New Hampshire Wildcats: JMUSB 2015 CAA Football Preview

After all the JMU and Villanova hype, it’s easy to forget there is a third heavyweight in the Preseason CAA prediction division. The most consistent team in FCS over the last decade hasn’t been who you might think, it’s been New Hampshire.  Seriously, these guys win 7+ games, ALWAYS make the playoffs (seriously, 11 straight appearances), and seem to produce QB/WR combo after QB/WR combos like clockwork every year. But we, along with every other FCS fan, tend to sometimes forget they exist. Maybe because they are a football-only northern school, we’re as consistent in underplaying the Wildcat’s program as they are at  outperforming expectations. And this year the Dukes miss these Wildcats so it would be extra easy to do it again despite the fact UNH was a national semi-finalist last year, losing by 3 to runner up Illinois St. But don’t make that mistake.

All the talk about Nova’s John Robertson and our beloved Vad Lee also tends to overlook the third giant in the CAA QB discussion, Sean Goldrich. As usual, he’ll be slinging it around and racking up numbers, but it could be a little more difficult this year without a proven backup and more importantly after losing all-everything WR R.J. Harris to the New Orleans Saints. In a lot of ways, the Wildcats lineup sets up much the same as the Dukes. They lost about half their starters from last year, including some real playmakers, and will need to count on new guys stepping in, but with Goldrich back at full strength, HC Sean McDonnell always steady at the helm, and a whole lot of institutional memory of winning, they should be as dangerous as ever.

The Schedule: One HUGE advantage for UNH this year is that the CAA schedule has them avoiding BOTH JMU and Villanova. Seriously, it would be no surprise at all to see the big JMU/Nova season-ending clash be nothing more than an anti-climactic battle for second and third if UNH coasts home undefeated in conference play like last year. They also host Richmond and the only even arguably tough game is a trip to W&M in mid-October. We guess at some point they’re “due” to fail to meet their own expectations, but if nothing else a schedule that includes a long-travel-but-winnable FBS opener at San Jose St. (actually fairly similar to JMU’s trip to Dallas) should easily set them up to make it a dozen straight postseason appearances.

Finally, a quick shoutout to Sophomore DB Geno Miller. He’s #26 and with no game vs. the Dukes, we’re free to pull hard for the Bishop McNamara product who is lucky enough to be the son of a friend of JMUSB! Good luck Geno.

Prediction: Rob mentioned the “maybe they’re due” theory for a drop off from UNH, but the schedule is just too darn cakey to imagine anything less than 8 wins (really anything less than 9 would be surprising) and a top three CAA finish with a playoff berth.