The New Hampshire

Issue date: 10/6/06 Section: Sports

Media Credit: AP Photo The Wildcats gave up 49 points and 466 total yards of offense last Saturday to the Delaware Blue Hens.

Two weeks ago, Head Coach Sean McDonnell said he was looking forward to facing 18th ranked Delaware, saying it would be a good test to see where his team would be at this point in the season.

Well the test results are in, and the defense looks a bit shaky.

After looking relatively solid through the first three games of the season, the Wildcat defense gave up 49 points and a total of 466 total yards to the Blue Hens on Saturday night, leaving the offensive to pick up the slack in the dramatic 52-49 victory for the Wildcats.

Even with such a troubling performance and giving up such gaudy numbers, McDonnell is not worried. In fact, he is confident in his defense as they head into this Saturday's game against Richmond.

"We played; we fought as well as we can at times," said McDonnell. "The thing we didn't do is tackle, and that's a big thing. Right now am I worried about that? No, I know we got enough guys to make the plays."

McDonnell pointed to some key situations during the Delaware game where the defense let up on some third down plays and in particular on the Blue Hens' last drive when they converted on fourth down, later leading to a touchdown.

"The thing that disappointed me the most about Saturday's game was we gave up some big plays," said McDonnell. "I'm disappointed because we haven't done that in the past. If we continue to do it we're going to struggle winning football games because you can't give up that many yards and that many points."

McDonnell credited much of the problems the team had on defense to inexperience and the outstanding play of the Blue Hens offense. With senior safety Christian Callison going down early in the game with a high ankle sprain, the Wildcats were forced to use red shirt freshman B.J. Ross to replace him, which created some problems for the Wildcats in the secondary as they gave up 315 yards through the air.

"They were making plays," said McDonnell. "I thought that the other team executed as well as they have executed all year."

Blue Hens junior running back Omar Cuff also troubled the Wildcats on the ground rushing for 110 yards and four touchdowns.

Continued...

Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools