ALBANY, N.Y. – First-year quarterback Brody McAndrew got the start on Saturday over sophomore Bret Edwards for the University of New Hampshire (UNH) Wildcats (3-6, 2-4). The rookie’s inexperience bled through, however, as the Wildcats found themselves playing catch-up with UAlbany (1-8, 1-6) and their senior running back Karl Mofor all afternoon. The 20-7 loss for New Hampshire extends their losing streak to six games and likely their playoff drought to a fourth consecutive season.
The Wildcats’ current six-game losing streak is the longest on record on unhwildcats.com going back to 2003. The next longest was in 2018 when the team dropped their opening four games of the season. During the two losing streaks New Hampshire has been outscored by a near identical margin of 21.75 points per game in 2018 and 21.7 in 2021. Similar to 2018, the Wildcats have also run into some trouble with the quarterback position. In 2018 the team lost Trevor Knight for most of the first four games, and this season the team had to act fast when sophomore Max Brosmer went down just days before the start of the season.
Quarterbacking was part of the issue at UAlbany as McAndrew was just 10-for-20 with 68 yards and two interceptions. He was under siege most of the day as the Great Danes never let him feel comfortable. The rookie had a few chances in the first half to tighten up the game, but inaccuracy plagued McAndrew as he misfired on a handful of open receivers.
“We didn’t take advantage of some situations early in the game when we had a little bit of momentum,” said UNH head coach Sean McDonnell.
Edwards came on in relief in the fourth quarter and led the Wildcats to their only scoring drive on the day. His final numbers came in at 12-for-17, 170 yards, one touchdown and one pick. The touchdown pass was completed to sophomore tight end Thomas Splagounias, the first of his career.
Fellow sophomore tight end Kyle Lepkowski was happy for Splagounias, but says the offense needs a find a way to get more than just one score.
“We need to capitalize on the opportunities we’re getting,” said Lepkowski. “We need to finish in the red zone. We had some good drives, but we shoot ourselves in the foot with penalties or something.”
He continued, “We’re playing for pride. Obviously, no one likes losing… We just have to find a way to turn it around.”
Perhaps the more prevalent issue Saturday was the Wildcats’ complete inability to stop Mofor and the Great Danes’ rushing attack. Mofor scampered for 222 yards on 45 attempts while adding two touchdowns to the mix as well.
UAlbany was only forced to attempt 13 passes en route to the 13-point win.
McDonnell commended Mofor’s patience and vision behind the line of scrimmage and compared him to former Pittsburgh Steelers’ star Le’Veon Bell. After rushing for 1290 yards in 2019, Mofor is having his second-best season of his career with 808 yards and two games to go; this mark currently ranks second in the conference.
Redshirt first-year safety Noah Stansbury also had high praise for the Danes’ running back and said one of the Wildcats’ biggest issues was their inability to get UAlbany’s offense off the field late in drives. Eleven of UAlbany’s 16 first downs came by way of a rush on Saturday.
“Karl Mofor is a really good player and I feel like he tore us up defensively,” said Stansbury. “I feel like we played hard, we just need to execute on third down.”
New Hampshire will stay on the road for one final time this season when they head to Kingston, R.I. to square off with Rhode Island (6-3, 3-3). The Rams have lost three of their last four games after starting the season with five straight wins. The game will kick off at 1 p.m. from Meade Stadium.
Photo courtesy of China Wong
