University at Albany sophomore quarterback Will Fiacchi talks about the team's upcoming game against Sacred Heart.

Here is my ballot for the The Sports Network Top 25. There was a big shakeup this week, as four of the previous top five teams lost. That's seen in the fact that eight teams received first place votes.

The University at Albany won, yet I still dropped them a few spots, based on a few of the other results and teams that upset those teams at the top.

Here is a link to the Top 25. UAlbany is still outside the Top 25, but seem to be inching closer to a ranking, which would be the second in school history. Last year, the Great Danes ended the season ranked No. 23 in the poll. 

The number in (x) is where the team actually stands in the Top 25.

1. Eastern Washington
2. Georgia Southern (3)
3. James Madison (2)
4. Montana State (5)
5. North Dakota State (4)
6. Wofford (8)
7. Lehigh (9)
8. Stony Brook (10)
9. Indiana State (21)
10. Illinois State (11)
11. Old Dominion  (7)
12. Appalachian State (13)
13. New Hampshire (12)
14. Sam Houston State (6)
15. Youngstown State
16. Towson (18)
17. Northern Arizona (16)
18. UAlbany (NR)
19. Harvard (22)
20. Cal Poly  (14)
21. Central Arkansas (19)
22. Tennessee State (17)
23. Villanova (24)
24. Eastern Kentucky (23)
25. South Dakota State (20)

Teams in poll, but not on my ballot 
25. Delaware

Others receiving votes: ALBANY 332, McNeese State 309, Samford 105, UT Martin 95, Sacramento State 80, The Citadel 79, Northern Iowa 50, Bethune-Cookman 47, Alabama A&M 45, Richmond 43, Stephen F. Austin 12, Jacksonville 11, Tennessee Tech 9, Montana 8, SE Louisiana 7, Eastern Illinois 7, Southern Illinois 6, Chattanooga 5, North Carolina Central 3, Jacksonville State 3, Arkansas-Pine Bluff 2, Western Illinois 2, UC Davis 1, Drake 1

University at Albany football players Ocieka Bakou and Drew Smith talk about the team's 36-13 victory over Saint Francis (Pa.) on Saturday.

University at Albany wide receivers Ryan Kirchner and Kevin Chillis talk about the 55-24 Northeast Conference victory over Monmouth on Saturday.

Below is a link to highlights from the Northeast Conference, of UAlbany's 35-10 victory over Robert Morris 

Highlights

UAlbany sophomore quarterback Will Fiacchi talks about his team's upcoming game against Robert Morris, which kicks off the Northeast Conference season for the defending league champs.

The University at Albany football team kicked off the 2012 season on the right note, on Saturday, knocking off Colgate, 40-23.

Ocieka Bakou and Drew Smith were big reasons for the season-opening victory.

Bakou blocked two kicks and Smith ran for a career-high 174 yards.

On Monday, Smith was named Northeast Conference Offensive Player of the Week, while Bakou picked up special teams player of the week honors.

Here is a link to the conference's release.

Here is a link to the game story, from the 40-23 victory on opening night. The crowd was one of the biggest in school history, with an announced 6,194 at the game.

Here is a link to today's story about the UAlbany football team kicking off the 2012 season.

There was also unofficial news that the team will move up to the Colonial Athletic Association. An official announcement should be coming this week. 

Below is video of senior wide receiver Ryan Kirchner.

ALBANY - The University at Albany football team is not unbeatable.

After rolling off six victories in a row, it was starting to look like the Great Danes might be.

Bryant ended that on Saturday afternoon, with a 31-17 victory that knocked UAlbany back towards the Northeast Conference pack.

The Bulldogs (4-2, 6-3) outscored the Great Danes (5-1, 6-3) 21-0 in the second half to erase a 17-10 halftime deficit.

Jordan Brown rushed for 155 yards for Bryant, but the real story receiver Jordan Harris, who set a single-game record with 224 yards receiving and two touchdowns.

UAlbany quarterback Dan Di Lella threw for 244 yards and two touchdowns, but was also intercepted twice.

The Great Danes are still in control of their own destiny, with two games to play, but they need to turn things around in a hurry.

Here is my ballot for The Sports Network Fathead.com FCS Top 25.

UAlbany picked its first victory of the season, over Ivy League member, Columbia.

Like usual, the number in (x) is where the team ranks in the poll.

On a side note, I'm traveling down to Boone, N.C., for a wedding on Columbus Day weekend. That's the home of my No. 1 team, Appalachian State. The Mountaineers are off that weekend.

1. Appalachian State (3)
2. Georgia Southern (1)
3. Northern Iowa (2)
4. Montana State
5. Delaware (6)
6. New Hampshire (7)
7. North Dakota State (5)
8. Jacksonville State (14)
9. Lehigh (13)
10. Wofford (8)
11. James Madison (9)
12. William & Mary (11)
13. Richmond (10)
14. Chattanooga (15)
15. Southern Illinois (12)
16. Sacramento State (25)
17. Montana (19)
18. Massachusetts (20)
19. South Dakota (21)
20. Maine (NR)
21. Southern Utah (17)
22. South Carolina State
23. Sam Houston State (16)
24. McNeese State (18)
25. Towson (23)

Teams in Top 25 - not in my ballot
24. Indiana State

Not quite sure how this slipped by (well, I am actually - it's just one of those weeks), but Rhode Island will join the Northeast Conference for football in 2013. That's the conference that the University at Albany plays in.

"We are thrilled to welcome the University of Rhode Island to the Northeast Conference football family," NEC Commissioner Noreen Morris said in a statement. "The Conference is united in its commitment to the long term growth of NEC football.

The Rams will remain an associate football member of the Colonial Athletic Association in 2011 and 2012.

With the addition of Rhode Island, the NEC will up to 10 in 2013. The schools are Bryant, Central Connecticut, Monmouth, Robert Morris, Sacred Heart, Saint Francis (Pa.), Wagner, UAlbany and Duquesne.

The University at Albany had a tough outcome on Friday night. The Great Danes nearly defeated Central Connecticut, but the Blue Devils prevailed in overtime.

My lone team from the NEC that's ranked is Robert Morris, who was off this week.

Four of my bottom five teams are just on the outside looking in, along with Western Illinois.

Here is the poll. The number in (x) is if it's different on the actual Sports Network Top 25 poll.

1. Appalachian State
2. Jacksonville State
3. William & Mary
4. Stephen F. Austin
5. Delaware (6)
6. Villanova (5)
7. Montana
8. Eastern Washington
9. New Hampshire (10)
10. Liberty (16)
11. Wofford (9)
12. Bethune-Cookman
13. Southeast Missouri State (11)
14. Richmond
15. Northern Iowa (19)
16. Montana State (13)
17. Massachusetts (18)
18. James Madison (15)
19. South Carolina State
20. Penn (21)
21. North Dakota State (NR)
22. Chattanooga (20)
23. Georgia Southern (NR)
24. Robert Morris (NR)
25. Furman (NR)

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.

It was a beautiful day for football at University Field on Saturday afternoon.

The big crowd couldn’t have been any more pleased with the performance of their University at Albany Great Danes.

UAlbany scored early and often and cruised to a 48-0 victory over St. Francis (Pa.) on Homecoming weekend in front of a crowd of 6,624.

That crowd is the largest in UAlbany’s 11-year Division I history and the largest home attendance since a 1978 game against Ithaca College.

UAlbany outgained St. Francis 424-81 on the afternoon.

The Great Danes (1-1, 3-2) scored on their very first possession, when junior quarterback Dan Di Lella found fellow junior John Lullen for a 15-yard touchdown.

After a punt from the Red Flash (1-2, 1-4), UAlbany went right back down the field.

A 2-yard touchdown run from freshman Dillon Romain was set up by a key third down conversion.

Di Lella was able to find a wide open Ryan Kirchner for a 36-yard completion to keep the drive alive.

Five plays later, Romain made it 14-0.

The Great Danes outgained the Red Flash 209-45 in the first half.

St. Francis (Pa.), which played without sophomore running back Kyle Harbridge, only ran two plays in UAlbany territory in the first half.

Harbridge (groin) came into the game ranked third in the country in all-purpose yards (188.3/gm).

UAlbany is 12-0 against St. Francis all-time.

Here are the standings heading into this weekend's games in the Northeast Conference.

Robert Morris 3-0, 4-1
CCSU 2-0, 3-2
Monmouth 1-0, 1-3
Duquesne 1-1, 3-2
Wagner 1-1, 2-2
St. Francis 1-1, 1-3
UAlbany 0-1, 2-2
Bryant 0-2, 3-2
Sacred Heart 0-3, 1-4

First, it's been a long time since UAlbany has seen their name so far down the conference standings.

Here's the schedule for this week.

Duquesne at CCSU, 12 p.m.
Monmouth at Robert Morris, 12 p.m.
Sacred Heart at Bryant, 1 p.m.
St. Francis (Pa.) at UAlbany, 1 p.m.
Wagner at Georgetown, 1 p.m.*
*non-conference

It's an important week for the Great Danes for a lot of reasons.

• No. 1 Robert Morris can go to 4-0 in the league. A loss for UAlbany would put them at 0-2.

• No. 2 A loss keeps the Great Danes in the bottom portion of the league standings and likely forces them to hope teams will lose two or three games for them to claim a share of the title

Robert Morris has Northeast Conference's automatic bid, according to Craig Haley, The Sports Network Executive Director. The Colonials don't get any favors as they are projected to play at Texas State and the winner plays at former No. 1, Villanova.

Here's a link to Haley's FCS bracket projection prior to Week 6.