Maine’s offense could certainly use a fresh start. And a freshman may be called upon to provide it.
Sophomore quarterback Dan Collins was injured late in Saturday’s 19-7 loss at Stony Brook. Coach Jack Cosgrove said Monday that Collins will see a doctor Tuesday morning, but the outlook wasn’t promising.
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WHO: Albany (4-2, 1-2 CAA) at Maine (2-4, 1-2)
WHEN: 12:30 p.m. Saturday
TV: WPME (Channel 17)
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“I think it’s pretty significant,” Cosgrove said of the injury, which appeared to be to Collins’ right (throwing) shoulder. “That’s kind of how we’re thinking right now in terms of his availability.”
If Collins can’t go, freshman Drew Belcher will make his first start when the Black Bears (2-4, 1-2 Colonial Athletic Association) host Albany. Belcher relieved Collins on Saturday, carrying the ball four times for 12 yards but failing to complete any of his five pass attempts.
Maine is last in the conference in many offensive categories, including rushing yards per game (60), first downs (67) and third-down conversions (13 of 79, 16.5 percent).
“Handling pressure is not working for us,” Cosgrove said of the third-down futility. “It’s not something that is really the responsibility of one guy. Teams have done a nice job of pressuring us.”
Maine’s inability to sustain drives has taken a toll on its defense. On Saturday, the Black Bears were on the field for 41 minutes. Cosgrove said it could have been worse if the Seawolves hadn’t played at such a deliberate pace on offense.
“A fast-tempo team could have really created even more problems for us physically in terms of manning up and going 60 minutes,” he said.
The wear and tear is showing in the amount of rushing yards Maine’s opponents are racking up. Stony Brook gained 226 yards on the ground. The Black Bears have surrendered 1,081 in their past four games.
“They’re standing up against good rushing offenses, and that’s really a compliment to the teams that come in and physically hang their hat on that,” Cosgrove said of his defense. “We’ve got our guys playing hard, fighting hard. I think we have a good group of run-stopping linebackers.
“But they’ve been better than us in that regard, and it’s really that simple.”
There are too many issues for any one player to turn around overnight, let alone a freshman quarterback.
But if Belcher can find a way to keep the offense on the field for at least 25 minutes Saturday, it would be a big relief for his defense.
MAINE ISN’T ALONE in its quarterback quandary. Richmond’s Michael Strauss suffered a broken ankle in the third quarter of the Spiders’ 41-28 victory over Albany on Saturday. He won’t be back in time for Richmond’s game at Maine on Nov. 8.
But Richmond Coach Danny Rocco can turn to a senior as a replacement, someone he knows very well. Michael Rocco, the coach’s nephew, will take the reins of the CAA’s top passing offense. Rocco, like Belcher, had been playing quite a bit this season. Unlike Belcher, he can lean on 21 previous starts, when he was at Virginia.
“There’s a lot of value in it,” Danny Rocco said of getting game action for his backup quarterback. “He’s an experienced, mature player, so I’m sure he’ll play really well this week” against Rhode Island.
Rocco said his team is upbeat despite the month-long loss of its starting quarterback.
“There’s certainly no doom and gloom,” he said of Sunday’s practice session. “We had a lot of enthusiasm, high spirits.”
Richmond (4-2, 1-1) moved up to 15th in the FCS rankings.
WILLIAM & MARY dropped nine spots in the poll after being humbled 32-3 at No. 3 New Hampshire on Saturday. The Tribe (4-2, 1-1) are now 19th, and have to quickly get ready to host the other top team in the CAA, No. 5 Villanova.
“That’s just the nature of football,” William & Mary Coach Jimmye Laycock said. “All you’ve got to do is turn on the tape of Villanova and look at how good they are, and that gets everybody’s attention.”
The tape of the New Hampshire game revealed some flaws for the Tribe, which quickly fell behind after having a punt blocked and never could make headway against a surprisingly strong Wildcat defense. New Hampshire outgained William & Mary 402-217.
“Their defense pretty well controlled us. We could never get in sync on offense,” Laycock said. “We didn’t play as well up front as we had in previous games. We didn’t protect as well, we didn’t run-block quite as well.”
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