fb 2023 Game #13: 12/2/23 - 12PM vs Richmond (FCS Playoffs Second Round)

[dslyank]

Nm

Edited November 27, 2023 by dslyank

[Stonewall D]

Albany is a disciplined and well-coached team. 

[Eli]

1 hour ago, Stonewall D said:

Albany is a disciplined and well-coached team. 

Not 100% sure about that. We are 12th out of 15 teams in penalties committed...BUT...are 3 out of 15 in getting opponents to commit penalties.

[cwdickens]

FYI for people attending any of the three sporting events this weekend:

Athletics Advisory for December 2, 2023

[cwdickens]

Danes’ Abraham surging

Transfer had three sacks in CAA finale against Monmouth

 

By Mark Singelais

ALBANY — When the University at Albany football team crushed Monmouth 41-0 in the regular-season finale, there was no shortage of candidates for player of the game.

The Great Dane coaching staff chose Brian Abraham, a graduate linebacker and defensive end, who had three sacks against the Hawks.

 

The performance continued the late-season surge of Abraham, in his only season with UAlbany after transferring from Yale.

“It’s been awesome,” UAlbany head coach Greg Gattuso said. “He’s been fun. When he first got here, he was feeling his way a little bit. We didn’t know where he was going to play. We just kind of set him in and said, ‘All right, you’re playing here play our stand-up defensive end.’ Every week, Brian gets better and better and better.”

Abraham provides another pass-rushing weapon for the fifth-seeded Great Danes (9-3), who lead the Football Championship Subdivision with 42 sacks entering Saturday’s second-round playoff game against Richmond at Casey Stadium.

“When you spot the ball, you play football, you know what I mean?,” Abraham said. “It doesn’t really matter. You just find a way to get the guy on the ground, get the ball out of the guy’s hands and play football.”

Abraham, who is 6-foot-5 and 221 pounds, backs up senior defensive end AJ Simon, fourth in the nation with 10 1 /2 sacks. Senior defensive end Anton Juncaj is second with 13 sacks.

“(Abraham) has been tremendous the past couple of weeks,” Juncaj said. “Every time he’s in there, he’s making a play.”

Abraham said he followed the advice of Edward Freeley, one of his coaches at Xaverian Brothers High in Westwood, Mass.

“He told me, ‘Your biggest thing is your versatility,’” Abraham said. “’You’re an athlete. You can play anywhere on the field. You can play center, you can play guard, you can play literally anything.’ So I took that the whole time and it’s paying off right now.”

Abraham entered Yale as a cornerback and later played outside linebacker. He appeared in 30 games for the Bulldogs and made 31 tackles. He graduated with a degree in political science.

With a year of eligibility remaining, and graduate students unable to compete in the Ivy League, Abraham entered the transfer portal.

“I wasn’t the most highly-touted person to come out of the portal,” Abraham said. “I didn’t really worry about that. I kind of just had to believe in myself, so I reached out to a bunch of people and kind of placed a little bit on myself. I told myself just to make sure I stayed with it and had faith something would show. UAlbany showed. They showed a lot of love.”

Abraham is friends with former UAlbany running back Caylin Parker, who transferred from Dartmouth. With Parker’s encouragement, Abraham contacted UAlbany assistant coach Darrin Walls.

“I knew it was a good spot for me,” said Abraham, who’s pursuing his master’s degree in Africana studies.

Abraham also visited Butler University. He considered transferring to Butler with Yale teammate Jack Biestek. But UAlbany offered a full scholarship and Butler didn’t.

“My buddy was like, ‘Yo, it’s a full scholarship opportunity. You can’t pass that up,’” Abraham said. “I had to do what I had to do.”

Abraham has 25 tackles and 4 1 /2 sacks this season. He caused and returned a fumble 68 yards for a touchdown in a 37-21 win Oct. 28 at Maine.

At Yale, Abraham never had the chance to play in the FCS playoffs because the Ivy League doesn’t send a representative. Now he’s in the hunt for a national championship to go with UAlbany’s first Coastal Athletic Association title.

“I’m not going to lie,” he said. “I’m here for the ring.”

[MRuler 79]

Would LOVE  snow for the game on Saturday. Watch those southern boys struggle with the cold. Makes for a great tailgate!! Looking forward to being at the game Saturday!!!

[UAalum72]

2 hours ago, MRuler 79 said:

Would LOVE  snow for the game on Saturday. Watch those southern boys struggle with the cold. Makes for a great tailgate!! Looking forward to being at the game Saturday!!!

Forecast is still only for a few showers in the morning, temps in the 40s

Gattuso on the radio said the team is as healthy as it's been since the bye week after Hawai'i. Richmond is mostly a run team with a 250-lb quarterback, but also runs a lot of trick plays and flea-flickers.

Rodger said it'd be nice if 5,000 showed up. I think that's delusional, but more than 100 football alumni are coming to the game.

[godanesgo99]

Unfortunately, I can not attend due to a family commitment that I can not miss, but I was just looking at the available tickets on the site and it appears that there are TONS of seats left. 

Gotta say, the school sucks at marketing. I have spoken with several "sports fans" that had no idea that the game was happening or that tickets were available. Where do they advertise? It seems the only spot the department is active is on instagram. I am never on that site, and neither are most of the people that I know. Social media is great, but you can't focus on just one site. I have seen nothing on facebook (the only site I use regularly). I've looked on Twitter/X, and see almost nothing. Do they have a tik tok account? I don't use it anymore, but many do. Why isn't an ad showing up on youtube?

Why do I have to look for an advertisement, and still have trouble finding one? Why isn't it in my face? 

Doesn't the business school have a marketing major? Why don't we have marketing interns from there?

Yes, it would be amazing if 5,000+ showed up, but at the moment, I would be surprised if there are 2,500 paying fans in attendance. Maybe the students come out in force? LMAO - that is funny. 

Edited November 29, 2023 by godanesgo99

[MRuler 79]

1 hour ago, UAalum72 said:

Forecast is still only for a few showers in the morning, temps in the 40s

Gattuso on the radio said the team is as healthy as it's been since the bye week after Hawai'i. Richmond is mostly a run team with a 250-lb quarterback, but also runs a lot of trick plays and flea-flickers.

Rodger said it'd be nice if 5,000 showed up. I think that's delusional, but more than 100 football alumni are coming to the game.

There will be an additional 6-8 former players at our small tailgate party. We throw one big one per season, usually Homecoming. We  had almost 25 former players for Rhode Island. Even Fordie stopped by. BPF member feel free to stop by we will be in the SEFCU lot. I will be disappointed if we get like 1500 people. Richmond will bring more than that.

[ctdanes]

I’ll peg attendance at 3200. Surely some students will go 

[Stonewall D]

5 hours ago, MRuler 79 said:

I will be disappointed if we get like 1500 people. Richmond will bring more than that.

Does Richmond even have that many students?

[UAalum72]

1 hour ago, Stonewall D said:

Does Richmond even have that many students?

UR has about 3,300 undergraduates. Their home football crowds are usually 5-6 thousand.

[cwdickens]

As much as I want UAlbany win, I want a Nicols St. upset win at Idaho too.

[alum73]

 Idaho is playing Southern Illinois 

[haggyland]

3 hours ago, alum73 said:

 Idaho is playing Southern Illinois 

And one site has Idaho most likely to lose their matchup...