2017 New Hampshire Wildcats football team

American college football season

2017 New Hampshire Wildcats football

FCS Playoffs Quarterfinals, L 14–56 vs. South Dakota State
Conference	Colonial Athletic Association
Ranking
STATS	No. 21
FCS Coaches	No. 20
Record	9–5 (5–3 CAA)
Head coach	Sean McDonnell (19th season)
Offensive coordinator	Ryan Carty (10th season)
Defensive coordinator	John Lyons (6th season)
Home stadium	Wildcat Stadium
Seasons ← 2016 2018 →

2017 Colonial Athletic Association football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 2 James Madison $^	8	–	0	14	–	1
No. 11 Stony Brook ^	7	–	1	10	–	3
No. 20 Elon ^	6	–	2	8	–	4
No. 12 New Hampshire ^	5	–	3	9	–	5
Delaware	5	–	3	7	–	4
Richmond	4	–	4	6	–	5
Towson	3	–	5	5	–	6
Villanova	3	–	5	5	–	6
Maine	3	–	5	4	–	6
Albany	2	–	6	4	–	7
Rhode Island	2	–	6	3	–	8
William & Mary	0	–	8	2	–	9

$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

The 2017 New Hampshire Wildcats football team represented the University of New Hampshire in the 2017 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by 19th-year head coach Sean McDonnell and played their home games at Wildcat Stadium. They were a member of the Colonial Athletic Association. They finished the season 9–5, 5–3 in CAA play to finish in a tie for fourth place. They received an at-large bid to the FCS Playoffs where they defeated Central Connecticut and Central Arkansas before losing in the quarterfinals to South Dakota State.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 31	7:00 p.m.	Maine	No. 13	Wildcat Stadium Durham, NH (Battle for the Brice–Cowell Musket)	CSL^[1]	W 24–23	15,854
September 9^[2]	4:00 p.m.	at Georgia Southern*	No. 12	Legion Field^[2] Birmingham, AL	ESPN3	W 22–12	3,387
September 16	1:00 p.m.	at Holy Cross*	No. 9	Fitton Field Worcester, MA	Charter TV3	L 26–51	7,906
September 23	3:30 p.m.	Rhode Island	No. 15	Wildcat Stadium Durham, NH	ESPN3	W 28–14	22,135
September 30	6:00 p.m.	Bryant*	No. 15	Wildcat Stadium Durham, NH	ESPN3	W 45–17	7,951
October 14	6:00 p.m.	at Stony Brook	No. 12	Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium Stony Brook, NY	Wolfievision	L 24–38	12,311
October 21	2:00 p.m.	Towson	No. 18	Wildcat Stadium Durham, NH	UNHAthletics via YouTube	W 40–17	10,522
October 28	3:30 p.m.	at No. 1 James Madison	No. 17	Bridgeforth Stadium Harrisonburg, VA	MadiZone	L 0–21	25,298
November 4	2:00 p.m.	at William & Mary	No. 21	Zable Stadium Williamsburg, VA	TATV	W 35–16	5,426
November 11	2:00 p.m.	No. 7 Elon	No. 18	Wildcat Stadium Durham, NH	FCS FSGO	W 16–6	7,294
November 18	1:00 p.m.	at Albany	No. 16	Bob Ford Field at Tom & Mary Casey Stadium Albany, NY	CSL^[1]	L 0–15	3,459
November 25	2:00 p.m.	Central Connecticut*	No. 21	Wildcat Stadium Durham, NH (NCAA Division I First Round)	ESPN3	W 14–0	2,385
December 2	2:00 p.m.	at No. 3 Central Arkansas*	No. 21	Estes Stadium Conway, AR (NCAA Division I Second Round)	ESPN3	W 21–15	6,243
December 9	3:00 p.m.	at No. 6 South Dakota State*	No. 21	Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium Brookings, SD (NCAA Division I Quarterfinal)	ESPN3	L 14–56	5,583
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

Game summaries

Maine

	1	2	3	4	Total
Black Bears	7	3	7	6	23
No. 13 Wildcats	14	3	0	7	24

At Georgia Southern

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 12 Wildcats	15	7	0	0	22
Eagles	0	0	5	7	12

At Holy Cross

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 9 Wildcats	7	0	12	7	26
Crusaders	3	13	21	14	51

Rhode Island

	1	2	3	4	Total
Rams	0	0	7	7	14
No. 15 Wildcats	8	7	0	13	28

Bryant

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bulldogs	0	17	0	0	17
No. 15 Wildcats	17	14	0	14	45

At Stony Brook

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 12 Wildcats	6	18	0	0	24
Seawolves	9	7	6	16	38

Towson

	1	2	3	4	Total
Tigers	3	0	0	14	17
No. 18 Wildcats	7	26	7	0	40

At James Madison

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 17 Wildcats	0	0	0	0	0
No. 1 Dukes	0	14	7	0	21

At William & Mary

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 21 Wildcats	7	14	7	7	35
Tribe	0	10	0	6	16

Elon

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 7 Phoenix	0	0	0	6	6
No. 18 Wildcats	0	7	9	0	16

At Albany

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 16 Wildcats	0	0	0	0	0
Great Danes	0	3	9	3	15

NCAA First Round—Central Connecticut

	1	2	3	4	Total
Blue Devils	0	0	0	0	0
No. 21 Wildcats	0	7	0	7	14

NCAA Second Round—at Central Arkansas

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 21 Wildcats	7	0	7	7	21
No. 3 Bears	7	0	0	8	15

NCAA Quarterfinal–at South Dakota State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 21 Wildcats	0	0	7	7	14
No. 6 Jackrabbits	21	7	14	14	56

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final
STATS FCS	13	12	9	15	15	13	12	18	17	21	18	16	21
Coaches	16	12	11	16	14	13	12	18	16	19	16	14	20

References

^ ^a ^b Washburn, Rob (August 18, 2017). "CAA PARTNERS WITH CBS SPORTS DIGITAL". Colonial Athletic Association. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
^ ^a ^b "UNH/Georgia Southern Game Moved to Birmingham, Ala". UNH Wildcats. September 6, 2017. Retrieved September 8, 2017.

v t e New Hampshire Wildcats football
Venues	College Oval ( –1920) Memorial Field (1921–1935) Wildcat Stadium (1936–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Dartmouth UMass: Colonial Clash Bill Knight Trophy Maine: Battle for the Brice–Cowell Musket
People	Head coaches NFL draftees
Seasons	1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

v t e 2017 NCAA Division I FCS playoff participants
Central Arkansas Central Connecticut Elon Furman Jacksonville State James Madison Kennesaw State Lehigh Monmouth New Hampshire Nicholls State North Dakota State Northern Arizona Northern Iowa Sam Houston State Samford San Diego South Dakota South Dakota State Southern Utah Stony Brook Weber State Western Illinois Wofford
Champion – North Dakota State