of the assets that makes us so together as a team because we feel that chip on our shoulder together.”
“A lot of the time you go into these games worrying about size and speed and all the advantages they have, but the bottom line is you need to play football,” Cosgrove said.
The Black Bears can be seen playing Northwestern this Saturday, Sept. 21 at 3:30 p.m. on the Big Ten Network.