The University of Maine will be without leading receiver Shawn Bowman for the final three games of the season after he suffered a leg injury in the first half of Saturday’s 31-21 loss to Richmond.
The 6-foot-5, 255-pound tight end from Bear, Delaware, had caught 31 passes for 377 yards and five touchdowns. He led the team in all three categories, and was tied with wide receiver Montigo Moss, who also has five TDs, for touchdowns.
It is a big loss for UMaine, which is now 2-6 overall and 2-3 in the Colonial Athletic Association. The Black Bears will finish their season at Rhode Island and Albany before returning home for the season finale against archrival New Hampshire.
Bowman was having his best season after being named an All-Colonial Athletic Association third team selection a year ago when he hauled in 24 passes for 282 yards and four TDs.
He has 86 career receptions for 960 yards and 11 TDs.
In addition to his pass catching, he is also considered an outstanding blocker by UMaine head coach Jordan Stevens.
“He is a big component of this team. He is a team captain who prepares himself the right way on and off the field. He is a mature player who is really a pro off the field in terms of how he takes care of his body and prepares every week,” Stevens said.
“He has been a key part of our offense. He has been huge on third downs as well as in the red zone. He has been really productive for us all year.”
Of Bowman’s 31 catches, 19 produced first downs or touchdowns. Ten of those came on third down plays.
Six-foot-two, 230-pound freshman Rohan Jones from Montreal will replace Bowman at tight end.
Jones has five catches for 39 yards in eight games.
“Moving forward, guys like Rohan are going to have to step in. And we’ll do some other things creatively to make ourselves productive and move the ball efficiently,” Stevens said.
The defense has been a bigger issue, specifically UMaine’s penchant for giving up big plays.
During Saturday’s 31-21 loss to Richmond, the Spiders rattled off six plays that gained at least 20 yards and four were for 34 yards or longer.
That brings the total of plays that have produced 20 or more yards against the Black Bears to 30 on the campaign. The Black Bear defense has given up at least three in every game.
The Black Bear defense has the Football Championship Subdivision’s worst pass defense efficiency among 123 teams with a 178.03 rating.
The rating involves opponents’ pass completion percentage, the defensive team’s number of interceptions, interception percentage, total passing yards allowed, opponents yards per pass attempt and TD passing percentage.
Opposing quarterbacks are completing 69.2 percent of their passes against UMaine.
“We have to find ways to make quarterbacks throw into tight windows. That’s what we have to focus on,” Stevens said. “If we can do that, we can give ourselves a better chance within these games to get stops. We have to do a better job.”
UMaine will visit Rhode Island at 1 p.m. Saturday.
The Rams are 5-3 overall, 3-2 in the conference, and just had a three-game winning streak snapped at No. 10 William and Mary by a score of 31-30. Rhode Island’s two-point conversion attempt after scoring a touchdown as time expired fell short.
The previous week, Rhode Island had beaten Monmouth 48-46 in seven overtimes.