'Cats celebrate Senior Day against Maine

By Joe O'Connell

Published: Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Updated: Sunday, September 6, 2009

The Brice-Cowell Musket hangs high on a wall in the UNH football team's locker room, reminding anyone who passes by it just how important the UNH-Maine rivalry is. Named for former Black Bears coach Fred Brice and UNH great William Cowell, it is the trophy awarded to the victor in the annual game between these storied New England universities.

And this Saturday at Cowell Stadium the twentieth ranked Wildcats (6-4, 3-4 CAA) will look to defend the right to keep the musket for a fourth straight time as they host the Black Bears (4-6, 2-4 CAA) for Senior Day.

This will be the 97th meeting in a rivalry that dates back to 1903. As it stands now, UNH leads the overall contest 45-43-8, thanks in part to their four straight wins. And this game has the potential to be one of the best in the history of the rivalry, for it will be the final home game for the UNH football programs most successful class of all time.

"This is a really big game for both teams," said head coach Sean McDonnell. "Playing a team that is pretty hot right now. Team that's coming on strong at the end. They're a team that is playing very well on the defensive side of the ball. This win puts you at 7-4 and it sends you off with a much better feeling about what went on this year then 6-5. We know how good Maine is. They are playing very well now."

That class is led by the same individual who currently directs the Wildcats offense, is also the reigning Walter Payton award winner, Mr. Ricky Santos. The starting quarterback is coming into Saturday's game after the team turned in their worst performance of the season last week against UMass.

Santos was sacked a season high eight times and only completed 67 percent of his passes (27 completions on 40 attempts) with two interceptions. And the UNH offense which averages 35 points per game this season, was held to just seven points, their lowest all season.

"Right now we need to get a win," said Santos. "We have two losses in a row and it's been tough the last couple of weeks for us. We're a lot better team then our record shows right now. We just need to get back on the horse and play one full game on both sides of the ball."

But don't go running for the hills just yet, because Maine is not UMass and this Wildcat team is hungry for a win after dropping two straight games. And that 67 percent completion rating was just a fluke, as Santos is completing 72 percent of his passes on the season, which puts him at the top of the category in the conference and third in the FCS.

Santos has also tallied 2,355 yards in the air and connected for 18 touchdowns, while rushing for 209 yards and nine touchdowns of his own. Not bad for a guy trying to be the first player in FCS history to win the Walter Payton award two years in a row.

"I think he's (Santos) played above and beyond the call of duty," said coach McDonnell. "His stats aren't there to show it, but I know what I see from the kid. He's such a competitor. Kid with great pride, great ability. I am excited to see how he shows up on Saturday."

Now the Maine Black Bears may not have a crazy "everyone blitzing at some point" defense like the Minutemen, they are certainly no slouch. Last week, they shut out a Rhode Island offense that ran for 430 yards against the Wildcats two weeks ago. They currently sit in the fourth spot in total defense in the CAA, allowing their opponents gain an average five yards per play and 325 yards per game. The UNH offense is averaging 6.1 yards per play and 406 yards per game.

"They are a very good defense," said Santos. "It doesn't matter, every single year, even if they don't have a good record they stop people. It's usually not their defense that is loosing games. It's going to be another tough week for our offensive line."

So once again, the match of the game will be the Wildcats offense and the other team's defense.

On the other side of the ball, the Wildcats defense, which has been struggling lately, will look resurrect against a Maine offense that has made it's home in the basement of the conference as far as statistics go. The Black Bears have managed just 19 touchdowns all the season, just eight more then UNH senior wide receiver Keith LeVan has tallied alone this season. They are also just barely cracking the 300 yards per game mark (306 average).

"What it boils down to is that there is a lesson that can be learned in a season like this," said senior linebacker Husain Karim. "We had injuries, but we never made excuses. We just have to continue to rebuild, the guys who are still going to be here and the coaches have to continue to rebuild and just do the things that made us successful in the past."

But this Saturday, statistics mean nothing. Completion percentages, yards per games, and even records are all thrown out the window. Because this is a rivalry game and anything can happen.

All that matters is the musket, a group of talented men finishing the chapter of their college football career on a high note, and maybe even the chance to prove your team deserves a trip to the playoffs.

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Scavengers steal Scan TV sign Saturday

If you read on their facebook page for the stolen sign they accuse them of taking it. I just think that the blame game has gone too far on this campus and people see fraternities as a good scape goat. Yes some do some shady stuff, but at the same time one cannot instantly blame them. "They think it was maybe a fraternity stunt or scavenger hunt of some kind." - taken directly from their facebook page. I do hope that your sign does get returned because I understand how iconic it is for the university and the MUB.

posted by: UNHAlum
Faculty members need a wake-up call

It is time the faculity sucked it up like the rest of us on campus. This year staff over $40,000 received no raise, faculity received 5.5%. Take the 1.5% and be happy.
Do You remember why you became a professor? I hope, to pass your knowledge on to the next generation.
Some of you look like greedy individuals who can only think of the God almighty dollar and not the students you teach and mentor. If we keep increasing out tuition to pay for salaries students will look at other schools and then where will you be, on the street.

posted by: Robert Pettigrew
Faculty members need a wake-up call

I don't think it's fair to compare UNH to UMass (Amherst, I assume) and UConn. Both those schools are considerably larger than UNH — 26,000 and 20,000 undergrads, respectively — while the other schools mentioned are closer to UNH's size, give or take 3,000 students. Massachusetts and Connecticut are also feeling the effects of the recession slightly more than NH is. I realize that UNH commonly uses those schools as comparators, but those two are just on a different level than our school.
There are two other things I'm going to look up before I decide how I feel about this.
First, how does the average UNH professor's salary compare to to other universities? It's probably in line with other schools, but if it's significantly lower, shouldn't UNH profs get that too?
As some have said, if the pay is lower here, professors can quit and go to other schools — if they can find an open position somewhere else. But, if a professor leaves, the school will be left in the position of trying to attract a new teacher with lower-than-average salaries. Enact the raises and UNH remains competitive in keeping and hiring the best professors.
Second, what percentage of UNH's budget goes toward paying the professors? Again, this could be that the professors are asking the university to dedicate an equal amount to paying educators at UNH as they are paid at other schools. If UNH only dedicates 15% of the budget to prof pay and the other schools all dedicate 20%, why shouldn't that be changed? Not to sound Beck-ian, but I don't know and that's something that should be looked at.
Neither of those questions deal with the larger problem of education funding from the state, which I think was something like 2 percent (and that's for all schools, not just colleges). California students staged huge protests yesterday because fee hikes raised they amount they pay per year for school to around $11,000. Meanwhile, that's close to what UNH students have been paying for tuition alone for years, and it continues to rise. If Governor Lynch and our state reps don't start working to increase education funding in the state, all the groups involved, students, professors and administration, need to start showing the kind of outrage that California showed yesterday.

posted by: Clark Kent
Faculty members need a wake-up call

The whiny, lazy, faculty all need to get fired. I haven't seen a more wanna-be-entitled bunch anywhere I have worked. They don't deserve any raises, but instead a pay cut. The rest of the staff had a mandatory salary freeze that will last probably 2 years at least. Faculty also get the bonus of cheaper benefits than the rest of the staff. To top it off they are whiners and complainers about anything not in their contract or if they feel the least bit slighted by the administration. They got out of taking mandatory sexual-harrassment training that everyone else on staff had to take, since somehow their union filed a grievance with the administration that it wasn't required in their contract. The entire training was online and took less than an hour but that's too much for those slackers.
Tenure indeed is the only thing that keeps many of them employed, and it's a concept that needs to get thrown out. Many of them are dead wood, not bringing new ideas to the table and too 'busy' to try anything new, despite having many grad assistants and others to do all their real work, and the most over the top support structure of any organization I have seen.
Yet their greed continues unchecked! Ugh!
Good riddance!

posted by: Your name
Faculty members need a wake-up call

How quickly things change.
Just last week, when editorializing about a group of campus perverts, the attitude of the editors was: "we also don’t think it’s any of our business to judge an organization just because their activities are a shock to our system." Seven days ago we were advised to "shackle our judgment" and told that the campus S&M crowd "deserves respect." Now, a mere week later, when the same editorial board concludes that the UNH faculty union's collective bargaining position is "shocking," what do the editors do? Take their own advice and "shackle their judgment?" Offer respect to the faculty? Conclude that the negotiations are none of their business?
No, none of these. Instead, the hypocritical editors tell "whining" and "greedy" faculty they are lucky to have a job, and should be satisfied with whatever the administration considers to be a fair offer -- because, presumably, the administration ALWAYS tells the truth about university finances, and ALWAYS treats the employees of the university fairly.
Why not spend some effort actually learning the facts regarding the financial situation of the university -- revenues from the state, tuition increases, higher enrollments, grant money? Why not report on the value of the faculty and the university as an economic engine for the state? Why not investigate both the enormous increase in administrative salaries and the bloated growth in new administrative positions over the last two decades? Why not write about the relative compensation of your faculty compared to those with similar education, training, and experience in other fields? I guess these tasks were too challenging. It's just easier to call faculty names.
Everybody loves free-market capitalism as long as the managers and administrators get to call the shots and the workers remain docile and content with whatever the bosses decide they deserve. But, when workers assert their rights and engage in labor negotiations as equals -- well, that is just unacceptable to our enlightened editorial masters. You're all doing a great job of learning how to be corporate lap dog journalists.
Oh, and you spelled "principal" incorrectly.

posted by: Prof. "Greedy," Ph.D.

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'Cats celebrate Senior Day against Maine

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