Roger Brown
nhfootballreport.com

A defensive touchdown and another on special teams propelled the University of New Hampshire to a 28-10 upset at Army on Saturday. It was UNH's fourth victory over a Football Bowl Subdivision (I-AA) team in the last five years. UNH beat Rutgers in 2004, Northwestern in 2006 and Marshall in 2007.

UNH's last loss against a FBS team came in 2003, when it dropped a 40-33 decision to Central Michigan.

"One thing I was pretty pleased with is how hard we played." UNH coach Sean McDonnell. "I thought the guys went up there, and, like every team at our level does, tried to prove that they can play against I-A players."

UNH received a 23-yard touchdown run from Chad Kackert and a 5-yard TD run from Plymouth's Mike Boyle. Former Souhegan running back Sean Jellison gained a game-high 84 yards on 10 carries.

UNH had a 184-169 edge in rushing yardage. 

"We ran the ball pretty effectively," McDonnell said. "I thought all three running backs did a nice job for us. I thought Kackert, (Robert) Simpson and Jellison gave us something different, and I thought our offensive line handled the situation pretty well."

UNH's other TDs came on an 87-yard kickoff return by John Clements, and Hugo Souza's 22-yard fumble return.

The Wildcats led 14-10 at halftime and 28-10 after three quarters.

RAM TOUGH

UNH's next game will be Saturday against the University of Rhode Island. The game, which will be played at URI's Meade Stadium, can be seen on CN8 (noon).

URI opened the season with a 27-24 victory over Monmouth, but was held to 174 yards of total offense in last weekend's 16-0 loss at Fordham. URI senior quarterback Derek Cassidy attempted a career-high 41 passes (25 completions) in that game, which was moved from Saturday to Sunday because of Tropical Storm Hanna.

"I watched both games, and this team is a much-improved football team." McDonnell said. "I think it all starts with Derek Cassidy. He's very, very good."

URI coach Darren Rizzi said his team took a step backward offensively against Fordham.

"We just didn't execute," Rizzi said. "They gave us some things we didn't take advantage of. We dropped three balls in critical situations that really, really hurt us. I thought we executed a lot better in game one than we did in game two."

WORD PLAY

RIZZI: "We have a great team in New Hampshire this week and we have one less day to prepare. We have a young team and quite frankly we could use every last minute we can (get) to prepare. If you let it (the short week) can affect you. It's certainly a different schedule for the coaches and the players. It's something we haven't been through, so that's always a concern."                                                               

NOTEWORTHY

UNH has an 8-2 record in season-opening games under McDonnell. ... Saturday's game was the first time Army has loss to a FCS team since 2002. ... UNH quarterback R.J. Toman completed 12 of 17 pass attempts for 138 yards against Army, He was interceped once. ... Boyle led the UNH receivers with four catches for 57 yards. ... Rizzi, a URI graduate and a former assistant coach at Rutgers, is in his first season as URI's head coach. ... Rizzi said he recuited both Clements and UNH defensive back Terrence Klein while he was at Rutgers. ... URI has not turned the ball over in either of its first two games.