While the University of Maine awaits word on the future of one of its major weapons, another weapon emerged last week when Warren Smith made his debut at quarterback.

Smith, a sophomore transfer from Iona College who came to Maine after Iona folded its football program, shared snaps with starter Michael Brusko in last Saturday’s 17-7 win over Northeastern and completed 10 of 13 passes for 145 yards with a touchdown and an interception. The 6-foot-1, 196-pound New Jersey native added a passing dimension to the Maine offense that the more run-oriented Brusko couldn’t make opposing defenses respect.

Maine coach Jack Cosgrove said it was simply time to get the talented Smith involved in the offense.

“It’s been very, very obvious in practice the last couple of weeks that he’s made some great strides growing accustomed to the offence and it just came to the point where we said ‘Wait a second here. We’ve got a talented kid here that we just can’t put to the side of the road … when he’s got obvious talents that should be out on the field,'” Cosgrove said.

Smith took 16 snaps at quarterback and threw on 13 of them, at one point completing 10 straight passes. Brusko, a senior captain, took 43 snaps and threw the ball seven times, completing five for 11 yards. He also rushed 12 times for 49 yards.

Cosgrove said he plans to keep the platoon system for this week’s game at Albany (Saturday, 4 p.m.). Brusko has split time at quarterback in the past, but not typically during games. He and Adam Farkes shared signal-calling duties the last two years, but one or the other was usually benched or sidelined due to injuries or ineffectiveness and remained on the sidelines for more than one game.

“Being in a two-man rotation is a little bit different because that didn’t exist before. It was more Adam or Michael,” Cosgrove said. “Michael’s chalked up a lot of wins. In our last 10 games he’s started, we’ve won eight times. That’s a pretty good percentage. There are a lot of things that he does that are very, very difficult to describe, those things you can’t coach, instinctive things, winner-type of things that Michael brings.”

In addition to Smith’s debut , the Black Bears got their second straight 100-plus yard rushing game from sophomore tailback Derek Session last week. But he fumbled twice and “missed a chance to hit what we would call two home runs, to go the whole way,” according to Cosgrove. With Jared Turcotte out (groin), Session’s work load (42 carries through the first two games) could continue to exceed 20 carries per game.

While Cosgrove didn’t seem as impressed with Northeastern’s offensive weapons as those Division II St. Cloud State showed in the Black Bears’ opener, he credited the Maine defense with a better overall effort last week. He was particularly pleased that the defense held Northeastern at bay despite three fourth-quarter turnovers by Maine’s offense.

“That’s probably going to help us down the road, the fact that we put
ourselves in a bad position and our defense came in and said ‘Okay,
we’re in charge. Nothing’s going to happen here,'” Cosgrove said.

The secondary, led by Trevor Coston’s two interceptions, made great strides after being tentative against St. Cloud State, Cosgrove said, being in better position and playing less tentative.

The 20th-ranked Black Bears (2-0) travel to upstate New York for Albany’s home-opener. Perennial contenders in the Northeast Conference, Cosgrove compares the Great Danes (0-2) to their conference rival, Monmouth, a team that has given Maine and other Colonial Athletic Association teams trouble in the past.

“They have a very physical, run-the-football, no nonsense approach,” he said. “We have great respect for them. They beat Hofstra last year in our league and had a one-score game with New Hampshire and Mass. Two years ago, they beat Delaware at Delaware and they beat Stony Brook.”

Albany, which hasn’t lost an NEC game in two years and is a heavy favorite to make it three straight conference championships, fell to 17th-ranked Massachusetts last week, 44-7. Senior tailback Justin Gannon picked up 129 all-purpose yards (61 rushing) in place of All-American tailback David McCarty, who has been limited by injuries.