ORONO – A work in progress.

That’s how University of Maine football coach Jack Cosgrove described his team after Saturday night’s 26-21 loss to Richmond at Alfond Stadium.

Coming off a good effort in a testy season opener at Division I-A Nebraska, the Black Bears appeared to have an early schedule tailor-made to help them improve and start building some momentum heading into the meat of their Atlantic 10 schedule.

Saturday’s loss has left the Bears realizing they aren’t as far along as they had hoped. UMaine (1-2) also suffered an early blow to its hopes of winning an A-10 championship.

“We’re not going to put our heads down,” said junior quarterback Ron Whitcomb. “We’re going to take this week and we’re going to work twice as hard, then we’re going to play Albany.”

UMaine is idle Saturday, then returns to action Oct. 1 in Portland with a nonleague contest against the Great Danes.

“We’ve got some things that we still are working on, still trying to get better perfecting, so that’s going to keep taking time,” Cosgrove said. “We’re fortunate, I think. We’ve got a bye week and we can get after some of those things, see if we can get more consistent throughout.”

Among the bright spots Saturday night was the Bears’ run game. Senior tailback Montell Owens carried 20 times for 101 yards, both career highs, and scored two touchdowns as UMaine netted 148 rushing yards.

“Despite the frustrations of the turnovers, we started to make some ground [Saturday] running the football and doing some nice things with our offense,” Cosgrove said.

The Bears again were spotty overall, scoring 21 points in the second quarter while being held scoreless in the second half – for the second straight game.

The offense turned the ball over four times, including three interceptions by Whitcomb – one of which was returned for a score and another of which came in the end zone.

Whitcomb was sacked three more times, bringing opponents’ season total to 19.

“It’s a missed throw, it’s a dropped ball, it’s a missed protection,” Whitcomb said of the offense’s struggles. “It’s not on one person, it’s on the whole offense collectively. We’re stopping ourselves. I think that’s most the most basic way you can put it.”

UMaine’s defense again played well enough for the team to win. The Bears held an unspectacular Richmond offense to 274 total yards, including only 106 on the ground.

The Spiders completed only six of 22 passes for 168 yards, but hit one screen pass for a 79-yard touchdown and another throw for 49 yards.

The Bears, who had a streak of seven consecutive scoreless quarters snapped in the first quarter Saturday, have held their first three opponents to an average of 17.0 points and 251 total yards, including only 79 yards via the run.

Senior linebacker Jermaine Walker continues to lead the charge, averaging 10 tackles per game. Junior cornerback Daren Stone also continues to exhibit a real nose for the football.

Stone, who was moved to corner after playing free safety his first two seasons, made two interceptions Saturday night for the second straight game. He now has five this season and nine in 25 career games.

“I have less to worry about so I can concentrate on one task,” Stone said of his success at cornerback.

Whitcomb said UMaine remains focused on chasing its lofty goals for the season.

“We’ve got a great defense right next to us that’s going to keep us in every game,” he said. “If we go out and do what we’re supposed to do, I feel confident we can win the rest of the games that we have on our schedule.”

Brady new UM-Machias coach

Brac Brady has been named to fill three positions at the University of Maine-Machias, including the men’s basketball head coaching job, Clippers athletic director Rich Fabri announced Monday.

Brady, who spent the last six years as the men’s basketball coach at Manatee Community College in Bradenton, Fla., also will be an assistant AD and the head cross country coach at UMM. He begins his duties Oct. 12.

Brady replaces Randy Lee, who departed in July to become the men’s coach at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin.

“Brac brings a tremendous amount of passion to this position, as well as the head coaching experience, administrative background and commitment to academics that I was looking for in someone to fill this position,” Fabri said.

At Manatee, Brady led the team to an 18-win season in 2003-04. He has been teaching high school mathematics the past two years.

Brady is a 1996 graduate of Palm Beach Atlantic College with a B.S. in physical education and secondary education. He was a three-year starter at PBAC and left with school records for 3-pointers in a game, season and career.

He also owns a master’s degree in phys ed and teacher education from Florida State.

“I’m very excited to be a part of the University of Maine at Machias and hopefully we can build on the program’s past accomplishments,” Brady said. “I hope the community will continue to support our program and I can guarantee them that it’ll be an exciting brand of basketball to watch.”