The Red Sox were still nearly eight weeks away from winning their first World Series championship in 86 years.Tom Brady and the Patriots were several months away from winning their second Super Bowl in three years.It was early September and the UNH football team was on its way to Delaware to take on the defending FCS champion Blue Hens. Delaware celebrated its national championship on that opening night of the 2004 season.But the Wildcats crashed the party.Unheralded redshirt freshman quarterback Rick Santos, who climbed the depth chart that summer after one quarterback in front of him left the program and another got injured, started the night as the backup to touted senior Mike Granieri.By halftime, Granieri was sidelined with a knee injury and Santos was calling the shots at QB. He connected with sophomore David Ball for a 44-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter for the winning score and the Wildcats stunned the Blue Hens, 24-21.And that's how it all began.UNH broke into the national FCS poll that week at No. 19.Until this week, the Wildcats had not been out of the Top 25 since.More than 11 years and 162 weeks' worth of polls.UNH lost 34-18 at then-No. 24 William & Mary last Saturday and fell out of the STATS poll that was announced Monday afternoon. The Wildcats were the first team outside the Top 25, just two points behind undefeated Dartmouth, which had been unranked and moved into the No. 25 spot.Junior cornerbackis not eager to check the polls."I don't like looking at it," DeAndrade said, "Then I heard it and I was like, 'Aw, don't tell me.' Everyone was telling me who was in and who was out and I just didn't want to hear anything about it. I don't really look into it, but obviously it's frustrating for us to be out. We can hopefully get our way back in there."The Wildcats have put little stock in polls through the years and weren't thinking of them at all in 2004, said Santos, who is in his third year as a UNH assistant coach and works with the wide receivers."Back then we were so young and we were just trying to establish ourselves as a solid football team," Santos said. "We hadn't been ranked so it wasn't in our minds. We were just trying to win the next one and kind of get our football program to a national presence, where we wanted to be. We never talked about polls. We didn't realize how big of an upset it was until afterwards. We just wanted to make a name for ourselves and it ended up working out."Did it ever.The week after Delaware, UNH went to Rutgers and Santos passed for five touchdowns – two of them to Ball – in a 35-24 upset of the FBS team.The Wildcats jumped all the way to No. 10 in the polls at that point and a team that was 4-7 in 2001, 3-8 in 2002 and 5-7 in 2003 was on its way.The Wildcats started a more impressive streak later that season when they qualified for the 2004 FCS tournament for the first time since 1994, starting a string that is up to a nation's best 11 straight years at the moment."That's the vision coach Mac had for the program," Santos said. "We always talked about having a national presence. That was our goal. That was our vision board that we put up. I'm sure he didn't realize it was going to take off the way it did in his wildest dreams. But we were able to sustain it."The goal of stretching the playoff streak to an even dozen seasons remains.The Wildcats are 3-3 overall and 1-2 in the Colonial Athletic Association and have to win the five games they have left – starting at Delaware on Saturday – to assure themselves a spot in this year's tournament. Finishing the season with a 7-4 record might be enough to get into the playoffs, but there would be no guarantee.So they head back to where the journey began.Delaware is 2-4 overall and 1-2 in the league. The Blue Hens had last Saturday off. They are coming off a 20-0 loss at Rhode Island and the week before beat William & Mary, 24-23, at home."It's a new season, like Coach Mac said," DeAndrade said. "It's five one-game seasons. We've been in this situation before. I know he doesn't like to compare to a couple of years ago but for us it's kind of the same thing. Our backs are against the wall and we have to play well. . . . It's awesome to be part of a streak like that. I was in it for two years fully and half of this year so far. It's an honor to be part of it and hopefully we can get our way back in there."With UNH's streak halted at 162, Montana State inherits the record of longest run in the Top 25 at 80 weeks.The Wildcats look to stay in the playoff race and a win would likely push them back into the Top 25 as well."I think this league is still up for grabs," Santos said. "It's tough every single year. The fact we did that for 11 straight years shows how good we were and how great of a coach Coach Mac is. At this point, throw that out the window. Maybe it's a blessing so our guys can just get back to work and understand it doesn't come easy and we've got a find a way to win each week."XXXAfter Saturday, the Wildcats have four games left, three of them at home. The home games are against Rhode Island on Oct. 31 at 1 p.m., Richmond on Nov. 7 at 3 p.m. and Maine on Nov. 21 at 1 p.m. They play at Albany on Nov. 14 at 7 p.m.Tickets for the remaining home games are available and may be purchased ator by calling 603-862-4000, extension 5.