The University of Maine football team, with its three straight wins including Saturday’s 23-6 home win over William & Mary, has kept its Football Championship Subdivision playoff hopes alive.
The Black Bears (4-3 overall, 3-3 in the Colonial Athletic Association) take on fellow playoff contender Delaware (5-3, 3-2) at 2 p.m. Saturday at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland. It is UMaine’s first game in Portland since Oct. 1, 2005.
The Black Bears are 3-0 at Alfond Stadium in Orono but head coach Joe Harasymiak likes the idea of playing in Portland — even though the home-field advantage won’t be as pronounced. The only time UMaine has played there was for the Jeff Cole Memorial Scrimmage last spring.
“It will be my first experience there and I’m excited about bring our game to southern Maine and engaging that fan group,” said Harasymiak. “We have a lot of alumni down there and we do some summer camps there.
“It has been a consistent theme with the athletic department: Reach the fan base in southern Maine. Our basketball teams play down there and our (men’s) hockey team plays there.”
Delaware coach Danny Rocco said he has never been to Portland but he heard it is a “beautiful place.
“You certainly can’t call it a neutral-site game. But I do know how difficult it is to play and win in Orono. I was once up there when I was with Richmond and it was a very, very bad experience,” said Rocco.
The Spiders lost to UMaine 33-20 in Orono in 2014.
“My team is excited for the opportunity and we certainly have an awful lot to play for as does Maine,” said Rocco.
The UMaine defense, which has not allowed a touchdown in eight quarters, made two important stops early in Saturday’s game. A fumble by quarterback Chris Ferguson and a short punt by Derek Deoul presented William & Mary with the ball at the UMaine 18- and 29-yard lines, respectively.
The Black Bear defense limited the Tribe to a Kris Hooper field goal.
“They are playing together and playing more disciplined,” said Harasymiak.
“We could have been down by 14 points early but they held William & Mary to three points. Our offense needed a little bit of time to catch up,” he added.
The coach is looking for more consistency from the offense.
“(Ferguson) has been up and down. He hasn’t turned the ball over the last two weekends which has been huge and has helped us get two wins,” said Harasymiak, who wants his team to finish off drives.
“We don’t just want to survive the game, we want to be great. We had too many negative (yardage) plays and those are too hard to overcome against the defenses we see week in and week out.”
The offensive line exemplified UMaine’s ability to deal with adversity. Senior Dan Burrows filled in for the injured Christopher Mulvey at center and true freshman Liam Dobson and sophomore Samuel Cooper filled in for the sidelined Cody Levy.
Senior right guard Isaiah Brooks, who previously played tackle at UMaine, moved to right tackle for Levy, while Dobson and Cooper shared the right guard slot.
Fifth-year senior Brandon Briggs of Saco kicked three field goals, including a 43-yarder that was the longest since Sean Decloux’s 43-yarder in 2015.
Briggs was named the CAA Special Teams Player of the Week after going 3-for-3 in field goals and having four of his kickoffs go for touchbacks. He has now kicked seven consecutive field goals and leads the CAA in field-goal percentage (7-for-8, .875 percent). He has eight touchbacks in his last three games.
“He is probably the story of the year right now for Maine football,” said Harasymiak. “We got him in a walk-on tryout last September (2016). He was probably hanging out in the frat house before that, living the dream as a college kid.”
“It just enables us to keep our momentum when he makes kicks. The second one (the 43-yarder) was big. It’s great to see. He has a great mindset for a kicker. He’s loose, we can joke with him. The kids love him. He’s a bright spot for us,” he added.
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