Santos back in familiar territory

By rbrown
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Updated: August 20, 2019

Only the most ardent University of New Hampshire football fans gave the Wildcats a chance to be competitive in their 2004 game at Rutgers. Even that group became less optimistic when it was announced that UNH starting quarterback Mike Granieri would miss the Rutgers game with a knee injury suffered a week earlier against Delaware.

UNH had never defeated an FBS opponent (Division I-A back then), and Rutgers was coming off a 19-14 victory over Michigan State. What happened that night changed the course of UNH football, however.

Quarterback Ricky Santos, a redshirt freshman, passed for 385 yards and five touchdowns—a school record at the time—to help UNH pull off the upset, 35-24. Santos was nearly flawless in that game. He completed 30 of 40 passes and was intercepted once.

One week earlier Santos entered the game after Granieri was injured and directed UNH to a 24-21 triumph over Delaware, a program that won the FCS (I-AA) championship the previous season. Santos completed 10 of 11 passes for 146 yards in that victory.

UNH made the first of 14 straight FCS playoff appearances that season.

Full Story: FloFootball.com