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@ Buffalo - 9/2/16 at 7PM


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Richmond handled Virginia today.

 

I would still be pleasantly surprised if we're over .500 in the CAA. We don't have the depth on the lines.

 

James Madison is putting an all-time hurting on Moorehead State. 80-7 with 6min left in the 4th. WOW. That's a video game score right there. I'm glad we don't play them this year lol.

 

EDIT: Three guys over 100yd rushing...469yd rushing total. 109 yards passing.

 

To quote Bart Scott: Morehead St. can't stop a nosebleed!

Edited by Eli
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Win proves UAlbany football is on right track

University at Albany football coach Greg Gattuso got a well-deserved Gatorade shower after his team's historic victory over Buffalo on Friday night. Gattuso usually isn't a fan of such celebrations unless there's a championship on the line — "I always tell the guys, 'You win the conference, you can throw whatever you want on me," he says — but he was willing to forgive the players who dumped the cooler over his head anyway.

"It was that kind of a special night for our program and our fans and our alumni," Gattuso said Saturday afternoon after an overnight bus ride home during which he was returning congratulatory text messages until 3 in the morning.

The Great Danes' first win over a Football Bowl Subdivision team was more than a note for the school's history book. For four years, UAlbany has been trying to sell us on the idea that it can bring a bigger, better brand of college football to this market. And Friday night, the Great Danes gave us a reason to buy in.

It wasn't expected that UAlbany would jump from the Northeast Conference to the Colonial Athletic Association — from a 38-scholarship league to a 63-scholarship league — and be an overnight success. But during a 3-8 season in 2015, it was easy to start wondering if the school's eyes were bigger than its stomach when it joined one of the top Football Championship Subdivision leagues and built an 8,000- seat stadium.

But on Saturday morning it was the media in Buffalo questioning UB's commitment to football after the Danes had left with a $275,000 check for the guarantee game and the victory. The Bulls may give out 22 more scholarships than the Danes, but UAlbany proved the line between really good FCS programs and mid-level FBS programs is thinner than the goal line. The Danes were better than the Bulls at all the skill positions. It's pretty solid evidence we'll see an excellent brand of football at Casey Stadium this season.

It wasn't a surprise to see UAlbany picked 11th of 12 teams in the CAA preseason media poll, with the program entering this year with some real question marks and no track record of success in the league.

But through the summer there was a lot of optimism around the UAlbany athletic complex, and it seemed to be more than the usual rose-colored glasses every team wears in training camp. The return of redshirt juniors Michael Nicastro and Nic Ketter, out last season with injuries, was expected to provide a leadership boost, and the program finally had built some depth that was sorely lacking. Gattuso, in his third year, talked in the preseason about better accountability among his players, too.

Gattuso, too, says he learned from last year. Case in point: Before last year's Buffalo game, which the Danes lost 51-14, he let his players get too carried away with the idea that if they were to beat Buffalo, they'd be proving something to all the FBS schools that didn't recruit them. This year, he never even used the word "upset." "My pregame message," he said, "was, 'We're going to give everything we have, put ourselves in position to win the game in the fourth quarter, and then we're going to eat our hoagies, get on the bus and get back and get ready to play Rhode Island next week."

Saturday's game at Rhode Island won't be easy, even though the Rams are the only team picked below UAlbany in the preseason poll. It's the second of back-to-back road games, and the Great Danes of course will have to guard against a hangover effect, going from arguably the most significant victory in program history to a should-win game.

But by early Saturday, there were signs UAlbany has built a culture that won't allow those kinds of lapses. Gattuso got back to his home around 5 a.m., was up by 8:30 and headed back to the office shortly thereafter. He had a big smile on his face when he pulled into the parking lot. It was full. His entire staff already was there.

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One of the great things is that UA held UB to ONE TD. That's remarkable. I've had a chance to go back and look at UA's 3 TDs and each one was worked to perfection. Great pass to Manzo-Lewis, Brad Harris and Sussman

completely suckered UB into blown coverage on basically a slant-and-go route, and Hanks' TD was a thing of beauty. Go back and watch Manzo-Lewis and Michael Senn and Tim Wade...beautiful blocks on that play. And then the DB getting lit up by our WR (Harris?)...if you listen carefully you hear the color analyst groan right after he gets popped. No fluke plays, trick plays or lucky plays...three perfectly executed plays. I love it!

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Buffalo New blog: Bad loss to FCS school adds to UB’s tough sell

 

Columnist on "our flagship program" losing to "teams like Albany", estimates attendance at 7,500, problems of a college program in a pro town, and "People around here see enough bad football on the other side of town."

 

Any of this sound familiar?

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So apathy is part of the problem at UB? I noticed that, as of a couple minutes ago, no one had responded to the article.

Comments on the UB forum about it:

 

"I almost don't feel like spending more time arguing against Bucky Gleason. He argues that the general public isn't excited by games against FCS teams like Albany....but at the same time argues that UB should step down to their level and play teams like that on a regular basis. He says they should use the savings to put into other sports....but doesn't include the part that all those other sports would also step down a level, thus making it harder for them to get attention. And assumes they'd automatically have competitive teams."

 

and

 

"Deep down Bucky would have us drop football altogether."

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  • 4 weeks later...

B.C. is absolute garbage. Truly a sad state of affairs at Chestnut Hill C.C.

 

For UB to be handled like that by B.C.--coupled with some other bad games, including our win--has to be stoking a serious fire under their Coach's you know what. He seems to be in way over his head.

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