Saturday’s Battle for the Golden Apple between No. 17 Stony Brook and UAlbany says a lot about how much changes in a college football offseason.
A year ago, the Seawolves and Great Danes had programs moving in opposite directions. When SBU lost the 2023 Apple to UAlbany, the Seawolves fell to 0-10 to close the year. Meanwhile, UA was another step closer in what wound up being a run to the FCS semifinals.
Stony Brook’s winless campaign was so hapless in comparison, as the losses often weren’t close, either: The Seawolves finished last in the CAA in scoring offense (15.2 PPG) and brought up the rear in scoring defense (39.2).
Simply getting blown out of the water in that margin, SBU dismissed Chuck Priore as head coach after 18 seasons. Stony Brook had been in the FCS playoffs in two-year spurts of 2011-12 and 2017-18, but the team wasn’t the same from 2019 on.
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This fall, new head coach Billy Cosh has made Stony Brook a roaring (back) success. The 32-year-old Cosh came to SBU armed with experience coordinating offenses at VMI and Richmond. Cosh left his offensive coordinator spot at FBS Western Michigan to take his first head coaching position with the Seawolves in need of juice.
Now, Stony Brook is 7-2 overall with one loss to the FCS (to now-No. 12 Villanova in a game that SBU led 17-14 at halftime and 24-14 midway through the third).
Stony Brook’s path to the playoffs, nonexistent in October last year, now runs through rival UAlbany this week and encounters New Hampshire and Monmouth in games to follow.
“We’re just about the process,” Cosh said in the week leading up to Stony Brook’s 31-30 overtime win at Bryant. “We’re really process-centric. I think this team’s got more maturity than I expected. They understand that it takes Sunday through Friday to Saturday kickoff to get where you need to get to. These guys love practice. They love competing at practice.”
Stony Brook has an offense back to life, one that has seen multiple contributors steer the way throughout the season. At quarterback, freshman Malachi Marshall was the top passer through September, and in SBU’s three-game winning streak including victories over Towson and William & Mary, it’s been Tyler Knoop, the graduate student and Georgetown transfer.
Marshall and Knoop both enjoy the stellar play of running back Roland Dempster, who has eclipsed the century mark in rushing in six straight games. Dempster’s 16 touchdowns on the ground are second in the CAA and his 117.1 rushing YPG are first by a double-digit margin.
UAlbany has historically had a bruising running game of its own, though last season, it was QB Reese Poffenbarger in a starring role as the Danes benefited from his 252.7 yards of offense per game.
Poffenbarger is at Miami these days and UAlbany has regressed amid its roster turnover from last year’s playoff team. The Great Danes, who were once the superior Empire Clash team decisively, head into Saturday’s meeting with Stony Brook as the trailing team in the standings with less to play for.
UAlbany (3-6 overall) has understandable losses at West Virginia and at Idaho, but conference play has been disappointing (just 1-4 with the lone win at Bryant by a touchdown).
For all the setbacks that the Great Danes are enduring in contrast to the progress and heights reached in 2023, the Battle for the Golden Apple does represent a major, likely the best, chance at consolation this November. Although the UAlbany-SBU game should be played during season-ending rivalry week, it actually works out for the Great Danes that there is a sooner opportunity to snap their three-game funk in upset rivalry fashion.
To avoid that outcome, Stony Brook will have to maintain the maturity referenced by Cosh – the Seawolves shouldn’t be annointed yet, especially in a 12-game regular season and given that SBU won’t see auto-bid contenders Richmond or Rhode Island head-to-head before Selection Sunday.
Having made that disclaimer, Stony Brook can still feel good about flipping the script on UAlbany in their rivalry – all that’s left is doing it on the field after a transformative offseason.
