Roger Brown
nhfootballreport.com

Many expect defense to be the strength of this year's University of New Hampshire football team, and the offense certainly didn't steal the spotlight Saturday.

The Wildcats scored on their first three possessions, but after that the offense sputtered in a 24-14 victory over St. Francis (Pa.).

"We got off to a great start," UNH coach Sean McDonnell said Monday. "We were up 21-0 and playing the way we usually play. Then they returned a kick for a touchdown, made it 21-7, and from that point on we didn't play with the energy and the excitement that we're accustomed to. I was very disappointed in that.

"They did a lot of different things defensively, from the base 3-5 front, to the no-down front. They mixed it up. Who was rushing, who was dropping -- giving multiple looks to our offense. Any type of rhythm we got into just stopped.

"Defensively we played OK. It wasn't as clean a peformance as we would have liked to have in the opener -- especially on the offensive side of the ball."

UNH was held to three first downs and 81 yards of offense after its third touchdown. Quarterback R.J. Toman was intercepted three times.

The performance turned in by junior running back Sean Jellison (pictured) was one positive for the Wildcats, who will play at Ball State on Saturday night (7). Jellison, an Amherst resident who played at Souhegan High School, replaced Chad Kackert (hamstring) in the starting lineup and rushed for 125 yards on 23 carries. His rushing total included a 70-yard TD run.

"He's a really good football player," McDonnell said. "He has great vision. He can run, he can catch, he can block. I thought he did a heckuva a job in his frist start ever at UNH. He's a kid who's a great complement to Chad Kackert. Hopefully we'll have Chad this week. If both those guys are going I think we'll have a very potent running attack."