When the University of Rhode Island last played a postseason football game, Ronald Reagan was in his second term as President, Ed DiPrete was a rookie governor and Joe Paolino had succeeded Buddy Cianci as Providence mayor.
Madonna had two Top 10 hits, the Chevy Cavalier was the best-selling car in the USA, and a gallon of gas was $1.13. Jim Fleming was a graduate assistant coach at South Carolina.
The year was 1985. URI was the Yankee Conference champion again and bound for the NCAA I-AA playoffs for the third time in five years.
Fast forward to 2023. Reagan, DiPrete and Cianci are dead. Paolino is a prominent real estate executive. Madonna is very much alive and still performing at 65. The Cavalier in the U.S. and the Yankee Conference are history. Gas is $3.57 a gallon. Fleming is the head coach at URI, which is in Year 38 of its postseason slump.
Welcome to a new college football season, one in which two big questions await answers here in the Ocean State.
Does URI have what it takes to win eight games, apparently the magic number for a playoff ticket?
The Rams have failed at multiple rebuilding projects since they were 20-6 and a Top 10 team in 1984 and 1985. Fleming — in his tenth year as coach — may have the tools to succeed this season, even though the Rams finished sixth in pre-season Coastal Athletic Association voting.
First, the Rams finished 7-4 the last two seasons and were nationally ranked. They know how to win — just not THE BIG ONE yet. Last year, losses at William & Mary — a two-point conversion attempt on the last play failed — and at New Hampshire — the Wildcats scored the deciding touchdown with 17 seconds to play — doomed their dream.
Second, they have a veteran quarterback directing a potent offense. Kasim Hill is playing his sixth season of college football, six-plus if you count the abbreviated spring campaign in 2021. He is 25 years old and can look back on two seasons at Maryland, sitting out a season after transferring to Tennessee, transferring to URI, playing three games in March of 2021, and starting the last two seasons. The NCAA approved his appeal to roll forward an injury-related redshirt year at Maryland.
Hill is good. He has thrown 40 touchdown passes, third on the URI career list after Tom Ehrhardt’s 78 in only two seasons and Chris Hixson’s 55. He opened this season with a 408-yard, 4-TD effort in a 42-35 loss at Georgia State and followed that with 299 passing yards and two touchdowns in a 35-14 victory over CAA rival Stony Brook.
Hill can throw with confidence thanks to protection from four-year starting center Sebastien Delasoudis, All-CAA left tackle Lorenzo Thompson and All-America right guard Nick Correia. And thanks to wide receivers like Marquis Buchanan, the redshirt freshman from Providence. He gave Rhody a short-lived 28-21 lead at Georgia State with his first career catch, a 28-yard touchdown. His only catch against Stony Brook went for 70 yards and a TD. Kahtero Summers caught a 70-yarder in that game.
Defense and special teams appear solid after two games. Safety Jordan Colbert intercepted a pass in the first quarter against Stony Brook and returned a recovered fumble 49 yards for a touchdown in the second. A 2022 Columbia graduate, he played every game last season for the Rams.
Freshman Ty Groff has made his first 10 PATs.
This week, URI, ranked 20/21 in the national polls, travels to Maine, always a long, tough road trip. Returning with a victory would be a significant step toward snapping that playoff slump.
Does Brown coach James Perry have what it takes to win in the Ivy League?
This is Perry’s fifth year as head coach at his alma mater, but only his fourth season. The Ivy League canceled the 2020 campaign because of the COVID pandemic. The results have been grim: 7-23 overall, 3-18 in the Ivy League.
Perry was the best quarterback in Brown’s long football history. He led the Bears to the Ivy League championship as a senior in 1999, broke just about every school and Ivy passing record and earned a slew of honors. Brown was 23-7 with Perry leading the attack.
But being a great quarterback — and an outstanding offensive coordinator at Princeton — does not translate to being a great head coach. He was 12-10 in two seasons at Bryant and might have benefited from another season or two directing the Bulldogs. But when AD Jack Hayes dismissed longtime Brown coach Phil Estes in 2018 after a string of disappointing seasons, he looked to Bryant for deliverance. Perry could not resist the invitation to come back to College Hill.
Perry has put together offenses that move the ball and score points. His passing game has ranked in the Top 15 nationally. E.J. Perry, his nephew, transferred from Boston College and lit up the scoreboard for two seasons. He led the nation in total offense in 2019 and was the Ivy League player of the year in 2021.
Brown was 4-16 those two seasons.
Lack of consistent defense has been the problem. Scan the bottom of NCAA defensive stats, and you will find Brown. Perry and his staff have not recruited sufficient talent to stymie Ivy League offenses. It’s that simple.
A coach who takes over a losing program usually has five years to show significant improvement. Recruiting-wise, this is Year 5 for Perry. It’s time for his Bears to win more than two or three games. Five would be great. The quest begins Saturday afternoon at Bryant, where talented quarterback Zevi Eckhaus and a pack of hungry Bulldogs can’t wait to show how good they are.
Mike Szostak can be reached at mszostak@thepublicsradio.org.