UNH Rewind: One tough test after another
'CAT TALE: A strong second half carried James Madison to a 41-24 victory over the University of New Hampshire in the Colonial Athletic Association opener for each team Saturday. UNH led 24-17 with 12:54 to play in the third quarter, but James Madison scored the game's final 24 points.
WORD PLAY: "(Ricky Santos) and Hank have been side by side and they're good friends. We talked to Ricky a little bit about it as we did everybody else on the football team. Obviously there's a lot of shock and a lot of confusion about what happened. We're hoping the best for Hank and so is Ricky."
-- UNH coach Sean McDonnell on backup quarterback Hank Hendricks, who pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and assault Monday.
NUMBERS GAME: Santos completed 36 of 47 pass attempts for 353 yards and two touchdowns in the loss to James Madison. HIs first TD pass in the game was the 100th of his career and broke the all-time CAA record. Santos also became the CAA's all-time leader in completions (902) by surpassing the total set by Villanova's Chris Boden (868).
LOOKING AHEAD: UNH will play a non-league game against Marshall on Saturday (4:30 p.m.). The game will be held at Marshall's Joan C. Edwards Stadium. Marshall is 0-2, having lost to Miami (Fla.), 31-3, and West Virginia, 48-23. Marshall quarterback Bernard Morris completed 19 of 29 pass attempts for 256 yards and two touchdowns in Saturday's loss to West Virginia. Marshall had a 13-6 lead at halftime of that game. The only other meeting between UNH and Marshall was in 1991, when Marshall prevailed 24-23 at home.
NOTEWORTHY: Sophomore Scott Sicko, senior Keith LeVan and junior Bobby Simpson each had a team-high seven catches against James Madison. Former Plymouth High School quarterback Mike Boyle caught six passes for 97 yards and a touchdown. ... James Madison had a 285-79 edge in rushing yardage and a 526-432 advantage in total offense. ... Defensive back Jeff Pammer, linebacker Husain Karim and defensive back Terrence Klein each made a team-high 12 tackles. ... Running back Chad Kackert aggravated a hamstring injury originally suffered last month and may not play this weekened. ... UNH has won its last two games against Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) teams. The Wildcats defeated Rutgers 35-24 in 2004, and beat Northwestern 34-17 last season. ... The Marshall program has produced 34 NFL draft picks, including three first-round selections: wide receiver Randy Moss (Minnesota Vikings in 1998), quarterback Chad Pennington (N.Y. Jets in 2000), and quarterback Byron Leftwich (Jacksonville Jaguars in 2003).
