Last Meeting: UAlbany 55, Duquesne 10 at University Field, Albany, Oct. 10, 2009 — UAlbany leads the all-time series 3-0.
Last Week: UAlbany bye — Duquesne lost to No. 7 Delaware 30-6
About the Great Danes: UAlbany is 5-1 at the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level after a bye week. The Great Danes have won nine of 11 Northeast Conference openers since joining the league in 1999.
About the Dukes: Duquesne is 1-1 all-time in Northeast Conference openers. Senior receiver Connor Dixon played quarterback last season and is a transfer from MichiganState.
Edge: The Great Danes are on the road, but they still have the upper hand.
Last Meeting: RPI 42, WPI 33 at Alumni Field, Worcester, Mass., Sept. 26, 2009 — RPI leads the all-time series 55-43-5
Last Week: WPI defeated Becker 55-0 — RPI lost to Utica 42-21
About the Engineers (WPI): WPI has a new coach in Chris Robertson, who came to Worcester from Salve Regina. Robertson coached with former WPI coach Ed Zaloom at Siena and played football at the University at Albany. This game marks a return home for Kevin Woods (HoosickFalls), Jerrod Heiser (Troy) and Greg Mollnow (Cohoes).
About the Engineers (RPI): The Transit Trophy was first awarded in 1979 to the winner of this engineering rivalry. RPI holds the edge in Transit games 21-8-1. Last week’s non-conference loss was only RPI’s second in the last six years (14-2).
Edge: RPI hasn’t lost the Transit Trophy since 1996, but they could be in trouble this season if they don’t play much better than they have this season.
ROCHESTER at UNION
At Frank Bailey Field, Schenectady, 6 p.m.
(Time Warner ch. 3 — WABY 1160-AM — www.teamline.cc)
Last Meeting: Union 28, Rochester 21 at Edwin Fauver Stadium, Rochester, Sept. 26, 2009 — Union leads the all-time series 49-46-5
Last Week:Rochester lost to St. John Fisher 49-21 — Union bye
About the Yellowjackets:Rochester is averaging 4.1 yards per rush this season. The Yellowjackets allowed 315 yards through the air last week against St. John Fisher.
About the Dutchmen: Senior running back Chris Coney needs just 48 yards to become the fourth player in school history with more than 3,000 yards rushing in a career.
Edge: Union is the better team and playing at home, they should post the victory.
The Great Danes left for Pittsburgh Friday morning at 9 a.m. and will stop in Rochester to have a walk through at St. John Fisher College.
Fisher Offensive Coordinator Dave Parks is a 2003 graduate of UAlbany and another assistant coach, Colin Disch, is a 2007 graduate of UAlbany.
The team will arrive around dinner time and kickoff is 12 p.m. on Saturday against Duquesne (2-1).
I talked to defensive lineman Eddie Delaney, quarterback Dan Di Lella and coach Bob Ford for a story about beginning the Northeast Conference season that will appear in Saturday's paper.
Below sophomore running back Andrew Smith talks about how he'll be back on the field on Saturday.
Below is the video preview compiled by the UAlbany sports department
I had a chance to talk with Saratoga Springs native Rich Duff on Thursday. Duff and the rest of the UAlbany defense haven't allowed a touchdown in 10 quarters or more than 12 hours of game action. What has been clicking defensively for the last two or three games?
RD: We have eight senior starters on our defense, so we’re all pretty experienced. Our front seven are playing really well. We’re obviously stopping the run. The first couple games teams were running the ball all over us, but the past three games, they haven’t really done much since the Maine game, the second half of the Maine game. We’re playing well right now.
Was the second half against Maine a turning point for the defense?
RD: At the end of the first half, we had a goal line stand and we’ve had four goal line stands since then. We’ve been pretty jacked up since then.
What’s Homecoming week like and how is it different from any other game?
RD: I guess. It depends on who we’re playing. We’re pretty excited to play Duquesne because they gave us a tough match last year. Last year, we played Saint Francis (Pa.) and not to downplay them, they’re improved this year, but last year, we weren’t that excited. This year, we’re pretty excited because Duquesne gave us trouble last year. They threw the ball for like 350 yards on us and that’s one of main focuses this week, to not let that happen again.”
With Duquesne do you have to take the pass or run away first?
RD: Our goal is always to take the run away first and force them to pass, make them one dimensional. They’re one tight end (senior Sean Bunevich) isn't playing this week and he’s the one that tore us apart last year and they have a transfer from Michigan State (wide receiver Dave Williams) and our main focus is to stop him.
Is this a defensive team of playmakers?
RD: Our four linebackers, I think are really good. Our d-line is doing really well and our secondary has been getting some picks lately. We’re forcing a lot of turnovers since the Maine game and making a lot of plays.
In the preseason did you have a sense that this would be a good defense?
RD: With eight starters starting on defense, we thought we were going to be pretty experienced and ready to go. We’ve all been there before and had a lot of game-type situations.”
Andrew Santillo is a sports reporter at The Record in Troy, New York. Originally from Niskayuna, Andrew graduated from Ithaca College in 2005 with a degree in journalism. He currently resides in Albany.
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