Football team heads to Durham to face Wildcats

11/06/09 - Facing its third straight nationally ranked opponent, the University of Rhode Island football team (1-7, 0-5 CAA) will look for a positive end to their season beginning this Saturday as they head north to take on the No. 8 University of New Hampshire. (7-1, 4-1 CAA)Often we rely on history and statistics to hint at what is going to happen in a future game. We use series leads to tell us who is most likely going to win and we use statistics to tell us how well a player or team is going to perform against a certain opponent. This weekend, recent history pertaining to the series between URI and UNH would tell us that we are in for a high scoring affair.

Last year these two met in Kingston, R.I. in what turned out to be an offensive explosion for both sides as the Wildcats took home a 51-43 victory. However, Rhody was very successful on the offensive side of the ball, putting up 517 total yards. In the last two meetings between these teams, the Rams have combined to score 79 points with a combined offensive-yard total of 1,054.

While these offensive numbers are encouraging, they haven't translated into victories in this series. Overall, UNH holds a 50-28-5 series lead. Rhody's last victory against the Wildcats came in 2003 in another high-scoring outing to take the victory 55-40. If history were to be a sign of what's to come this weekend, then the offense should not be lacking.

But this is a different year. The Rams are rebuilding the program for the future and the offense has struggled to reacquaint itself with the offense that showed up in their opening day victory. The last two times out Rhody has managed a combined 300 yards of total offense.

Last Saturday the Rams could not get their running game going and were forced to play one-dimensional football, which is not ideal when facing a top-ranked opponent like the College of William and Mary. The offense will need to be sharp in all aspects while facing another difficult defensive opponent.

"We're playing with a lot of young players right now across the board," Head Coach Joe Trainer said. "It's easy to play football when you're having a lot of tangible success and this group hasn't had a lot of tangible success."

The Wildcats have the fourth leading scoring defense in the league, averaging 16 points per game. They also have registered 15 interceptions for the year. Offensively, they have the second-best scoring offense, averaging 32.4 points per game.

Defensively, this season the Rams have been cranking out turnovers from their opponents. So far, this unit has forced 16 fumbles and recovered 12 of them. This is the second most in school history, just six behind the school record of 22 set back in 1995.

"We are still doing a pretty good job with the turnover margin," Trainer said, "Which is mind boggling because right now we're probably plus eight or plus nine and usually when you're that high up next to scoring offense and scoring defense, that's the only stat that matters."

The offense has also limited their turnovers, but just has not been able to sustain their momentum or rhythm for four quarters of play. They have, however, spread the ball around on offense. They are one of only six teams in the CAA conference that has three receivers with at least 15 receptions and 200 yards receiving.

History will need to repeat itself and spark the Rams offense if they plan to end their seven-game losing streak and hang around with another tough nationally ranked opponent. Trainer believes his young squad is not discouraged to face difficult challenges in consecutive weeks.

Kickoff time is set for noon in Durham, N.H. The game can be seen on Comcast Sports Network.