UAalum72

All I-AA teams are eligible, but only half of the 16 spots go to automatic bids, and realistically MAAC, NEC and Pioneer League teams won't have a power rating high enough to get an at-large bid (they've NEVER gotten one yet). Even IF Albany went undefeated, AND Lehigh & Fordham then were 1-2 in the Patriot, Hofstra won the A-10, and Brown the Ivy, the rest of the NEC would pull the SOS below what we'd need. With the Great West Conf. being formed and the Big South wanting an auto-bid (if they ever get six teams), either a current league will lose a bid, or they'll have to expand the playoffs, and then maybe the limited-scholarship leagues might get a bid. But I still wouldn't count on it. The only thing that would help would be if we and the rest of the NEC also could start winning a lot of the challenge games - 3 vs. the A-10, 5 vs. the Patriot, 1 Ivy, 4 Pioneer and 1 Duquesne this year, and the league can't afford to lose any to the MAAC.

The USA Today Jeff Sagarin ratings have been posted. Albany is rated #210 of 239 in Division I, a solid favorite in the NEC. OOC games have us underdogs of 12 (Fordham) to 28 (Lehigh) points, if you believe preseason numbers are accurate.

His uncle told me today that Todd is going to be an assistant coach at Plymouth State (NH).

Tpday I got the flyer for Homecoming Weekend. If not sooner, there will be a presentation of the Master Plan on Saturday, Oct. 9 in the RACC Hall of Fame room at 4:30.

See Ruler's post under Fall Sports. It would be nice if they did the same thing in Albany, where the media would care (a little).

Considering its their home arena, I dont see any problem with that actually. It's not UAlbany's home arena now, and probably never will be. But there IS no other arena around that can handle the crowd, and the Pepsi is a PUBLIC facility, not Siena-owned. If Albany is designated the home team, their fans should be able to sit at mid-court on the lower level. Siena fans can sit wherever they would at any other road game. If they think there will be prime seats left over, Aints fans can buy them as walk-ups.

Since there's no word, I assume $iena season-ticket holders keep their seats no matter who the 'home' team is. Just once I'd like to make THEM sit behind the baselines.

Somebody find a knob from the bathroom that says 'PRESS' and go as the media rep of bigpurplefans.com (Journalism 101, Stooges division).

Men's conf. hoop - Sun., Jan. 2, Boston U, 2:00;Sat. 1/8, Northeastern,, 2:00, Wed. 1/12, Bing, 7:00; Thurs. 1/27, Hartford, 7:00; Wed. Feb. 2, Stony, 7:00; Sat. 2/5, UNH (BPG), 7:00; Sat. 2/12, Maine, 7:00; Wed. 2/16, UVM, 7:00; Sat. 2/19, UMBC, 2:00. Also $iena, 11/23, LIU 12/8, Dartmouth 12/30

How long before you-know-who tells us we copied the helmets from the Packers because they have green stripes?

Don't know if these practice unis are the same as the game uniforms. The logo is the new 'A' . Next week I'll see if I can get close enough for a detailed shot.

The old security building is now a pile of rubble. The architect's shack for the original campus construction, it served 'temporarily' for 40 years. Here's hoping they lost my old parking tickets in the debris.

Thanks, but I don't think I'm fast enough on the buzzer for KJ, unless you set up the whole board like a Cliff Klavan dream. Happy Birthday LDP.

Well, I was just going by last year's Sagarin rating, which had Hampton favored by less than a touchdown over Albany, and ranked well behind Brown and Hofstra. #164 Brown 45.91 #170 Hofstra 44.46 #185 Hampton 41.52 #202 Albany 34.94 Wouldn't have been a GREAT shot last year, but in a year or two?

A story in The Delaware News Journal confirms Delaware's "Nonconference opponents on the 2006 UD schedule, revealed in the new media guide, are Division II West Chester, I-AA non-scholarship Albany and Hofstra, which Delaware does not play in a league game that year. Lehigh, West Chester and Holy Cross are the 2005 nonconference foes" Another future opponent will be Hampton. Not a 'name' opponent, but still a team with a winning record in a playoff conference (MEAC), and one we should have a real shot at beating.

I knew it was coming sometime, but only today did the web site feature that ESPN was live at the Giants' camp yesterday. Anybody see it?

Obviously, but last year Hofstra was actually rated a little behind Brown. Fordham is supposed to be very quick, which could be trouble unless all our redshirt DBs are a big improvement over the past. Don't mow the field until Sept. 12!

Yes, that would be Fox Sports NY. From different posts on the Hofstra board, I've heard they've got no quarterback, not much at RB, the O-line can't protect the passer, and the D-line is small and could be vulnerable to smashmouth. I hate to get my hopes up, but we've got to win some of these challenge games sometime. My daughter wants to look at Adelphi U; by coincidence we arranged for the tour on Sept. 2. Looked like a Punt, Pass & Kick contest at University Field at lunchtime today.

The Marist forum reports Steve Sauers has become the women's coach and a faculty member at West Point Prep in Fort Monmouth, NJ

What, no warm welcome yet for our latest member, Woman from Russia?

My guess would be a football-only stadium, a lax/field hockey turf stadium, and a soccer/track grass field. I think you're overestimating the football seating; unless you're counting standing room it's more like 2,500 on the home side. A closer gauge would be the visitor's side; 30 yards wide, 15 rows seats about 850, so your 40 yards would give you about 1,100 for baseball behind the plate, but you could almost triple that going from first to third. Now concentrate on the bar exam for the next two days!

Fordham - for power ratings, respect, and publicity Monmouth will still be good, but it's too early to tell if it will decide the league title.

University http://www.albany.edu/sports/stories.htm#tfrecruits announces 12 men, 11 women recruits. One from Ukraine, one from Puerto Rico, one from Jamaica, all the others from NYS.

I think they like to wait until all the contracts are signed and delivered. Last year the schedule wasn't announced until September 9.

Although I'd prefer naming fields after coaches, it's already known that naming rights are for sale (donor or corporate). Still, I'd prefer a real, locally identifiable name (Freihofer, Fucillo) to a made-up corporate-speak name like Verizatech or, say, Enron. But money will have the final say. If the master plan has facilities close together, some kind of Walk of Fame connecting them would give a chance of continuing fund-raising, donors getting their names carved in the bricks or on markers along the route - as long as the bricks last longer than those on the Albany pedestrian footbridge downtown.