The University of Maine football team will open their 2022 season on Saturday when they travel to Albuquerque, New Mexico to battle an FBS opponent the New Mexico Lobos at University Stadium at 8 p.m. Eastern Time.
Maine will be under the direction of first year head coach and former Black Bear player himself Jordan Stevens. He takes over for Nick Charlton, who stepped down in November to take an assistant coach/ offensive coordinator job at the University of Connecticut under Jim Mora. Stevens was named the 37th head coach in school history on December 7. He was previously a defensive line coach in Orono from 2011-2014 under Jack Cosgrove, where he was on staff for two FCS playoff appearances before moving on to Yale as an assistant for seven seasons. Maine is coming off a 6-5 mark in 2021 (4-4 in CAA), winning five of their final six games after a tough 1-4 start including wins over FBS UMass and their rival UNH in the final contest of the season.
Maine will return senior quarterback Joe Fagnano, who when healthy has one of the best arms in the CAA. Fagnano suffered an ankle injury early in the season in 2021 against James Madison that forced him to miss nearly two months of action. He’s thrown 31 career touchdowns to just six interceptions in 16 games, playing in just a total of eight games the past two years due to injury and a pandemic-shortened 2021 spring season that limited his reps. With two of his big targets gone from last season in Andre Miller and Devin Young, Fagnano may rely heavily on senior tight end Shawn Bowman. Bowman led the Black Bears in receiving scores in 2021 (4), and is a big redzone threat. At the wide receiver position, Boston College transfer Kobay White may be a standout at the FCS level. White led BC in receptions twice, but injuries have limited him to just one game the past two years. Junior running back Freddie Brock is expected to be a big playmaker once again for Maine. Brock ran for 720 yards and had a team-high 10 total TDs last season (7 rushing, 3 receiving). Some other names to watch out for offensively include graduate running back Elijah Barnwell, graduate wide receiver Zavier Scott, junior wide receiver Montigo Moss, junior wide receiver Michael Monios, and graduate wideout Jacob Hennie. The regulars that will be seen on the offensive line will be graduate Michael Gerace, senior Jack Webb, and sophomore David Gross out of Bucksport High School.
The vaunted “Black Hole” defense will be looking for a rebound season in 2022. They allowed the third most rushing and passing yards in the CAA a year ago, and graduated their top tackler in linebacker Ray Miller (103 stops in 2021) along with several other starters. Junior linebacker Xavier Nurse (60 tackles) should help to fill the loss of Miller at that position. The pass rush and getting pressure on opposing quarterbacks will be a key to this years defense, as they only had 12 sacks as a team last fall. Two sophomores who impressed last year in the secondary are back in Buggs Brown and Shakur Smalls. Those two players as freshman combined for five of the 10 Maine interceptions. Other defensive players that could make an impact include senior linebacker Adrian Otero, graduate defensive lineman Jamehl Wiley, junior defensive lineman Khairi Manns, and graduate DL Xavier Mitchell. On special teams Maine will count on graduate punter Bailey Timms, while senior Brian Cooey will do the kicking duties.
The Lobos are out of the Mountain West Conference, which includes Utah State, Wyoming, Air Force, Boise State, and Colorado State within their division. This will be the first ever matchup between Maine and New Mexico. The game can be streamed free on the Mountain West Network, available online or on Apple TV, Roku, Fire TV, and Android TV. The Lobos are coming off a 3-9 season in 2021. Here is the complete 2022 Maine football schedule that includes five home games at Alfond Stadium (four within the CAA)-
Sept 3 at New Mexico 8 p.m.
Sept 10 vs Colgate 1 p.m.
Sept 17 at Boston College 7:30 p.m.
Sept 24 bye week
*Oct 1 vs Villanova 1 p.m.
*Oct 8 at Hampton 2 p.m.
*Oct 15 vs Monmouth 1 p.m. (Homecoming)
*Oct 22 at Stony Brook 3:30 p.m.
*Oct 29 vs Richmond 1 p.m.
*Nov 5 at Rhode Island 1 p.m.
*Nov 12 at Albany 12 p.m.
*Nov 19 vs UNH 12 p.m. (rivalry game- battle for the Brice-Cowell Musket)
*-denotes CAA Conference games
