New Hampshire Wildcats: 2011 JMUSB CAA Football Preview #7

Lots of love for UNH, always too much love for UNH.  Most years, this little engine that could from this afterthought of a colony manages to sneak under the radar.  In past years, playing a weak schedule from the former CAA North and avoiding FBS games like the plague, combined with a pass-happy offense and continuity in the coaching ranks has been enough to keep the Wildcats in the playoff picture most every year.  And this year they get the Dukes at home late in the season to go along with their normal offensive efficiency.  Unfortunatley for them, they travel to William & Gary, UMassholes, and the Ticks (UR) in three of their first four CAA games and despite all the high hopes and the “sellouts” in the high school stadium (like a PVI high school stadium), their season is going down in flames.

Despite the usual northern cheerleading (we're looking at you Defiantly Dutch), the streak is over!

I have no rationale for this, but WM, UD, UNH, and JMU are considered by the “experts” (i.e. Phil Steele – don’t ever listen to a damn thing associated with Terrance Thomas) to be the favorites this year and we just know one of them is going to suck ass (see JMU 2010).  This year it’s going to be UNH.  As much as I hope it’s the Blue Chickens from the Toll Booth State (UD), it’s more likely the gig of pretending to be an actual CAA power is up for the Wildcats.  They lost RJ Toman at QB, the defense has always been suspect (that’s right, ya suspect, yeah you, ‘retainahhh’).  Incredibly, UNH has put in an appearance in the 1-AA/FCS Playoffs for the last 7 straight years.  Yes, JMU, UD, Liberty, and ODU have all been trying much harder to their great discredit academically and morally, but none have been able to manage this feat.  Of course, this always ends in the first round, but this year the streak itself is over!

Why We’re So Confident

No more Toman, only five starters returning on each side of the ball, and the always overrated Defense (yes, we know about DE McNally and LB Evans).  This team just doesn’t have it.  And despite the noon kickoff, which JMU Athletic Director Jeff Bourne wisely avoided at long last this year durin the home schedule, the Dukes are going to wreck these jokers.

What We Love

We love the new Colonial Clash!  Last year UNH and UMass started up a rivalry game at Gillette Stadium, home of the NFL’s New England Patriots.  This game seems to take its cues from the “Classics” of HBCU lore like Grambling/Southern or Hampton/Norfolk St. (go Spartans!), and seems destined to attract greater fan interest in the Northeast even after UMass joins the FBS’s MAC next year.  We can only hope something similar to JMU/WVU at FedEx also becomes de rigeur in the years to come.

2011 Forecast

No nice way to say this.  Here’s the one CAA spot we disagree with the great Phil Steele.  UNH goes 6-5 while really missing both RJ Toman and the playoffs.