UNH falters at Albany

By rbrown
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Updated: November 18, 2017

ALBANY, N.Y. – Linebackers Quinlen Dean and Jared Kuehl both recorded career highs in tackles with 15 and 12, respectively, but the University of New Hampshire football team suffered a 15-0 loss in Saturday afternoon’s regular-season finale against the University at Albany at Casey Stadium.

Dean increased his team-leading season total to 101 tackles with his personal benchmark of 15 tackles, which marked his fourth double-digit effort of the year, all in the past five games. Kuehl’s stats also included two tackles for loss with one sack, a forced fumble and a pass breakup.

UNH’s defense recorded 10 tackles for loss, including three sacks, held UAlbany below 100 rushing yards (81) and 265 yards of total offense.

UNH is 7-4 overall and 5-3 in the CAA while UAlbany improved to 4-7, 2-6.

The Great Danes’ defense limited New Hampshire to a season-low 122 total yards of offense. That total included 11 tackles behind the line of scrimmage (eight sacks). UAlbany held UNH to minus-11 rushing yards.

WHAT’S NEXT

The NCAA Division I FCS Selection Show is Sunday (11 a.m.) on ESPNU. UNH has made the tournament in each of the last 13 years.

1^st QUARTER

· On UNH’s second possession of the game, the Wildcats advanced into the red zone at the UA 19 but lost the ball on downs when they did not convert 4^th-and-7 from the 25.

· The quarter ended with Albany facing 4^th-and-2 at the UNH 22.

2^nd QUARTER

· After a false start to open the second quarter, Will Brunson completed a pass to Donovan McDonald and Jared Kuehl forced a fumble at the UNH 10, but UAlbany’s Brad Harris recovered the fumble to extend the drive at the 14 yard line.

· Four plays later, Ethan Stark’s 27-yard field goal gave the home team a 3-0 lead at 12:52 and cap a 12-play, 65-yard drive that consumed 7 minutes, 12 seconds.

· The Wildcats, who amassed 19 yards in the second quarter, attempted a fake punt on 4^th-and-8 from the UNH 47 but the Max Pedinoff pass was incomplete to Nick Lubischer.

· UAlbany’s drive began with 3:02 on the clock and the Great Danes advanced to the UNH 16 with 20 seconds on the clock, but Isiah Perkins intercepted Brunson’s pass at the front-left pylon, cut across the field and was tackled out of bounds at the UA 48 with five seconds on the clock.

· An unsportsmanlike penalty at the end of the play against the ‘Cats moved the ball back to the UNH 37 and quarterback Trevor Knight took a knee to end the half.

3^rd QUARTER

· UNH’s defense held the Great Danes to 3-and-out on the opening possession of the second half. On the ensuing Wildcats’ possession, on 4^th-and-23 from the 23, the snap sailed over Pedinoff’s head through the back of the end zone for a safety and 5-0 UAlbany lead at 9:57.

· The Great Danes needed just three plays to score the first touchdown of the game, a 54-yard pass from Brunson to Austin Ellis to extend the advantage to 12-0 at 8:28.

· After forcing Pedinoff to punt for the fifth time, UAlbany began its next drive at 5:04. On the final play of the quarter, Prince Smith, Jr. (Philadelphia, Pa.) dropped Brunson for a three-yard loss to set up 4^th-and-4 at the UNH 21.

4^th QUARTER

· Stark’s 38-yard field goal attempt into the wind sailed wide right to keep the score 12-0 at 14:55.

· On the ensuing UNH possession, the Wildcats faced 4^th-and-4 from the UA 47 and Knight was sacked to give the ball back to the home team with 12:28 on the clock.

· UAlbany’s offense only advanced the ball 25 yards, but the Great Danes consumed 6:17 off the clock and extended the lead to 15-0 at 6:21 on Stark’s 38-yard field goal.

· The turning point on that scoring drive was when the Wildcats’ D forced UAlbany to a 3-and-out, but New Hampshire was called for a personal foul – leaping the shield – on the punt to extend the drive to 1^st-and-10 at the UNH 31.

· On the ensuing possession, UNH faced 2^nd-and-4 at the UA 40 but Knight was strip-sacked by Malachi and the Great Danes’ Brian Dolce recovered the fumble to get the ball back at 5:17.

· The Wildcats’ defense forced another 3-and-out and UNH started its next possession at its 26-yard line with 4:47 to play. The Great Danes’ defense recorded another turnover just two plays later with another strip-sack, this time with Isaiah Powell forcing the fumble and D. Timmons recovering.

· The ‘Cats got the ball back on downs at the UNH 20 with 2:08 remaining, but Knight was sacked for the eighth time in the game to set up 4^th-and-26 with just over a minute remaining. Gray took a handoff and was stopped short of the first down at the 16.

UNH NOTEBOOK

· It was Perkins’ team-leading fourth interception of the season. He did not have any return yards on his previous three INTs. Saturday’s 52-yard INT return is the longest return of any kind by any Wildcat this season.

· Evan Horn matched his career high of eight tackles. He made two stops behind the line of scrimmage, including a sack.

· Neil O’Connor led UNH in both receptions (nine) and receiving yards (88).

· O’Connor jumped from No. 7 to a tie with David Ball at No. 3 on UNH’s list of single-season superlatives for receptions with 87; Ball pulled in 87 catches in 2005.

· O’Connor moved up the program’s career list for receiving yards to No. 9 with 2,198.

· Knight completed 18 of 31 passes for 133 yards. He is now No. 6 in single-season pass attempts (381), No. 7 in single-season completions (239), No. 7 in single-season passing yards (2,851), No. 8 in career pass attempts (719), No. 7 in career completions (428) and No. 9 in career passing yards (4,689).

· Evan Gray was UNH’s leading rusher with 13 carries for 47 yards.

· Prior to today, UNH had not been shut out twice in a season since 1982.

· This was the second time this year the Wildcats did not score first in a game; both times resulted in shutout losses.