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Offense has got to start helping our defense out.

May be in the minority, but I’m pretty satisfied with our crowd. Gotta have realistic expectations sometimes. Hell of a lot better crowd than last year’s playoff game.

This is ugly. Need to get something going.

Where the heck is our offense???

Line is not giving time on passes and no push on rush plays.

Absolutely horrible...guess that's what happens when you beat up on incarnate words and lamars every game except a couple...

First, hats off to UNH. They played a great game and had a good game plan for our offense. For the fans who came down, safe travels back and good luck the rest of the way.

Not much to say. Defense played well. Offensive line killed us. No push, no pass block. Hayden was pressured all afternoon. Turnovers hurt.

No matter, great season by these young men. Proud to be an alumnus of a team that fights hard every game. Coach Campbell and his staff put a great product on the field.

Go Bears!

Amen and Ditto. Go Bears!!

The Bears had a good season. Now I hope New Hampshire wins out.

Hats off and kudos to Wildcats.........their d-line was the best we played all season that I saw..........Hayden was hurried so many times plus how many tipped passes were there? The DEs gave our tackles big problems and were able to get around the edge and put pressure..........I think it was #58 Jared Kuehl ( the same who sacked Hayden at the end) but one of the LBs shut down virtually every speed sweep or toss pitch play on the edge .......he took very good angles to the ball and made sure tackles. ......and while pressuring Hayden all day they basically shut down our running attack with a few exceptions.

Hope their QB Knight is Ok but Lupilo was impressive as a freshman running the offense and not making bad mistakes against a very good defense. #22 Evan Gray probably was the bets inside running RB we saw all season and was very hard to bring down...glad he was not terribly fast or he would have really hurt us. #1 Malik Love pretty slippery WR.

Both punters were very good although Ponder had the one shank trying to angle the kick and it allowed UNH to get out of the hole we had been pushing them into.......UNH then put the game winning drive together right after that.

In spite of that, Hayden had a career yardage day and cannot say enough about Cedric Battle and Roman Gordon both who had career games.

George Odom and James Graves were all over the filed making plays.

Still, in spite of all that the pick six in Q3 was the difference in the score.

Attendance was 6200+ .............lower west was pretty full..........been nice to have a couple thousand students more.........

Finally, BMB and Cheer again did a great job.........as always............nice halftime show by BMB.......

http://www.ucasports.com/news/2017/12/2/football-bears-fall-to-wildcats-in-fcs-playoffs.aspx?path=football

CONWAY, Ark._ The team that was known for protecting the football turned it over four times Saturday afternoon. The team that did not allows sacks gave up five on Saturday. And the team that accumulated twice the offensive yardage did not win on the scoreboard.

The opportunistic New Hampshire Wildcats took advantage of all those uncharacteristic issues in beating No. 4 seed Central Arkansas 21-15 in the second round of the NCAA Division I FCS Playoffs at First Security Field at Estes Stadium.

The Bears (10-2), who entered the game off a first-round bye and riding a 10-game winning streak, nearly doubled the Wildcats (9-4) in total offensive yardage (434 to 216), but forced only one interception. UCA senior quarterback Hayden Hildebrand was also sacked five times after the Bears' offensive line had allowed just six total sacks in the first 11 games of the season. But the Wildcats, who entered the game 1-4 on the road this season, did enough to win in their 14th straight appearance in the playoffs, the longest active streak in FCS. UCA was making its second straight appearance and fourth overall since moving to Division I in 2006.

Still, the Southland Conference champion Bears got the ball back with 3:24 left on the clock at their own 18, trailing 21-15. Hildebrand, who completed 27 of 40 passes for a career-high 361 yards in his final game, moved UCA down the field and into UNH territory with a pair of completions to senior Roman Gordon and another to junior Lester Wells. With the clock winding down, sophomore Carlos Blackmon broke off a 14-yard run and got out of bounds just across midfield, to stop the clock.

After a one-yard run by Hildebrand, he was sacked from behind by UNH linebacker Jared Kuehl on second down and fumbled at the UNH 37. Kuehl fell on the ball at the Wildcats' 31 and the visitors ran out the clock to advance to the FCS third round, where they will face South Dakota State in Brookings, S.D. on Saturday.

"They were good,' said UCA head coach Steve Campbell, who had the Bears in the second round of the FCS playoffs for the second consecutive year. "I don't know if that was surprising. I was hoping that they weren't as good as what they are. Now I can see why they played (No. 1 and defending national champion) James Madison within 21 (points).

"You were hoping the statistics were lying, but they're good. And we made some mistakes. We had some opportunities. They make you take the long haul. You have to long haul them or home run then, and we hit two home runs, but we just couldn't put it together long enough and to sustain and to score after a long drive. We moved the ball but we didn't convert on some things.

"We had some turnovers that we hadn't been having. But when people are good on defense, they're good at creating turnovers.'

The Bears opened the scoring with one of those home runs, a 74-yard touchdown pass from Hildebrand to junior running back Cedric Battle, capping a three-play, 85-yard drive at the 10:37 mark of the first quarter. The only other first-half score was a 10-yard pass from UNH quarterback Trevor Knight to Evan Gray with 4:01 left in the half. Knight would eventually leave the game with an injury after completing 8 of 14 passes for just 47 yards. His replacement, redshirt freshman Christian Lupoli, was more than adequate, finishing 8 of 10 for 63 yards and a touchdown, a 9-yard strike to Malik Love with 7:19 left to play that gave UNH a 21-9 lead.

The Wildcats broke the halftime tie with a 56-yard interception return by redshirt freshman safety Evan Horn at the 7:31 mark of the third period, the first pick six against the Bears this season. UCA punter Patrick Ponder then pinned the Wildcats down at the 2 and two plays later a bad snap to Lupoli resulted in a safety when he was tackled in the end zone by UCA safety George Odum, making it 14-9.

The Wildcats held the Bears to just 73 yards rushing, more than 100 yards under their average of 207 yards per game, which ranks second in the SLC. Blackman led the Bears with 68 yards on 11 carries to account for most of those yards. Gordon, a senior from Fort Worth, Texas, caught a career-high nine passes for 65 yards. Battle, from Wichita Falls, Texas, finished with three receptions for a career-high 154 yards and two touchdowns.

"" I thought our guys played hard, but we didn't play well enough to beat a really good team,' said Campbell. "I had no familiarity with that conference, but those guys are good. That's a good football team. You got to take your hat off to them. They were really good up front (on defense). I thought their inside guys were really good, and I thought those ends were good. I was hoping that the linebackers weren't as good as what they looked like at times on film. But they were good.'

The Bears went undefeated in the Southland Conference for the first time, going 9-0 and earning the automatic bid to the FCS Playoffs and the No. 4 national seed, which gave them a first-round bye last weekend. The Bears finished with 10 victories for the third time in the NCAA Division I era, and for the second straight year under Campbell.

"Our kids played hard and I know they wanted to win,' said Campbell. "We just did some things that aren't going to help you beat a team that's been there 14 years in a row. These guys led us to a great, great deal and I'll forever be proud of them. Leading us to a home seed and an undefeated Southland Conference championship. Nobody can take that away from us. These guys had a great senior year. We're disappointed we didn't win, and we congratulate them.

"I wish I had prepared them better, wish we had played a little better. This one will sting but we'll learn from it. But these seniors, shoot, they've done an outstanding job. I want to win a championship, these young men want to win a championship more than anything. But the lessons that you learn, the values, the work ethic, all that... I don't need a ring on my finger, and they don't, to know, they ain't got nothing on you. And that's what I want them to know.

"It's about showing up every day and doing the very best that you can. And we wanted to win. And sometimes you do, sometimes you don't. But that don't change who you are. You're a champion, win, lose or draw. Be a champion. Don't let the circumstances control or define.'

Hildebrand finishes as the No. 2 career passer at UCA with 8,025 yards. Senior safety/linebacker George Odum finished with a game-high 14 tackles, putting him fourth all-time at UCA with 352 stops. Senior linebacker James Graves had 11 tackles, while senior tackle Eric Jackson finished up with 2.5 tackles for loss and a sack, giving him 18.5 tackles for loss for the season and 11 sacks, which ties with teammate Chris Terrell and several others as the fourth-best in school history in a single season.

http://www.unhwildcats.com/news/2017/12/2/football-gameday-unh-at-central-arkansas-ncaa-d-i-fcs-second-round.aspx?path=football

Holt, Defensive Effort Lead 'Cats Past Central Arkansas, 21-15

CONWAY, Ark. – Rick Holt (Portsmouth, N.H.) recorded nine tackles, including 2.5 sacks, and the University of New Hampshire's defense forced four turnovers to lead the No. 21/20 UNH football team to a 21-15 victory against No. 3 University of Central Arkansas in Saturday afternoon's NCAA FCS second-round game at Estes Stadium.

UNH's defense recorded two fumble recoveries and two interceptions – including a 56-yard pick-six by Evan Horn (Lebanon, Pa.) – against a Bears' team that ranked No. 5 in the nation with just 10 turnovers in 11 games. The Wildcats also made nine tackles for loss, including five sacks. UCA's offense had allowed an average of 0.55 per game, which ranked fourth in the nation.

Jae'Wuan Horton (Stafford, Va.) strip-sacked Hayden Hildebrand and Jared Kuehl Plymouth, N.H.) recovered the fumble with 76 seconds remaining in the game to secure the victory. Alonzo Addae (Pickering, Ontario) recorded seven tackles and recovered a fumble that he forced and Steven Harper (Roselle, N.J.) had the Wildcats' other INT.

Horton finished with five tackles, including two sacks.

New Hampshire, which improved to 9-4 overall, advances to play fifth-seeded South Dakota State in next weekend's quarterfinals. UCA, which entered the game with a 10-game win streak, ends the year at 10-2.

Christian Lupoli (East Haven, Conn.), who entered the game for injured starting quarterback Trevor Knight (Amherst, N.H.) midway through the second quarter, completed 8 of 10 passes for 63 yards and a nine-yard touchdown to Malik Love (Alcoa, Tenn.). Love led the 'Cats with five catches for 27 yards.

Evan Gray (Centreville, Va.) was UNH's top rusher with 24 carries for 85 yards. He also had two catches for 27 yards, including a 10-yard TD pass from Knight.

http://www.unhwildcats.com/news/2017/12/2/football-mcdonnell-on-cats-they-played-their-tails-off.aspx?path=football

McDonnell on 'Cats: 'They Played Their Tails Off'

CONWAY, Ark. – They took the starch out of the "The Stripes."

The defense was immense.

The offense – led in the second half by a redshirt freshman quarterback who had completed three passes in his career – came up huge as well.

Put it all together and the No. 21 University of New Hampshire football knocked off No. 3 Central Arkansas, 21-15, Saturday afternoon in Estes Stadium where the field color alternates every five yards from purple to gray, thus earning the nickname "The Stripes."

The Wildcats made another statement – yes, they belong in this NCAA Division I FCS tournament - and now are on to the quarterfinals. They play at South Dakota State, the No. 5 seed in the tournament, next weekend, perhaps on Friday night.

"Terrific effort by my guys," said UNH head coach Sean McDonnell. "They just played their tails off. Coming into this situation, playing the No. 4 seed, No. 3 seed whatever it was in the country, a lot of people didn't think we belonged. . . . We told the kids let's go play. That's where things get done, on the field."

There was griping from some in the FCS world when the draw was announced that UNH didn't deserve a spot in the 24-team field with its 7-4 overall record.

The Wildcats beat Central Connecticut State, 14-0, in their first-round game last week and then went on the road and picked up another win Saturday.

UNH advances to the quarters with a 9-4 record. Central Arkansas had its 10-game win streak snapped and finished the season 10-2.

Junior Trevor Knight completed a 10-yard touchdown pass to sophomore Evan Gray to match a Central Arkansas score in the first period.

When Knight got knocked out of the game with an injury late in the second period, the redshirt freshman, Christian Lupoli, came in and played a tremendous game the rest of the way.

His beauty of a 9-yard touchdown pass to sophomore Malik Love – it was a great all-out dive of a catch as well – gave the Wildcats a cushion they badly needed in the middle of the fourth quarter. It put them up 21-9 with 7:19 to play.

Lupoli completed eight of his 10 passes for 63 yards and the score. He had completed three of 14 passes coming into the game.

And that defense!

Not only did it for the most part shut down a prolific Bear offense, it contributed a touchdown as well. Redshirt freshman safety Evan Horn scored it when he picked off a Hayden Hildebrand pass, got to the left sideline and raced 56 yards for a score, the only points in the second period. That helped his team to a 14-7 edge at the half.

The Bears did manage to gain yards on the Wildcats.

But how about these numbers? Central Arkansas averaged 37 points a game coming in.

The Bears had turned the ball over 10 times in their 11 regular season games.

The Wildcats forced four turnovers on Saturday. Besides Horn, redshirt freshman Steven Harper had an interception and redshirt freshman Alonzo Addae and junior linebacker Jared Kuehl had fumble recoveries.

Here's another subject senior defensive tackle Rick Holt liked: sacks.

Coming in, the Bear offensive line had protected their quarterback extremely well.

"They gave up six sacks all year," Holt said. "That's incredible almost. A lot of stuff can go wrong. One person messes up and you have a sack. Six. That's a half a sack a game. That's kind of crazy."

The Wildcats sacked Hildebrand five times.

Holt was credited with a career-high two and a half sacks. He had never before had more than one sack in a game.

Junior defensive end Jae'Wuan Horton had a couple of sacks and also deflected the pass that Harper intercepted. Junior defensive tackle Ryan Sosnak had half a sack and seven tackles.

"We game-planned really well and we ran some good stuff," Holt said. "Jae'Wuan did a really good job. Brian (Carter) did a really good job. Me and Ryan just keep working and keep working. . . . Our job was to make him as uncomfortable as possible back there and I think we did a really good job of doing that today."

They certainly did.

Now it's on to South Dakota and a chance for the program to play for the first time in another state, it did in Arkansas, and do a little more proving.

And what, from the defense to the offense to players stepping up and filling in for others, made McDonnell most proud on Saturday?

"How hard we played," McDonnell said. "It's what we do. I can't tell you how proud I am of our kids and our program. Wherever we've gone, we've just buckled up and gone and played. Don't talk much about it. We've done it. I asked the kids to do that and they did. As a coach, you can't ask for anything more."

Here is my thoughts for what it's worth. 1st I am not upset, just pure heart broken. 2nd the Bears played their hearts out with way too many mistakes . 3rd this was not the team I have seen on the practice field. 4th I suspect the officiating crew flew down from New Hampshire and got off the bus with the wildcats . Generous spots, penalties not called on the wildcats or selective vision if they may . 5th the offense just couldn't get anything going. The defense spent too much time on the field . Finally, I will up my purple circle membership and try to be a better Bearbacker myself . I will heal as time goes by, but man it hurts right now . May God Bless you all, Papa and Gooooo Bearssss

To the student body in general, I say thanks for nothing. A beautiful fall day, great weather, playoff football, and the east side was practically empty.
We have to get to the bottom of why these kids will not come inside and support. All they do is show up at the tailgates, drink beer, then leave when the game starts.
Say what you will, but that's not happening at UAF, ASU, and even Tech. Our athletic
department needs to have some meaningful conversations in the coming year with leaders of Greek organizations and other student groups, to find out where the disconnect is. As much as I'd like to just blame it on kids in general, it's a specific problem on our campus. They show up for the first game or two, but then they're gone.
We have a wonderful university, and everyone from current students to alumni should feel an obligation to stand up and be counted.
A great year, a bright future, and lots more wins to come. Happy Holidays to all.

I can tell you this: The Greek organizations do not think it is “cool” to attend the games.

And that is sad.

They did not go to a major university (i.e. FBS level) but should still take pride in their school. Show up and support the team! Part of being a Greek is showing some school pride. Learn the Alma Mater. Learn the fight song. Show up and rally behind the men on the field. They work year round to bring a championship to the school: Give up 4 hours on a Saturday 5-6 times a year.

I think UNH had as many fans as we had students attend the game.

I was in the band my 4 years there. I did not have a choice but to be there. But I would not have traded it for anything. I was there for the run in 2001. I remember working with our band to make noise and make it hard on the teams we faced (FYI, loved the all metal bleachers at North Alabama, we had that place rumbling).

I was very proud of the band yesterday for rallying around the team better than they have all year. Now to get more of our student body behind the team.

Turn it over 4 times and you will get yo ass beat...
It's a simple as that.
UNH reaped the benefits of sloppy play from the Bears...
They move on and UCA hangs up their pads...

Bears could have easily won that game but didn't.

At least we are not...

BPSG
____________________
GO BEARS

I agree with everything posted above....I was on campus alot last week working a job. I saw the athletic department out working, selling tickets, etc. . They were attempting to get the students interested and it just simply failed. I must tell you that I was VERY worried at noon Saturday when there were not a whole lot of folks tailgating. As kickoff approached, the west side was filling in nicely, but the east side looked like a ghost town.

I have been following the program since the mid 1970's. I have said this many times...I just don't know what it will take to get the student interested. They should be ashamed for not showing up Saturday.

Saying all that, I will say this....it was a GREAT year. I was able to make all of the games, both home and away. It was just fun following this team, BUT when you have four turnovers, you are not going to win many times.

Happy Holidays....time to throw the attention to basketball.