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UAlbany Football Game 6, 10-12-2024 (Sat) 1:00 PM at Bryant Bulldogs, Beirne Stadium, Smithfield, RI


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Bryant's record:

Date           Time       At     Opponent                      Location                                     Tournament   Result 

Aug 29 (Thu)   7:00 PM    Away   University of Delaware        Newark, DE / Delaware Stadium                             L 17-48

Sep 7 (Sat)    4:00 PM    Home   Franklin Pierce University    Smithfield, R.I. (Beirne Stadium)                         W 21-17

Sep 14 (Sat)   2:00 PM    Home   Holy Cross                    Smithfield, R.I. (Beirne Stadium)                         L 22-43

Sep 21 (Sat)   3:00 PM    Away   University of New Hampshire   Durham, NH / Wildcat Stadium                              L 17-38

Oct 5 (Sat)    12:00 PM   Away   Brown University              Providence, RI / Richard Gouse Field                      W 42-35
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From Friday's Times-Union:

 

Aden, Uga fuel running attack

BY MARK SINGELAIS ALBANY — The University at Albany football team gave an honor to running back Faysal Aden after Thursday’s practice that’s usually reserved for defensive players. Coach Greg Gattuso awarded Aden the No. 8 jersey for Saturday’s game at Bryant that was worn the past two years by late defensive end AJ Simon, who died in his sleep last April. It was recognition for the way Aden, a graduate student, prepared and played in place of an injured Griffin Woodell in last week’s 31-10 victory at Cornell.

Aden and freshman Jojo Uga helped revive the slumbering UAlbany running game, which broke loose for a season-high 273 rushing yards against the Big Red. The Great Danes (2-3 overall, 0-1 Coastal Athletic Association) had given the No. 8 to a defensive player in each of the first five weeks of the season. “I think it just goes to the way that I prepare and the kind of effort that I give, day in, day out, whether it’s practice, a lift, or school, whatever it is,” Aden said. “I think that’s the biggest reason he wanted to give it to me.” Aden, who normally wears No. 0, called it a “really big honor.”

With Woodell expected to miss Saturday’s game, the Great Danes will again turn to Aden and Uga to try to get their first league victory of the season. Woodell, a redshirt sophomore from Glens Falls, left the Cornell game in the second quarter and didn’t return. He didn’t practice on Thursday. Asked if it’s related to Woodell’s shoulder surgery last January, Gattuso replied, “Yeah, he’s just dealing with the same stuff. It’s really not. He’s just beat up. We need to get him healthy.” Gattuso said the start will go to Aden, a Salt Lake City native who ran for a career-high 133 yards and an 84-yard touchdown against Cornell. He’ll be backed up by Uga, from the Boston neighborhood of Hyde Park, who rushed for 91 yards and a 16-yard score.

The Great Danes unlocked the run game even though all-CAA left tackle Ozzie Hutchinson had to leave early after tweaking his left foot. He had missed the previous three games with a right foot injury. Gattuso said Hutchinson will be a game-time decision against Bryant. Junior Chance Roberts slid back into Hutchinson’s spot against Cornell and the Great Danes found their running groove. “We wanted to make it a point to run the ball more this game,” Aden said. “I think we made that an emphasis all throughout practice and we just really executed at game time. O-line did a hell of a job of opening up those holes and as a collective in the running back room we ran hard, broke some tackles.”

Uga said he’s getting the hang of the UAlbany offense. He did a postgraduate year at Worcester (Mass.) Academy and then enrolled midyear at UAlbany to take part in spring practice. “Kind of just understand the offense a bit more,” Uga said. “I feel like at first I was kind of a little shaky with the offense and I didn’t understand a lot of things, but now that I know what I’m doing, like Coach says, know and do your job.” Uga has picked up pointers from Woodell and Aden, a University of Utah transfer. “I like to characterize Jojo as a bit of a sponge,” Aden said. “He’s a good player, really strong for his age, and he’s smart, too. So I think I just try to give him the keys to the castle every opportunity I can. He has a bright future ahead of him.”

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From Saturday's Times-Union:

Danes travel to CAA newcomer

Bryant Bulldogs coach says program “has grown substantially” since losing to UAlbany in ’19 BY MARK SINGELAIS

UAlbany coach Greg Gattuso and his team will face Bryant on Saturday for the first time as a CAA opponent. Five years have passed since the University at Albany football team demolished Bryant 45-3 in a nonleague game at Casey Stadium. The Bulldogs have changed leagues three times since then. Now they’re Coastal Athletic Association rivals of the Great Danes. They’ll meet at 1 p.m. Saturday in Smithfield, R.I.

Bryant sixth-year coach Chris Merritt was in his first season with the Bulldogs, then in the Northeast Conference, when they were dominated by UAlbany by 42 points in their most recent meeting on Sept. 7, 2019. “That was a good old-fashioned butt-whooping out there in Albany,” Merritt recalled. “I just remember the feeling of it and hopefully we can give them a better game this time around. I think our program has grown substantially.” Bryant stayed in the NEC through 2021. Then the Bulldogs spent 2022 in the Big South Conference and last season in the Big South–OVC Football Association.

While Bryant (2-3 overall, 0-1 league) is trying to establish itself as a CAA program, UAlbany (2-3, 0-1) is attempting to return to form after sharing the league regular-season title a year ago. The Great Danes took a step in that direction by winning 31-10 at Cornell in their nonleague finale last week. UAlbany coach Greg Gattuso recognized the importance of beating Bryant on Saturday and not falling into an 0-2 hole in conference play with six games remaining. “For what we want to do, we have to be 1-1,” Gattuso said. “The games are all must-wins ... You only get one or two losses you can survive and still make the (Football Championship Subdivision) playoffs and win the conference.

We need to win some games in the conference. It’s a no-brainer and it’s a big game.” Though Bryant is a new league foe, UAlbany senior middle linebacker Dontae Lunan is very familiar with the Bulldogs. He played the past three seasons for Bryant before entering the NCAA transfer portal. “Feels great getting to go back out there and face some old teammates,” Lunan said. “Another week we get to go against a formidable opponent.” Lunan led Bryant with 61 tackles last season. “Dontae’s a genuine kid,” said Merritt, who recruited Lunan out of Miami Gardens, Fla. “He’s one of those kids you know is going to be successful later in life. ... I wished him nothing but the best of luck when he chose to explore his options. I’m happy to see him having success.” Lunan, who leads UAlbany with 46 tackles, said he’s eager to play after sitting out the entire second half against Cornell.

He was ejected for targeting the quarterback in the second quarter. “I don’t know what targeting is anymore,” Gattuso said after the victory. “I feel like anxious is the wrong word, but I’ve definitely got a chip on my shoulder going into this game,” Lunan said. In Lunan’s absence, redshirt freshman linebacker Troy Berschwinger of Guilderland stood out with eight tackles, a sack and a pass breakup. Gattuso said Berschwinger earned more playing time even after Lunan returns to the starting lineup this week.

Coming off its best defensive performance of the season, UAlbany will try to stop a Bryant offense that features Coastal Carolina graduate transfer Jarrett Guest at quarterback and senior Landon Ruggieri at wide receiver. Ruggieri has 32 catches for 549 yards and eight touchdowns, tied for the most in FCS. “I’ve seen a lot of trust in the defense, a lot of guys doing what they needed to do,” Lunan said. “No selfish guys (last) Saturday. Everybody flying to the ball.” With starting running back Griffin Woodell out injured, UAlbany graduate student Faysal Aden and freshman Jojo Uga will share carries against a Bryant defense allowing 147.4 rushing yards per game.

Bryant has also permitted 270.2 passing yards per game and 11 touchdown receptions, which could mean opportunities for Great Danes quarterback Myles Burkett. UAlbany is 3-2 all-time against Bryant. The Great Danes split four meetings with the Bulldogs from 2008-12 when both teams were NEC rivals before UAlbany left for the CAA

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This has been a consistently terrible football team.  And I honest to god do not want to hear the "we lost guys" excuses.  EVERYONE LOST GUYS.  What this has shown is that we are not very good at targeting talent that gels as a team (maybe individual).   

 

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And for the record, I am in the stands at the game and it is OBJECTIVELY HORRIBLE.  And for the record, that play that just happened...the Bryant player was dirty AF.

Edited by Dane96
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That was TD in the end

21 minutes ago, Dane96 said:

So poorly coached...so emotionally low skilled...this is a Binging joke. 

Defense is just poor.  Lost too many guys to come back strong this first year, just my opinion.

Edited by HOF2013
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By the way the play in the endzone was a TD. They showed it in slowmo. He was on the ground and the ball in his possession the Bryant player rolled over him out of bounds and forced the ball away........................................clearly not in interception.  They were both out of bounds when the Bryant player got the ball!!

Edited by HOF2013
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1 minute ago, MRuler 79 said:

Might be time to replace Burkett. Two disastrous picks today, one on the 3 yard line. I hope he picks his play up.

First one was not a pick.  See my previous post.  Our guy had possession with the defender on top. The defender rolled them both out of bounds and then came away with the ball!!  It should have been a TD

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