haggyland

Not watching, and I see Sussman got hit hard, but UA QBs are 1 for 8 for 2 yards at the half?!?!?

Very Very special team. Lost a couple they should have won.

 

Most of the heavy minutes go to Jr's and Sophs...with a frosh tossed in. Should be a good team next year...but let's see what they can do this year.

 

Congrats, gents!

Congrats indeed.

After they lost late at SBU early in conference play I didn't think they would challenge for a spot at the top...glad to see differently.

1-0 at the half in men's soccer; UA with the lead. First possible regular season conference championship at stake.

Can we start a petition to bring Gontarek back?

I'll sign it. I get the whole "Purple Family" thing, and the desire to build a winning program the right way, but I want to see a

win!...once again, assuming he was contrite, and not defiant!

Meanwhile, the starting quarterback for Ohio State gets arrested for drunk driving while underage and only gets suspended for one game. I guess throwing some pot out of a dorm room window is just more dangerous and irresponsible then driving drunk.

Looks like The Ohio State University heard you, and implemented some additional and serious (TIC) punishment: "An Ohio State spokesman confirmed to ESPN that Barrett's financial aid would be forfeited for the 2016 summer term."

Also deserving some Fall sports love are:

Women's field hockey: Picked first in conference, finished first in conference...hosting the post-season tourney with the visiting West Coast teams that include Cal and Stanford! I still giggle a little that we are in the same conference as those two.

Women's soccer: Picked fourth; finished second. First ever bye in the post-season tourney; hosted and won their game...on to Hartford for the potential first championship of their program.

Men's soccer: Picked fifth; currently in first place, with a "control your destiny" game at Binghamton next week to claim their first ever regular season championship, and the number one seed in the post-season conference.

Women's cross country: Finished second in the conference to a three-time defending champion New Hampshire team (that was filled with seniors this year). With a couple of more decent recruits UA could be the favorite next season.

Men's cross country finished 8th, but they are coached by the same group as the women, so maybe there is a chance for improvement next year.

 

Croskey did not play a single down. Coach said before the game, Croskey was tired and would only be used sparingly if at all. It was I-Hanks that fumbled on our second possession; but like Sussman he seems confident enough to overcome mistakes. Crook and Croskey both seem TOO tentative. In pre-season, coach called Sussman a gunslinger and fearless. I think he showed that yesterday; in spite of four int's he competed and never backed off. Earlier in the year, I-Hanks was offensive RoW, when Croskey was benched for "being too tentative." Croskey came back the next week and played well, but has in my opinion mostly reverted to being slow to find and hit holes [granted they may have been few and far between.] I think there is definitely a place for both backs; a two headed monster if you will. As for qb, I'll take Sussman the gunslinger.

 

I said in my post yesterday, that there was a ray of hope for the season. {it was more of a question than a statement.} If we play like we played yesterday (and that is a BIG IF, with such a young team), I firmly believe we can win our last three games.

 

Note: Elon beat brook @ brook

NH barely beats RI @ hamp.

Townson shuts out Delaware @?

Thanks for clearing that up about Croskey...that's what I thought was the case (that he didn't play a down - thanks for adding the reason).

 

It does beg the question, however, of how the starting running back can be "tired" coming off of a bye week.

 

While he threw four INT's...he had something Crook didn't (well, three things): Moxie, Calmness, and zip on his passes.

 

I like the kid's game. The rest will come.

Arm strength and zip on passes is the #1 factor for me. I've thought that with out last few QBs, any pass out to the flat along the sideline is a 50-50 ball.

 

I vote for moxie. The past 3-4 games the sideline has been DEAD...what this team needs more than anything (with the possible exception of health) is energy and attitude.

Damn...Julian Cox is really going to be a good one. Undersized...but man the kid is active. If he could put on 15lbs...he could be special. He literally blew that last play up.

Cox and the hyphenate tandem of Manzo-Lewis and Ibotokun-Hanks have been some of the few positives this season.

.

 

I hope he stays. He made a dumb mistake. He's a kid.

 

Anyone else would be lucky to get him.

Agreed, he's taking his medicine right now. I really hope he comes back. Two years left is a lot of time.

 

Assuming he was contrite, I think he has already taken enough medicine, considering the offense.

 

 

Lest anyone think I called for Gattuso's head, I have not. I may have jokingly, TIC, said something but certainly I'm in the camp to give him another year or two.

I've although thought you have a standing demand that all the coaches, of all the sports, be fired.

 

We'll get better but it's not going to happen overnight. Literally 2/3 of our roster are freshman and sophs. Sometimes it looks like boys against men because it is boys against men.

 

With apologies to those that heard this at the P&G scrimmage: I personally give Gattuso a ton of respect. He has been coaching here for less than two years and he has already turned the program around twice!

No Richmond thread?

No matter...we are listed as a 26 point underdog on the betting sites.

I guess I was more impressed with Vermont last year than most people. Going into the season they'd lost that big senior class w/ Voelkl, Rugg, Carissimo, etc - 5 of their 6 leading scorers. They still went out and were #2 in the conference, swept Stony Brook, and had the #1 offense and #1 defense in the AE and they bring most of that back this year.

 

I was at the UVM-LCC game, and a healthy Ernie Duncan playing in his second ever collegiate game looked really impressive running the offense. If he is healthy, and if his brother is similarly gifted, they can be a very good team.

 

 

With the heavy rains moving me out of the upper deck at half-time I did not hear the marching band. That said, here is a carryover complaint from the last couple of years!:

 

Do not have a marching band at a football game play Adele songs. One objective a band must have is to engage and incite the crowd, and playing slow James Bond theme music isn't going to do it.

Didn't the play Bruno Mars?

Just heard the band's funk offering in a rather vacant stadium, and I found it to be a significant improvement over the "Skyfall" routine. Only critical note is that the higher energy seemed to be at the beginning of the set, with it petering out a bit at the end!

Unless I've had too many shots of bourbon, that last statement doesn't make much sense.

But I still think the stadium should have been named Haggy Land Stadium

I am saving my money for the quarterback wing of the Gattuso Hall of Fame Building.

Msgdg is going to start talking smack on you click. You know how she likes to smack you down for being a pessimist

I'm all in myself, because one mantra keeps cycling through my head: "$iena-show, $iena-show, $iena-show!"

I think clickclack and I share an emotional cycle.

After the JMU game I went all Pollyanna on the team, thinking they just needed some more in-game experience and the youngsters would lead this program to new heights.

Then an NEC Duquesne team came for a visit and shut down the run, and never had to fear the pass. I watched the UA team sleep-walk through a first half against an NEC program that UAlbany's coach left 11 years ago for greener pastures...finding success, and then taking over Albany's program because of its supposed potential. Moves like that imply that UA should be a big step up in level of play, but the results didn't seem to match.

Then the team went to Holy Cross and got killed. Holy Freaking Cross...and got killed. No program with "national championship" aspirations should be going to Worcester,MA and getting shellacked, even if they are upset that their star receiver put himself in trouble's way and got suspended.

And then UA hosted Maine on a beautiful day, where the parking lots were filled with pre-game revelers, and the program just received a tremendous donation...and they got whitewashed. Luckily I had other plans, so I got to leave early, but I saw one play that summed up my thoughts on the program's process: Maine ran the ball on a sideline route and the UA tackler dragged the Maine player forward 8 yards before bringing him down...8 freaking yards forward!?!?!?

I know it is Gattuso's second year, and that expectations were higher after last year's turnaround, but today's game was a total $iena-show, plain and simple. Next year's class better bring in some impact players, because it gets late early in college football.

One friend at the game said that he thought teams usually scheduled "cupcakes" for Homecoming...I told him Albany did!

What gives???

 

There will be plenty of other naming opportunities. Field house, luxury suites, scoreboards, etc.

 

Take a look at Bridgeforth Stadium at JMU. Same name for a long time. They raised a ton of private money for the rebuild without having to resell rights.

 

Yes, I want to just be happy with a $10 million donation, but I have such lofty dreams for where we are headed!

Hopefully there will be a windfall of new revenue streams...in part created by this donation.

 

http://www.timesunion.com/sports/article/UAlbany-names-athletic-facility-Tom-and-Mary-6559019.php

 

this is phenomenal...man, I really hope they can take at least a little bit of that money and buy a scoreboard for SEFCU.

 

and a new website

 

Slightly off-topic, but as this is a day of good news for the program: A few weeks ago I "hard-pressed" the athletics staff for some answers regarding the website and I was told "We have a vendor and are just waiting for a contract to be finalized."

So, with that said, hopefully we can see a deliverable in a few months.

So the $10M pays for a permanent name, right?

Could be risky 15-20 years down the line if the program grows.

 

Nice! Thank you to the Bernard and Millie Foundation!

 

 

Not going to lie danestep, you did build it up as wayyyy more. You should have just kept it to yourself. IMPRESSIVE donation either way.

 

Ilko and MadDog style:

 

Looks like ... Casey Stadium?

 

 

https://twitter.com/MarkSingelais/status/651875867082293248

 

Definitely CAS*Y...Casey would make sense. Who is that or who are they?

 

Still think it is COSBY...(with "Billy" instead of "Bill" as a result of an image rebrand.)

"Bill" is accused of doing some bad things to women.

"Billy" is an athletics loving philanthropist that cares about mid-major schools.

Sorry, UofA, but my moniker is not involved.

Luckily for you, however, I used Ilko's post to solve the riddle. It looks like the naming rights are a PR stunt to create some goodwill by a once proud comedic legend.

You can thank me later for figuring it out...

"“It wasn't our best team score of the season for sure, but it was our ultimate goal to beat Siena for the second year in a row and that's what we accomplished,” said Head Coach Colleen Cashman-McSween."

So it doesn't take a UA team's best day to beat Siena? Hmmmm.