ORONO – Pat Pa’u and the University of Maine defensive line corps didn’t put a lot of big numbers on the stat sheet Saturday night.

While the unit combined for only 13 tackles, its relentless pressure enabled the rest of the Black Bear defense to have a memorable game.

The defensive line harassed Northern Colorado into five interceptions, two of which were returned for touchdowns, setting the tone for UMaine’s resounding 38-0 football victory on Morse Field.

A record-setting Alfond Stadium crowd of 10,048 turned out to watch 18th-ranked UMaine (1-1) hold No. 23 Northern Colorado (1-1) to 162 total yards.

It was the first time UNC had been held scoreless in 146 games, dating back to 1992.

“I’m not sure how good they are, but they were better than our offensive line was tonight,” UNC coach O. Kay Dalton said of UMaine’s D-line. “That was probably the biggest difference in the ballgame.”

Senior tackle Pa’u teamed with tackles Bruno Dorismond and Mike DeVito and ends Marcus Walton, Matthew King and Kurt Bullwith to completely disrupt UNC’s offfensive flow.

“I think we did a pretty good job holding the line of scrimmage,” Pa’u said. “I’m proud of everybody on the D-line today. We made it easier on everybody in the secondary.”

UMaine limited the Bears to 28 rushing yards and hurried their quarterbacks into a combined 17-for-41 passing effort. Free safety Daren Stone made two interceptions, returning one 38 yards for a touchdown, while Anthony Hicks scored on a momentous 30-yard INT return. Brandon McGowan and Bangor’s Joe Vanidestine also had interceptions.

“The D-line makes it a lot easier when they start rushing and they play like madmen, full-out,” said Hicks, a redshirt freshman inside linebacker who made five tackles, including a sack.

With UMaine leading 14-0 and the first-half clock winding down, Hicks stepped in front of a pass by UNC quarterback Tony Christensen and ran 30 yards, untouched, for a TD.

“The biggest play of the game was Hicksy’s interception return because it kind of relieved a little of that feeling that maybe they could make another comeback,” Cosgrove said.

UMaine then scored on its first possession of the second half when senior tailback Marcus Williams sped 38 yards for a TD. Williams carried 16 times for 87 yards, becoming only the third man in UMaine history to surpass 3,000 career rushing yards, joining all-time yardage leader Lorenzo Bouier and Carl Smith.

While UNC had the ball most of the third quarter, UMaine’s defensive depth enabled it to maintain the “goose egg” on the scoreboard.

Stone’s 38-yard interception return, his second in a span of 2 minutes, 44 seconds, helped the hosts ice it with 11:33 left. Mike Mellow added a late 33-yard field goal.

“It was a great win for us,” Cosgrove said. “Certainly there’s a good feeling down in the locker room because we played as a team. That was kind of a a goal of ours to put the thing together.”

The offense got off to an impressive start, opening the game with a 13-play, 68-yard scoring drive that consumed nearly 51/2 minutes.

Sophomore quarterback Ron Whitcomb (14-for-22, 112 yards) completed two key third-down passes, including a 13-yarder to Kevin McMahan (4 receptions, 34 yards) on a third-and-11 play to the UNC 5. Two plays later, Whitcomb hit McMahan on a 5-yard slant pattern in the end zone.

The special teams helped set up a score on UNC’s ensuing possession. Chad Hunter fielded a low punt snap, but was then stripped of the ball by UMaine’s Arel Gordon and the hosts recovered at the UNC 28.

UMaine needed four plays to score as Christian Pereira (5 rec., 57 yards) made a leaping grab of a seam pass to the left side of the end zone. Mellow’s PAT made it 14-0 with 5:24 left in the first quarter.

The defenses controlled the pace for the rest of the half, with neither team able to move the ball consistently in large part because of the tremendous pressure being applied on the quarterbacks.

Tailback Andre Wilson led Northern Colorado with 57 rushing yards and five catches for 54 yards.

Cornerback Devon Goree’s eight tackles, including a sack, paced the UMaine defense. Jermaine Walker made six tackles and Clinton Brown had five.

Linebacker Ryan Palmer piled up 12 tackles for UNC.

MAINE 38, NORTHERN COLORADO 0

No. Colorado (1-1) 0 0 0 0 ? 0

Maine (1-1) 14 7 7 10 ? 38

UM ? McMahan 5 pass from Whitcomb (Mellow kick)

UM ? Pereira 16 pass from Whitcomb (Mellow kick)

UM ? Hicks 30 interception return (Mellow kick)

UM ? M. Williams 38 run (Mellow kick)

UM ? Stone 38 interception return (Mellow kick)

UM ? Mellow 33 field goal

UNC UMaine

First downs 15 16

Rushing att.-yards 28-28 39-196

Passing comp.-att. 17-41 16-25

Passing yards 134 129

Total yards 162 325

Punts-avg. 6-39.2 5-38.2

Fumbles-lost 1-0 1-1

Intercepted by 0 5

Penalties-yards 4-25 9-75

Rushing

UNC: Wilson 15-57, Waterman 3-20, Dietz 1-3, Farbes 1-(-9), Hager 1-(-10), Harter 1-(-11), Christensen 6-(-22); UMaine: M. Williams 16-85, K. Williams 7-51, Owens 7-36, Whitcomb 8-20, Legree 1-4

Passing

UNC: Christensen 14-36-3-117, Hager 3-5-2-17; UMaine: Whitcomb 14-22-0-112, Legree 2-3-0-17

Receiving

UNC: Wilson 5-54, Farbes 4-31, Sweitzer 4-22, Jackson 2-15, Carlson 2-12; UMaine: Pereira 5-57, McMahan 4-35, Nwosu 2-21, Radulski 2-18, Owens 2-(-2), Gordon 1-0

A?10,048