ORONO, Maine — Successful football teams have to be resilient.
Injuries are a part of the game. Sometimes, so are suspensions.
When the the University of Maine football team opens the season Thursday night against archrival New Hampshire at Wildcat Stadium in Durham, New Hampshire, the Black Bears will be without five suspended players including two-time All-Colonial Athletic Association wide receiver Micah Wright and starting defensive end Uchenna Egwuonwu.
Wright, Egwuonwu and tailback Darian Davis-Ray were suspended indefinitely in August for alleged violations of the UMaine student code of conduct resulting from a student complaint. Davis-Ray has since been reinstated.
UMaine spokeswoman Margaret Nagle said on Wednesday the school’s Student Conduct Office in the Division of Student Life is continuing its investigation into the incident and that no timetable has been established for a resolution.
Davis-Ray will have to sit out the UNH game for a separate violation that occurred late last fall, according to head coach Joe Harasymiak. Also suspended are linebackers Zach Hume and Spencer Carey of Fairfield.
Carey, who plays on special teams and is the holder for extra points and field goals, and Davis-Ray will miss only the UNH game while Hume is serving a two-game suspension.
“We’ve had time to get over the fact we aren’t going to have them,” said Harasymiak. “We’ve had plenty of practice time. It sucks not having them. But we aren’t going to use it as an excuse if we don’t get the job done Thursday night.”
The Black Bears said they won’t let the suspensions negatively impact the team.
“We have a next-man-up mentality,” said senior cornerback Najee Goode.
“Losing a player of Micah’s caliber would hurt any team,” said senior wide receiver Jaleel Reed, who will be counted upon to help fill the void. “But we’ve got some guys ready to step up and make some plays.”
UMaine won’t need any extra motivation against UNH, ranked No. 13 and No. 16 in the national FCS polls, in the “Thursday Night Throwdown.”
UNH has won the last seven meetings, including a season-ending 24-21 triumph last fall that sent the Wildcats to the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs and prevented the Black Bears from earning their first berth since 2013.
In 2013, UNH ousted UMaine from the playoffs with a 41-27 victory in Orono.
UMaine hasn’t beaten UNH in Durham since 2001.
The teams are playing for the coveted Brice-Cowell Musket and Harasymiak said to wrest the it away from the Wildcats, UMaine must “take care of the football, run it effectively and do a great job tackling. And, overall, we’ve got to play a disciplined game.”
UNH coach Sean McDonnell echoed the sentiments about avoiding turnovers and “making tackles in open spaces.” He noted that the outcome “will have an impact on how the season will go for both teams.”
McDonnell expects to see a UMaine defense that swarms to the ball and has a strong secondary including Goode, whom he considers “one of the best, if not the best, corner in the conference.”
He also said UMaine’s offense has a quality and veteran offensive line and a top-notch running back in Josh Mack.
UMaine will be starting a redshirt freshman quarterback in Chris Ferguson but McDonnell said his inexperience may not be an issue because his UNH teams have had some first-year quarterbacks turn in stellar seasons.
“We led most of the game last year but it didn’t feel like it,” said UMaine sophomore running back Mack. “And we didn’t execute in the fourth quarter.”
UNH is led by junior QB Trevor Knight, who suffered a leg injury in the first quarter of the 2016 UMaine game but is healthy now. He completed 179 of 319 passes for 1,714 yards and 14 TDs and he was also the Wildcats’ No. 2 rusher 396 yards. Wide receivers Malik Love (59 catches-520 yards) and third-team All-CAA choice Neil O’Connor (58-834) are his favorite targets.
Third-team safety Pop Lacey led UNH with 82 tackles and linebacker Jared Kuehl had 60 to headline the defensive returnees. UNH has three sophomores, including Lacey, in the secondary.
UMaine’s Mack ran for 712 yards on 140 carries as a freshman. Jared Osumah (22-308), Earnest Edwards (20-334) and Reed (19-325) were the top receivers behind Wright (44-688) and all-conference tackle Jamil Demby anchors the seasoned line.
The experienced secondary features Darrius Hart (47 tackles), DeAndre Scott (45) and All-CAA third-teamer Goode. Linebacker Sterling Sheffield (65) is a key performer.