The No. 4 University of Maine football team is 10-1 on the season coming off their 41-0 romping of the University of Rhode Island Rams last Saturday.
The win earned the Black Bears the Colonial Athletic Association title and secured their best 11-game start in program history. Senior running back Rickey Stevens broke the school record for longest run in a game when he broke one for a 90-yard touchdown.
Sophomore kicker Sean Decloux has a chance to break the single season record for field goals made as well going into their final regular season game. He tied it Saturday when he hit his twelfth and thirteenth field goals.
“It was a great win,” head coach Jack Cosgrove said. “It was a very rewarding win and I’m very proud of the accomplishments and very happy for the seniors.”
The Black Bears had no trouble with the Rams, shutting them out defensively and really clicking offensively in all facets of the game.
“To be able to be home here in Orono, Maine and be handed the conference championship trophy was a great feeling for everybody,” Cosgrove said.
The Black Bears take to the road for their final game of the season against rival No. 24/21 University of New Hampshire, where UMaine prepares to bring the coveted Brice-Cowell Musket back north and end their season undefeated in conference play.
“We’re almost, in a way, fortunate to have our rivalry game this weekend,” Cosgrove said. “It gets us right back focusing on the importance of that game.”
The Wildcats are 6-4, 5-2 in CAA play on the season and have won five of their last six games after starting the season just 1-3. They, like UMaine, bring a high powered offense to the table for Saturday’s matchup in Durham.
“We have great respect and admiration for them,” Cosgrove said. “They’ve had nine straight years in the playoffs; they’ve won four out of the last five in our rivalry.”
With their spot in the postseason locked up following their run through the CAA, UMaine can now only wait for Sunday’s NCAA Selection Show to find out where they’ll be placed in the tournament.
Before they look towards the playoffs, however, the Black Bears must find a way to win on their archrival’s home turf.
If the Black Bears beat the Wildcats this weekend, they’ll likely have a first-round bye in the playoffs and have a home game in Orono in December.
Although the Black Bears have already done so much, there’s still a lot more to accomplish and the players and coaches know that going into their final regular season game.
“There’s a lot of things at stake,” Cosgrove said. “Number one is the Brice-Cowell Musket, that’s really the most important thing here this week.”
With the musket, the possibility of a first-round bye and a home playoff game up for grabs, the Black Bears have a lot to play for in this regular season finale.
“We could be undefeated in the conference. We could be the first team in Maine football history to win eleven games in a season,” Cosgrove said. “But you have to win the musket first for those other things to happen, so that’s how we’re going to approach this.”
The Black Bears will have an opportunity to go down as one of the best football team’s in UMaine history this weekend. But they’re not content with just a CAA championship, which is what makes this team so different from others in years past.
“We have a team that plays as a team,” Cosgrove said. “I think this team has a level of mental and physical toughness. There has been a mental toughness to this team that has reared itself in moments back in games where we found a way to win.”
Kickoff for Saturday’s contest is set for 12 p.m.