TROY - The defense was the story for RPI on Saturday.

The Engineers defense turned in its best performance of the season, in a 14-7 victory over St. Lawrence.

It was a huge Liberty League victory for RPI, which is now 2-1 in conference play and 3-3 overall.

The old cliche is the next game is the biggest of the season.

That really is the case this upcoming week, as RPI and Union (2-1, 3-4) will meet for the coveted Dutchman Shoes.

The Engineers won the game last year. This season the winner will still have a shot at the league crown and a spot in the Division III NCAA tournament.

Out in Connecticut, the University at Albany made another huge statement.

Dan Di Lella set a school record with five touchdown passes, as the Great Danes routed the Blue Devils of Central Connecticut State, 63-35.

UAlbany is still the only undefeated team in the Northeast Conference, at 4-0, and they have won five straight games, to improve their record to 5-2.

ALBANY - UAlbany made it difficult, but they held on for a for a 1-point lead on Saturday night.

Tim Ambrose scored a team-high 21 points and five assists and hit the go-ahead shot with 9.4 seconds to go to give the Great Danes the lead for good.

"It's a good win by our guys," said UAlbany coach Will Brown.

The last four meetings between these two teams have been determined by a combined seven points.

The Blue Devils were led by Robby Ptacek, who scored a game-high 26 points, while Ken Horton chipped in 15.

ALBANY - The University at Albany Great Danes look like a different team.

As the PA announcer said before the game, these are the Albany Cup Champion-Great Danes.

UAlbany was led by senior Tim Ambrose, who finished the first 20 minutes 15 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Mike Black added nine, as the Great Danes shot 51.7 percent (15-29) from the field.

This looks like a different team than the beginning of the season. UAlbany even led 37-19 at one point.

Coach Will Brown said he expected a good performance because the team is at full strength at home, for the first time since the season-opener.

The Blue Devils aren't doing much offensively, but they are led by Robby Ptacek, who has eight points.

ALBANY - Joe Izzo kicked a 32-yard field goal in overtime to lift Central Connecticut to a 30-27 victory over UAlbany at University Field on Friday night.

It's a tough result for the Great Danes to swallow, especially because they led 24-6 at halftime.

Even more difficult is the fact the UAlbany would have been off of the field, had it not been for a fourth down penalty that kept the final drive alive.

ALBANY - Unbelievable first half for UAlbany, as freshman quarterback Buddy Leathley did just about everything for the Great Danes on a chilly Friday night at University Field.

Leathley threw a touchdown, ran for a touchdown, made big runs and even faked out the officials, who blew dead a 24-yard run because they thought he had handed off and the running back had been tackled.

The Great Danes played without Zach Gallo, Kyle O'Keefe, Eddie Delaney and Marc Wargo.

Now, UAlbany must just keep it up.

The Great Danes (4-7) got 16 points from Tim Ambrose, but struggled offensively in overtime and fell 70-68 on the road to Central Connecticut (3-5).

Ambrose missed a runner at the buzzer that could have sent the game into double overtime.

"It shouldn’t have came down to that," said UAlbany coach Will Brown.

Mike Johnson added 12 points and Fran Urli set a career-high with 10 points, while Brett Gifford tied a career-high with 10.

Vince Rosario scored a career-high 17 points for the Blue Devils.

This is no trick, but the University at Albany football team fell on the road to Central Connecticut State 31-29, their first Northeast Conference loss in three years.

The loss makes it tough for the Great Danes to win their third consecutive league title as the Blue Devils will have to lose in their final games.

From our sister paper in New Britain, the New Britain Herald, Central Connecticut quarterback senior Hunter Wanket injured his collarbone and will likely be out for the rest of the season.

Matt Straub has the story here.

Wanket Injured

The Blue Devils like to use both Wanket and fellow senior Aubrey Norris, but it looks like Norris will be the only quarterback available when UAlbany plays Central Connecticut tomorrow afternoon.

The University at Albany football team is receiving votes in both the FCS Coaches' and The Sports Network's Top 25 pools.

The Great Danes (5-0, 6-2) are No. 32 if you string out the teams in The Sports Network's poll.

UAlbany would have a better chance at being ranked if Georgia Southern (4-4) and UMass (4-3), the two teams that beat the Great Danes had better records and if Maine (3-4), who was ranked when they played at University Field, wasn't having a disappointing season.

(USA Today)

Either way, UAlbany has another shot to make a statement when they play their toughest conference opponent, Central Connecticut State (4-0, 6-1), on the road this Saturday at 12 p.m.

Remember, the Great Danes have won 18 straight Northeast Conference games.

Overview: UAlbany brings a 6-3 Division I home opener record into tonight's game against Central Connecticut State.

The Blue Devils have lost to Boston College (80-65) and to Colgate (58-57) on a buzzer-beater.

Central Connecticut has won three Northeast Conference titles over the past ten years, the most recent coming in 2007. The Blue Devils have won the most games in conference play over the last decade (124), 18 ahead of Monmouth.

Central Connecticut has won 17 games in a row, when scoring 80 points or more, dating back to the 2005-06 season.

We have a sister paper in New Britain, the New Britain Herald, and I was doing a little reading on Central. They keep saying them team is tough, but not good at the foul line.

Records: UAlbany 1-2. Central Connecticut State 0-2

The Series: The Blue Devils leads the series 19-7. The Great Danes snapped a 10-game losing streak with last season's 63-60 overtime win.

Player to Watch: Ken Horton, sophomore Central Connecticut. The 6-foot-6 forward is averaging 19.5 points per game through two contests and is only the third Blue Devils player to score more than 18 points per game in his first two games of the season since the 1992-93 season. Horton scored 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for his fourth career double-double in Monday's loss to Colgate.

X-Factor: Brian Connelly, senior UAlbany. I keep waiting for this one of only three seniors to step it up. Connelly is averaging only 4.7 points per game, after averaging 10.1 points per game last year. He will have a tough matchup with either Horton or senior Marcus Palmer, but if he has a big game UAlbany will win.

Injury Note: On the UAlbany side, freshman Anthony Raffa (concussion) and junior Will Harris (knee) are both questionable for tonight's game.

Central Connecticut sophomore Shemik Thompson (groin), who is averaging 12.0 points per game, also might miss the game.

Prediction: UAlbany 76, Central Connecticut 66

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.  

Memo to UAlbany football coach Bob Ford: Get out that bulletin board

The Central Connecticut State Blue Devils are bringing the talk and we'll see tomorrow if they can walk the walk when the two teams meet at University Field.

Video from Tuesday's practice shot by the Hartford Courant shows Blue Devils sophomore defensive back Dominique Rose talking about how UAlbany wasn't the better team, when the Great Danes won last year's NEC season finale, 49-14.

"It ain't that they beat us because the were better than us - they just out worked us that day," Rose said. "I'm ready to payback, get my revenge back."

The loud mouths didn't stop there. Junior wide receiver Nick Colagiovanni, who surpassed 1,000 yards receiving for his career last week against Wagner, also had something to say.

"Ever since we lost that game, in the weight room, before we start lifting our sit-up count is at 49, for how many points they scored against, so we know exactly what we're going up against and we've been waiting for this day," Colagiovanni said.

Those two and the rest of their Blue Devils teammates will have their day in less than 24 hours.

Here's the link to the video...
http://www.courant.com/video/?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=3001572

Stopped by UAlbany football practice today and the Great Danes seem ready for their home opener (yes, finally they will play a home game).

Again the game is a 1 p.m., not 4 p.m. like originally listed and will also air on Time Warner 3.

Like many of the players, junior quarterback Vinny Esposito is ready for a home game and he's calling on more fans to get to University Field for the game.

“Going down to Delaware and playing in front of 23,000 people, that was a great experience,” Esposito said. “I don’t think any time soon we’re going to get 25,000 people here, but it would be nice to have a real college football atmosphere, which we’ve had in the past and we’d like to continue with.”

Esposito added that it's nice to finally be able to have friends and family catch a home game.

“The most exciting part about it is to be able to get our friends and family up there to watch the game," Esposito said.

While Esposito says the losses, even to more talented teams, have kept this team hungry, he's confident in this bunch.

“I think that we can beat any team if we play the way we can,” Esposito said. “Delaware’s the only team that really kicked out butts. We could be 4-1 heading into this week.”

I asked Vinny about his maturation as the quarterback, this being his second season at the helm of the offense.

“Last year, things were moving real fast,” Esposito said. “We opened up with Colgate, Montana and Hofstra and I was thinking this is quick, but this year, things have slowed down. Not that my stats are eye-popping, but I think that I’m doing a good job of managing the game and I feel comfortable.”

Esposito added that he knows his role, which is to make throws when necessary and the goal is to try and balance out the offense a little more with the running game.

Speaking of the run, talented junior running back David McCarty seems ready to get after Central Connecticut State as well, especially after what he called a subpar performance by their standards last week at Duquesne and a "sloppy" one, according to Coach Bob Ford.

“It almost seems as if we play up to the big games,” McCarty said. “At Duquesne, we didn’t play up to what we're capable of, like we did at UMass and UNH. We had 14 penalties, but I think playing at UNH, UMass, Delaware, Hofstra and Montana really does help in the end.”

McCarty had 230 yards last week, has 710 on the season and last season and rushed for 247 last season against the Blue Devils.

McCarty told me he thinks the key to Saturday's game will be dependant on each team's defense and which one comes to play.

With that being said, it should be a good game. CCSU is 4-1 and their only loss came at the hands of then No. 1 ranked North Dakota State.

Look for more on the game in Saturday's paper and I'll be at University Field Saturday afternoon.