Monday, October 13, 2008

UAlbany report card: Week 6 vs. CCSU

The Great Danes snuck out with a victory over Central Connecticut State University on Saturday, but they played pretty well. 

The win brings the Great Danes to 3-3 and keeps them undefeated in Northeast Conference play along with St. Francis (Pa.), their opponent next week and Monmouth.

Quickly, since the game is already two days in the past, here is how I thought UAlbany played. 

Offense: The offense was pretty good, especially in the second half when they put up a couple touchdowns to really open up the game. Junior running back David McCarty ran well in the first half and made the huge touchdown catch and run, which ended up being the winning score. Vinny Esposito played well too, throwing for 254 yards, throwing two touchdowns and running for the other on fourth down. The only thing that was a little confusing was when Esposito threw his second interception because it came with a lot of time left and it seemed like UAlbany should have been looking to run the clock down. Esposito also badly telegraphed his first pick, but the defense, namely Tom Pandolf bailed him out.    

Overall Grade: B+

Defense: The defensive effort started with junior Justin Brancaccio, who today was named Northeast Conference Defensive Player of the Week, after batting down the potential two-point conversion and also making a team-high 11 tackles. Pandolf also made a game-changing play when he sacked Hunter Wanket, stripped the ball and recovered. Five plays later, UAlbany scored to make it 17-9. UAlbany coach Bob Ford said he believed his team would win by a margin similar to when they were up 24-9. In that respect, I guess the defense letting Central back into the game had to be a bit of a disappointment. They did hold up though when the game was on the line and they held the Blue Devils to three field goals in the first half.    

Overall Grade: B 

Special Teams: Chris Lynch had a lot on his plate, between punting, which he actually didn't have to do until midway through the fourth quarter, and kicking field goals. Lynch had a kick blocked and that was a game-changer, but he also pinned Central back inside the five with a pooch punt at the end of the game. The muffed kicks by Colin Simmons were not good and the one at the beginning of the second half almost negated all the momentum UAlbany had built.    

Overall Grade: C

All in all though, like Coach Ford says, there are several plays where the game can be won or lost and on most of them, the two-point conversion, the 72-yard McCarty touchdown reception, the Pandolf fumble recovery and the onside kick by Jason Poore (who had a great day) went the Great Danes' way. Another big game against undefeated St. Francis (Pa.) awaits.  

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