I was over at UAlbany today touching base with the field hockey team and the football team and I got some news on the basketball team.

The Purple/Gold scrimmage looks like it could be before the Friday night football game against Central Connecticut University on Nov. 22.

That would certainly be an interesting dynamic.

Also, the first day of practice is Nov. 15 from 5-730. Media guru Brian DePasquale said he wasn't sure if that would be open to the public.

The University at Albany football team takes their first trip down to the state of Texas this weekend to take on No. 10 Stephen F. Austin.

The Great Danes (1-0) will leave for Texas at 10 a.m. on Friday. The team is chartering a plane to Shreveport, La., and then driving two hours to the hotel in Lufkin, Texas.

The team will practice at Lufkin High School, which according to media guru Brian DePasquale, seats 10,000.

Lufkin is about 20 minutes outside of Nacogdoches, where Stephen F. Austin is located.

The Lumberjacks (0-1) lost to Texas A&M last weekend 48-7, but not too much can be taken from that games since the Aggies are in the Big 12 conference.

The last time UAlbany played a ranked opponent, it defeated No. 20 Maine, 20-16 at University Field on Sept. 19, 2009.

Also, in case you're wondering and I was, Stephen Fuller Austin is considered the founder of Anglo-American Texas.

At 21, he was elected to the territorial Legislature of Missouri.

Austin contributed a lot to Texas before, during and immediately after the state's revolution with Mexico. He died at age 43.

I'll have more on the blog later tonight or tomorrow.

University at Albany media guru Brian DePasquale has sent out the Great Danes first game notes for the season.

If you're wondering, the biggest question coming into the year was replacing the quarterback, and UAlbany has junior Dan Di Lella listed as the No. 1 QB.

Red-shirt sophomore Andrew Smith is listed as the No. 1 tailback.

Some interesting notes:

• Di Lella's most yards passing in a game was 7 last season against Duquesne. UAlbany fans are hoping he breaks that on his first pass in 2010.
  
• The Great Danes are 6-15 in night games since joining the FCS level. They open the season with two night games (Maine, Stephen F. Austin) and play Central Connecticut later in the year.
  
• UAlbany has four starters returning on the offensive line.
• Kicker Herb Glass needs just five field goals to move into second on the program's all-time list. Glass has 18 career field goals. Jason Fralicker (2006-07) has 28.
  
• Ford has 241 victories (most among active FCS coaches) and is just nine wins - quite possible in 2010 - from 250 for his career.
• The Great Danes open the season on the road for the 10th time in the last 12 seasons.
• UAlbany actually leads the all-time series with Maine, 2-1. The Black Bears have made five NCAA FCS postseason appearances and are just outside the Top 25 at the beginning of the 2010 season.
  

We'll have our preview for the team in Thursday's edition of The Record. The team opens that night against Maine.

According the Albany Student Press, two UAlbany student-athletes have the Swine Flu or the H1N1 virus.

The student paper is reporting a football player and a basketball player have come down with the virus and the university has taken steps to clean the area where they would have been.

The two students have been sent back to their places of residence.

“The university knows about it. They have taken the precautions to not have them on campus one way or another,” said UAlbany Sports Infortmation Director Brian DePasquale. “They are being treated and also steps were taken within our athletic department to to clean those areas where they may have been so that others do not get in contact with the virus.”

Update: UAlbany football coach Bob Ford said the player suspected to have H1N1 from his team has not been confirmed to have the disease.

The player is a transfer who has not played this season and would not be playing in Saturday's Homecoming game against Duquesne.

Sports Information Director Brian DePasquale said that both student-athletes would be away from the campus until at least Monday before they could even possible return to practice.

He then said that they must be fever free for 24 hours before they can return to the practice field.

I caught up with senior center Kevin Richards on Thursday.

Richards, a Clifton Park native, was chosen as a second team All-Northeast Conference selection for the past two seasons and is the only starter from last season on the offensive line back in 2009.

First I want to say, hopefully, this blog entry doesn't cost Richards.

As Sports Information Director Brian DePasquale told me, the offensive line has this policy: if you get interviewed, you have to buy bagels for the rest of the lineman.

With that aside, here's what Kevin, who got married this past July, and I discussed on the upcoming game at Saint Francis on Saturday.


Talk about getting ready for another conference game.

KR: It might seem more meaningful, but we have to approach it just like it was a non-conference game because when we play our non-conference games, they say we're playing up. With the conference this year, there's a lot more parity. Saint Francis, on film, has looked so much better than they have in years past, so we really have to attack it the same way and I think we have so far.

This is your first 1 p.m. game of the year. How does that make preparation different?

KR: I think a lot of time with the night games and the 4 o'clock kickoffs, there's a lot of sitting around, just waiting to get to the field. Hopefully, we'll wake up at the same time and we'll just do everything a lot quicker. If anything, maybe that will get us going a little quicker, we've had some late starts the last couple games, so hopefully in the first half we'll get something going.

Does being on the road change anything?

KR: I think at this level it's really the team that matters. The home field advantage isn't necessarily anything. When people come out to our games, it's great. At the Maine game, we had 5,000 people there and that was a great day and something that I think contributed to the win. Coach Ford says all the time, we'll play anyone, anywhere, it doesn't really matter.

You're the elder statesman on this offensive line.

KR: Yeah (laughing). I'm pretty old. (Richards turns 23 on Oct. 29)

The offensive line lost a few guys from last year. How do you feel like the unit is coming along?

KR: I think it's come along well. We have a lot of young guys and a lot of first-year starters and only a couple guys last year had some playing time, but we all work together, it's one unit and we have to try to pick it up. We have some tight end help, Chris Kenneally is the senior on that side, so he helps those guys a lot and then we have (David) McCarty running behind us. That makes us look a lot better. The young guys realize that if they just play as hard as they possibly can, then he'll make them look good.

It's starting to get cold. Is there anything weather-wise that you'll do to prepare?

KR: Watching the film of us against Saint Francis from last year, it was a torrential downpour. It was like a monsoon out there. We'll play anywhere, any weather, it doesn't matter. Two years ago, we had an epic against Stony Brook, where there was lighting and it was a five-hour game, so that stuff doesn't really faze us.

Are you waiting for that big breakout running game?

KR: With these young guys, we're knocking on the door. It's going to come, it's just a matter of getting it. Now that we're in conference, it has to come sooner than later.

(UAlbany Athletics)

Here is another note from practice.

• Coach Bob Ford said that sophomore guard Kyle O'Keefe is dealing with some shoulder issues and that they'd have a better idea of where he was at practice today

If you think the players are taking Saint Francis lightly (UAlbany has never lost in 10 meetings), they certainly aren't acting like it.

• “They’re definitely a better team than they were last year,” said sophomore Eddie Delaney. “I think they’re average o-lineman has put on 15 pounds since last year.”
• “They don’t look lost out there, they look in good shape, they look physical, they look like no Saint Francis team I’ve ever seen," senior Justin Brancaccio said. "They look like they’re up there with the top teams in our conference.”

I stopped by UAlbany today to do some football stuff and Sports Information Director Brian DePasquale gave me a few notes.

• UAlbany's basketball game at North Carolina, on Wednesday Dec. 30, will be televised on ESPNU.

• Jamar Wilson, the basketball team's all-time leading scorer has been in town and will likely be in town the rest of the week

• Wilson, UAlbany men's basketball coach Will Brown and UAlbany football coach Bob Ford all spoke on Thursday at the Varsity Club Luncheon.

Okay I know it's a day after Christmas, but The Blog has decided tonight (it's the sixth night of Chanukkah) to give out some gifts.

Siena senior Kenny Hasbrouck - a 2007-08 Siena highlight tape and a bottle of aspirin. Hasbrouck has struggled more than anybody thought he would so far this season. Maybe watching some clips from last year, when he completely dominated the opposition, including a 30-point performance in the big NCAA Tournament victory over Vanderbilt, will settle him back down. As for the aspirin, Hasbrouck has seen more double teams this season than LeBron James and been the focus of opposing team's defense. His health is certainly a concern as the season progresses.

UAlbany freshman guard Anthony Raffa - full body pads. The way Raffa has played the first 12 games of his college career, he'll be lucky to make it through four seasons. Although, the way Raffa plays is energizing and great for the Danes, he's already slammed into more scorers tables than I'm sure UAlbany coach Will Brown would like.

Speaking of Brown, The Blog would like to give Brown a pat on the back for taking his team which had plenty of talent, but little experience coming in and getting out to the best start in the program's Division I history at 8-4. The Great Danes only losses have come to Siena (6-4), Villanova (11-1), DePaul (7-5) and what ended up being a bad loss to a good team in Lehigh (7-3).

Siena junior Ronald Moore - some respect. Moore is part of the "Big Four" for the Saints, but failed to be named to the All-MAAC First, Second or Third teams. Moore just moved into sixth in program history in assists (394) and he's scored over 600 points (609), to average more than eight points per game over his career. He was also nominated for the Bob Cousy award, given to the country's best point guard.

UAlbany junior Will Harris - an NCAA waiver. Okay, Harris got this back in October, but it allowed him to jump right into action with the Great Danes. While he hasn't been as good as expected or hyped to be so far (10.3 points, 4.6 rebounds per game), he has given a youthful UAlbany team a solid starter and someone who has the potential to be one of the best players in the America East Conference.

Siena juinor Edwin Ubiles - an electric razor and scissors. Ubiles didn't start against UAlbany because he was getting a haircut and thought the morning shoot-around began 30 minutes later than it actually did. With a razor, Ubiles won't have to miss any more starts - although Ubiles did score a game-high 23 points off the bench in that game.

UAlbany sophomore Tim Ambrose - a giant poster on the side of SEFCU Arena with his picture on it. What? There's already one of those - okay well how about the ability to outrebound men twice his size. What? He's UAlbany's leading rebounder. Okay I give up.

Siena freshmen Kyle Downey and Owen Wignot - some playing time. Downey and Wignot have been excellent in games, but some times that can't hit even reach the floor. Downey is averaging 4.0 points and 1.4 rebounds in 9.7 minutes, while Wignot is averaging 2.5 points and 1.9 rebounds in 11 minutes per game. Both have made freshman mistakes at times, but both have performed like veterans at others. Downey scored 11 points against #3 Pitt, while Wignot scored eight in his collegiate debut against Boise State.

UAlbany Sports Information Director Brian DePasquale - a sweater. Since the state of New York has decided to try and save some money while the student are on break, DePasquale is suffering through a 55-degree office over the winter vacation. Could be worse though, The Blog's house (okay just the first floor) is set at 60 degrees to save money as well.

Siena coach Fran McCaffery - stress relievers. McCaffery's team was receiving Top 25 votes early in the season and even though sophomore Ryan Rossiter had turned it on and the freshmen have been great, the team has struggled in the big games. It only gets tougher for McCaffery as his team gets into league play because they are the unanimous pick to repeat as champions and with the team he's got, anything less will be looked at as a lost year.

Saint Rose men's basketball coach Brian Beaury - a fifth year of eligibility for Steve Dagostino. The Golden Knights are 3-6 this season and off to a slow start after the graduation of Dagostino, Will Monica and Shanty Robinson. Beaury is 493-195 (.717) in 24 seasons on Western Ave., but his team this year is being led by junior Jermaine Clark and Cambridge native Shea Bromirski. Still, Beaury would love to have back Dagostino, who is playing professionally in Hungary.

Hudson Valley Community College coach Andre Cook - some credit. Cook's teams are 47-3 over their last 50 games dating back to the 2006-07 season, including a 29-0 regular season in 2007-08 and the nation's top ranking so far in 2008-09. Cook's record is 99-36 (.733) in this, his fifth season at the helm.

Hope everyone got what they wanted.

Here's to a great start to 2009.