DURHAM, N.H. – The University of Maine football team spent the last five weeks fighting desperately to keep its postseason hopes alive.

The Black Bears didn’t seem to have a lot of fight left Saturday afternoon.

New Hampshire torched the Atlantic 10’s top-ranked defense for 24 points and 320 yards in the first half alone, paving the way for a season-ending 47-27 thumping of 23rd-ranked UMaine at Cowell Stadium.

“We got outplayed, outcoached, outeverythinged today by New Hampshire,” said UMaine coach Jack Cosgrove. “That wasn’t the kind of [UMaine] football team that I’m used to seeing.”

The Bears wound up 7-5 overall, 5-4 in league play, surrendering the most points since a 56-28 NCAA playoff loss at Northern Iowa two years ago.

The Wildcats (5-7, 3-6 A-10) amassed 503 total yards, the most against the Bears this season, with a multifaceted offensive onslaught that kept UMaine guessing.

“That’s more than anybody’s moved the football on us all year long and their defense had us very frustrated in the first half,” Cosgrove said.

UMaine likely would not have made the 16-team NCAA field regardless, especially after Montana needed an at-large bid after losing its league title game. Champion Delaware and runner-up Massachusetts are the two A-10 playoff entries.

The Wildcats’ unheralded defense shut down UMaine in the early going. First, the ‘Cats nullified Marcus Williams and the run game. Then, they covered the Bears’ receivers well and kept pressure on QB Ron Whitcomb.

“They came out and stopped the run and we had to go out and pass the ball,” Whitcomb said. “If we execute, then we’re in that game and they’re not up 24 in the first half.”

In the meantime, UNH quarterback Mike Granieri directed an attack for which the Bears had no answers. The hosts scored on four of their first six possessions, running 53 plays while racking up 320 yards and an eight-minute edge in time of possession in the first half.

R.J. Harvey (25 carries, 179 yards) raced 46 yards for the Wildcats’ opening touchdown, which came after a Whitcomb fumble. Double threat Granieri passed for 265 yards and two scores while rushing for 59 more yards.

He sandwiched an 11-yard scoring pass to David Bailey (11 receptions, 113 yds.) and a 2-yard TD toss to Joe Kreider around a 22-yard field goal by Connor McCormick as UNH built a 24-0 halftime advantage.

“They threw a lot of different formations at us and different plays and misdirection… and a lot of times it tends to get people confused and that’s when people start playing off their keys,” said UMaine linebacker Jermaine Walker (14 tackles).

“A lot of people were just sitting back and reading what was happening instead of attacking,” he added.

By the time UMaine established a ryhthm with its passing game, it was 33-7 late in the third quarter. The Bears refused to fold, but were unable to cut the deficit to fewer than 13 points (33-20) with 11:35 to play.

Whitcomb was not at the top of his game, but completed 29 of 59 throws for a career-best 432 yards and three TDs. He was intercepted three times, all in the second half during UMaine’s frantic comeback attempt.

Whitcomb hooked up with wideout Kevin McMahan on TD throws of 4 and 3 yards during a span of less than three minutes early in the fourth quarter as the Bears crept within 13, but UNH answered with the clinching score at the 8:38 mark.

McMahan also had a 49-yard TD reception, tying a school single-game record with three TD catches while achieving personal bests with 11 receptions for 190 yards.

Christian Pereira pulled down 14 catches for 198 yards, both career highs.

UMaine tailback Marcus Williams found precious little running room. He broke a 20-yard TD run in the third quarter and finished with only 45 yards on 13 carries, enough to move him past Royston English into third place in UMaine’s all-time rushing list with 2,863 yards.

Brandon McGowan posted 14 tackles for the Beras, while Joan Quezada had nine, including three for negative yardage.

WILDCATS 47, BLACK BEARS 27

Maine (7-5) 0 0 7 20 ? 27

New Hampshire (5-7) 7 17 9 14 ? 47

UNH ? Harvey 46 run (McCormick kick)

UNH ? Bailey 11 pass from Granieri (McCormick kick)

UNH ? McCormick 22 field goal

UNH ? Kreider 2 pass from Granieri (McCormick kick)

UM ? Williams 20 run (Mellow kick)

UNH ? Harvey 3 run (kick failed)

UNH ? McCormick 30 field goal

UM ? McMahan 4 pass from Whitcomb (Mellow kick)

UM ? McMahan 3 pass from Whitcomb (Mellow kick)

UNH ? McKinney 2 run (McCormick kick)

UM ? McMahan 49 pass from Whitcomb (Mellow kick)

UNH ? Harvey 35 run (McCormick kick)

Maine UNH

First downs 23 26

Rushing att.-yards 23-14 53-238

Passing comp.-att. 29-59 27-41

Passing yards 432 265

Total yards 446 503

Punts-avg. 6-41.5 6-31.7

Fumbles-lost 2-1 1-0

Intercepted by 0 3

Penalties-yards 9-95 3-23

Rushing

Maine: Wiliams 13-45, Whitcomb 10-(minus 31); UNH: Harvey 25-179, Granieri 20-59, McCoy 1-5, McKinney 3-0, Bailey 2-(minus 1), Team 2-(minus 4)

Passing

Maine: Whitcomb 29-59-3-432; UNH: Granieri 27-41-0-265

Receiving

Maine: Pereira 14-198, McMahan 11-190, Waller 3-41, Williams 1-3; UNH: Bailey 11-113, Williams 6-52, Ball 4-79, Harvey 2-5, Diner 1-9, McKinney 1-4, Kreider 1-2, Brown 1-1

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