By Tiffany Williams –
ALBANY, N.Y. — New Hampshire struck first.
UAlbany answered with force.
Then the Great Danes put the football on the ground, kept it there and spent the rest of Friday night making the Wildcats chase them.
UAlbany rushed for a staggering 374 yards, controlled possession for more than 39 minutes and scored all four of its touchdowns on the ground in a 28-14 victory over New Hampshire at Tom & Mary Casey Stadium.
The final score told only part of it.
The Great Danes ran the ball 53 times.
They averaged 7.1 yards per carry.
They produced 16 rushing first downs.
They finished with 431 yards of total offense despite throwing for only 57 yards.
And when New Hampshire threatened to drag itself back into the game early in the third quarter, UAlbany answered almost immediately with another explosive rushing drive.
It was a bruising, methodical opening-night performance built around a rushing attack New Hampshire simply could not consistently stop.
Joey Koch was the biggest problem.
Koch carried only seven times but exploded for 144 yards and a touchdown, averaging 20.6 yards every time he touched the ball.
Kai Colón added 90 rushing yards on 15 attempts.
Rahshan La Mons carried 19 times for 62 yards and a score.
BJ Norman had 60 yards on just two carries.
Aidan Semo rushed six times for 27 yards and two touchdowns.
UAlbany barely needed the passing game.
Colón completed only seven of 17 passes for 57 yards and threw an interception.
It did not matter.
The Great Danes ran directly through New Hampshire instead.
New Hampshire’s opening defensive possession actually gave the Wildcats exactly the start they wanted.
UAlbany received the opening kickoff and began at its own 14 after a holding penalty on the return.
La Mons gained one yard.
Colón scrambled for 10 and a first down.
La Mons gained two more before being dropped for a two-yard loss.
Then, on third-and-10 from the UAlbany 25, Colón tried to throw.
Darren Burton II intercepted him at the UAlbany 45.
Five offensive plays into the season, New Hampshire had the ball in plus territory.
The Wildcats capitalized.
Myles Thomason was stuffed on the first play, and a false start pushed New Hampshire backward, but quarterback Brooks Bentley immediately began working underneath.
He hit Logan Perez for five.
Then Perez again for 11 and a first down.
Drew Danson caught a 10-yard pass.
Ja’Carree Kelly added four.
A UAlbany penalty extended the possession.
Thomason ran twice inside the 10.
Then Bentley found Thomason for a four-yard touchdown on third-and-goal.
Lucas Glassburn converted the extra point.
New Hampshire led 7-0 with 8:13 remaining in the first quarter after a 10-play, 40-yard possession lasting 4:03.
That lead lasted exactly four minutes.
UAlbany went 78 yards in seven plays and showed New Hampshire what the rest of the night was going to look like.
La Mons gained five, with an offside penalty moving the Great Danes farther.
Colón completed a six-yard pass to Norman.
Then Colón ran for nine.
La Mons was dropped for a six-yard loss.
That should have put UAlbany in trouble.
Instead, Norman took a rushing attempt 54 yards down the right side to the New Hampshire 5.
Two La Mons carries finished it.
Four yards.
Then one.
Touchdown.
RJ Kocan tied the game at 7 with 4:13 left in the opening quarter.
New Hampshire moved the ball on its next possession but stalled near midfield.
Bentley hit Perez for 15 and Kelly for 11 before the drive died at the UNH 47.
Matt Guidebeck punted UAlbany back to its own 15 with 1:11 left.
What followed became the defining possession of the first half.
UAlbany kept the football for 10 minutes and six seconds.
Fourteen plays.
Eighty-five yards.
And almost all of it on the ground.
The drive crossed from the first quarter into the second.
An offside penalty on New Hampshire gave UAlbany a first down.
Koch gained two.
Tavahri Groves added two.
Colón ripped off 22 yards up the middle to the New Hampshire 48.
La Mons converted another third down with a six-yard run.
A face-mask penalty against New Hampshire erased a sack and moved UAlbany to the Wildcats’ 20.
La Mons carried repeatedly inside the red zone.
Colón kept the ball himself.
UAlbany eventually faced fourth-and-goal from the 1.
There was no hesitation.
Semo took the handoff left and crossed the goal line.
Touchdown.
UAlbany led 14-7 with 6:05 remaining before halftime.
Look at what had just happened to New Hampshire.
The Wildcats’ offense had been on the sideline for more than 10 minutes of game clock.
UAlbany had dictated everything.
New Hampshire’s response lasted three plays.
Joquez Smith ran for six.
Then one.
Bentley’s third-down pass fell incomplete.
Punt.
And UAlbany immediately hit New Hampshire with the game’s most explosive rushing play.
From its own 8-yard line, Koch took the first snap of the possession and exploded for 79 yards.
One play.
From the UAlbany 8 to the New Hampshire 13.
Colón added four.
Norman ran for six and a first down at the 3.
Koch finished what he started with a three-yard touchdown.
Four plays.
Ninety-two yards.
Only 2:17 off the clock.
UAlbany led 21-7.
New Hampshire could not answer before halftime.
A roughing-the-passer penalty helped the Wildcats move the ball, but the possession eventually ended with another Guidebeck punt.
UAlbany took over at its own 3 with 1:10 remaining and ran out the half.
The second-quarter numbers were brutal.
UAlbany outgained New Hampshire 166-14 in the quarter.
The Great Danes rushed 20 times for 166 yards.
New Hampshire managed seven rushing yards and seven passing yards.
UAlbany possessed the football for 12:22 of the 15-minute quarter.
New Hampshire had it for only 2:38.
The Wildcats managed one first down.
UAlbany had nine.
Halftime arrived with UAlbany leading 21-7.
Then New Hampshire came flying out of the locker room.
Anthony Caruso returned the kickoff to the UNH 26.
On the first offensive snap, Thomason broke loose for 29 yards to the UAlbany 45.
On the next snap, Bentley went deep.
Kelly caught the pass at the UAlbany 8 and took it into the end zone.
Forty-five yards.
Touchdown.
Two plays.
Seventy-four yards.
Thirty-seven seconds.
Just like that, New Hampshire had cut the deficit to 21-14 with 14:21 remaining in the third quarter.
For the first time since the opening quarter, UAlbany was under pressure.
The Great Danes went three-and-out.
New Hampshire got the football at its own 44.
A UAlbany pass-interference penalty moved the Wildcats across midfield.
Smith gained four.
Then three.
But a false start hurt the drive, and Bentley was stopped for one yard on third down.
New Hampshire went for it on fourth-and-7 from the UAlbany 38.
Bentley ran.
He gained four.
Not enough.
Turnover on downs.
That possession became huge.
New Hampshire had momentum.
It had the football.
It had already cut a 14-point halftime deficit in half.
And it had a chance to put even more pressure on UAlbany.
Instead, the Wildcats came up three yards short.
UAlbany made them pay.
Colón opened the next possession by finding Groves for 20 yards, though an unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty pushed UAlbany backward after the play.
Then a New Hampshire personal foul handed the Great Danes 15 yards.
Koch ripped off 35 yards up the middle to the New Hampshire 11.
Colón ran for three.
Semo took the next snap eight yards straight into the end zone.
Five plays.
Sixty-six yards.
Two minutes.
UAlbany’s lead was right back to 14.
28-14.
New Hampshire had thrown its best punch of the second half.
UAlbany answered immediately.
The Wildcats kept fighting.
Bentley hit Kelly for 16 on the next series, but Shawan Lewis sacked him for an eight-yard loss on third down and New Hampshire punted.
UAlbany then produced another long possession, moving from its own 13 to the New Hampshire 27.
Colón ran for 10 on third-and-9.
Koch gained 21.
A New Hampshire pass-interference penalty moved the ball farther.
But on fourth-and-3, Colón’s pass for Groves fell incomplete.
New Hampshire had a chance.
Again.
The Wildcats took over with 2:50 remaining in the third and began their best sustained drive of the second half.
Bentley completed a pass to Thomason.
Thomason was dropped for a five-yard loss.
Then Bentley hit Ty Carlson for 36 yards on third-and-11.
Thomason ran for nine.
Bentley found Kelly for 22 yards to the UAlbany 7.
Thomason gained three.
Bentley ran one more.
New Hampshire entered the fourth quarter sitting at the UAlbany 3, facing third-and-goal.
A touchdown there could have changed the entire night.
Instead, the game swung violently in the opposite direction.
Tommy McLeish entered at quarterback on the first snap of the fourth quarter.
His pass was intercepted in the end zone by Dillon Dunathan.
Dunathan took off.
He returned the interception 75 yards before an illegal block in the back brought the ball back to the UAlbany 14.
The return distance was partially erased.
The turnover was not.
New Hampshire had driven 70 yards.
It had reached the UAlbany 3.
It came away with nothing.
That was New Hampshire’s last real threat.
UAlbany did not score again.
It did not need to.
The Great Danes began squeezing the game.
La Mons ran for four.
Colón ran for 10.
La Mons ripped off consecutive seven-yard gains.
The possession lasted 3:39 before Gavin Myers punted for a touchback.
New Hampshire took over at its own 20 with 11:05 remaining.
Thomason immediately ran for 11.
Then UAlbany’s pass rush arrived again.
Bentley was sacked for a three-yard loss.
McLeish completed a five-yard pass to Thomason.
Then his third-down throw fell incomplete.
Guidebeck punted.
UAlbany got the ball back with 9:34 left.
And the Great Danes drained another 5:29 from the clock.
Semo ran.
Then ran again.
Then again.
La Mons carried.
Colón completed a third-and-9 pass to Norman for nine yards and a first down.
More La Mons.
More Koch.
Finally, Colón punted from the New Hampshire 45 and pinned the Wildcats at their own 2 with 4:05 remaining.
New Hampshire had 98 yards to travel.
And essentially one last chance.
Smith ran for eight.
Bentley hit Ryan Ricketti for five.
Then Kelly for 25.
The Wildcats reached their own 40.
But UAlbany’s defensive front finished it.
Bentley scrambled for three.
An incompletion followed.
Dunathan sacked Bentley for an eight-yard loss on third down.
Then Lewis got him again on fourth-and-15.
Four-yard loss.
Turnover on downs.
Ballgame.
UAlbany took possession with 1:59 remaining and Colón knelt three times.
The Great Danes walked off with a 28-14 victory.
The final statistics showed exactly why.
UAlbany had 26 first downs to New Hampshire’s 16.
The Great Danes rushed for 374 yards.
New Hampshire rushed for 62.
UAlbany ran 71 offensive plays to UNH’s 54.
The Great Danes possessed the ball for 39:08.
New Hampshire had it for only 20:52.
UAlbany converted all four of its red-zone opportunities into touchdowns.
New Hampshire was 1-for-2 in the red zone.
And the Great Danes sacked New Hampshire quarterbacks four times for 23 lost yards.
Bentley finished 19-of-27 for 230 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.
Kelly was New Hampshire’s biggest offensive weapon with six catches for 123 yards and a touchdown.
Thomason rushed for 53 yards on 10 carries and caught five passes for 19 yards and the first-quarter touchdown.
But those numbers could not overcome the imbalance on the ground.
New Hampshire attempted only 24 rushes and averaged 2.6 yards per carry.
UAlbany attempted 53 and averaged 7.1.
That was the game.
Defensively, Trevor Barry led New Hampshire with 13 tackles, including one tackle for loss.
Cohen Cook finished with 10 tackles.
For UAlbany, Dunathan finished with five tackles, two tackles for loss, a sack and the fourth-quarter interception.
Lewis was even more disruptive up front, recording 2.5 sacks and 2.5 tackles for loss.
It was not a flawless UAlbany performance.
The Great Danes threw an early interception.
They committed 10 penalties for 97 yards.
They completed only seven passes.
They failed on a fourth-down attempt in New Hampshire territory during the third quarter.
But every time the game threatened to get uncomfortable, UAlbany returned to what New Hampshire never solved.
The run.
The Great Danes’ first touchdown came after Norman’s 54-yard run.
Their second came at the end of a 10-minute possession dominated by the ground game.
Their third came after Koch ripped off 79 yards from deep inside UAlbany territory.
Their fourth came after Koch broke loose for another 35.
Even the fourth quarter became an extension of that formula.
Run the ball.
Control the clock.
Make New Hampshire use precious possessions just to stay alive.
The Wildcats had only 3:53 of possession in the fourth quarter.
UAlbany had the football for 11:07.
No points were scored in the final period because UAlbany didn’t need them.
The Great Danes had already done the damage.
New Hampshire opened the night with an interception and a touchdown.
It opened the second half with a 74-yard lightning strike.
Both times, the Wildcats looked capable of flipping the game.
Both times, UAlbany answered.
And by the final kneel-down, the numbers were impossible to ignore.
374 rushing yards.
39 minutes of possession.
Four rushing touchdowns.
A two-touchdown win.
UAlbany opened its season 1-0 overall and 1-0 in conference play.
New Hampshire left Albany 0-1 overall and 0-1 in the conference.