For the second consecutive year, Michael Kozlakowski’s football season has come to an abrupt and agonizing end.

The University of Maine defensive end has a torn right biceps, suffered in the third quarter of a season-opening victory over Norfolk State on Aug. 30. An MRI initially showed the tear last week, and Kozlakowski visited his doctor in New York for a second opinion. That consultation revealed the need for surgery, which will be performed next week.

Kozlakowski, a junior who had three tackles and a sack against Norfolk State, ruptured his left biceps last August and missed the entire regular season. He returned to play in Maine’s home playoff loss against New Hampshire.

“We feared that news, but really hadn’t planned on it going as negatively as it did,” Maine Coach Jack Cosgrove said Monday.

The depth chart released later Monday indicated that senior Jonathan Louis will get the first crack at replacing Kozlakowski opposite Trevor Bates at defensive end. Maine visits Bryant on Saturday.

Cosgrove said Kozlakowski has indicated that he wants to return for his senior season in 2015. But first comes the unpleasant prospect of months of rehabilitation. Again.

“It’s a devastating injury and a devastating time for the kid,” Cosgrove said. “He’ll hang around the program and get as much strength out of that as he possibly can.”

Cosgrove also revealed that offensive tackle Cal Schaefer, rehabilitating a broken leg suffered last August, had a setback and likely will also miss a second consecutive season.

There was better news for cornerback Sherrod Baltimore. He is expected to practice Tuesday as he works his way back from a bruised knee suffered in the Norfolk State game.

IT’S BEEN A humbling beginning to the season for Towson, which hosts Maine in the Colonial Athletic Association opener Sept. 27. The Tigers reached the FCS title game last year, losing 35-7 to North Dakota State, and carried high expectations into this season.

In Week 1, Towson suffered a surprising 31-27 loss to Central Connecticut State. On Saturday, the Tigers were routed by West Virginia, 54-0.

But Coach Rob Ambrose said he was much more bullish on his team after the second game than he was after the first.

“The overall team effort on both sides of the ball was a thousand times better than it was Week 1. I can use some very derogatory terms to describe how we played in Week 1,” he said.

He challenged his team at halftime of the West Virginia game to ignore the scoreboard and concentrate on giving full effort in six-second chunks. Some players responded. Others will see their playing time significantly reduced, starting Saturday against Delaware State.

“When the game was over, I was disappointed because I thought that I had a ton of guys that were not committed to that. I found some guys that did not give that kind of effort, and those guys got called out and we’re going to move forward in a way that limits their playing time and gives us a better chance to win,” Ambrose said.

“Some of our younger guys who have yet to figure out what it means to be truly invested, they are about to learn a very serious lesson that playing time is earned, respect is earned, and it’s all about what you do on a consistent basis.”

MAINE’S SECOND league opponent – Villanova – appears to be on an upswing. The Wildcats took Syracuse to double overtime before falling 27-26 in their opener.

Last year, a loss to Boston College was followed by a loss to Fordham.

Not again. Villanova routed Fordham 50-6 on Saturday and enters its bye week ranked eighth in the FCS.

Quarterback John Robertson threw for three touchdowns and ran for another despite breaking his non-throwing hand. He’ll be ready to play in two weeks, Coach Andy Talley said.

But it was the Wildcats’ defense that wowed onlookers. They held Fordham, ranked 11th at the time, to 18 yards rushing and intercepted a pair of passes.

“I think there are a lot of guys on that defense that are on the rise. They’re young sophomores and juniors that nobody has really seen play much that are stepping up and playing at a pretty high level,” Talley said. “The defense seems faster than we normally are. I saw it against Syracuse. We ran them down a few times. … We have a lot of speed so you can make up for inadequacies in certain spots.”

The Wildcats certainly have the attention of the rest of the CAA. Both Cosgrove and New Hampshire Coach Sean McDonnell said they spent part of their Saturday off tuning in to that game.

SEVENTH-RANKED New Hampshire has legitimate FCS title hopes this season and will look to get on track Saturday when it hosts Lehigh. The Wildcats faded badly in a 54-20 loss at Toledo to open the season, then, like Maine, had a rare early-season bye last week.

Coach Sean McDonnell said that Toledo “exposed us in open space a little bit.” But his message to his players was to turn the page quickly.

Practices last week focused on basic blocking and tackling.