Lineman Patrick Gauthier of Woonsocket and his Bryant teammates are hoping to bounce back from last week’s loss in their first home opener as a Division I team tomorrow.

The Providence Journal / Bill Murphy

Bryant will play its first home game as a Division I football team tomorrow, but the opponent will be a familiar foe from the Bulldogs’ 10 years as a Division II school.

Southern Connecticut will visit Bulldogs Stadium for a 1 p.m. game that might be played in the remnants of Tropical Storm Hanna.

“We’d like the rain at 1,” coach Marty Fine said with a laugh.

More seriously, he said that “we don’t game-plan for the weather. During the spring and in training camp, we go out in anything. We don’t blink or worry. We just go play.”

Fine is counting on his team to play better than it did in last Saturday’s season-opening 42-35 loss at Central Connecticut, the Bulldogs’ Division I debut. They are playing as an independent for four years and will join the Northeast Conference for the 2012 season.

“We had three or four guys on offense and three or four on defense who showed they can play,” he said. He cited sophomore running back Mike Canfora, who caught two touchdown passes, as “dynamic;” senior quarterback Jay Graber, making his first collegiate start, as “better than expected … handled himself with great poise and made big throws at big times;” wide receiver Vinton South, who caught four passes for 57 yards and a touchdown, and the defensive line of twins Peter and Patrick Gauthier of Woonsocket, Andre Regan and Don Smith of Attleboro, who “played the best we’ve had in four years. I’m thrilled with their progress.”

Graber, succeeding four-year starter Charlie Granatell, completed 19 of 36 passes for 216 yards and three touchdowns.

The offense, despite its point production, and the kicking game were less impressive, and Fine and his staff spent the first half of this week reviewing fundamentals.

“We have to get better at blocking and tackling and things in space, route running. Our tackling and blocking really let us down,” he said.

Bryant probably should have defeated Central Connecticut. The Bulldogs led, 28-21, in the fourth quarter, but the Blue Devils scored three touchdowns, on a 94-yard run from scrimmage on second and 11, a blocked punt recovered for a touchdown and a short pass that turned into a 70-yard touchdown.

Three big-play touchdowns like that will beat most teams.

“It was uncharacteristic for us to make those mistakes,” Fine said.

Southern Connecticut holds a 6-2 lead in the series with Bryant and won both games last year, 56-28 in the penultimate game of the regular season and 45-28 in the first round of the NCAA Division II playoffs. Both games were in New Haven.

Bryant was the Northeast-10 champion last year; Southern is favored this season. Fine is more concerned with his Bulldogs than with the visiting Owls.

“All we’re doing, really, is looking at ourselves. We know where we need to improve, and we’ve been working all week to fix as much as possible,” he said.

Fullback Bryan Wood injured his leg and is questionable for tomorrow, and fullback Ryan Callahan of Barrington has a shoulder injury and will be a game-time decision.

mszostak@projo.com