Hooray For JL

The University of New Hampshire football team Dartmouth will square off against in Week 2 next year might not be quite as much of a powerhouse as it was before the intrastate series was put on hold, but the Wildcats are still plenty good.

They showed it on Saturday when they overwhelmed Patriot League champion Lafayette, 45-7, in the opening round of the NCAA playoffs. LINK

New Hampshire, 8-4, will now have a rematch this Saturday against No. 8 Maine (10-2), which it defeated, 24-3, on Nov. 23. Lafayette finishes the season 5-7. The attendance was a surprisingly low 3,286, a number not helped by the fact that tickets were priced at $19-$25.

Just about given up for dead after a 1-3 start this year, New Hampshire is 7-1 since then. Long an offensive Juggernaut, UNH has played tremendous defense over the past six games, allowing just 12.8 points per game. Heading up the defensive braintrust is coordinator John Lyons, the Dartmouth head coach for 13 years.

JL helped the Big Green to a 22-game unbeaten streak from 1995-97 with the Big Green going 22-0-1 during the run, at the time the second-longest such streak in FCS history.

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In other NCAA playoff action, Tennessee State defeated Week 1 Dartmouth opponent Butler, 31-0, at the Butler Bowl. The attendance was an atrocious 1,928. LINK

Also, once-and-future opponent Sacred Heart put up a pretty good battle against Fordham, falling to the 11-1 Rams, 37-27. Fordham, whose only loss was to Lafayette, scored 20 points off turnovers. The attendance was a disappointing 4,787 in The Bronx. LINK

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Headed out to State College, Pa., a little before 0-dark-30 this morning to bring a very happy Nittany Lion back to school. Saturday's season-ending win over Wisconsin was the perfect ending to a week at home.