PROVIDENCE – After career days from quarterback Kyle Newhall and wide receiver Trevan Samp, and a spectacular debut by place kicker Patrick Rooney, Brown coach Phil Estes is hoping for consistency from that trio and the rest of the Bears as they plunge into the heart of their Ivy League football schedule.

Brown (2-2, 0-1 Ivy) will kick off against Princeton (1-3, 0-1) on Saturday at Brown Stadium and needs a victory to stay within sight of first-place Harvard (3-1, 2-0), which beat Brown 24-21 on Sept. 25.

“It’s always a big game for us against Princeton, especially if we’ve had a loss against Harvard. It kind of puts the pressure on to get that first Ivy League win and not be behind,” Estes said.

Newhall broke the Ivy League record for completions in a game with 46 Saturday in leading Brown to a thrilling 34-31 upset of No. 19 Holy Cross. He threw 61 passes and totaled 431 yards. Kyle Slager of Brown held the previous Ivy record of 44 completions set seven years ago against Rhode Island.

Newhall was responsible for three touchdowns, on passes of 10 yards and 22 yards and a run of 7 yards. He is the Ivy League offensive player of the week, and the New England Gold Helmet Award winner.

“Kyle is just calm, cool and collected, whether you blitz him or pressure him or sit back in zone. He’s just got a knack to him of getting out of trouble. There are times when protection breaks down, and he scrambles. The one thing he does is he keeps his eyes downfield, so it didn’t surprise me that he was able to do what he did,” Estes said.

He cited Newhall’s ability to scramble out of trouble and get the ball downfield against the Crusaders, and his ability to shake off a hit.

“He took a hit that got an unsportsmanlike (conduct) that the guy looked like he was trying to take his knee out. The ball was off and he decided he was going to try and hit Kyle anyway. A lot of guys wouldn’t be practicing right now, but Kyle is back out there and ready to go.”

Estes also tossed a compliment to James Perry, the best passer in Brown history and his quarterbacks coach.

“James Perry does a great job in preparing our quarterbacks for all the different situations they’re going to see,” the head coach said.

Samp, a senior who caught 12 passes for 190 yards all of last season, grabbed 15 passes for 206 yards and a touchdown against Holy Cross. His performance will force defensive coordinators to pay attention to someone other than All-Ivy receivers Buddy Farnham and Bobby Sewall.

“He’s a guy that I thought came on last year. He had a big catch against Dartmouth and has done some things. He has great physical talent. He’s very fast. He’s very athletic. He has great leaping ability. He just doesn’t have that cachet that Farnham and Sewall seem to have, but maybe this is one of those things where he breaks out to do that. He’s had some big catches. He had a big catch against Stony Brook in a two-minute drive. He certainly had a big catch in this two-minute drive for us to get it down there and kick the field goal. He had a great game. Now it’s a matter of, can he have some consistency and keep it going,” Estes said.

Rooney, a junior, made his first appearance a memorable one by kicking two field goals, including the 34-yard game-winner with three seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. He is the Ivy League special teams player of the week.

Rooney replaced Drew Plichta, who missed two field-goal attempts and an extra point earlier in the game. Estes has not given up on Plichta and will let him try the PATs again this week. Rooney will attempt any field goals.

“All I ask for is consistency. Drew Plichta didn’t have a very good day. The biggest thing he has to do is kick the extra points. I’ll give him that opportunity to do that again. I think when it comes to field goals, if Patrick can show me some consistency with it, it will be Patrick Rooney. Certainly, what he’s done and under the pressure, he deserves the opportunity to kick field goals for us,” Estes said.

At the University of Rhode Island, quarterback Chris Paul-Etienne should return to the starting lineup after missing the Towson game last week. URI (1-4, 0-2 CAA) will host Hofstra (3-3, 1-2 CAA) on Homecoming in Kingston.

Paul-Etienne went down with a torn meniscus in his right knee on the third play from scrimmage against Brown and had arthroscopic surgery two days later. D.J. Stefkovich relieved him and played last week, a 36-28 loss.

“All indications are Chris Paul will practice and unless he has an unforeseen setback will be ready Saturday,” coach Joe Trainer said.

URI played without five starters last week. In addition to the quarterback, center Matt Vitti was out with a concussion suffered in the Brown game; wide receiver Ty Bynum was sidelined with a high ankle sprain suffered against Brown; wide receiver Brandon Johnson-Farrell is waiting for a turf toe to heal, and cornerback Evan Shields is out for the season with a torn meniscus.

Vitti should be ready to start Saturday, and Trainer hopes to get 25 plays out of Bynum. He has no idea when Johnson-Farrell will be back. Johnson-Farrell was injured on the second play of the UMass game Sept. 19.

“There’s no way to track that. It’s really week to week,” Trainer said.

Trainer isn’t using the loss of those players as an excuse for his team’s record. “Injuries are part of the game, and guys have to step up,” he said.

He added that the attitude on the team remains positive.

“Nobody is using excuses, which is good.”

Bryant, which lost to one of the weaker teams in the Patriot League, will play the best team in its new league, the Northeast Conference, this week when the Bulldogs (3-2, 2-0 CAA) travel to Albany to meet the Great Danes (4-2, 3-0) on Saturday.

Bryant is coming off a 35-7 loss at Fordham. Albany should be stoked after a 55-10 Homecoming rout of Duquesne. The Great Danes set NCAA FCS records with 28 points in the first quarter and 41 in the half. All-America tailback David McCarty rushed for 145 yards and two touchdowns.

Albany coach Bob Ford has built the Great Danes program from a club in 1970 to NCAA Division I. This is his 37th year as head coach. His career record is 229-145, and Albany has won or shared four NEC titles since 2002.

Salve Regina (2-4, 1-2 NEFC) will be the favorite when it takes on rebuilding UMass Dartmouth (0-6, 0-3 NEFC) on Saturday at Gaudet Field in Middletown. After winning the first three games of this series, SRU has lost eight in a row to UMD.

The Seahawks will try to bounce back from a disappointing 31-24 loss at Nichols, while the Corsairs will try to salvage something from their 31-9 loss to Western New England. SRU led for most of the first half against Nichols, rallied to tie the score, 24-24, in the third quarter and couldn’t stop the Bison’s 77-yard drive for the winning touchdown with 3:03 to play.

Quarterback Jeff St. Onge continues to be SRU’s chief threat on offense. He passed for 232 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 52 yards and two TDs. He leads the team in rushing yardage (252) and is second in the New England Football Conference in passing yardage (240.2).

UMD has managed only three touchdowns this season and is averaging 4.7 points.

mszostak@projo.com