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It all began for the University of Maine on Sept. 27, 1947.
Without fanfare, coach Eck Allen’s Black Bears traveled to Kingston, R.I., and beat Rhode Island 33-13 in Maine’s first-ever Yankee Conference football game.
UMaine’s 50-year affiliation with the Yankee Conference will end as quietly today when the Bears travel to Amherst, Mass., for a 12:30 p.m. league contest against the University of Massachusetts.
Today’s game is the last YanCon clash for Maine as the league will disband and become part of the Atlantic 10 after the 1996 season. All 12 Yankee Conference teams are scheduled to make the move.
Maine coach Jack Cosgrove, who himself played in the league at Maine during the 1970s, has had nothing but UMass on his mind.
“I hadn’t thought about it being our last Yankee Conference game,” Cosgrove said. “I’m more concerned that we have a chance to be 5-0 in our half of the conference.”
The demise of the Yankee Conference is a result of NCAA restructuring. Effective in August 1997, Division I-A representation will be by conference rather than by individual schools.
As a result, one-sport leagues such as the YanCon would have no voice in NCAA legislation pertaining to Division I football.
“I just want us to be in a conference,” Cosgrove said. “To play the teams that we’re playing I think is great competition for our program.”
Maine, which is 5-3 overall and 4-3 in league play, was picked in a preseason poll to finish sixth in the New England Division. If the Bears beat the Minutemen (5-3, 3-2 YC), they’ll be 5-0 against divisional opponents.
Maine will try to keep its minimal NCAA postseason hopes alive by winning its sixth game of the season, which hasn’t happened since the Bears went 6-5 in 1992.
Maine is coming off a bye week after beating New Hampshire 34-20 on Oct. 19. Cosgrove hopes the extra week will benefit the Bears.
“We had a little bit of an advantage with a couple of extra practices. We should be ahead of UMass in preparation,” Cosgrove said. “The negative part is they played last week and we didn’t.”
The Bears have compiled a 114-148-7 record (.435) during their 50 YanCon seasons, winning or sharing league titles nine times. The most recent was 1989.
Massachusetts, along with Maine, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Vermont, was among the six charter members of the Yankee Conference.
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