# 2018 New Hampshire Wildcats football team

The 2018 New Hampshire Wildcats football team represented the University of New Hampshire in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by 20th-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 4–7, 3–5 in CAA play to finish in ninth place.

## Preseason
### CAA Poll

In the CAA preseason poll released on July 24, 2018, the Wildcats were predicted to finish in second place.
| Predicted finish | Team | Votes (1st place) |
| 1 | James Madison | 241 (21) |
| 2 | New Hampshire | 206 (2) |
| 3 | Delaware | 182 |
| 4 | Stony Brook | 169 |
| 5 | Elon | 168 (1) |
| 6 | Villanova | 164 |
| 7 | Richmond | 127 |
| 8 | Maine | 81 |
| 9 | Albany | 78 |
| 10 | Towson | 74 |
| 11 | William & Mary | 55 |
| 12 | Rhode Island | 39 |

### Preseason All-CAA Team

The Wildcats had three players selected to the preseason all-CAA team including quarterback Trevor Knight being selected as offensive player of the year.

### Award watch lists

| Award | Player | Position | Year |
| Walter Payton Award | Neil O'Connor | WR | SR |

## Schedule

| Date | Time | Opponent | Rank | Site | TV | Result | Attendance |
| August 30 | 7:00 p.m. | at Maine | No. 7 | Alfond StadiumOrono, ME (Battle for the Brice–Cowell Musket) | FCS/FSGO | L 7–35 | 6,597 |
| September 8 | 6:00 p.m. | Colgate* | No. 20 | Wildcat StadiumDurham, NH | NBCS BOS | L 3–10 | 11,433 |
| September 15 | 5:00 p.m. | at Colorado* | | Folsom FieldBoulder, CO | P12N | L 14–45 | 42,360 |
| September 29 | 1:30 p.m. | at No. 11 Elon | | Rhodes StadiumElon, NC | PAA | L 9–30 | 10,856 |
| October 6 | 1:00 p.m. | Holy Cross* | | Wildcat StadiumDurham, NH | NBCS BOS | W 28–0 | 6,497 |
| October 13 | 3:30 p.m. | Stony Brook | | Wildcat StadiumDurham, NH | CBSI/CBS SportsLive NBCS BOS | L 7–35 | 17,687 |
| October 20 | 3:30 p.m. | No. 24 Delaware | | Wildcat StadiumDurham, NH | CBSI/CBS SportsLive NBCS BOS | L 14–38 | 11,992 |
| October 27 | 3:30 p.m. | at Villanova | | Villanova StadiumVillanova, PA | CBSI/CBS SportsLive | W 34–0 | 3,919 |
| November 3 | 1:00 p.m. | No. 3 James Madison | | Wildcat StadiumDurham, NH | FCS/FSGO | W 35–24 | 7,741 |
| November 10 | 1:00 p.m. | Albany | | Wildcat StadiumDurham, NH | NBCS BOS | W 24–10 | 5,571 |
| November 17 | 12:00 p.m. | at Rhode Island | | Meade StadiumKingston, RI | CAA.tv | L 21–24 | 3,012 |
| *Non-conference gameHomecomingRankings from STATS Poll released prior to the gameAll times are in Eastern time ||||||||

## Game summaries
### At Maine

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 7 Wildcats | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 |
| Black Bears | 0 | 22 | 7 | 6 | 35 |

### Colgate

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Raiders | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| No. 20 Wildcats | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |

### At Colorado

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Wildcats | 0 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 14 |
| Buffaloes | 7 | 21 | 10 | 7 | 45 |

### At Elon

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Wildcats | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| No. 11 Phoenix | 7 | 17 | 3 | 3 | 30 |

### Holy Cross

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Crusaders | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Wildcats | 14 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 28 |

### Stony Brook

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Seawolves | 14 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 35 |
| Wildcats | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 |

### Delaware

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 24 Fightin' Blue Hens | 10 | 7 | 14 | 7 | 38 |
| Wildcats | 0 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 14 |

### At Villanova

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| UNH Wildcats | 10 | 14 | 7 | 3 | 34 |
| Nova Wildcats | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

### James Madison

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 3 Dukes | 3 | 0 | 7 | 14 | 24 |
| Wildcats | 14 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 35 |

### Albany

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Great Danes | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 10 |
| Wildcats | 7 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 24 |

### At Rhode Island

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Wildcats | 0 | 0 | 7 | 14 | 21 |
| Rams | 3 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 24 |

## Ranking movements

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking — = Not ranked RV = Received votes :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Final |
| STATS FCS | 7 | 20 | RV | RV | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Coaches | 9 | 22 | RV | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |