The football season is creeping up quickly, but, as Mike Zhe writes in the Portsmouth Herald, the University of New Hampshire will start its season a week later than most Colonial Athletic Association teams. Zhe also examines why UNH elected to play 11 games rather than 12 this season. Eight CAA teams will play 12 games in 2008.

Greg Dalzell has been hired as the varsity football coach at Newfound Regional High School. Dalzell is a teacher at Plymouth Regional High School and was an assistant on the Newfound staff last season.

Newfound posted a 4-5 record in Division V in 2006, but dropped to 1-8 last season. The Bears, who will compete in Division VI this season, do not have a home field and play all of their games on the road.

Newfound is still seeking an assistant coach for its junior varsity program. Anyone interested can contact Newfound Regional High School athletic director Peter Cofran at 744-6006 or pcofran@newfound.k12.nh.us.

New Hampshire Football Report will have more on Dalzell and the Newfound program later this week.

ESPN and the Army Athletic Association have announced that the Sept. 6 football game between Army and the University of New Hampshire will be shown live on ESPN Classic. It will be the season opener for UNH, and the opening kickoff at Army's Michie Stadium is scheduled for 1 p.m.

UNH has won its last three games against Football Bowl Subdivision competition. The Wildcats beat Rutgers in 2004 (35-24), Northwestern in 2006 (34-17) and Marshall in 2007 (48-35). UNH, which finished the 2007 season with a 7-5 record, has earned an invitation to the NCAA tournament in each of the past four seasons.

The Sept. 6 contest will be the third meeting between UNH and Army, but the first since Army's 33-0 victory in 1922. UNH prevailed 10-7 in 1921.

Army finished 3-9 last season. Its victories came against Rhode Island (14-7 in OT), Temple (37-21) and Tulane (20-17 in OT). Army will open its 2008 season Aug. 29 with a home game against Temple.

Tanner Boucher, who played quarterback at Keene High School, and Brad Kelly, a tight end/linebacker who played for Exeter High School, have both committed to Army and will join the football program this season.

Its merger with Street & Smith's made The Sporting News college football annual the best preseason college football publication available. This year's edition, which includes expanded Football Championship Subdivision coverage, made its way to newsstands last week.

Although the magazine's primary focus is on teams from the Football Bowl Subdivision, it also includes Division II and Division III previews. There is also a section devoted to high school football, with players and teams to watch for the 2008 season.

Here's how The Sporting News sized up the Colonial Athletic Association and the Ivy League:

CAA PREDICTIONS
North

1. Massachusetts
2. New Hampshire
3. Hofstra
4. Maine
5. Northeastern
6. Rhode Island

South

1. James Madison
2. Delaware
3. Richmond
4. Villanova
5. William & Mary
6. Towson 

 

IVY LEAGUE PREDICTIONS

1. Harvard
2. Yale
3. Brown
4. Penn
5. Dartmouth
6. Cornell
7. Princeton
8. Columbia