DURHAM – New Hampshire owned the first half in front of its Homecoming crowd. Quarterback Trevor Knight was a magician, receiver Neil O’Connor was running wild and Rhode Island couldn’t pick up a first down, never mind find the end zone.
The crowd, momentum and lead, however, all dissipated in the second half. And when Knight and the Wildcat offense took the field with 12:33 left in the fourth quarter, it was just a one-point game.
“Definitely a sense of urgency once the game was within one point,” Knight said.
That urgency turned into a 76-yard touchdown from Knight to O’Connor as the No. 15/16 Wildcats (3-1) quickly wrestled the game back into their hands for a 28-14 win on Saturday over Colonial Athletic Association foe Rhode Island (1-3).
It was the seventh straight win for the ’Cats against URI and their eighth straight Homecoming win. And they did it in front of an announced crowd of 22,135, the largest in school history.
The day was definitely historical for Knight, who went 23-for-34 for a career-high 420 yards and three touchdowns. The junior from Amherst was quick to praise the work of his offensive line, which did provide its best protection of the season, but Knight still showed some remarkable elusiveness in and out of the pocket.
“We were concerned about Knight because he’s like Houdini,” URI Coach Jim Fleming said. “We got him bottled up a couple times and he finds a way to get out and he found some guys that wiggled free in the coverage.”
No one wriggled free more than O’Connor, who finished with a career-high 232 receiving yards on 11 catches, accounting for nearly half of UNH’s 472 total yards.
After last week’s 51-26 loss at Holy Cross, the Wildcats needed this win.
“Good bounce-back win for this football team after a tough loss on the road last week,” UNH Coach Sean McDonnell said. “Came home and got back down to business and did some things in practice that I felt we needed to do.”
The coach wasn’t the only one who liked the week of practice.
“We had a great game plan. (Offensive coordinator Ryan) Carty and Coach Mac, they set us up to make some plays today,” Knight said. “There were guys open, so it kind of made my job easy.”
The biggest bounce back for the ’Cats came on the defensive side. After giving up all those points and 520 total yards at Holy Cross, UNH picked off Rhode Island quarterback Tyler Harris three times on Saturday, held the Rams to 0-for-8 on third down through the first three quarters and gave up 339 total yards. Isiah Perkins had two interceptions for UNH, Pop Lacey had the third and Quinlen Dean finished with a team-high eight tackles.
“Especially coming off last week, we just wanted to make sure we finished the game,” Perkins said. “We got a great pass rush and I was just able to make plays when they came my way.”
New Hampshire took an 8-0 lead with 6:07 left in the first quarter on acrobatic 17-yard touchdown catch from Rory Donovan and a two-point conversion run from Knight. The Wildcats made it 15-0 on a 6-yard touchdown run from Knight. That capped an eight-play, 64-yard drive that saw Knight connect with O’Connor three times for 60 yards.
“Neil just always finds a way to get open, and today we just did what we did in practice,” Knight said.
The ’Cats took that 15-0 lead into halftime and looked like they would add to it with a 13-play drive to start the third quarter. But a touchdown run from O’Connor was called back due to a penalty and two plays later Rhode Island’s Tez Wilson hit Knight as he threw and Kwadir Brown picked off the spinning ball, giving the Rams new life.
URI kept the momentum when a slant pass to Aaron Parker (four catches, 112 yards) turned into a 75-yard touchdown late in the third, giving Parker a touchdown in his sixth straight game and making the score 15-7. The Rams kept rolling with a nine-play drive that ended with a 14-yard touchdown run from Harold Cooper, cutting the lead to 15-14 with 12:40 left in the fourth.
That’s when urgency set in for the offense and O’Connor took off for his 76-yard touchdown. The junior popped free over the middle and kept checking over both shoulders for defenders, but none arrived as he raced into the end zone.
“They were coming back and we really wanted to help the defense out and keep them off the field and get a score,” O’Connor said. “I wasn’t sure where everyone was, kind of got lost in there, but it was a great play call.”
The rested UNH defense forced a three-and-out and then Knight and Co. threw the knockout punch with a two-play, 47-yard drive. Knight pulled his Houdini act on the touchdown, escaping a sure sack and finding Malik Love for a 24-yard score.
“Huge win, 2-0 in the conference is a good way to be after the second game in the CAA,” McDonnell said.