It’s been a near-perfect start to 2024 for New Hampshire and it got a little bit better on Monday morning.

The Wildcats are currently ranked 20th in the latest AFCA Coaches Poll as they head into a bye week before heading to Harvard Stadium for a Friday night showdown with the Crimson on October 4th. It’s the first time this season UNH has appeared in the national rankings.

With the FCS postseason bracket containing 24 teams – even if it’s only September – getting your name into that Top 25 is massive and shows your squad is officially on the radar.

UNH rolled over Bryant on Saturday to move to 3-1 overall and 1-0 in the conference. The Wildcats, URI, Stony Brook, Villanova, Delaware and Monmouth all won their first conference games while five teams in the CAA haven’t began league play yet.

There’s a long way to go, but this feels like a special season brewing in Durham.

During his weekly CAA call with the media on Monday morning, Santos reflected on the win over Bryant, a 38-17 game that was never really close as the Wildcats jumped out to a 17-0 lead early and never looked back.

“We played a clean game in all three phases,” he said. “We started extremely fast. That was something through the first couple weeks we didn’t really do, particularly on offense. So, we scored a touchdown our first four drives. Defensively, they (Bryant) did a really good job against the run. That’s an extremely talented skill position group. I thought their quarterback was a really good player…we battled against those guys. Ultimately, we gave up some yards, but when situational football arose – particularly in the red zone – I thought we did a really good job anchoring down and getting some stops when we needed.

“Certainly, it’s always good to go 1-0 on a Saturday night.”

As is the case with any team, Santos and the Wildcats won’t be taking their foot off the gas heading into the bye week. Players will get a little time off of course, but getting better is paramount when you have the time to do so. The other major advantage of the bye week is the ability to get some more recruiting done, which is the arguably the most important part of the time off before getting to sit back and watch the rest of the league on Saturday.

Santos talked about the game plan his coaches have for the weekend as far as checking out some high school football and catching up with players that they’ve already been recruiting. The grind never stops, even when the schedule allows it.

“Our whole staff is on the road today,” Santos added. “We’re really branching out, really kind of hitting the ‘New England blitz.’ Anywhere we can get to within driving distance. Obviously, I can’t talk about specifically…we have five or six commits within a driving distance, so our staff will go see those guys. Getting ahead on some ’26 recruiting and going to see some of the top schools – in particular Massachusetts that we recruit heavily.

“Today is  big recruiting day for the staff.”