Spring Break
Football team heads to Durham to face Wildcats
Chris Smith
Issue date: 11/6/09 Section: Sports
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.
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.
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