2018 New Hampshire Wildcats football team

The 2018 New Hampshire Wildcats football team represented the University of New Hampshire in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by 20th-year head coach Sean McDonnell and played their home games at Wildcat Stadium. They were a member of the Colonial Athletic Association. They finished the season 4–7, 3–5 in CAA play to finish in ninth place.

2018 New Hampshire Wildcats football
ConferenceColonial Athletic Association
2018 record4–7 (3–5 CAA)
Head coachSean McDonnell (20th season)
Defensive coordinatorJohn Lyons (7th season)
Home stadiumWildcat Stadium
(Capacity: 11,015)
2018 CAA football standings
Conf  Overall
Team W L    W L 
No. 4 Maine $^  7 –1     10 –4  
No. 9 James Madison ^  6 –2     9 –4  
No. 16 Stony Brook ^  5 –3     7 –5  
No. 20 Towson ^  5 –3     7 –5  
No. 24 Delaware ^  5 –3     7 –5  
No. 19 Elon ^  4 –3     6 –5  
Rhode Island  4 –4     6 –5  
William & Mary  3 –4     4 –6  
New Hampshire  3 –5     4 –7  
Villanova  2 –6     5 –6  
Richmond  2 –6     4 –7  
Albany  1 –7     3 –8  
  • $ – Conference champion
  • ^ – FCS playoff participant
Rankings from STATS Poll

Previous season

They Wildcats finished the 2017 season 9–5, 5–3 in CAA play to finish in a tie for fourth place. They received an at-large bid to the FCS Playoffs where they defeated Central Connecticut and Central Arkansas before losing in the quarterfinals to South Dakota State.

Preseason

CAA Poll

In the CAA preseason poll released on July 24, 2018, the Wildcats were predicted to finish in second place.[1]

Predicted finish Team Votes (1st place)
1James Madison241 (21)
2New Hampshire206 (2)
3Delaware182
4Stony Brook169
5Elon168 (1)
6Villanova164
7Richmond127
8Maine81
9Albany78
10Towson74
11William & Mary55
12Rhode Island39

Preseason All-CAA Team

The Wildcats had three players selected to the preseason all-CAA team including quarterback Trevor Knight being selected as offensive player of the year.

Award watch lists
Award Player Position Year
Walter Payton Award[2] Neil O'Connor WR SR

Schedule
DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
August 307:00 p.m.at MaineNo. 7
FCS/FSGOL 7–356,597
September 86:00 p.m.Colgate*No. 20
NBCS BOSL 3–1011,433
September 155:00 p.m.at Colorado*
P12NL 14–4542,360
September 291:30 p.m.at No. 11 Elon
PAAL 9–3010,856
October 61:00 p.m.Holy Cross*
  • Wildcat Stadium
  • Durham, NH
NBCS BOSW 28–06,497
October 133:30 p.m.Stony Brook
  • Wildcat Stadium
  • Durham, NH
CBSI/CBS SportsLive
NBCS BOS		L 7–3517,687
October 203:30 p.m.No. 24 Delaware
  • Wildcat Stadium
  • Durham, NH
CBSI/CBS SportsLive
NBCS BOS		L 14–3811,992
October 273:30 p.m.at Villanova
CBSI/CBS SportsLiveW 34–03,919
November 31:00 p.m.No. 3 James Madison
  • Wildcat Stadium
  • Durham, NH
FCS/FSGOW 35–247,741
November 101:00 p.m.Albany
  • Wildcat Stadium
  • Durham, NH
NBCS BOSW 24–105,571
November 1712:00 p.m.at Rhode Island
CAA.tvL 21–243,012
  • *Non-conference game
  • Homecoming
  • Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game
  • All times are in Eastern time

Game summaries

at Maine
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 7 Wildcats 0 0 0 7 7
Black Bears 0 22 7 6 35
See also: 2018 Maine Black Bears football team and Battle for the Brice-Cowell Musket
Overall record Last meeting Result
56–44–8 2017 W, 24–23

Colgate
1 2 3 4 Total
Raiders 0 10 0 0 10
No. 20 Wildcats 0 3 0 0 3
See also: 2018 Colgate Raiders football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
6–2 2015 FCS Playoffs L, 20–27

at Colorado
1 2 3 4 Total
Wildcats 0 0 14 0 14
Buffaloes 7 21 10 7 45
See also: 2018 Colorado Buffaloes football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
First meeting

at Elon
1 2 3 4 Total
Wildcats 3 6 0 0 9
No. 11 Phoenix 7 17 3 3 30
See also: 2018 Elon Phoenix football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
4–0 2017 W, 16–6

Holy Cross
1 2 3 4 Total
Crusaders 0 0 0 0 0
Wildcats 14 0 14 0 28
See also: 2018 Holy Cross Crusaders football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
8–7 2017 L, 26–51

Stony Brook
1 2 3 4 Total
Seawolves 14 7 7 7 35
Wildcats 0 7 0 0 7
See also: 2018 Stony Brook Seawolves football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
4–2 2017 L, 24–38

Delaware
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 24 Fightin' Blue Hens 10 7 14 7 38
Wildcats 0 7 0 7 14
See also: 2018 Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
12–21 2015 L, 14–31

at Villanova
1 2 3 4 Total
UNH Wildcats 10 14 7 3 34
Nova Wildcats 0 0 0 0 0
See also: 2018 Villanova Wildcats football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
12–11 2013 W, 29–28

James Madison
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 3 Dukes 3 0 7 14 24
Wildcats 14 7 7 7 35
See also: 2018 James Madison Dukes football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
8–10 2017 L, 0–21

Albany
1 2 3 4 Total
Great Danes 3 0 0 7 10
Wildcats 7 3 7 7 24
See also: 2018 Albany Great Danes football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
4–2 2017 L, 0–15

at Rhode Island
1 2 3 4 Total
Wildcats 0 0 7 14 21
Rams 3 7 7 7 24
See also: 2018 Rhode Island Rams football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
59–27–5 2017 W, 28–14

Ranking movements
Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.
Week
Poll Pre 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Final 
STATS FCS 7 20 RV RV NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR  
Coaches 9 22 RV NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR

References
  1. Washburn, Rob (July 24, 2018). "James Madison Favored To Win Fourth Straight CAA Football Title in 2018". Colonial Athletic Association. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
  2. "FCS football: 2018 Walter Payton Award watch list". August 1, 2018. Retrieved August 1, 2018.
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