University of Maine head football coach Jordan Stevens said he would love to be able to get a home game to fill one of the two byes he has this upcoming season.
The Black Bears already had an Oct. 10 bye on their schedule but another bye was added recently when a Nov. 7 home game against Sacramento State fell through. The California school moved up to the Football Bowl Subdivision from the Football Championship Subdivision and joined the Mid-American Conference for football only.
FBS schools have more scholarships and more financial resources than FCS institutions.
UMaine athletic director Jude Killy said Sacramento State’s football schedule is now being “fully dictated by its conference” and that’s the reason the game fell through.
“There’s still a possibility we will play them at some time but not in 2026,” Killy said. “We may play them in another sport like basketball but that may not be this coming year either.
Sacramento State now has a pair of Wednesday MAC games surrounding Nov. 7: Nov. 4 vs. Toledo and Nov. 11 at Central Michigan.
“Frankly, when we were working with them on the football game, we didn’t expect this to be the case but we also believed it could happen at some point in time,” Killy said. “They were looking for a game, we were looking for a game so we were hoping it would work out. But the timing just didn’t.”
UMaine is now hoping to replace that previously scheduled Nov. 7 game with a new matchup.
“We would like to fill it with a home game but we aren’t going to go on the road,” said Killy. “The possibilities are pretty limited at this point.”
Head coach Stevens is “open to traveling if we need to” but said that getting another home game would be better for the Black Bears.
“Four of our first five games are away and two are against FBS teams,” Stevens said. “To go on the road again for a seventh time would be a lot of our season.”
UMaine opens its season at Towson University on Thursday, Aug. 27 for the first of its eight Coastal Athletic Association contests.
The Black Bears will then go to FBS school Appalachian State in Boone, North Carolina on Sept. 5 before playing a non-conference home opener against Merrimack College on Sept. 12.
UMaine’s second FBS trip will be to Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts to take on Boston College on Sept. 19 before the Black Bears travel to Elon University in North Carolina on Sept. 26 for a conference game.
UMaine will receive a $350,000 guarantee for its trip to Appalachian State and $400,000 for its trip to Boston College.
UMaine was going to give Sacramento State a $50,000 guarantee.
UMaine will play three straight CAA home games in October against newcomer Sacred Heart on Oct. 3, Bryant on the 17th and Campbell University on the 24th.
The Black Bears will conclude their season with CAA games at Rhode Island on Oct. 31, at Albany on Nov. 14 and home to arch-rival New Hampshire on Nov. 21.
“There are a couple of moving parts right now,” Stevens said. “But we need to have one bye week. That’s important.”
He said he would rather have the bye week be on Oct. 10 than Nov. 7.
“I like having a bye in midseason,” explained Stevens. “We had a (November) bye a couple of years ago before playing New Hampshire and it was really odd.”
In 2023, UMaine lost at home to Hampton 42-35 on Nov.4 and, two weeks later, the Black Bears lost at New Hampshire 44-25.
