Did you feel that slight chill in the night air the past few days? That’s Fall, stretching its legs. Summer hasn’t left yet, it will be here for a while still, but it’s packing. In Maine, summer rarely overstays.

That means football season is coming. The annual Maine Shrine Lobster Bowl last Saturday was the first sign. The University of Maine begins practicing for the upcoming season on Tuesday. The Black Bears’ first game is set for Aug. 27 at Coastal Athletic Association rival Towson.

Last year the Black Bears went 6-6, the best record in coach Jordan Stevens’ five-season tenure. In one sense a .500 record was a positive step for a program that hasn’t had a winning season since going 6-5 in 2021.

In another sense, the 2025 season was a lost opportunity.

The six-game winning streak the Black Bears enjoyed is certainly something they can use as a foundation entering 2026. A 5-3 record in conference play is another bright spot. What needs to be addressed is how the season began, with a four-game losing streak as Maine let two very winnable games slip through its fingers like so much beach sand.

There was a 28-27 loss at William & Mary after the Black Bears held a 10-point halftime lead, then a six-point lead midway through the fourth quarter. A week later, there was a 13-10 loss to Stonehill in the home opener. Maine surrendered the go-ahead touchdown on a fourth-and-21 play with 1:45 remaining after defensively dominating for most of the game.

Both games were gut-punch losses. Win one, and Maine is 7-5. Win both, and the Black Bears are 8-4 overall, 6-2 in the conference, with a shot at the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.

With a tough opening stretch to start this season, including just one home game among the first five and a pair of games at Football Bowl Subdivision opponents — Appalachian State on Sept. 5 and Boston College on Sept. 19 — the Black Bears need to be ready to play at a high level right from the kickoff at Towson.

They weren’t last season, and they know it.

“I think it’s just acknowledging what happened last year, and knowing the sense of urgency is needed,” sophomore defensive back Brayden Isaiah said Wednesday during CAA media day. “Now that you’ve acknowledged the situation, you have to act on it. … We know how this can go, but we know how we want this to go. We have to just push this message to the whole team so we’re all on the same page.”

Junior offensive lineman Anthony Iliano, a preseason all-CAA pick, said the team has role-played adverse situations.

“We’ll be late in a workout and we’ll be like, ‘hey we’re down seven right now.’ It puts you in a football mind,” Iliano said.

Stevens liked that the team stayed together and focused on what it could control after the 0-4 start. That was a key to the six-game winning streak the Black Bears went on before ending the season with back-to-back losses to conference powerhouses Rhode Island and UNH.

He’s seen growth and maturity in the offseason that he hadn’t previously, Stevens said. Asked what the team needs to do to grasp the urgency right from the start, he pointed to that.

“It’s going to need to be there. We’re playing a conference game in game one,” Stevens said. “I think the challenge for us is really embracing the start of our season. Four of our first five games are on the road. Two are FBS teams, but that’s a challenge we’re really excited about. We’re excited about taking that head on, and we’ve got a big one to start.”

No football team has all the answers in the first game. Stevens knows, however, that his team needs as many answers as it can muster when it breaks camp and heads to Towson. Attention to detail is how those close losses become close wins. When the moment comes, said Isaiah, you don’t want it to be something new.

“I certainly believe our players have the improved maturity toward our training, toward our lifting, toward our practicing, that will suit us and put us in a better position to start our season,” Stevens said.

On Aug. 27, the Black Bears get the chance to prove it.