UA66

Not sure I would put Bob Adams in that category. I've seen him ref many UA games over many,many years and he has been quite fair for the most part. However, I would move Laubenstein into a tie for #1 with Hughes. They are by far the worst I have seen at any level, even far worse than any ref for the youth leagues I coached in.

Jimbo, I was at that game and remember it pretty much as you recalled. I believe we were not favored as Alfred was an established program with a good track record. I think that may also have been the game where torrential rains began to fall after we had that 7-6 lead. Neither team could do much after that but we (fans) held our collective breaths until the final whistle.

Forgot about that one, Bob. Thanks.

"Albany is currently FIFTH in the country in average attendance...." Hmmm, shouldn't all of our lacrosse games against LLC be at Fallon Field since our ave. attendance is 2,446 and theirs is only 479. Besides, their arena only holds 1000.....can't fit in all the fans that would want to attend.

I think we've heard this argument before but in a different context.

Sorry, couldn't pass up the opportunity for a little sarcasm.

It's probably a crime scene. Click, where were you between the hours of 5 and 7 a.m. this morning?

Their real news team does a good job, as does their weather man.

"like the TU clearly is with Siena" and not to mention Dougie Sherman of Channel 6 News who has at least one Siena story every night, ranging from which player has an ingrown toenail to who lost their hair gel.

Couldn't agree with you more danefan. I've been watching UA football since its inception and can't recall a more disappointing team than this one. Besides a horrendous season, I worry about the impact such a record may have on future recruiting. It is painful to watch this team.

It's been a long time since I last added anything to this Forum. Didn't have much to say, but I was starting to get very annoyed with this discussion about name change. I was about to write when Dane Pound posted his comment. He expressed my sentiments exactly. It's not the name that makes one's reputation, it's what you do on the playing fields, courts and tracks. UAlbany is doing pretty well in that department considering the relatively short time they have been in D1. I like the name UAlbany Great Danes. Keep it! And for those who think people don't know where Albany is I'll relate this brief story. I was on the tiny Pacific island of Guam a few years ago visiting my son who was in the Navy. One evening we went to the local farmer's market; I was wearing my UAlbany t-shirt - no mention of New York on it. I stopped at one of the vendors, a native Chimorran. He glanced at my t-shirt and asked, "You're from New York?"

Dane 96, ditto on Jason Smith. As I watched from the west end of the field on sat. nite, I was very impressed at his speed and felt that he may be the best all-around receiver we have right now, though I still like Wall's speed and Furnace's (sp.?) hands. And I totally agree with Ruler on this point: we have some very talented receivers. We just need to get the passing game in sync. When that happens, as I think it will with Blasinsky maturing so quickly, the running game will open up a little more. Wow! And this is still a very young team.

Excellent analysis, Ruler.

Bocanegra played as well as he has thus far this season. His passes were more crisp and accurate but his fumbles remain a problem. I really like the poise of that Blasinsky has shown. Wasn't sure how he would be if he had to scramble but he did pick up a nice gain (for a 1st down I believe) late in the game when he couldn't find an open receiver.

The newcomer that has really impressed me most, besides Blasinsky, is Colin Simmons. He's a little guy - looks like a midget when standing next to the linemen - but he is exciting. He brings energy into the game. He's not only very fast but has very quick moves. He may be overlooked at this point because of his size, but I believe he's going to be a good one, a very good one.

The whole defense looked impressive, except on the last CCSU drive when there were some missed assignments that left receivers open for long gains, but by then the game was essentially over. If I had to pick one guy who is looking better and better every week it has to be Trevor Dupont.

UA66,

Yep, remember that game. I also attended an Albany game at Alfred when the weather was not the best. Was the game at Albany the match where one of the Albany guys with the ball fell and slid on his butt over two 5-yard markers? Funny! (I could have said "Fanny!")

YES! Thanks for the reminder. Didn't make the game at Alfred so I can't compare but it would be hard to imagine worse conditions than the home game vs. Alfred.

DP, how do I paste a picture here?

According to The College Football Data Warehouse the Maine game was 10-29-77, score 42-39. It was Maine's last year of D-II football; I-AA was created in 1978.

 

Central Florida archives say our 28-27 win in 1980 was in front of 14,022 fans.

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Thanks Alum72 for taking the time to track down that info.

Much of this probably doesn't mean much to the younger folks and may be ancient history to them, but you, Olddog 71 and I were there from the beginning and have tons of fond memories to share. E.g., remember the Alfred/Albany game played in a torrential rain? Alfred was heavily favored but everyone knew that the scoring had to happen early and the first team to score would win since the rain only kept pouring down harder and harder as the game went on and field conditions deteriorated. And so it was; we scored and we won. Those were the worst waether conditions that I have ever seen for an Albany football, including the heavy wet snow at a Fordham game. Ah yes, the memories.

I believe Maine was in the old Yankee Conference then which I thought was considered D-I until the IA and IAA designations came about. Regardless, I remember the write up in the Times Union afterwards. A Maine fan was overheard by the TU reporter prior to the game asking "Who scheduled THIS team?". After the game the same fan was quoted as asking "WHO scheduled this team?" It was a wild high scoring affair. Albany didn't do a very good job of stopping Maine but Maine was completely flummoxed by Albany's wishbone attack.

Alum 72, you may be right about the Central Florida attendance being less than 15K but my fading memory banks tell me it was well over 10K.

I think the Maine game was around 1974.

Add to the list, Albany's first TV game (might have been an ESPN regional telecast when they were doing some D-III games) and a big win over Ithaca on a last second field goal (43 yard?) by Dario Arrango. Arrango was a soccer player at Albany who was brought in for that game.

Other candidates: UAlbany win over Central Florida before 15,000 fans in the Tangerine Bowl; NCAA playoff win against Hampden Sidney.

These were all D-III games but we used to get more fans at games then than we have since going D-IAA. I remember large crowds at Bleeker Stadium where night games were played and games on campus when the seats were filled and the bank opposite the stadium seats being filled.

I sense that those crowds will gradually be returning if we can turn in some big seasons with wins against the likes of Delaware, UMass, New Hampshire, Hofstra, Colgate, Northeastern.

Good luck with your research.

It had to be the picture. Dane Pound, you;re on the hot seat now to come up with another one for next week.

Great, great win for UAlbany. Congrats!!!!!!

Good observations Ruler, but I agree with Dane 96 re the receivers. They are pretty good. And yes, Wall did drop one that hit him in the forearm. Would have been a big gainer. They'll look better with Blasinsky tossing it to them. He's got a nice soft touch on the ball and showed pretty good accuracy.

CCSU beating GSU is pretty scary. Remember, they also beat Colgate last year. They have become the cream of the crop in the NEC. aybe we can make that creamed corn in two weeks.

Dump the no-huddle!

Re the concessions, thank God I had the foresight to stop and pick up some cider donuts on the drive over. Yum!

DP, "poised" is the first thought I had as I watched Blasinsky. You may also have noticed that the enthusiam level of team members picked up after he came into the game. He clearly has leadership quality. I was sure that he was going to lead us to a comeback victory but a few dropped passes (at least he was hitting his receivers and NOT their defensive backs), some poor play calling (why go for the long pass on the 4th and 6 on that last drive), some stupid penalties, and a few penalties resulting from confusion (I still hate the no-huddle) stymied his efforts. Now that I have recovered from the let down of that game, I feel confident that Blasinsky is going to do some very good things the rest of this year and the three afterwards.

A couple more points - on the ball that Dupont (?) picked up and ran back for a touchdown, he was about 6 yards in front of his nearest pursuer who had no chance of catching up. So why did one of his blockers feel the need to block - an illegal block as it was - the pursuer. At the time, several people around me commented that that penalty and lost TD could come back to haunt us. Prophetic.

Interesting that our biggest gainers seemed to come on the first play of a series, just after the offense had HUDDLED on the sideline. The no-huddle didn't do Texas any good either last night.

Mainejeff, thanks for that insight into the cliquey world of college field hockey. Sounds like a tough nut to crack for teams like UAlbany and Maine.

I'm glad to see the field hockey team doing well, sure does show how playing on ur home turff helps a program.

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Having that new field is really great, so I wonder why only 6 of the 18 games are at home. Maybe this is still a reflection of our recent arrival in D-1. It's not just field hockey but I think all of our teams play far more away games than home games. I hope that situation changes soon.

Though it means much, much less now than in late November, Hansen has Albany ranked #1 in 1-AA Mid Major. Has that ever happened in UA's D1 era? Hope this does not put too much of a target on team.

Re sat.'s game, I saw some highlights on Channel 6 (Albany) news sat. eve. Hard to believe that Fralicker could kick 3 field goals in that monsoon. Commentator stated that game looked like it was "played inside an aquarium."

The defensive effort didn't surpirse me, but I was happy to see that the offensive line performed as well as it did. In the one practice that I observed two weeks ago, the D ran through the OL line a hot knife through butter. Now not sure if that was because this D is so potent or that the OL was so impotent in that practice. Nevertheless, I've never been happier that my prediction (for the game) was so wrong. Hopefully, I am just as wrong about prospects for Del and Cornell games. This D is really something and maybe I underestimated strength of the OL. If teh OL is in syn, Allen and Johnson will have huge seasons. ? remains the QB.