WATERVILLE — The drought is bad enough. How close the Colby College football team has come to ending it the past two seasons has only made it worse.

Three years ago, Colby was 4-2 before dropping its final three games of the year to finish 4-5. They were in a similar position again a year ago, but four straight losses to end the year turned what had been another positive start into another disappointing finish.

“I think it’s been eating at all of us,” said senior offensive lineman Cooper Tamisiea. “Last year, losing those last four games being the lasting memory of our season, that left a really bad taste in our mouths because we all really want to turn this program around.”

Colby players believe this could finally be the year the team delivers a winning record, something that’s eluded the Mules since 2005. They’ve gotten this close, after all, and as the opening days of camp unfold, their goal this time around is finishing strong.

Colby’s offense had its struggles in 2023 with averages of 15.3 and 251.2 yards per game, both eighth in the New England Small College Athletic Conference. Most of the success the Mules did have came through the air even as starting quarterback Miles Drake played just two games before suffering a season-ending injury.

That passing game should be improved in 2024. Seven of the eight players to catch passes for Colby last season are back, including Matt McHugh (529 yards) and Jack Sawyer (370 yards, five touchdowns). Drake is back healthy under center and will start, and Griffin Marshall, a true freshman from Atlanta, has also turned some heads.

“He’s making some throws I ain’t never seen,” senior defensive back Joshua East said of Marshall. “He’s a hell of a player. … I think this incoming freshman class is the best since my class (2021). They’ve impressed me.”

Colby also returns an all-purpose back in Keon Smart, who went for 339 rushing yards and 352 receiving yards last fall. In addition to Tamisiea, the offensive line returns a major piece in 6-foot-5, 295-pound Bryce Leos, while James Hoogstraten earned significant playing time in the interior a year ago.

Although Colby returns less production on the defensive side of the ball, it does return two of its most important pieces: East and Julian Young. Young recorded a NESCAC-best 94 total tackles to earn first-team linebacker honors, while East was a second-team selection.

“I love this unit,” Young said of the defense. “We lost a couple guys from last year, but guys have stepped up and followed in the footsteps of the guys we’ve lost. We look better than ever; we came back bigger, faster and stronger. I think we’re going to have a good year this year.”

There have been plenty of highs for Colby the past two years. In 2022, the Mules scored 18 unanswered points to earn an 18-12 win over Hamilton and improve to 4-2, their best mark at any point since going 7-1 in 2005. Last year, they stunned then-unbeaten Wesleyan in overtime before winning at Amherst the following week to reach 3-2.

The lows, though, have always followed. Colby had a great shot to clinch a winning season in 2022 but was upset by a two-win Bowdoin team in the season finale to finish 4-5. Then, last year, the Mules were outscored 55-6 in their two games following the Amherst win before a second straight loss to Bowdoin sealed another losing campaign.

“Our seniors have played a lot of football, and we’re tired of losing,” Tamisiea said. “We think we have what it takes to get this thing turned around if we continue to work hard and have a great preseason. We’re really focused on finishing it and making sure that doesn’t happen again.”

It’s a Colby team that’s as seasoned as any in some time. The Mules’ 25 seniors are tied with last year’s group for the most in at least a decade, and between Young, East, Tamisiea, Leos, Smart, McHugh, Sawyer and more, it’s a group that’s made major contributions for Jack Cosgrove’s program.

“It’s a big class of players, and it’s also a high-performance class,” said the Colby sixth-year head coach. “On both sides of the ball, they’re kids who’ve played a lot of football for us. They’re a really good group of guys, and I know they’re excited to make the most of their last year.”

That group will get tested immediately as it opens the season Sept. 14 on the road against two-time defending NESCAC champ Trinity. After hosting Williams on Sept. 21, Colby will then travel west to face Middlebury, which split the conference championship with Trinity last season.

Yet that’s exactly what Colby wants: A chance to prove it can compete with the NESCAC’s best. Young believes the Mules can do that this year, and if they can weather the challenging part of their schedule early, the back end sets up nicely for what could be the finest Colby season since many of these players were born.

“We have a chip on our shoulder, and we’re ready to come out here and win,” Young said. “We haven’t been able to do that in 19 years, but with the guys we’ve got and the veterans we’ve got, I think we’ll be able to do it.”