The University of Maine football team’s defensive unit surrendered nine plays of 20 or more yards in each of the team’s losses to Montana State and Monmouth.
But the Black Bears have now strung together two impressive defensive performances in back-to-back road wins at Merrimack and Albany during which they allowed just two plays of 20 or more yards in each contest.
That has improved their record to 3-2 with a bye this coming weekend.
“Those (explosive plays) have plagued us the last two years,” said UMaine head coach Jordan Stevens, whose team allowed 107 plays of 20 or more yards in back-to-back 2-9 campaigns in 2023 and 2022.
“Being able to cut those down has helped to at least get the defense off the field,” said Stevens during Monday’s Coastal Athletic Association coaches media call. “We’ve controlled the time of possession. The defense hasn’t been on the field for more than 60 plays in each of the last two games. That’s really helped.”
UMaine’s offense ran 70 plays to Albany’s 50 in last Saturday’s 34-20 victory and had a time-of-possession edge of 39:10-19:21.
In the 26-15 victory over Merrimack, UMaine had a 70-54 advantage in plays and a 34:27-25:13 edge in time of possession.
In the 51-22 loss to Monmouth, the Hawks ran 76 plays to UMaine’s 54 and had a 33:04-26:56 advantage in time of possession.
UMaine’s front seven has been able to get pressure on the quarterbacks in the wins over Merrimack and Albany and that is a necessity.
That has to continue if the Black Bears are going to keep winning.
UMaine has had five sacks in the last two games after just three in its first three contests.
The other noteworthy accomplishment is the Black Bears have forced six turnovers, including four interceptions, in the two victories after not creating any in the two previous losses.
Redshirt junior cornerback Alhaji Kamara has two of the four interceptions, one in each game, with redshirt freshman safety Devin Vaught and redshirt sophomore cornerback Jamaree Gibson having the others.
Gibson’s first career interception turned into a touchdown as he returned it 78 yards to sew up Saturday’s win at Albany.
Kamara has one of the two fumble recoveries while junior defensive end Xavier Holmes has the other.
Linebackers Kesean Dyson and Latrell Couchman each forced a fumble.
Stevens has had to use several different players in the secondary due to injuries — Vaught was sidelined by injury vs. Albany — and said it has been nice to see their improvement.
“It has been great to see the steadiness in our back end,” said Stevens who added that cornerbacks coach/special teams coordinator Spencer Carey and safeties coach/defensive passing game coordinator Jalen Hairston have done an exceptional job with them.
“They have brought a sense of poise to that room and the (defensive backs) have been keeping the ball in front of them (and not getting beat deep),” Stevens added.
Stevens said graduate student defensive tackle Izaiah Henderson played a pivotal role in Gibson’s game-clinching interception return with 1:46 remaining.
“(Henderson) got in front of the quarterback (Myles Burkett) and forced a high throw which was tipped by their receiver into Jamaree’s hands,” said Stevens. “Izaiah played really well for us. He had a heckuva’ game.”
He also said Gibson has really grown “as a player and as a young man and he is a Rochester (New York) guy so I was really happy for him. He had some family members there.”
Graduate student quarterback Carter Peevy completed 20 of 24 passes for 193 yards and two TDs, both to tight end and co-captain Cooper Heisey.
And he was not intercepted for the third straight game.
Albany head coach Greg Gattuso said Peevy had a great game.
“He managed the game well and made big plays at the right times,” said Gattuso. “Maine played well. They executed a lot better than we did.”
Peevy is second in the 15-team Coastal Athletic Association with a 68 percent completion rate (87-for-128).
Stevens was also happy to see his team finally get off to a good start, something the coaching staff has been harping on.
UMaine fell behind Montana State 35-0, Monmouth 20-0 and Merrimack 10-0.
UMaine led 3-0 and 10-7 before falling behind 14-10 at the intermission.
The Black Bears outscored Merrimack and 2023 Football Championship Subdivision semifinalist Albany 44-6 in the second half.
“We want to be in position to win games in the fourth quarter and we have taken a step closer to doing that and built confidence within our players,” said Stevens.
Stevens said even though his team has a two-game winning streak, there are still plenty of things to work on during the bye week.
And he likes having a weekend without a game.
“It comes at a good time. We’d like to get some (injured) guys back and we got a few banged up on Saturday. We’ve played two road games in a row,” said Stevens.
UMaine’s next game will be on Saturday, Oct. 12 when the Black Bears travel to take on Delaware in a 1 p.m. game. Delaware will take a 4-0 record to Monmouth (3-2), on Saturday.
