3 Maine football storylines to follow against Rhode Island
UMaine’s Anthony Pecorella has his punt blocked by Merrimack’s Jeremiah Anemelechi-Ford during a Sept. 12 game in Orono. The Black Bears (1-7, 1-4 CAA) will look to snap a seven-game losing streak when they travel to Rhode Island (4-4, 1-3) on Saturday. (Rich Abrahamson/Staff Photographer)
The University of Maine football team was unable to turn things around during a three-game homestand. The Black Bears’ losing streak continued, including a 35-6 defeat to Campbell last Saturday.
Now, the Black Bears (1-7, 1-4 Coastal Athletic Association) go on the road for the first time in a month to face Rhode Island (4-4, 1-3 CAA) at noon Saturday (FloSports). Here are three storylines to follow.
Where do they go from here?
Nothing really went right for Maine last week. The Black Bears’ offensive woes continued. They rushed for just 63 yards on 30 carries and went 2 for 17 on third down. Defensively, Maine had no answer for Campbell quarterback Kamden Sixkiller, who passed for 450 yards.
Yes, this was more of the same from the Black Bears. Firing offensive coordinator Mikahael Waters has not improved things offensively for Maine, which remains 121st of 124 FCS teams in scoring offense at 13.4 points per game. While the defense has had its moments, it is nowhere near good enough to make up for the offense’s struggles.
Maine has three games left, and after seven straight losses, time is running out to salvage something from this season. But could things get worse?
Maybe (or so the numbers say)
A 4-4 Rhode Island team is surely an easier foe for Maine than 7-1 Campbell, right? Not so fast. ESPN’s SP+, a metric that measures team efficiency on a down-to-down basis, sees the Rams as the 36th-best team in the Football Championship Subdivision — one spot ahead of the Fighting Camels. The model has Rhode Island as a 22-point favorite.
Albany next week is much of the same. The Great Danes (38th in SP+) are in the same tier as Campbell and Rhode Island. Even rival New Hampshire, which Maine faces in the finale, has a better ranking (97th) than the Black Bears (111th). A 1-10 season is not off the table.
The old guard goes at it
Speaking of the next three opponents, Maine fans might welcome contests against familiar faces. The CAA has changed a lot in recent years, with founding members Delaware, James Madison, Richmond, Villanova and William & Mary all departing, but Maine, UNH and Rhode Island are three of the four that remain.
Rhode Island has won four in a row over Maine after losing 14 straight to the Black Bears from 2007-21. UNH will meet Maine for the 116th time. Coach Jordan Stevens said Monday he is also happy to face Albany after the Black Bears and Great Danes, who met every year from 2009-24, did not play last season.
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Tagged: college football, maine black bears, UMaine Black Bears
Mike Mandell came to the Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel in April 2022 after spending five and a half years with The Ellsworth American in Hancock County, Maine. He came to Maine out of college after. More by Mike Mandell
