jimbo

Not sure where to put this so I thought I would just tuck it in here. Shane Sweeney started the game this week for 16th ranked Hobart in a victory over Dickinson. 21/30 for 248 yds and 1 TD. Nice first collegiate start!

Croskey got all of the early work and was not impressive. He was pretty much straight ahead, following blocking which was not too impressive either. I think when our O-Line is blocking non-FBS lines you may see Croskey develop into an Omar type runner with some extra speed. Hanks came in against the second string D and is a totally different runner with some slippery moves in tight. He looked much more impressive, but again it was against UB's 2nd group. I think he will be a runner like we have not seen in a long time. Both Crook and Sussman were not reluctant to run and made some decent choices. It appears we may be running a lot of freeze option this year and that still needs some work. One thing I saw in the spring game and again once on Saturday was the toss to a receiver on a run…Gontarak had a nice gain…don't know why they didn't come back to it. Anybody see anything else? Oh, Alston returned KOs and looks a lot "bigger" than expected. Short, but appears powerfully built. Also, if you saw the MY4 weekly show and checked out the roster, some of the guys have bulked up. Malloy says he's 280 now, which is pretty big considered he was listed at 240 last year.

http://www.kcchiefs.com/team/roster/brian-parker/fed955a5-99a1-481e-9f58-06171accd715/ Good for Brian!

Clickclack…like I said, the sight lines are terrible there. BTW….ESPN3 + Roku = perfect TV viewing. No problems at all. The ESPN3 announcers seemed like homers though. I guess they have a lot of MAC experience so that may be expected. Considering Penn St cratered against Temple maybe UB has a shot there too.

OK…on to URI.

I've been watching ESPN3 and it's been wall-to-wall UB ads….not a thing from Albany. I think the marketing department dropped the ball on this one. Nice opening drive by UA, but it's progressing about as I expected. I think Crook will be good when he's not pressing and behind. Giant O-Line + good QB + 2 good RBs are too much to deal with. Only one turnover so far which is good. If anyone watched URI vs 'cuse last night there were 3 turnovers in the its 90 sec and URI had only 64 yards of offense. Of course UB is not Syracuse. South Dakota State beat Kansas…but then again, who hasn't.

The facts are that for FCS in NY and New England, only 2 schools broke 10,000 attendance for 2014…..Harvard and Yale. Maybe with Benson and his team in place the marketing will be such that UA can start pushing the 10,000 per game mark in the future. Heck, there's 2 MAC teams that did not break 10,000 per game. Only 2 FCS conferences average 10,000+ per game…Missouri Valley and the SWAC. With a lot of marketing and a lot of success we should creep up…gotta get the students out to the games more consistently and they're trying to build that culture.

MIght want to check the Recovery Sports Grill as they host the weekly show and Roger Wyland uses them a lot for off camera events.

I think we are most undersized on the D-Line. Both coach and the UB forum folks make the point that their O-Line is the 14th largest in FBS and outweighs ours by about 50 LBs per man. Quickness and technique will only get you so far, especially with inferior depth. You often see FCS schools stick with an FBS school until late in the 2nd half when they get worn down. Our O-Line has decent size. The LBs are a tad small. The D-Backs are getting better. To be honest I have been quite surprised that a former D-Lineman Head Coach has not bagged one or two bigger interior linemen over 2 signing classes. Maybe he just prefers smaller and more athletic to bigger and less athletic.

I forgot to mention that UB is so proud of being in Buffalo that in order to see the word "Buffalo" on their uniforms you need the Hubble Space telescope. Our only child attended UB and got a good education….and I've been to games there…and rooted for UB and still do…unless they are playing UA of course! I hate to pick on Buffalo…I really do….

I am amused with the UB fan forum juveniles. Really bad mouthing UA and Albany in general. This from the fans of a team that is ranked 97th-108th out of 128 FBS teams, that in 2014 had to score 2 4th 1/4 TDs to beat Duquesne, a 34 scholarship school from a league that UA dominated, that then lost to that power house Army, then got completely blasted by Baylor and later in the season lost to Eastern Michigan…ranked in the bottom 5 of FBS. I still think UA is a longshot to beat UB, but at least we're not delusional! In 2014 the median home sale price for Erie County was $129,000…Albany County was $200,000 and Saratoga County, Albany's main "bedroom suburb", was $259,000…..yes, so many people are yearning to live in and near Buffalo and their big league teams that they are willing to pay 1/2 as much for a house there as they are willing to pay for one around the Albany area. Erie County and Buffalo are doing so well, in fact, that NYS Authorities have had to take control of their fiscal operations. Yup….terrible to be in the Albany area. Go Danes!

It's interesting that no mention seems to be made of Andre Martin at RB. It seems the staff is leaning towards the younger players that were recruited in the "Gattuso Era". I can see where they want that.

I'm gonna say 5, but hope I'm wrong…..

Big donation from Cordish….JH graduate. I also noticed that Johns Hopkins endowment is 70 TIMES the size of UA's. They have a little more $ to play with.

http://www.inforum.com/sports/3829971-schnepf-ndsu-should-not-join-coastal-carolina-moving-next-level-football Interesting article. I am one of those who would rather UA stay in FCS for a long time…WAY too early to even think of of a jump.

Alum73: The key word there is "younger"…LOL. I once drove back to the area from Michigan by myself…non stop…in my younger days. Honestly, if it wasn't on TV, I would have figured something out. The seats at UB Stadium are well away from the field due to the track so the ESPN3 view should be better.

Buffalo is stretching it for a day trip…at least for me. It's close to 4 1/2 hours for me. Getting there is not the problem, but driving back east mostly in the dark….after a long day, is no fun. I didn't book ahead so the rooms out there are outrageous tight now. Labor Day weekend and all.

Decided to watch UB game from home….costs to stay, etc were getting to be too much. Looking to the Holy Cross game….1pm start….easy drive to/from. Alumni Assoc……UA Athletic Dept…how about a bus trip?? Could have done the UB game, definitely can do the Holy Cross game. If the cost to go to the UB game was maybe $75-$80 with ticket, it's better than $200-$250 for transportation, tickets, lodging, etc.

I notice that both Madaras brothers are missing too. Ngachie was really good as a Freshman, then was seen less last year and now not on the depth chart. You can think of that in a couple of ways and the preferred is that the competition and talent has risen. Not at all surprising that Shanley is off the team and Sweeney has gone on to Hobart. There's only so many years for these guys to play college ball and they could read the tea leaves when Crook, Sussman and Brunson came in. Coach said there was going to be an open competition and apparently there were winners and losers.

Also strange since we really didn't have a traditional FB last year. According to what I read, Brian Parker's little bro is the FB. Only time will tell.

Weirder yet is that the RT's are listed as defensive linemen in the roster…???

While in a SEFCU branch this morning I saw on their video screens an Ad for U Albany football season fix, $10 off special offer…through today. So they're in bank branches now!

It could go either way. I honestly think our defense will be better, special teams should be the same, offense will depend on how quick the QBs are up to speed. After reading things again, it appears Sussman, not Brunson, is indeed the back-up QB. Sussman appears to be a good runner so it could be he's a 1-2 punch with Crook (UB Board says UA is starting a "criminal" at QB). The O-Line should be better with another year under their belts. Omar and Parker are hard to replace as is Cole King. BUT, they've got a heck of a crew of receivers. We always look at "levels" of play, NEC (33s scholarships) vs CAA (65) vs MAC (85). I think the lower tier teams in the MAC are a lot closer to the CAA than they are to the top levels of D1-A. Last year, Duquesne took UB to the 4th 1/4 and had a lead before UB finally scored 2 TDs to put them away…and the Dukes are 33 scholarships. Speaking of the NEC, in 2014 Bryant beat Stony Brook and Maine, CCSU beat Towson and RI and Sacred Heart beat Delaware. There was not a huge gap. I doubt UA will beat UB, but they may be able to compete for a while before the superior quality depth takes over. Hope I am wrong of course! Forgot that UB has the new coaching staff from Wisc-WW. Pretty much a D3 staff with a stellar record at that level. So yes, that's all new.

The odd thing is that Parker does not appear on the SD depth chart. Paulsen did…so I guess that's a good thing. Paulsen caught 3 of 4 for 16 yards against Seattle while Parker was 0 for 1 target. So he must be getting it done in other ways…blocking, special teams, etc. Go Brian!

You know you're getting old when the incoming freshman look like they're in Junior High. Groan….