Having long since reluctantly settled into the role of spoiler, the University of Maine football team will get one last opportunity to stick its foot out in front of a higher-ranked Yankee Conference opponent this season when the Black Bears welcome Boston University to Alumni Field in Orono Saturday.

Tripping up BU in its quest for a share of the title is about all the satisfaction Maine can gain from its conference finale as it lugs its disappointing 2-5 league record into the 1 p.m. contest. The Bears (2-6 overall) will finish the season out of the conference against Northeastern and Youngstown State.

The Terriers, on the other hand, arrive in Maine fighting for their conference lives. BU (4-4, 3-2) is the second-hottest team in the league, having won three straight after a 1-4 start. A victory keeps the Terriers in the title hunt heading into critical home games with co-contenders Connecticut and Villanova.

Can the Bears possibly hope to match BU’s motivation?

Let them count the ways.

“There’s obviously last year’s game,” said senior offensive guard Tom Rogers, referring to the Terriers’ 30-28 win in Boston a year ago, BU’s 19th win in 24 games with Maine. “That’s on our minds. It’s our last conference game and we want to prove to them we’re a good team. And it’s BU. They’re leading the series by 15 games.”

From the fans’ perspective, the game offers the intriguing matchup of the league’s most explosive passing attack in BU’s run-and-shoot against the league’s stickiest-fingered secondary. Maine’s defensive backfield leads the league with 18 interceptions and is looking to get more working against BU quarterback Stan Greene, who averages 40 pass attempts per game.

Greene, a mobile, 5-11, 187-pound senior, burned Maine by completing 32 of 58 passes for 372 yards and 4 TDs in last year’s game. He’s coming off an equally impressive performance in last week’s 41-24 upset of New Hampshire, in which he connected on 21 of 35 throws for 341 yards and 4 TDs.

“We can’t let him sit back there in the pocket and move around like he did last year,” said Maine free safety Rhodney Tozier, who vividly remembers Greene and his stable of receivers from ’89. “We rushed three down linemen the whole game and he had a lot of time to pass the ball. We’ve got to get some pressure on him. When he puts the ball up 50 times, we’ve got to come up with a few of them.”

Maine head coach Kirk Ferentz avoided talking specifically about his plans for jamming the shoot part of BU’s attack, but pointed out the crux of the problem in defending the “offense of the ’90s.”

“If you put a rush on, you take a chance, and if you drop eight guys (into coverage), you take a chance,” Ferentz said. “All I know is we’ve got to contain their quarterback.”

While much of Maine’s focus has been on stopping BU’s offense this week, UM freshman quarterback Bob Zurinskas has quietly been working on repeating his sound performance amid last week’s 17-10 win over Delaware. With the element of surprise that accompanied his debut gone, however, the 6-foot-2, 195-pound rookie is going to have to do more than hand the ball off and run bootlegs.

“The test for Bob, and for our entire team, is to put together back-to-back winning efforts,” Ferentz said. “We were prepared to throw more with him last week, but didn’t have to. I expect we’ll have to throw more against BU.”

The BU defense has been nothing if not vulnerable – to the pass and the run. The Terriers yielded more than 500 total yards to New Hampshire. They rank next-to-last in the league in total defense, allowing 415 yards and 24 points per game. But, like Maine, they’ve consistently come up with big plays, led by senior linebacker Robert Talley. They rank second in takeaways behind Maine with 24.

“We’ve had 11 guys running to the ball all season,” said BU head coach Dan Allen.

Having long since reluctantly settled into the role of spoiler, the University of Maine football team will get one last opportunity to stick its foot out in front of a higher-ranked Yankee Conference opponent this season when the Black Bears welcome Boston University to Alumni Field in Orono Saturday.

Tripping up BU in its quest for a share of the title is about all the satisfaction Maine can gain from its conference finale as it lugs its disappointing 2-5 league record into the 1 p.m. contest. The Bears (2-6 overall) will finish the season out of the conference against Northeastern and Youngstown State.

The Terriers, on the other hand, arrive in Maine fighting for their conference lives. BU (4-4, 3-2) is the second-hottest team in the league, having won three straight after a 1-4 start. A victory keeps the Terriers in the title hunt heading into critical home games with co-contenders Connecticut and Villanova.

Can the Bears possibly hope to match BU’s motivation?

Let them count the ways.

“There’s obviously last year’s game,” said senior offensive guard Tom Rogers, referring to the Terriers’ 30-28 win in Boston a year ago, BU’s 19th win in 24 games with Maine. “That’s on our minds. It’s our last conference game and we want to prove to them we’re a good team. And it’s BU. They’re leading the series by 15 games.”

From the fans’ perspective, the game offers the intriguing matchup of the league’s most explosive passing attack in BU’s run-and-shoot against the league’s stickiest-fingered secondary. Maine’s defensive backfield leads the league with 18 interceptions and is looking to get more working against BU quarterback Stan Greene, who averages 40 pass attempts per game.

Greene, a mobile, 5-11, 187-pound senior, burned Maine by completing 32 of 58 passes for 372 yards and 4 TDs in last year’s game. He’s coming off an equally impressive performance in last week’s 41-24 upset of New Hampshire, in which he connected on 21 of 35 throws for 341 yards and 4 TDs.

“We can’t let him sit back there in the pocket and move around like he did last year,” said Maine free safety Rhodney Tozier, who vividly remembers Greene and his stable of receivers from ’89. “We rushed three down linemen the whole game and he had a lot of time to pass the ball. We’ve got to get some pressure on him. When he puts the ball up 50 times, we’ve got to come up with a few of them.”

Maine head coach Kirk Ferentz avoided talking specifically about his plans for jamming the shoot part of BU’s attack, but pointed out the crux of the problem in defending the “offense of the ’90s.”

“If you put a rush on, you take a chance, and if you drop eight guys (into coverage), you take a chance,” Ferentz said. “All I know is we’ve got to contain their quarterback.”

While much of Maine’s focus has been on stopping BU’s offense this week, UM freshman quarterback Bob Zurinskas has quietly been working on repeating his sound performance amid last week’s 17-10 win over Delaware. With the element of surprise that accompanied his debut gone, however, the 6-foot-2, 195-pound rookie is going to have to do more than hand the ball off and run bootlegs.

“The test for Bob, and for our entire team, is to put together back-to-back winning efforts,” Ferentz said. “We were prepared to throw more with him last week, but didn’t have to. I expect we’ll have to throw more against BU.”

The BU defense has been nothing if not vulnerable – to the pass and the run. The Terriers yielded more than 500 total yards to New Hampshire. They rank next-to-last in the league in total defense, allowing 415 yards and 24 points per game. But, like Maine, they’ve consistently come up with big plays, led by senior linebacker Robert Talley. They rank second in takeaways behind Maine with 24.

“We’ve had 11 guys running to the ball all season,” said BU head coach Dan Allen.