UAlbany lets one slip at Buffalo as brutal future FBS schedule looms

BUFFALO - The wins over Football Bowl Subdivision teams will be much harder to come by over the next three years.

The University at Albany is set to play Purdue next season, Michigan State in 2028, and Cincinnati in 2029, according to an athletic department official.

Those games will offer big paydays but a slim chance of victory against teams from the Power Four conferences.

However, UAlbany had a realistic chance of pulling off an FBS upset on Thursday night. The Great Danes were sitting on the Buffalo 1 with less than two minutes left and trailing by 4 points.

Instead, UAlbany unraveled with mistakes in a 21-17 defeat in a game that didn't end until 1:22 a.m. because of lightning and heavy rain that delayed the opening kickoff by more than 2 ½ hours.

"We should have won that game," UAlbany first-year coach Tom Perkovich said. "We're on the 1-yard line, right?"

After the game, Perkovich was bent over in the tunnel to the locker room. He had his hands on his knees like he'd been punched in the gut.

These opportunities don't come along every year. Even though the Bulls of the Mid-American Conference don't nearly stack up against college football's best, it would have been a great victory for the Great Danes (1-1), who were 18 ½-point underdogs.

"We've got to find a way to win that game, that's what we've got to do," Perkovich said. "And I've got to do a better job as a head coach."

UAlbany fell to 1-11 against FBS opponents, the only win coming at Buffalo in 2016.

Nevertheless, Perkovich has taken over a team that went 2-10 last season and won his opener in impressive fashion against Coastal Athletic Association rival New Hampshire last Friday, followed by a near-upset of Buffalo despite the weather delay.

"Talk about facing adversity," Perkovich said. "We're in the hotel all day, right? We've got to sit here. We warm up; it takes over three hours to kick off. We're playing until 1:30 in the morning. Our guys went through a lot today. And to come here and have that type of effort and what we do, I'm proud of our players. We didn't get the win, but I'm proud of our guys."

Perkovich said he expressed that pride to his disappointed team in the locker room.

"What we're doing is working," Perkovich said he told the players. "We've got the right people. We can't let it destroy us, losing a game at the end like that. But we need to come together closer and continue to work toward getting some things fixed and get this thing in a better position where we're not down to the last seconds."

Through a UAlbany spokesman, Perkovich declined to make players available for interviews.

On the bright side, UAlbany senior quarterback Kai Colon showed his arm talent against Buffalo after doing most of his damage with his legs against UNH.

Colon threw for 191 yards and a pair of 14-yard touchdowns - the first to Tavahri Groves in the first quarter and the second to Justus Murray Jr. for a 17-14 lead with 3:23 left in the third quarter.

His most impressive throw was a 24-yard out to Jordan Rae on fourth-and-2 to the Buffalo 20 on UAlbany's final drive.

UAlbany's Rahshan La Mons was stopped just short of the goal line on a run to set up the final sequence. On second down, tight end Tyler Wilms false-started just before backup quarterback Aidan Semo took a snap and snuck into the end zone for what would have been the go-ahead score.

Wilms was lined up behind scrimmage and looked to give Semo a tush push into the end zone.

"It looked like we jumped the gun on it, so I don't know," Perkovich said.

The penalty marched UAlbany back to the 6. The Great Danes' last bid ended when Colon's fourth-down pass was caught over the middle by Shenendehowa graduate Luke McAuliffe, who was tackled at the 3 to turn the ball over on downs.

"I had a couple bad play calls that I've got to own and we've got to be better," said Perkovich, who is the offensive play caller. "We've got to go to the end zone on the last play. I think we had something, but we've got to go to the end zone on it."

UAlbany returns to action at Long Island University of the Northeast Conference on Sept. 12.