Cosgrove still believes the future is now

It was the question Jack Cosgrove had to know was coming.

Cosgrove’s University of Maine football team had just been slapped back into reality via a 24-7 loss to Yankee Conference leader New Hampshire on spongy Alumni Field this dreary Saturday afternoon in Orono. Maine’s three-game win streak was gone, the Black Bears’ record stood at 3-5, and the media pack was probing the head coach for signs of wavering conviction.

“Will you use any new players next week?” came the query.

The question was a thinly veiled reference to Maine’s quarterback situation, which again on Saturday featured seniors Emilio Colon and Joe Marsilio splitting the signal calling on a 75-25 percentage basis with less than spectacular results. The duo combined to complete 16 of 31 throws for 115 yards. Colon was sacked four times and intercepted once, painfully, in the UNH end zone.

“No,” came Cosgrove’s instant reply to the “changes” question. “We will play to win next week. We got beat by a better team this week.

“I’m very comfortable with our football team,” Cosgrove added for emphasis. “We’re committed to our seniors. They’ve done a great job.”

It’s moments like this that help explain why college coaches get paid the big bucks. How would you like to be in Cosgrove’s shoes?

Clearly, Colon and Marsilio have been anything but great. During Maine’s three straight wins, the Bears simply ran over people behind fullbacks Steve Knight and Ray Baur and an improving offensive line. Colon chipped in with four TD passes, but he and Marsilio mostly contributed by handing off and not doing anything dumb. The run was setting up the pass.

It’s there in black and white. In the three wins, Maine piled up 852 rushing yards. The Bears passed for 333 yards. That kind of unbalanced offensive attack was good enough to beat fellow conference pack teams Delaware, Richmond and Connecticut. It wasn’t good enough to beat a legitimate contender.

New Hampshire pushed its record to 6-1 by stacking up Maine’s run, limiting the Bears to 102 rushing yards. The UNH pass defense barely blinked while Colon and Marsilio dinked them for four more yards than the UM duo had averaged during the win streak.

It would have been easier to chalk this up to UNH simply being the far superior team if it wasn’t for the fact Maine had chances to be in the football game, chances that needed big plays from the QBs.

Forget Colon’s deflected interception in the UNH end zone on first and goal from the UNH-5. Two Maine drives were sabotaged by Colon holding the ball too long and taking a sack instead of throwing it away, a cardinal sin for a senior QB.

Maine’s anemic offensive performance couldn’t help but leave the media wags wondering how many among the 4,028 listed in attendance and the statewide TV audience were left thinking, “nice run, Jack, but you’re two games under .500 in late October and going nowhere. Why not give some experience to one of the younger QBs – either redshirt freshman John Tennett out of Bangor or Bucknell sophomore transfer Peter Harteveld?”

Cosgrove went on record earlier in the season saying he wouldn’t play either young QB until they had the best opportunity to excel. What the win streak did was create the impression that opportunity now exists.

Upon further reflection, though, even second-guessers have to realize what a difficult call this is to make.

Pretend for a moment you’re Maine’s head coach. Now answer this question: What is your top priority? Winning? OK, when? Now? You’ve got three games left, including a tough road game at William & Mary. You’ve got to win all three to go 6-5 and have a winning season.

Keep in mind no one’s going to remember whether this team goes 6-5 or 5-6, except the seniors and Cosgrove.

The next question is, is going 6-5 worth postponing the development of young players who, if they don’t make you better next year, might at least prevent you from starting from ground zero?

Let’s say you decide to go with one of the young QBs. Now you have to think about the message their playing sends to the other players on this team, particularly the upperclassmen. If the upperclassmen, who have developed their own loyalty to the senior QBs, think you’re giving up on their final season to build for the future, where’s their incentive to bust their butts?

Not so easy, this coaching, eh?

Planning for the future or loyalty to the seniors? Cosgrove has clearly made his choice, second-guessers be damned.