Top 5 Victories in Football Program History

[GreatDanes06]

Ok, I am going to be writing an something for the wCDB Sports Blog and maybe for the ASP to get published, so I am writing a thing on the Top 5 Football Victories in the Programs History. Here is the list I have come up with with a quick explanation of why:

 

1) at Delaware - 9/16/06 - do we even have to explain? Full scholarship vs. non-scholarship against a a National Championship team three years ago in their house in front of the largest attendence to see a UA football game.

 

2) at Lehigh - 9/2/06 - UAlbany finally knocks off the Patriot League after trying for years. Victory over a full-scholarship program.

 

3) vs Duquesne - 11/23/02 - UAlbany's first victory over a top 25 I-AA program. Home field victory of the ECAC Classic/

 

4) vs Monmouth - 11/16/02 - UAlbany knocks off Monmouth to win their first ever NEC Conference title and first title since joining Division I football.

 

T5) at CCS - 9/4/99 - first victory for Great Danes in D-I-AA Football.

vs Stony Brook - 9/22/73 - first victory as a varsity program.

 

honorable mention:

vs. Plymouth State (11/23/85) - Win the Division III North Championship

at. American International (11/22/97) - winning EFC Championship and capping 11-1 season.

vs American International (11/21/98) - winning EFC Championship capping a 10-1 season and its final victory at D II Football before jumping to Division I-AA.

 

TIME TO DEBATE...THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS?

[olddog71]

Great idea for an article. I hope it gets published in the ASP as well. It looks like you really want to put some time into this article and do research.

 

I mentioned this past game last night, but you might want to consider Albany's victory against Maine as one of your top games. Granted, this match took place long ago in D III times, and you may be concentrating just on relatively modern games - I don't remember even closely what year it occurred, and there are many more loyal Dane football fans around who would know this - but it was the first time Albany had beat a D I team.

 

Best of luck in the rest of your effort to publish something really positive about UAlbany football. I hope you really raise the consciousness of our students on the positive strides (some might say leaps) the program has made in a relatively short time.

[UA66]

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.

[olddog71]

UA66,

 

I was present at the Ithaca game of which you speak, and there was a lot of hype before and after the game. Ithaca, back then was THE Division III representative of the East. You might as well not have played most of the games; Ithaca was guaranteed to win. The Albany victory was a real shocker.

 

I knew the game at Central Florida had really drawn a large number of spectators; I didn't know how it compared to last night's draw.

 

Thanks for bringing the real facts forth.

[WCDBvoiceofUA]

A voice from the past here, bored in Madrid waiting for the Pats game to start and I have a few game sthat you may have forgotten...

 

9/1/01

UA 14

Towson 10

 

Towson now a A10 team, so does this count now as our first win against an A-10 team. Ryan Phillis cathces TD Pass with 0:50 seconds left to upend then PL team Towson. Plus my first Danes game, great memory.

 

11/2/02

UA 32

RMU 7

 

Albany doesn't get this win NEC and ECAC does not happen. RMU had won 5 of last 6 NEC titles and the Danes went into Moon Township and steamrolls. Jon George and Gary Jones run for 2 TDs each. Defining win in NEC and make Mid-Majors pollsters take notice.

 

Enjoy!

[Dane96]

Hola WCDBvoiceofUA, Que tal, amigo?

[WCDBvoiceofUA]

Muy bien! Back to US of A tomorrow...

[ralph]

...1) at Delaware - 9/16/06 - do we even have to explain? Full scholarship vs. non-scholarship against a a National Championship team three years ago in their house in front of the largest attendence to see a UA football game.

 

2) at Lehigh - 9/2/06 - UAlbany finally knocks off the Patriot League after trying for years. Victory over a full-scholarship program...

You might want to consider that Albany is a limited SCHOLARSHIP program now, not non-scholarship. Since about 2000 Albany has been a limited grants-in-aid program (same as the PL and Ivy are, but they weren't limited). So UD is full scholly but Lehigh is a grants-in-aid program like all the PL teams.

[UAalum72]

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.

Edited September 18, 2006 by UAalum72

[olddog71]

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.

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UAalum72,

 

Thanks for the information on the Maine game. I remember that the game was very close. So much for my memory, however, on the score settling in the 20's. And just think, my short-term memory is even worse.

 

Once again, thanks for your research.

[UA66]

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.

[UA66]

DP, how do I paste a picture here?

[Dane Pound]

Click on the IMG button at the top of the screen. The picture has to live on the internet somewhere.

[olddog71]

. . . 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. . . .

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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!")

Edited September 18, 2006 by olddog71

[UA66]

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!")

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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.