ALBANY, N.Y. - The University at Albany football team will quickly be thrown into the Northeast Conference schedule this Saturday, traveling to take on Robert Morris University in Week 2 of the 2012 season. The Great Danes look to keep the momentum going after last week's 23-point victory over Colgate, representing the only NEC squad to record a win on opening weekend. Kickoff in Moon Township, Pa. will be at 12:00 p.m. at Joe Walton Stadium.

CATCH THE ACTION
Watch at Home: Saturday's action will be video streamed live by Robert Morris. Subscription needed.
Listen: The game can be heard locally on WCDB-FM (90.9 FM) or online at wcdbfm.com. Rodger Wyland and Zach Bye will have the call.
Tweet: Follow @UAlbanySports on Twitter for live updates, photos and highlights.
Live Stats: Live stats can be found here. A full recap and box score will be available at the conclusion of the game at UAlbanySports.com.
Game Notes: Click here for a complete pack of UAlbany game notes (pdf). 

THE UALBANY-ROBERT MORRIS SERIES
The Great Danes and Colonials meet for the 14th time in history Saturday, playing each other every year since UAlbany joined the Northeast Conference in 1999. UAlbany leads the all-time series, 7-6, with an even 3-3 record at Robert Morris. Last season, UAlbany snapped a two-game losing streak against the Colonials, beating RMU, 28-17 at University Field. The Great Danes look to turn around their luck with contests played in Moon Township this weekend, as UAlbany lost its last meeting at RMU by a deficit of 38 points (38-0) in 2010. The last time the Danes topped Robert Morris on the road was 2008 when UAlbany won 41-7 on Nov. 8. Saturday's meeting marks the first time RMU and UAlbany will open the NEC schedule against each other.

UALBANY QUICK HITS
• Last Saturday's opener vs. Colgate kicked off the 40th season of varsity football at UAlbany. The 40-23 win, improved the Great Danes' record to 5-9 in season-openers in the Division I FCS era.
• UAlbany was the only NEC team to earn a win in Week 1.
• This Saturday's game marks the first Northeast Conference contest of the season.
• UAlbany was chosen to repeat as Northeast Conference Champions, as announced by the NEC office.
• Six Great Danes were placed on the All-NEC Preseason Team.
• Last season, the Great Danes received their first NCAA FCS Playoff berth and advanced to the NCAAs for the first time since 1977.
• UAlbany finished 2011 ranked 23rd in the FCS Coaches Poll and was just off the TSN's Top-25, receiving votes.
• The Great Danes received votes in both The Sports Network Top-25 and 2012 FCS Coaches Poll for preseason and Week 1.
• UAlbany has won or shared five Northeast Conference championships (2002, 2003, 2007, 2008 & 2011).
• In 2011, the Great Danes reached the eight-win plateau for the fourth time as a NCAA Division I FCS program.
• The Great Danes have registered six consecutive winning seasons for the first time in the program's history (2006-11) and look for their seventh in 2012.
• Bob Ford is fourth among the FCS all-time leaders in career victories and is first among active NCAA Division I FCS coaches with 256 career victories.
• Bob Ford recorded his 250th win as a college head coach on Oct. 8, 2011.
• Ford is in his 40th varsity season as head coach at UAlbany with a 247-157 record.
• The National Football League's New York Giants have made the UAlbany campus its summer training camp home since 1996.
• The Danes are 19-33 in non-conference action as a NCAA Division I FCS program.
• UAlbany has an 8-14 record in FCS games decided by three points or less.

UALBANY IN THE NEC FACTS
•UAlbany is 10-3 in NEC openers.

SCOUTING THE GREAT DANES
2011 Record: 8-4, 7-1 NEC
NEC Preseason Poll: 1st
Head Coach: Bob Ford (40th season at UAlbany/43rd overall) (247-157-0/256-178-1/71-23 NEC)

THE COACH: Bob Ford is in his 40th season at the helm, coming off his fifth Northeast Conference title in 2011 and fourth NEC Coach of the Year Award. He ranks first among all active NCAA Division I FCS coaches with 256 career victories and is also fourth among the FCS all-time leaders in career victories.

SEASON OUTLOOK: Eight return from the NEC's top scoring and total offensive team in 2011, including first-team all-conference lineman Kadeem Williams and second-team running back Drew Smith who ran for 1,092 yards. Second-team selection Ryan Kirchner also returns for his senior season after being the Danes' leading receiver for the past two seasons, including 56 catches for 615 yards last fall. UAlbany will look to fill the void of the NEC's Offensive Player of the Year, quarterback Dan Di Lella, with sophomore Will Fiacchi. Fiacchi is fairly untested in game-play, making two short appearances in 2011 with one pass attempt. Despite his lack of experience, the Great Danes are confident in his abilities to lead the squad this season. Defensively, the Great Danes have been among the NEC leaders in rushing yards allowed for four consecutive seasons, finishing second in scoring defense in 2011, and should be just as strong in 2012. The Danes return five starters, including first-team all-conference selection Jon Morgan, who totaled 106 tackles last fall. All-NEC selection Leon Saddler will also be back on the gridiron, leading the squad's defensive backs. Punter Paul Layton, who averaged a league-leading 42.6 yards, returns for his junior season. The Danes look to senior Sean Kenny to fill the shoes of All-NEC kicker Herb Glass, who made 37-of-42 field goals in his career.

LAST TIME OUT: The Great Danes come off a 40-23 win over Colgate in the 2012 season opener. The Danes' defensive line was the story of the night, blocking two punts for eight consecutive points on a safety and touchdown, in addition to breaking up four passes as the airborne ball crossed the line of scrimmage. The Great Danes' defense also forced the Raiders into two fumbles and an interception. Senior Jon Morgan led the squad with nine tackles, including eight solo, while senior linebacker Dean Mercuris broke up a game-high three passes. Offensively, senior Drew Smith and sophomore Omar Osbourne both rushed for career highs, as Smith led UAlbany with 174 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries. Osbourne also broke his career best in two categories, rushing 113 yards while logging 146 all-purpose yards. Making his debut as starting quarterback, redshirt sophomore Will Fiacchi completed 16-of-25 pass attempts for 143 yards.

QUICK HITS FROM THE GAME: The win kicked off the 40th varsity season in program history as well as Coach Bob Ford's 40th season as head coach of the Danes ... The win over Colgate was UAlbany's first in history ... The Danes are now 2-1 in home season openers and 5-9 in season openers ... The last time the Great Danes won the season-opener was in 2010 when they topped Maine, 3-0 ... UAlbany's 40 points marks the most since they beat Monmouth, 41-24, on Nov. 12, 2011 ... Drew Smith recorded his 19th 100-plus yard rushing game ... Drew Smith moved up two spots in the career rushing ladder, now ranking 6th in program history with 2,369 yards ... The 6,194 fans in attendance marks the ninth highest home crowd in program history and the 10th time since 1973 that there were more than 6,000 fans ... Coach Ford now owns a 247-157 record at UAlbany and 256-178-1 overall record ...The Danes have now blocked punts that were returned for a touchdown in two consecutive games (the last was vs. Stony Brook by Brian Parker on 11/26/11).

PROGRAM HISTORY: UAlbany football started at the club level in 1970, before moving to Division III and varsity status three years later. The Great Danes competed at the Division II level from 1995-98, and won two Eastern Football Conference titles in that period. Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) play arrived in 1999 with membership in the Northeast Conference. UAlbany has won five NEC titles.

SCOUTING THE COLONIALS
2011 Record: 2-9 overall, 2-6 NEC
NEC Preseason Poll: 6th
Head Coach: Joe Walton (105-80-1, 19th season at Robert Morris; 105-80-1 overall)

THE COACH: RMU's only head coach in its 19-year history, Joe Walton, was named the first head coach July 27, 1993. During his tenure, Walton led Robert Morris to the first Northeast Conference championship in 1996, guided RMU to a perfect 10-0 season in 2000 and in 2010 helped lead the Colonials to the NEC's inaugural bid to the NCAA FCS Playoffs with their league-high sixth regular-season championship. Under Walton's tutelage, the Colonials have claimed outright NEC regular-season titles three times (1997, 1999, 2000) while sharing three others (1996, 1998, 2010). He owns an overall record of 105-80-1 (.570).

SEASON OUTLOOK: After winning the conference title in 2010, and becoming the first NEC school to obtain an automatic playoff bid, Robert Morris won only two games last year and finished eighth in the conference. One of RMU's biggest problems last year was finding a reliable run game. The Colonials offense ranked No. 8 in the NEC in rushing (108 yards per game) and scored only 10 touchdowns on the ground, the fewest in the conference. Deontae Howard returns as the leading rusher after gaining 386 yards and one touchdown. Quarterback Jeff Sinclair enters his senior season and was effective running the ball (231 yards, 6 TD), but was inconsistent passing it, throwing for 1,373 yards, 11 touchdowns and 10 interceptions in 2011. However, Sinclair will miss the first two games of the season, due to a violation of team rules. Instead, sophomore Matt Layman will be relied upon for Saturday's game vs. UAlbany. Coach Walton should be able to look to his defense for leadership with a handful of upperclassmen returning from a year ago, including the Colonials' leading tacklers, Cameron Chadwick, D.J. Myers, and Nolan Nearhoof.

LAST TIME OUT: Robert Morris dropped its 2012 season opener, as defending national champion and preseason No. 1/2 North Dakota State claimed a 52-0 non-conference decision at Gate City Bank Field at the Fargodome. Playing in front of a standing-room-only crowd of 18,769, the largest crowd that RMU has ever competed in front of, the host Bison used good field position throughout the game to launch a number of short scoring drives. RMU, managed just five first downs and 88 total offensive yards against NDSU. The shutout by North Dakota State marked just the fourth such occasion that RMU failed to score in the 187 games in program history.

SMITH, BAKOU EARN NEC PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS
Leading the University at Albany to a 40-23 victory over Colgate in the season-opening clash, seniors Drew Smith and Ocieka Bakou garnered the Northeast Conference's Offensive Player of the Week and Special Teams Player of the Week honors, respectively. Smith led UAlbany with a career-high 174 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries. The performance marked Smith's 19th 100-plus yard rushing game and moved the Schenectady, N.Y. native up two spots in the career rushing ladder, now ranking sixth in program history with 2,369 yards. In addition, Smith had his third-best career all-purpose running game, totaling 195 yards, which puts him just 26-yards away from moving into third place all-time at UAlbany with 3,536 career all-purpose yards. On the other side of the ball, Bakou served as the Great Danes' game-changer Saturday night, blocking two punts for nine consecutive points on a safety and touchdown. Trailing, 10-7, Bakou's first blocked punt ricocheted into the end zone, forcing Colgate to push the ball out the back to settle for a safety. Like déjà vu, Bakou got a mitt on Colgate's next punt attempt from the 35-yard line, allowing teammate Kyle Jordan to pick it up and run it back to give the Danes' a 16-10 advantage after the extra point, as well as the lead for good with 3:01 minutes left in the first half. Bakou's performance marked a career-best. He also single-handedly matched UAlbany's 2011 team kick block total.

DEFENSIVE LEADERS
Senior defensive end Dean Mercuris batted down three Raider passes in UAlbany's win over Colgate, in addition to three tackles. Senior linebacker Jon Morgan led the Great Danes' defense against Colgate's running game with nine tackles, including eight solo, as UAlbany held Colgate to just 163 rushing yards. Tramaine Wilson chalked the first interception of the 2012 season, snagging a ball at their own three-yard line and running 33-yards before being brought down.

UAlbany's Active Career Tackles Leader
202, Jon Morgan (ILB, 2009- ) No. 21 all-time - he needs 10 more to tie for 20th.

40-for-40
Forty was not only the number of points that Albany scored in its Week 1 win over Colgate, but it is also the number of season head coach Bob Ford has been at the helm.  Ford, who has long been deemed "The Architect of Albany Football," was appointed the head coach when Albany reinstated its football program in 1970 following a 46-year absence.

DOUBLE TROUBLE IN THE BACK
For the first time since 2006, two tailbacks recorded over 100-yards rushing in the same game. Against Colgate last week, Drew Smith (174) and Omar Osbourne (113) combined for 287 of UAlbany's 315 rushing yards that game. The last time two players logged over 100-yards apiece was when Marcus Allen (149) and Omar Johnson (135) led the Great Danes to a 24-13 win over Sacred Heart on the road, Oct. 14, 2006.

STREAKING THE BLOCK
Albany scored the go-ahead touchdown on a block punt play during its season opener against Colgate.  It wasn't the first time the Great Danes had capitalized off a punt block. In fact, it was the second time is as many games.  In last year's NCAA Division I FCS playoff tilt vs. Stony Brook (Nov. 26, 2011), Dean Mercuris stuffed a punt and Brian Parker took it in for a touchdown. In their first game since the heart-breaking playoff defeat, senior Ocieka Bakou blocked a second-quarter punt and Kyle Jordan scooped it up and took it in for six points.

NEC No. 1
With six first-place votes, UAlbany was chosen to repeat as Northeast Conference Champions, as announced by the NEC office during the 2012 Preseason Teleconference on Thursday, August 2. The Great Danes, who made their first-ever appearance in the NCAA FCS Playoffs last season, earned their first preseason number one ranking since 2009. In addition to the preseason team rankings, UAlbany placed six players on the All-NEC Preseason Team, led by wide receiver Ryan Kirchner and punter Paul Layton.

CAA 2013
The University at Albany's Vice President Athletic Administration and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Dr. Lee McElroy and the commissioner of the Colonial Athletic Association Tom Yeager formally announced that the Great Dane football program will be joining the CAA for the 2013 season on Wednesday, August 8. UAlbany and New York state rival Stony Brook will join current CAA members Maine, New Hampshire, James Madison, Delaware, Richmond, William & Mary, Villanova, Rhode Island and Towson beginning next season. UAlbany has had good success over CAA members, having tallied a 6-5 all-time record. The Great Danes have previously faced Delaware (1-1 record), Maine (3-2), Towson (2-1) and New Hampshire (0-1). The Great Danes will look to expand on its rivalry against Stony Brook, having played the Seawolves 15 times and tallying a record of 10-5 all-time.

SEVEN WINS
UAlbany has reached the seven-win mark in nine of 13 seasons at the Division I FCS level. The Great Danes own an 88-56 record as a NCAA FCS program during that period. UAlbany has registered seven-plus victories 19 times in its history. The Great Danes set the program's single-season FCS record with nine wins in 2008.

SMITH RUSHES UP THE LADDER
UAlbany's Drew Smith has worked his way into the top 10 on the school's career rushing chart. Smith, a senior, is the ninth UAlbany player to rush for more than 2,000 yards in a career. With his 174 yards vs. Colgate, he moved up two spots and now currently ranks sixth (2,369 yards). Smith needs just 243 more yards to move into fifth, and tie with Brian Manigault (1998-2001). In addition, Smith is climbing the all-purpose yards ladder. He needs just 26 yards to move into third all-time and 103 yards to jump to second.

GOING ON 20 100+
UAlbany tailback Drew Smith accounted for 100-plus all-purpose yards for 19th time in his career against Colgate (9/1/12), totaling 195. He ranks among the program's top 10 all-time with 3,536 all-purpose yards.

KIRCHNER CATCHES THIRD
Senior wide receiver Ryan Kirchner moved into third all-time at UAlbany with 127 career receptions after hauling in five passes for 41 yards vs. Colgate. He needs nine more receptions to tie for second and 21 more to break Tim Bush's record of 147. In his junior year, wide receiver Ryan Kirchner became the fourth player in school history to surpass 100 career receptions on Nov. 12, 2011. He set the program's FCS single-game record with three touchdown catches vs. Sacred Heart on Nov. 19, and also caught 12 passes against Stony Brook (11/26) to set UAlbany's Division I single-game record. With 56 receptions, he had the fourth-highest single-season total in program history.

SHUTDOWN
UAlbany's defense has recorded 11 shutouts as a Division I FCS program with the last being a 24-0 victory against Wagner on Oct. 29, 2011. UAlbany held the Seahawks to 204 total yards, including 25 passing. The Great Danes have blanked six NEC opponents at the FCS level.

OVERTIME GAMES
The last time UAlbany went to overtime was when the Great Danes fell to Colgate, 37-34, on Sept. 3, 2011. The Raiders' TB Nate Eachus scored on a one-yard run. Prior to that in 2010, Central Connecticut State edged UAlbany, 30-27, as Joe Izzo made a 32-yard field goal in the first extra period. UAlbany recorded the program's first ever overtime victory in a 22-16 decision against Hofstra on Sept. 13, 2008. TB David McCarty's 7-yard touchdown run decided the outcome. UAlbany suffered setbacks in its previous two OT decisions.

CAPTAINS
Instead of having three or four captains this season, the Great Danes will have a captain represent every position. Each was voted captain by those players at his position and will be responsible for his position group and for communicating with the coaching staff regarding any concerns among the team. For games, the captains will rotate, with those being decided on game week.

Captains by position
QB - Will Fiacchi
TB - Drew Smith
WR - Ryan Kirchner, Nick Hutcherson
OL - Antonio Bazzoffi
TE - Paul Booker
DL - Oceika Bakou, Dean Mercuris
ILB - Jon Morgan
OLB - Kyle Jordan
S - Justinian Mason
CB - Leon Saddler
P - Paul Layton

HOME CROWDS
UAlbany's season-opening crowd of 6,194 vs. Colgate last week marked the ninth largest home crowd in Great Danes football history. The 2010 Homecoming crowd of 6,624 was the third largest to see the Great Danes play at home and biggest since Nov. 6, 1978. Attendance has topped 6,000 fans 10 times since 1973.

CLOSE GAMES
UAlbany has played in eight games decided by three points or less since the start of the 2009 season. The Great Danes were in three close affairs last season, including an OT loss against Central Connecticut State. The Great Danes were in four games decided by three points or less in the 2009 season. UAlbany last had four games decided by three points or less in 1993. In the 1987 campaign, five contests came down to a differential of three points or less.

CAREER VICTORIES
UAlbany's Bob Ford is fourth among the winningest Football Championship Subdivision head coaches in career victories (256). Grambling's Eddie Robinson leads the list with 408.

Winningest FCS Coaches All-Time By Victories
408, Eddie Robinson, Grambling (408-165-15, 55 years)
314, Roy Kidd, Eastern Kentucky (314-124-8, 39 years)
300, Tubby Raymond, Delaware (300-119-3, 36 years)
256, Bob Ford, St. Lawrence, Albany (256-177-1, 43+ years)
246, Mike Kelly, Dayton (246-54-1, 27 years)
245, Billy Joe, Cheyney, Central State, Florida A&M, Miles (245-127-4, 34 years)
241, Jim Tressel, Youngstown State, Ohio State (241-79-2, 25 years)

McCARTHY PROMOTED TO ASSOCIATE HEAD COACH
Announced Aug. 28th, University at Albany offensive coordinator Ryan McCarthy has been promoted to associate head coach. McCarthy is in his 11th season with the UAlbany football program and fifth as offensive coordinator. Last season, McCarthy put together the best offense in the Northeast Conference, as the Danes finished first for both total and scoring offense. In addition, quarterback Dan Di Lella broke the program's season record with 2,859 total offensive yards and 2,804 passing yards gained en route to the NEC championship title. In the past four seasons under McCarthy, tailback David McCarty became the school's all-time rushing leader with 4,287 yards, quarterback Vinny Esposito finished his career as the program's No. 2 passer with 5,692 yards, and wide receiver Tim Bush recorded a Great Danes-best 147 career receptions.

UP NEXT
UAlbany will play its second of three consecutive road games next Saturday, traveling to face Youngstown State for the first time in program history. Youngstown State of the Missouri Valley Conference was the national story of Week 1, as they upset Pitt by a score of 31-17. Kickoff will be at 4:00 p.m. at Stambaugh Stadium.