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A new national force on the field ... URI Football 6-0Try to remember, the kind of September.... ....when URI strode through the month undefeated in football. If you do, then you probably also remember the rest of the words to that old song. Each would be an impressive feat. This fall the Rams, who won just four games over the past two years, came out of nowhere to win their first six and vault to No. 4 in the Division I-AA rankings as of Oct. 20. The Rams shocked the preseason No. 4 team in the nation (Delaware) in their opener, upset the new No. 4 team (Hofstra) the following week, rallied to beat James Madison in the final minutes, and then upset Brown in the final seconds. They routed Hampton, then clawed from 18 points down to beat William & Mary for the first time in seven tries. They crammed six years' worth of highlights into six weeks and treated fans to the first 6-0 record in school history, the best record at any point in 103 years of URI football. It's not as if the Rams haven't done something like this before -- every half-century or so. They finished the 1898 season 5-0 and started out the 1957 season 5-0. The last time they made it out of September undefeated? Back in 1972, when they went 3-0 for the month. Sadly, the '57 team went scoreless after that start and wound up 5-2-1. The '72 club lost its last seven games and finished 3-7. But head coach Tim Stowers doesn't seem likely to suffer the same fate as Herb Maack in '57 or Jack Gregory in '72. Stowers, who guided Georgia Southern to the Division I-AA national title in 1990, led the Rams from the poorhouse in August to the exclusive gated community of the Top 10 by late September. The last time Rhode Island cracked the Top 10? Back in 1985, when it won its second straight Yankee Conference title and finished 7th in the rankings. URI ended up No. 2 in 1984 after losing a close one in the NCAA semifinals to Montana State, the eventual national champion. The Rams won six straight games in 1984 and a school-record eight straight in '85. But forget about the rankings and the records. The greatest achievement of this magical half-season? The 2001 team has brought the fun back to Rhode Island football. In the home opener Sept. 8, a large crowd came to its feet in the closing minutes when Hofstra went for a two-point conversion to tie the game. It roared when the Rams stopped them. It whooped when the Rams then drove downfield for a touchdown to sew up a 35-26 victory. Three weeks later, on Sept. 29, fans packed the visitors' stands at Brown and witnessed one of the most exciting games in Ram history. The lead changed hands six times in the fourth quarter, the last time with seven seconds remaining when David Jamison burst 17 yards for a touchdown to give Rhody a stunning 42-38 win. It was a September to remember. And the season wasn't even half over. By Elliot Tannenbaum Keep track of the Rams by logging on to http://www.GoRhody.com
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