DURHAM, N.H. – Two seven-point victories and you couldn't feel any more differently about them if you tried.
After beating Holy Cross last week 24-17 in a tale of two halves, Colgate put together a 60-minute effort here Saturday night in a 10-3 triumph over No. 20 New Hampshire.
Colgate won for the second straight time on the UNH home turf and halted a number of long-running Wildcat streaks in the process:
• 13 consecutive wins in home openers.
• No home nonconference losses since Nov. 11, 2000 (Gardner-Webb 38-35).
• 52-7 home record the past decade, including 17-2 vs. nonconference foes.
• 22-3 home record vs. teams outside CAA during current 14-year NCAA playoff run.
• 6-2 record against Colgate, including 3-2 in Durham.
But the Raiders harkened the spirit of 2015's big playoff win here and proceeded to hold the Wildcats to their lowest home-field point total since 2010. In the process, Colgate opened its football season 2-0 for the first time since 2009.
All of the game's points came in the second quarter.
On the second play of the period,
Dillon DeIuliis forced a fumble and
T.J. Holl pounced on it at the UNH 19. It took eight plays and 4:50 of clock time, but Colgate got it in the end zone when
Grant Breneman scored from 1 yard out on fourth down.
New Hampshire drove for a 30-yard field goal but
Chris Puzzi answered with a 40-yarder of his own just 30 seconds before halftime and that was that.
Bottom Line
• Colgate 10, No. 20 New Hampshire 3
Won-Lost Records
• Colgate improved to 2-0 for the first time since 2009.
• New Hampshire, which began the season ranked among the nation's top 10, is now 0-2.
Stats of the Game
•
Nick Wheeler had himself a ballgame. Wheeler posted 10 tackles with three sacks, including one that was a strip-sack. The junior lineman recovered that fumble to halt a UNH drive early in the fourth quarter.
• Wheeler's three sacks tied a career high, and his 3½ tackles-for-loss set a career high. He finished one shy of his collegiate best in total tackles but set a personal best with six solos.
•
James Holland Jr., rushed 18 times for 104 yards to become the 21st Raider to eclipse 2,000 rushing yards for his career. He's up to 2,096.
• Holland during the game passed
Demetrius Russell (2,006 from 2012-15), Ryan Vena (2,008 from 1996-99), Stacy Hall (2,016 from 1981-84) and Anthony Caravetta (2,025 from 1993-96).
•
Caleb Fell's pass deflection at the line of scrimmage foiled UNH's last real chance on fourth-and-4 at the Colgate 29 with 2:32 remaining.
• Holl had nine tackles, including two for lost yardage. His fumble recovery at the UNH 19 led to the game's only TD.
•
Tommy Halkyard came off the bench and punted six times for a 37-yard average. He saved his best for last when his 46-yarder with 10 seconds left all but iced the game.
• Puzzi's 40-yard field goal matched his career long.
• Colgate was 3-of-3 on fourth down. Two of those conversions came on the 19-yard TD drive that needed eight plays.
• Colgate in the first quarter began drives at their own 19, 1, 10 and 10. UNH opened the game with drives starting at the Colgate 46 and 44 and their own 47, yet the Colgate defense refused to budge and it stayed 0-0.
• Colgate first-year
Jayvion Queen got the start at left tackle in place of
Jovaun Woolford, who was injured against Holy Cross.
• Through three quarters, UNH's Neil O'Connor had all seven Wildcat receptions for 74 yards. He ended up with 10 catches for 111 yards.
From the Sources
•
Colgate head coach Dan Hunt: (Opening comment) "Anytime you can come here and win, it says something for your program. You look around and you see the 14 straight years in the playoffs and the lack of non-CAA teams that have come in here and won, that says a lot for the effort these guys gave here tonight.
"Obviously, we'd like to get a few more points and execute the field goal there when we had a chance to go up 10, but we kept putting it in our defense's hands and they kept making plays. For our team to get where we want to be and for our conference to get a little bit more respect, these are the games we have to win. And I'm so happy."
(On the defensive effort) "To come to this place and not give up a touchdown – this will be one of the better memories of coming up here. Our defense really did that last week too. Against Holy Cross, we had them bottled up for most of the game but we let the quarterback make some plays with his feet. Tonight, we didn't do that. I can't say enough about our defense."
•
Colgate defensive tackle Nick Wheeler: (On containing UNH quarterback Christian Lupoli) "It wasn't just the quarterback but the whole offense. We focus on flying around, being physical and playing with a lot of effort and attitude. Two words we used to describe ourselves is a bunch of runners and hitters, and that was the philosophy we wanted to play with this week.
"Today, we came out on the first drive and just tried to set the tone."
•
Colgate quarterback Grant Breneman: (On surviving the early poor field position) "When you're backed up like that, you just have to survive, hold onto the ball and try to flip field position. We ended up doing that at the end of the first quarter and then we got the turnover early in the second down in their end, and that's when we took advantage.
"I told the guys that we just had to survive the first wave of things. And once we get a lead, we feel so confident in our defense. We would like to have had more points on the board, but we just ground it out and let the defense take over, and they're good enough to do that."
(On the turnover at the UNH 19) "That was a huge opportunity for us and you could feel the momentum shift. We went for it twice on fourth down because we know how important those opportunities are, especially in an away game like this."
Listen to the entire Colgate postgame press conference HERE.
Gate Grab Bag
• Attendance at Wildcat Stadium was 11,433.
Up Next
• Colgate heads south next Saturday to take on Furman.
• The Paladins are 0-2 after this week's 45-7 loss at No. 15 Elon.
• Kickoff from Greenville is 1 p.m., with WKXZ-FM 93.9 carrying the radio call.
