Pre-Game Thoughts

[danefan]

Man - I'm excited about this game.

 

I was up in Albany over the weekend for a wedding and after my obligatory 18 holes at Capitol Hills on Sunday I ran over and watched about a 1/2 hr of practice. The offense looked sharp. The O-line looked bigger than they are on paper, but they were also only up against the look team so it may have been an "optical illusion".

 

McCarty took most of the reps, which was good to see (didn't look like any hamgstring issues) and I have to tell you - he is an absolute beast in person. Looks more like 230 to me.

 

Another guy that's huge is Nicomini, who is listed as the starting OLB for Saturday. 6'3", 230 is the list, but he's big man. Probably one of the biggest OLB's we've had since Kurt Campbell.

 

I saw Fordie Saturday at Fiorellos (deli on Western) and he was really excited also. He was also really excited about the Cincy game. He said it doesn't make much financial sense to play at Montana, Delaware, GSU if we can get FBS games. I took that to mean we'll be seeing more of games like Cincy and less GSU/Montana games.

[Clickclack]

Great update...thanks!

 

Only a few short days 'till it's on like Donkey Kong!

[danefan]

Holy cow - Maine is in OT right now against St Cloud state - a 7-4 DII team from a year ago. Not good for Maine.

[GreatDanes06]

Maine won 34-27 in OT...but still, makes you wonder

[danefan]

Maine won 34-27 in OT...but still, makes you wonder

 

 

We need all of our OOC teams to have great seasons. If not the same thing will happen as in 2007. Even a win won't get the ranking up high enough.

[uofalbany]

Yeah, thank god that Maine didn't lose.

We need that win on their schedule.

 

 

There appears to be a link to video of tomorrow's game.

Anyone for certain it's going to be video - and not turn out to be only audio?

 

http://www.georgiasoutherneagles.com/liveEvents/liveEvents.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=18700

[alum73]

It says it's audio.

[EagleSC]

GSU has daily updates on practice. (I wish we had that - maybe we will..)

 

http://www.georgiasoutherneagles.com/Sport...amp;SPSID=90301

 

GSU takes their football very seriously. That is why they have daily updates. We haven't gotten to that level of development. We are light years from our state school peers in regards to football. Anyway...

 

What is the line on the game? I would love to see a win but this is a tough game. GSU has played Georgia tough every time. We're talking about them playing a SEC school last year and playing us this year. Tough game.

 

Line on the game is GSU -10. Hope no one here thinks that GSU fans are taking this game lightly. The way we've played the last 3 years, we take NOTHING for granted. That RB has us holding onto our nipples. Hope we have an answer for him.

 

I'm in the same boat as you SoCal. I live in Newport Beach and can't make it back for the game either. I'll be checking it out online however.

 

Good luck tomorrow. Hope that both teams emerge without any injuries!

[EagleSC]

Yeah, thank god that Maine didn't lose.

We need that win on their schedule.

 

 

There appears to be a link to video of tomorrow's game.

Anyone for certain it's going to be video - and not turn out to be only audio?

 

http://www.georgiasoutherneagles.com/liveEvents/liveEvents.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=18700

 

There will be both audio and video for the game. Audio feed is free, the video feed requires a subscription. You can pay for 1 month ($10) to watch the game but be sure to cancel after the game (or month if you care to follow the rest of the GSU games in September) b/c they'll keep charging you $10 a month until you do. The video will be synched up with the GSU radio broadcast so you'll have both on that.

 

I live in California, so I use it all the time. I've rarely had any problems during football season.

[danefan]

just a head's up - and no offense to our GSU friends - but if you are planning on paying for the video feed, do it through Danezone which will get you the same video through Eaglevsision. However, if you do it through Danezone the profit goes to UA. Brian Depasquale assured me that the Danezone feed would be the GSU feed, which is audio and video.

[danefan]

From AGS - a GSU fan's pre game write-up. Right on spot.

 

I hope to be able to do a little pregame summary for most of the teams Georgia Southern will face this year including some of my own thoughts and information gathered from other sources. So' date=' without further ado, here's the first installment.

 

[center']ALBANY (N.Y.) vs. GEORGIA SOUTHERN

Saturday, September 5, 2009

 

PAULSON STADIUM

Statesboro, Georgia

 

 

KICKOFF 6 p.m. EST

 

[/center]

Weather

 

Temperature: 89°F

Heat Index: 94°F

Humidity: 51%

 

Albany

COACH: Bob Ford

OVERALL RECORD:

234-165-1 (40 years)

RECORD AT ALBANY:

225-143 (36 years)

 

GSU

COACH: Chris Hatcher

OVERALL RECORD:

89-21 (9 years)

RECORD AT GSU:

13-9 (2 years)

 

Impact Players

 

Albany

 

Running Back- David McCarty: 1,852 rushing yards and 2,208 all-purpose yards. All-American. Walter Payton Award watch list.

 

Quarterback- Vinny Esposito: Threw for 1,934 yards in 2008 with 13 touchdowns, completing 60.3 percent of his passes.

 

Line Backer- Justin Brancaccio: Preseason all NEC pick, led the Great Danes with 91 tackles, including four TFL.

 

Safety- Dave Casale intercepted seven passes last year and finished with 74 tackles.

 

 

Georgia Southern

 

Quarterback- Lee Chapple: finished the 2008 campaign as the starter. Threw for 787 yards and five touchdowns, with a 64.5 completion percentage.

 

Running Back- Adam Urbano: 304 yards and 7 touchdowns. Southern Conference All-Freshman Team.

 

Linebacker- Dion Dubose: 32 tackles. 4 TFL last year.

 

Defensive Back- Darrell Pasco: 36 tackles last year and broke up eight passes. averaged 22.6 yards on 20 kickoff returns, good for third in the SoCon and 59th nationally. Returned a kickoff 45 yards in the opener at Georgia.

 

Things to Look For

 

Albany plays tough hard hitting football while GSU plays more toward speed. The Eagles will be looking to fully institute the "Hatch Attack" offense with this game; expect lots of passing. Albany will want to run the ball straight at the Eagles defense and try to power through, but the passing game will not be neglected. Albany will air the ball out when the situation calls for it and to keep the defense from cheating up, but their strong suit is the ground game. Paulson Stadium should be packed with Georgia Southern fans fired up for a new season, creating a strong home field setting for the Eagles. The weather will be fairly hot, but if it will be a problem Albany remains to be seen. The Eagles really want to get back into the playoffs and with the SoCon such a tough race this year, an at large bid remains a top choice. Getting this at large bid will require out of conference wins. Albany wants this win to prove that they can play with the top teams in the FCS and to bring legitimacy to the NEC. Both teams believe this first game is critical to the rest of their season, so expect an exciting contest.

[GreatDanes06]

Times Union (An Article basically saying nothing new...SURPRISE, SURPRISE, SURPRISE!)

Troy Record (Article on McCarty and him preping for game with injury...eek)

[UAalum72]

Great, but this is still the kind of story I'd expect for preseason, not pregame.

 

One TV interview with a GaSo player, he talked about Albany playing 'that northern style' of football, trying to smash it down their throats. I hope that means they're ignoring the passing attack, because I thought Espo looked pretty good in the spring game.

 

Forecast for today in the low 90s, dew point currently 66, so not too bad. The 6:00 start should help.

[uofalbany]

just a head's up - and no offense to our GSU friends - but if you are planning on paying for the video feed, do it through Danezone which will get you the same video through Eaglevsision. However, if you do it through Danezone the profit goes to UA. Brian Depasquale assured me that the Danezone feed would be the GSU feed, which is audio and video.

 

Other Danezone events in September:

 

Sat Sep 5,2009 12:30 PM (ET) Volleyball UA vs. Seton Hall

Sat Sep 5,2009 6:00 PM (ET) Football Albany at Georgia Southern Football

Sat Sep 5,2009 7:00 PM (ET) Volleyball UA vs. Lamar

Sat Sep 19,2009 4:00 PM (ET) Football UA vs Maine

Sat Sep 26,2009 4:00 PM (ET) Football UA vs. Sacred Heart

 

It's worth the monthly subscription cost.

[danefan]

anyone know why the Siena beat writer is writing about UA football?

 

Do you think the TU just recycles stories every season? I swear its the same article they've been writing the first saturday every season.