2018 New Hampshire Wildcats football team

2018 New Hampshire Wildcats football
2018 New Hampshire Wildcats football
Conference	Colonial Athletic Association
Record	4–7 (3–5 CAA)
Head coach	Sean McDonnell (20th season);
Defensive coordinator	John Lyons (7th season)
Home stadium	Wildcat Stadium; (Capacity: 11,015)
	Seasons ← 2017 2019 →

2018 Colonial Athletic Association football standings
v t e
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

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.

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)
1	James Madison	241 (21)
2	New Hampshire	206 (2)
3	Delaware	182
4	Stony Brook	169
5	Elon	168 (1)
6	Villanova	164
7	Richmond	127
8	Maine	81
9	Albany	78
10	Towson	74
11	William & Mary	55
12	Rhode Island	39

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.

Offense

Trevor Knight – QB

Neil O'Connor – WR

Defense

Quinlen Dean – LB

Award watch lists

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

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 30	7:00 p.m.	at Maine	No. 7	Alfond Stadium Orono, ME (Battle for the Brice-Cowell Musket)	FCS/FSGO	L 7–35	6,597
September 8	6:00 p.m.	Colgate*	No. 20	Wildcat Stadium Durham, NH	NBCS BOS	L 3–10	11,433
September 15	5:00 p.m.	at Colorado*		Folsom Field Boulder, CO	P12N	L 14–45	42,360
September 29	1:30 p.m.	at No. 11 Elon		Rhodes Stadium Elon, NC	PAA	L 9–30	10,856
October 6	1:00 p.m.	Holy Cross*		Wildcat Stadium Durham, NH	NBCS BOS	W 28–0	6,497
October 13	3:30 p.m.	Stony Brook		Wildcat Stadium Durham, NH	CBSI/CBS SportsLive NBCS BOS	L 7–35	17,687
October 20	3:30 p.m.	No. 24 Delaware		Wildcat Stadium Durham, NH	CBSI/CBS SportsLive NBCS BOS	L 14–38	11,992
October 27	3:30 p.m.	at Villanova		Villanova Stadium Villanova, PA	CBSI/CBS SportsLive	W 34–0	3,919
November 3	1:00 p.m.	No. 3 James Madison		Wildcat Stadium Durham, NH	FCS/FSGO	W 35–24	7,741
November 10	1:00 p.m.	Albany		Wildcat Stadium Durham, NH	NBCS BOS	W 24–10	5,571
November 17	12:00 p.m.	at Rhode Island		Meade Stadium Kingston, RI	CAA.tv	L 21–24	3,012
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

Source: Schedule

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
— = Not ranked RV = Received votes
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final
STATS FCS	7	20	RV	RV	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Coaches	9	22	RV	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

References

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

[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.

[1]

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v t e New Hampshire Wildcats football
Venues	College Oval ( –1920) Memorial Field (1921–1935) Lewis Field / Cowell Stadium / Wildcat Stadium (1936–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Dartmouth UMass: Colonial Clash Bill Knight Trophy Maine: Battle for the Brice–Cowell Musket
People	Head coaches NFL draftees
Seasons	1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024