ORONO — Looking for a 2011 University of Maine football schedule? Don’t ask any of the players for one.

Maine started practice this week with its Sept. 3 opener against Bryant, not to mention subsequent meetings against Pittsburgh and CAA rivals Delaware, UMass or UNH, the furthest things from its mind. In fact, head coach Jack Cosgrove has made sure those games are out of sight and out of mind for now, covering season schedules with the daily practice schedules to keep the Black Bears on the task at hand.

“Day by day. We’re not worrying about games yet,” senior defensive tackle Raibonne Charles said. “We’re worried about getting Maine football, as individuals and as a team, better. All too often in the past, we’ve gotten focused on what’s coming up, who we’re playing next. What we need to focus on is that practice schedule, that upcoming meeting.”

The Black Bears have tunnel vision for the preseason, but they also have long-term goals which, needless to say, exceed the ninth-place finish the CAA coaches predicted for them in a recent poll. They have 16 seniors back who want to go out the way they came in, with a playoff appearance (Maine’s last, in 2008). To do that, they will need to improve dramatically from last year’s 3-5 conference and 4-7 overall records.

They return nine starters on offense and six on defense. While that portends stability, there are some major questions.

Like this time last year, Cosgrove has not chosen a starter between senior quarterbacks Warren Smith and Chris Treister.

Treister, a former Portland High School star, got the starting nod for last year’s opener against Albany but was replaced at halftime by Smith after a slow start. Smith took the vast majority of the snaps the rest of the season.

“To be honest with you, it is a little bit frustrating. But it is what it is,” Treister said. “It’s a compliment to both of us that we both have the capabilities to play at this level and we’re going to make it hard on the coaches to make a decision. But it’s been this way pretty much every year I’ve been here. There hasn’t been a clear-cut starter and whether that’s a good or bad thing, I don’t know.”

“The bottom line is, when you measure a quarterback, does he move the chains? Does he secure the football? Does he make the right decisions? In a lot of cases last year, we didn’t,” Cosgrove said. “This is why we’re in the situation we’re in (without a clear-cut starter). The off-season has been very, very productive for both of them. They’re great competitors, but we need one of those guys to emerge.”

Regardless of who plays quarterback, this is the first year they won’t have Jared Turcotte in the backfield with them. Turcotte transferred to Bates after an injury-plagued career at Maine. But leading rusher Pushaun Brown (687 yards, 5 TDs) is returning, along with fellow seniors Roosevelt Boone and pass-catching specialist Derek Session, to lead the offense.

Brown is optimistic the Bears will be able to find the offensive balance that has been lacking recently.

“Last year, we ran the ball better than we passed,” Brown said. “We’re trying to find ways to be more productive in the air. I think so far we’re showing that we can pass the ball a lot better than we’ve been doing.”

A key to finding that balance will be the offensive line, which battled injuries, inexperience and inconsistency last year. Cosgrove expects a healthier and more cohesive unit, which includes Leavitt’s Doug Nash, a redshirt sophomore who will be one of the top reserves.

“I think we’re going to be able to run the football and run block better, and I think we’re going to be able to pass block better,” Cosgrove said.

Senior safety Jerron McMillian, Maine’s only all-CAA preseason selection, leads a defense that should be strong up the middle. With McMillian, fellow senior safety Trevor Coston, senior linebackers Vinson Givans and Donte Dennis (a question mark after major elbow surgery) and Charles and Ryan Nani in the heart of the line, the Bears hope to improve upon last year’s 

“When you look across the board, we’ve got a lot of experience,” said Charles, a Windham High School alum. “Things are going to come together nicely. Our communication is already good and there’s a lot more trust out there.”

Cosgrove has a lot of trust in his team leaders to continue leading when it’s time to start paying attention to the game schedule.

“This is a very, very committed group of seniors,” Cosgrove said. “There’s some personality in this group, and I think it’s because they stood the test of time. A lot of them are fifth-year seniors, and they’ve been really invested in the program. We talk about investment all of the time. The more you put in, the more you expect back. They look at it this way — we’ve put in, and now we want to get back.”

“A lot of the seniors feel like the team that made it in ’08 was no different than it is now. It may be even better,” McMillian said. “We’ve got experience. We’ve got depth. So it’s going to be a whole lot different than last year.”