2018 New Hampshire Wildcats football team

The 2018 New Hampshire Wildcats football team represented the University of New Hampshire in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by 20th-year head coach Sean McDonnell and played their home games at Wildcat Stadium. They were a member of the Colonial Athletic Association. They finished the season 4–7, 3–5 in CAA play to finish in ninth place.

2018 New Hampshire Wildcats football
ConferenceColonial Athletic Association
2018 record4–7 (3–5 CAA)
Head coach
Defensive coordinatorJohn Lyons (7th season)
Home stadiumWildcat Stadium
(Capacity: 11,015)
2018 CAA football standings
Conf  Overall
Team W L    W L 
No. 4 Maine $^  7 1     10 4  
No. 9 James Madison ^  6 2     9 4  
No. 16 Stony Brook ^  5 3     7 5  
No. 20 Towson ^  5 3     7 5  
No. 24 Delaware ^  5 3     7 5  
No. 19 Elon ^  4 3     6 5  
Rhode Island  4 4     6 5  
William & Mary  3 4     4 6  
New Hampshire  3 5     4 7  
Villanova  2 6     5 6  
Richmond  2 6     4 7  
Albany  1 7     3 8  
  • $ Conference champion
  • ^ FCS playoff participant
Rankings from STATS Poll

Previous season

They Wildcats finished the 2017 season 9–5, 5–3 in CAA play to finish in a tie for fourth place. They received an at-large bid to the FCS Playoffs where they defeated Central Connecticut and Central Arkansas before losing in the quarterfinals to South Dakota State.

Preseason

CAA Poll

In the CAA preseason poll released on July 24, 2018, the Wildcats were predicted to finish in second place.[1]

Predicted finish Team Votes (1st place)
1James Madison241 (21)
2New Hampshire206 (2)
3Delaware182
4Stony Brook169
5Elon168 (1)
6Villanova164
7Richmond127
8Maine81
9Albany78
10Towson74
11William & Mary55
12Rhode Island39

Preseason All-CAA Team

The Wildcats had three players selected to the preseason all-CAA team including quarterback Trevor Knight being selected as offensive player of the year.

Award watch lists

Award Player Position Year
Walter Payton Award[2] Neil O'Connor WR SR

Schedule

DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
August 307:00 p.m.at MaineNo. 7FCS/FSGOL 7–356,597
September 86:00 p.m.Colgate*No. 20NBCS BOSL 3–1011,433
September 155:00 p.m.at Colorado*P12NL 14–4542,360
September 291:30 p.m.at No. 11 ElonPAAL 9–3010,856
October 61:00 p.m.Holy Cross*
  • Wildcat Stadium
  • Durham, NH
NBCS BOSW 28–06,497
October 133:30 p.m.Stony Brook
  • Wildcat Stadium
  • Durham, NH
CBSI/CBS SportsLive
NBCS BOS
L 7–3517,687
October 203:30 p.m.No. 24 Delaware
  • Wildcat Stadium
  • Durham, NH
CBSI/CBS SportsLive
NBCS BOS
L 14–3811,992
October 273:30 p.m.at VillanovaCBSI/CBS SportsLiveW 34–03,919
November 31:00 p.m.No. 3 James Madison
  • Wildcat Stadium
  • Durham, NH
FCS/FSGOW 35–247,741
November 101:00 p.m.Albany
  • Wildcat Stadium
  • Durham, NH
NBCS BOSW 24–105,571
November 1712:00 p.m.at Rhode IslandCAA.tvL 21–243,012
  • *Non-conference game
  • Homecoming
  • Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game
  • All times are in Eastern time

Game summaries

at Maine

1 2 3 4 Total
No. 7 Wildcats 0 0 0 7 7
Black Bears 0 22 7 6 35

Colgate

1 2 3 4 Total
Raiders 0 10 0 0 10
No. 20 Wildcats 0 3 0 0 3

at Colorado

1 2 3 4 Total
Wildcats 0 0 14 0 14
Buffaloes 7 21 10 7 45

at Elon

1 2 3 4 Total
Wildcats 3 6 0 0 9
No. 11 Phoenix 7 17 3 3 30

Holy Cross

1 2 3 4 Total
Crusaders 0 0 0 0 0
Wildcats 14 0 14 0 28

Stony Brook

1 2 3 4 Total
Seawolves 14 7 7 7 35
Wildcats 0 7 0 0 7

Delaware

1 2 3 4 Total
No. 24 Fightin' Blue Hens 10 7 14 7 38
Wildcats 0 7 0 7 14

at Villanova

1 2 3 4 Total
UNH Wildcats 10 14 7 3 34
Nova Wildcats 0 0 0 0 0

James Madison

1 2 3 4 Total
No. 3 Dukes 3 0 7 14 24
Wildcats 14 7 7 7 35

Albany

1 2 3 4 Total
Great Danes 3 0 0 7 10
Wildcats 7 3 7 7 24

at Rhode Island

1 2 3 4 Total
Wildcats 0 0 7 14 21
Rams 3 7 7 7 24

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.
Week
Poll Pre 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Final 
STATS FCS 7 20 RV RV NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR  
Coaches 9 22 RV NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR

References

  1. Washburn, Rob (July 24, 2018). "James Madison Favored To Win Fourth Straight CAA Football Title in 2018". Colonial Athletic Association. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
  2. "FCS football: 2018 Walter Payton Award watch list". August 1, 2018. Retrieved August 1, 2018.
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