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Aug. 26, 2008

Complete Release in PDF Format

The University of Maine football team kicks off its 2008 season on Saturday when the Black Bears travel to Iowa City to face Big Ten-foe Iowa. Kickoff is set for 12 p.m. ET/11 a.m. CT in Kinnick Stadium (70,585). The game will be televised nationally by the Big Ten Network (HD).

IOWA GAME STORYLINES

**Maine begins its 117th season of intercollegiate football on Saturday when it travels to Iowa City to face the Iowa Hawkeyes. The Black Bears have an all-time record of 468-447-38 for a winning percentage of 51.3 percent.

**Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz served in the same position at Maine from 1990-92. Ferentz compiled a 12-21 record in Orono in three seasons, including a 6-5 mark in 1992. He left Maine to take an assistant position working with the offensive line for the Cleveland Browns. Ferentz was Maine's first head coach to lead the Black Bears into a contest with a Division I Football Championship Subdivision foe (FBS, formerly I-A), as the team faced Hawai'i in 1990. Maine dropped that contest by a score of 44-3. Ferentz also led Maine against Rutgers in 1991, as the Scarlet Knights pulled out a 40-17 victory.

**Maine head coach Jack Cosgrove served as the offensive coordinator under Ferentz for all three seasons while in Orono.

**Maine assistant head coach/defensive coordinator Robb Smith served as a graduate assistant at Iowa under Ferentz from 1999-2001. He was on the 2001 staff which defeated Texas Tech in the Alamo Bowl.

**The Black Bears are facing a Division I Football Bowl Subdivision opponent for the fifth-straight year and for the seventh time overall. Maine is 1-5 all-time against FBS foes, including a 9-7 victory over SEC-foe Mississippi State in 2004. The following is Maine's all-time results versus FBS foes: 1990 - Hawai'i 44, Maine 3; 1991 - Rutgers 40, Maine 17; 2004 - Maine 9, Mississippi State 7; 2005 - Nebraska 25, Maine 7; 2006 - Boston College 22, Maine 0; 2007 - Connecticut 38, Maine 0.

**Maine is opening a season on the road for the fourth time in the last five seasons. The Black Bears are 0-3 on the road during this current stretch.

**Maine is 58-54-4 all-time in season openers.

**Saturday's game will be broadcast nationally on the Big Ten Network. It marks the fourth-straight season that at least one Black Bear football game will be aired for a national TV audience.

**Maine will continue facing Division I Football Bowl Subdivision opponents in the future. The Black Bears will open the 2009 season at Florida State at Bobby Bowden Field in Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee.

A MAINE WIN WOULD...

...give head coach Jack Cosgrove 81 for his career, which would move him into sole possession of first place in program history for career wins.

...be its second-straight season-opening win.

...be its second win all-time against an FBS foe. (2004; Maine 9, Mississippi 7)

...be its fourth win in the last five games dating back to the end of the 2007 season.

...snap a three-game losing streak in the month of September.

...be its first non-conference victory since a 21-14 triumph over Monmouth on Sept. 1, 2007.

...snap a two-game non-conference losing streak.

...be its second straight over a school from the state of Iowa, and first since a 28-0 victory over William Penn in 2005.

...be its first victory in the state of Iowa. (Maine has played once in the state, and that was a 56-28 loss to Northern Iowa in the 2001 NCAA Quarterfinals)