Healthy challenge for UNH

They're visiting the defending Division 1-AA national champions, the top-ranked team in both preseason polls, in a venue that is one of the most difficult for visiting teams. They're trying to turn around what was once one of the best 1-AA programs in New England but has had six losing seasons in seven years.

And to make matters worse, the University of New Hampshire Wildcats are beset with a staph infection that is wreaking havoc in the athletic department.

The season begins tomorrow when UNH visits Atlantic 10 foe Delaware at 7 p.m. in a nonconference game for both. But for sixth-year UNH coach Sean McDonnell, who has compiled a 23-33 mark and just one winning season (2000) since taking over for Bill Bowes in 1999, the campaign already has been challenging.

Several players have missed a lot of practice time because of the infection, including starting defensive end George Peterson, starting wide receiver Shaun Diner, and backup left tackle Dave Sundberg. All three are expected to play tomorrow night. Among those not expected to play because of the infection are backup defensive tackle Brendan St. Peter and nose tackle Tim Beckett.

"The administration has been taking care of it and we're getting signs that the medications that we're taking are working, so I don't think we'll have any more problems with it," said McDonnell. "Other than that, camp looked pretty well. [Quarterback] Mike Granieri has had a good camp for us. He's our senior leader.

"We just know that we have a task before us in going down [to Delaware]. It is an unbelievable place to play. They're the defending national champions, and we're going to have to play exceptionally well to try to match what they do."

McDonnell knows he needs players to get healthy as soon as possible, because things don't get any easier next week, when UNH travels to Division 1-A Rutgers. The upside is that this is one of the deepest teams McDonnell has had in five seasons. He returns nine starters on each side of the football. With all of those veterans, this team should be able to run its no-huddle offense and 4-3 defense with efficiency. McDonnell hopes that shows up in the win column.

"I don't want to say it's been hard, but it has been frustrating," said McDonnell, who under Bowes helped lead UNH to two Yankee Conference titles and NCAA Division 2 playoff berths as a player and two conference titles and tournament berths as an assistant.

"We thought we were close last year and we thought we were getting this program back to where it belonged," said McDonnell, whose team went 5-7 in 2003.

After winning three of its last four games last season, UNH comes into this campaign with high hopes.

"The early games are going to be a test to find out whether we're right or wrong," he said. "The kids want to get back to competing for a championship."

Catch HC with 'Net
Holy Cross has come up with an innovative way of keeping its fans up to date. Yesterday marked the debut of the Crusaders' Internet-only "Holy Cross Football Show," a weekly audio program featuring coach Tom Gilmore carried live each Tuesday at 1 p.m. by SportsJuice.com, the Internet provider for HC game broadcasts. The shows will be archived on the site for 30 days.

"It was just something where we were looking for a way to reach out to our fans that are not local, because the world gets smaller and smaller with the Internet," said Holy Cross assistant athletic director Frank Mastrandrea. "We decided to work with SportsJuice to put together a show here. It's a radio show without a radio."

Mastrandrea said players will appear, and the show may take emailed questions during the week, then answer them live. There are no plans for commercial breaks.

"We want to get it off the ground and see how it evolves," said Mastrandrea. "It will basically be a 30-minute show, but it could be 25 minutes one week and 38 minutes the next. We have that flexibility."

Hoping to Bear up
Maine enters the season as the highest-ranked 1-AA program in New England -- 11th in both The Sports Network and ESPN/USA Today polls, its highest preseason ranking ever. It won't be easy to stay there, though, as the Black Bears travel to third-ranked Montana in one of the bigger opening matchups.

Maine lost to Montana, 30-20, last season in Orono, before 9,345, the largest crowd ever to see a game at Morse Field.

"It's a tremendous challenge," said Maine coach Jack Cosgrove. "It was a little bit of the unknown last year. Obviously, they're a great football program, and they beat us in places that great teams take advantage of.

"We have a better knowledge of them this year and I believe that maybe we won't be in awe of them, as we were last year."

The Black Bears are led by quarterback Ron Whitcomb and running back Marcus Williams, one of the best backfield tandems in 1-AA.

Cosgrove said the high ranking caught the program by surprise, particularly since the Black Bears went 7-5 last season in what was widely regarded as a disappointing campaign. To get an idea how far the program has come in recent years, consider that Maine had just one seven-win season in the 1990s; in this decade, it has had three already.

"In the 1990s, it was considered a great season if we won five or six games," said Cosgrove. "We won seven games last season and it was like, `What happened, Coach?' "

Rank and file
Massachusetts is ranked 19th in both polls, while Northeastern is 21st in ESPN/USA Today, 22d in The Sports Network.