TOWSON, Md. – Despite a pair of passing touchdowns by Tom Flacco, the No. 9 Towson University football team fell to UAlbany 38-21 on Saturday night.
 
A couple of first half touchdowns tied the game for Towson (3-3, 1-2 CAA), including a four-yard pass from Flacco to Ryan Rutkowski to even the game with 8:05 left in the second quarter.  UAlbany (4-3, 2-1 CAA) scored 17 unanswered points en route to the win.
 
Key Game Stats:

• Tom Flacco went 17-for-33 on the night with two touchdowns, adding 32 yards rushing.  He had three targets that finished with over 40 yards, led by Shane Leatherbury with four catches and 47 yards.  Darian Street and Ryan Rutkowski had the reception touchdowns.
• On the ground, Yeedee Thaenrat had 36 yards and a score, his ninth touchdown of the year.
• Defensively, Robert Heyward had 11 tackles for the Tigers, including one tackle for loss.  Malik Tyne had an important forced fumble on a sack in the first quarter while each John Lambert and Christian Dixon had fumble recoveries.  As a defensive unit, Towson had four sacks and eight tackles for loss.
• For UAlbany, Jeff Undercuffler threw 23-for-30 for 380 yards passing and two touchdowns, throwing a combined 299 yards to Jerah Reeves and Juwan Green.  Karl Mofor rushed 30 times for 120 yards and two scores.

Postgame Quote:
Towson head coach Rob Ambrose: "Congratulations to Coach Gattuso and his football team.  They played harder and made less mistakes than we did. Credit to them, they are very well-coached and a well-motivated team. This parity is what our league is all about and we are going to have play better moving forward."
 
How it Happened:

• UAlbany, though starting from its own 12, went down the field in six plays, including 30+ yard passes to each Juwan Green and Jerah Reeves.  Karl Mofor finished the drive with a seven-yard run for the touchdown, giving UAlbany a 7-0 advantage just under three minutes in.
• Towson looked to drive down and got a good start off a 15-yard carry down the left by Yeedee Thaenrat, but the Tigers were stopped on a third and three near midfield.  Towson punted to UAlbany, putting the Great Danes inside their own 20.  The Towson defense sacked Jeff Undercuffler, by Jesus Gibbs, to force the Great Danes back to the UAlbany 8.  Two plays later, Malik Tyne knocked the ball out of the QB's hand, recovered by John Lambert on the UAlbany 3.  After a penalty by UAlbany, Thaenrat punched it in for two yards and the touchdown, tying the score 7-7 with 6:56 left in the 1^st.
• Despite a couple of early runs for a first down by Alex James, the Towson defense held its opponent in its own territory to force a punt.  Towson, starting from its own 14, found Shane Leatherbury for a 17-yard gain and a third-down conversion.  An end-around to Caleb Smith put Towson inside UAlbany territory, but the drive stalled.  UAlbany took over on a touchback just after the start of the second quarter.
• Again UAlbany looked to the passing game and had a couple of big plays to go quickly down the field.  The first play saw Reeves for 37 yards on a reception, then three plays later, Donovan McDonald caught the ball and ran into the end zone for 36 yards on the play.  UAlbany led 14-7 with 11:58 left in the 2^nd.
• Towson looked to respond, beginning with Tom Flacco firing to Smith for 24 yards into UAlbany territory.  Despite a Thaenrat seven-yard run to begin the next set of downs, Towson was stopped.  Shane McDonough punted with the ball being downed on the UAlbany 4-yard line.
• The Towson defense came up with another big play: on 3^rd and one, a botched snap was recovered by Christian Dixon on the UAlbany 9.  Towson took care of the short field with a Flacco run and a pass to Ryan Rutkowski in the back of the end zone to tie the game again at 14-14 with 8:05 left in the half.
• Following a big return from McDonald, UAlbany continued its air attack, getting down to the Towson 3 with a new set of downs.  Mofor ran for two yards, then the Towson defense stuffed the Great Dane runner twice in a row, first by Robert Heyward and next by Bryce Lauer to prevent the touchdown.  UAlbany kicked the 19-yard field goal to go up 17-14 with 2:05 left in the half.  Neither side scored the reminder of the quarter as Towson trailed 17-14 at the break.
• Into the second half, Towson went three and out and punted back to UAlbany with a return inside Towson territory.  A couple of rushes brought Towson inside the red zone, then an Undercuffler pass to LJ Wesneski for 16 yards resulted in a touchdown.  UAlbany led 24-14 with 10:54 left in the 3^rd quarter.
• Towson got some big plays to return to UAlbany territory, including a Flacco 13-yard breakout run and an 18-yard rush by Thaenrat, but again the Tigers were stopped in enemy territory.  McDonough punted the ball, downing the rock on the UAlbany 7.
• UAlbany broke out inside the 10 with a third down pass to Green along the sideline for 15 yards, then a screen pass on another third down to Mofor to convert.  A deep pass complete to Green for 42 yards put UAlbany in the red zone, then two plays later, Mofor broke through the middle and scored on a 19-yard sprint.  UAlbany led 31-14 with 3:25 remaining in the third quarter.
• Faced with 3^rd and 19 early, Flacco found Leatherbury for 29 yards and extending a key drive.  Another 11-yard throw to Smith and a late hit penalty put Towson to the UAlbany 26.  On third down, Flacco fired a throw to Street, who dove, grabbed the ball and got a foot down in the corner of the end zone for the touchdown.  Towson trailed 31-21.
• Into the fourth quarter, a pass to Reaves for 37 yards got UAlbany into Towson's side of the field.  After the Great Danes got into the red zone and had fourth and one, Mofor rushed from shotgun, with Bryce Carter stopping him for a one-yard loss and ending the drive.  But, Towson went three-and-out on the next drive and was forced to punt.  UAlbany took over on its own 45.
• UAlbany attempted to run some clock out with a couple of Mofor runs, adding a Towson penalty.  On 4^th and six, the Towson defense forced an incompletion to get back possession with 7:38 remaining.
• Towson attempted to move quickly, with fast passes to Thaenrat and Street, then a rollout run by Flacco, sending Towson back into UAlbany territory.  Towson got as far as the UAlbany 24, but was pushed back on a false start, and a Flacco run for first down came up two yards short, giving the ball back to UAlbany on its own 22.  UAlbany ran down clock with the run, killing over five minutes.  Towson stopped UAlbany on fourth down with one minute left to take over on downs.
• On the first offensive play, UAlbany forced a fumble and returned it for a touchdown.  Towson tried a final drive with completions to Thaenrat but fell 38-21 to UAlbany.

Inside the Numbers:

• Tom Flacco is seventh all-time in Towson history with 36 career passing touchdowns, passing Grant Enders, who had 35 from 2011-12.  He also moved into seventh in Towson history in passing completions with 379.
• Four sacks by the Towson defense is a season game-high.
• Caleb Smith had a season-high 131 all-purpose yards, including 77 on kick returns, 46 on receiving and eight on rushing.
• Attendance for the game was 4,809.  Through three games, Towson is averaging over 7,500 fans a game at Johnny Unitas® Stadium.

Up Next:
Towson returns to Johnny Unitas® Stadium next weekend, hosting Bucknell for Homecoming on Saturday, Oct. 19^th at 4 p.m.
 
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