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UNH 52, Fordham 42

DURHAM — Dylan Laube ran for three touchdowns and caught an 87-yard touchdown pass to lead the University of New Hampshire to a 52-42 win over Fordham in a first-round game in the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs on Saturday.

The victory earned the Wildcats a second-round matchup at Holy Cross on Saturday. Holy Cross, the Patriot League champion, had a first-round bye.

GAME STATISTICS

Quarterback Max Brosmer dumped a short pass to Laube on the Wildcats’ second play from scrimmage and the running back won a foot race to the corner, then raced down the sideline for an 87-yard touchdown — high-fiving his blocking back at the 20 on his way to the end zone. Brosmer hit Sean Coyne for a short touchdown and connected with Heron Maurisseau on a 65-yard score to put New Hampshire up 21-7 after one quarter.

Maurisseau added a 71-yard run for a touchdown on the opening play of the second half and Laube’s third rushing touchdown, an 18-yard burst with 4:10 left pushed the lead to 52-34.

Brosmer was 18 of 34 passing for 351 yards and three touchdowns. Laube carried 29 times for 157 yards.

Fordham’s Tim DeMorat threw for 330 yards, completing 25 of 41 attempts, with three touchdowns, but was picked off on back-to-back possessions in the first half. Fotis Kokosioulis had two short touchdowns for the Rams and caught 14 passes for 132 yards.

The Wildcats (9-3) now have won three straight and six of their last seven.

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  • The UNH offense scored a touchdown on four of its first five possessions while the Wildcats’ defense recorded a takeaway on three of Fordham’s first five possessions as UNH built a 28-7 lead at 11:31 of the second quarter.
  • UNH finished with season highs in both passing yards (330) and total offense (664), as well as points
  • The previous time the Wildcats topped 600 yards of offense was six years to the day: Nov. 26, 2016, with 637 in an NCAA first round 64-21 win vs. Lehigh. That was also the last time UNH scored 50-plus points in a game.
  • Fordham, which entered the game ranked No. 2 in the nation in scoring (50.2 points/game) and No. 1 in both total offense (612.1 yards/game) and passing yards (421.4 per game), finished with 577 total yards on a split of 247 rushing and 330 passing.
  • UNH won the turnover battle with three takeaways and one giveaway.
  • The Wildcats had the edge in time of possession, 35:33 to 24:57.
  • There were no sacks on a combined total of 75 pass attempts.
  • UNH improved to 3-1 against nationally-ranked teams this season as well as 5-1 at Wildcat Stadium.
  • This is the third consecutive NCAA tourney appearance that UNH advances out of the first round with a home win. The Wildcats’ previous two appearances were in 2016 and 2017.
  • Laube now has 4,958 career all-purpose yards, including 2,216 this season. He entered the game as this year’s national leader in all-purpose yards per game (179.2).
  • Laube’s 1,157 rushing yards this season ranked No. 10 in program history; he surpassed Stephan Lewis’ mark of 1,152 in 2002.
  • Brosmer eclipsed 5,000 career passing yards at 5,010, which ranks No. 9 on UNH’s all-time leaderboard; he surpassed Mike Granieri (2000-04; 4,775); next on the list is No. 8 Jim Stayer (1992-94; 5,349).
  • Brosmer also climbed to No. 9 in career pass attempts with 730; he supplanted Stayer (710) and No. 8 is Matt Griffin (1987-91; 734).
  • Brosmer held at No. 8 in career completions with 445; No. 7 is Granieri at 564.
  • On UNH’s list of single-season superlatives, Brosmer entered the Top 10 in passing yards and climbed to No. 9 with 2,915; No. 8 is current head coach Rick Santos (2,972 in 2007).
  • Brosmer also entered the Top 10 single-season list in completions and is No. 8 with 242; No. 7 is Bob Jean (375 in 1986) and No. 6 is Santos (256 in 2007).
  • And Brosmer also entered the Top 10 single-season list in pass attempts all the way to No. 7 with 384; No. 6 is Granieri with 387 in 2003.
  • UNH’s two longest pass plays of the season came in the first quarter with the 87- and 65-yard touchdowns.
  • The defense matched a season high of three takeaways established in the season opener vs. Monmouth University.
  • UNH has a 16-19 lifetime postseason record that includes 15-16 in the FCS playoffs, 7-6 at home and 5-3 in FCS first round home games.
  • New Hampshire has a 24-11 record (.686 win percentage) at Wildcat Stadium and that includes 10-1 under coach Santos.
  • UNH’s 66-16 home record (.805 win percentage) since 2008 includes 20-5 against non-CAA teams.
  • The nine wins are the most since the 2017 ‘Cats went 9-5.

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