UAlbany Beats Rhode Island 38-21 as Rahshan La Mons Runs for 196 Yards and Three TDs

A year ago, Rhode Island beat UAlbany 58-7. On Saturday in Pawtucket, the Great Danes got their answer, and they delivered it the old-fashioned way: by running straight through a team that had not lost at home in nearly three seasons.

UAlbany beat Rhode Island 38-21 at Centreville Bank Stadium on Oct. 24, snapping the Rams' long home winning streak. UAlbany and GoLocalProv put that streak at 17 games, while Rhode Island's own recap called it 16. Either way, it is over. Junior running back Rahshan La Mons ran for a career-high 196 yards and three touchdowns, senior linebacker Jamari Young piled up three sacks, and UAlbany never trailed.

The Great Danes improved to 5-3 and 3-1 in the CAA, their third straight win. Rhode Island fell to 4-4 and 1-3 in league play, one week after a statement win at Yale.

A clean start and a quiet first half

UAlbany set the tone on the opening possession, going 78 yards in 10 plays. La Mons finished it with a 5-yard touchdown run, and with 10:01 left in the first quarter the visitors were up 7-0.

From there, the first half turned into a grinder. UAlbany defensive back Drew Buckley picked off an Alex McClelland pass in the first quarter to end a Rhode Island threat, and UAlbany kicker Brayden Heitmeyer missed a 38-yard field goal that could have stretched the early lead.

The second score did not come until the very end of the half. UAlbany went 89 yards in 11 plays, and quarterback Kai Colón hit BJ Norman for a 29-yard touchdown with eight seconds left before the break. That made it 14-0, and the halftime numbers told the story: UAlbany had outgained Rhode Island 231 yards to 104 and controlled the clock.

Then the second half turned into a video game

That is how Rhode Island's own recap described it. The teams scored touchdowns on the first five possessions after halftime.

The Rams came out swinging. They opened the third quarter with a 12-play, 75-yard drive, and Terrance Campbell plunged in from a yard out with 8:46 left in the quarter to make it 14-7.

The momentum lasted one possession. UAlbany faced a fourth-and-1, kept the offense on the field, and La Mons ripped off a 36-yard touchdown run to make it 21-7 with 5:26 left in the third. That was a coaching staff betting on its back, and the back paid it off.

Rhode Island answered again. The Rams put together a 15-play, 75-yard drive, and on the final snap of the third quarter, McClelland found Sean Byrd for a 20-yard touchdown. Heading into the fourth, it was 21-14 and anybody's game.

The turning point

It took UAlbany one play to change that. On the first snap of its opening drive of the fourth quarter, La Mons broke loose for a 65-yard touchdown run, and with 13:17 left the Great Danes were back up 28-14.

Rhode Island did not go away. The Rams responded with a six-play, 65-yard drive, and McClelland scored on a 1-yard quarterback sneak to make it 28-21 with 10:48 to go.

What finally broke Rhode Island was a drive it thought it had stopped. The Rams appeared to get off the field on third-and-7, but a pass interference flag kept UAlbany's possession alive. The Great Danes ground out an 11-play, 60-yard drive, and Heitmeyer made up for the earlier miss with a 33-yard field goal that made it 31-21 with 4:12 left.

Needing a score, Rhode Island turned it over on downs. UAlbany's pass rush got home twice on that series, and Joey Koch added a 7-yard touchdown run with 1:54 remaining to make the final 38-21.

Rahshan La Mons ran the show

La Mons carried 24 times for 196 yards, an average of 8.2 yards per carry, and added 13 receiving yards for 209 all-purpose yards. All three touchdowns came at moments that mattered: the opener, the fourth-down answer in the third quarter and the 65-yard backbreaker to start the fourth.

The CAA named La Mons its Offensive Player of the Week. It is not the first league honor of the season for the Smyrna, Del., native, who was the CAA's Special Teams Player of the Week after a win over Delaware State in early October. Through eight games, La Mons has 689 rushing yards and eight touchdowns.

Colón was sharp around all of it, completing 15 of 20 passes for 177 yards and the Norman touchdown, and running for 25 more yards. Tavahri Groves led UAlbany with four catches for 56 yards, and Norman had three for 57.

Jamari Young lived in the backfield

The other half of UAlbany's weekly awards haul came on defense. Young, a senior from Temple Hills, Md., was named CAA Defensive Player of the Week after posting six tackles, four of them solo, along with 4.0 tackles for loss, 3.0 sacks for 22 yards and two pass breakups. The three sacks were a career high.

That pressure is a big reason Rhode Island finished with just 150 rushing yards and averaged 5.0 yards per play. Dillon Dunathan led UAlbany with eight tackles, and Buckley added five tackles to go with the interception.

For Rhode Island, McClelland did a little bit of everything. A week after being named the CAA Offensive Player of the Week for the Yale win, McClelland threw for 185 yards with a touchdown and an interception and led the Rams on the ground with 51 yards and a score on 17 carries. Marquise Buchanan caught six passes for 87 yards. Defensive back Chaas McCoy led the Rams with seven tackles, and linebackers Rohan Davy and Gage Hinkley had six apiece.

The stats that matter

Start with the run game. UAlbany ran for 265 yards at 6.5 yards per carry and finished with 450 total yards. When one team averages that much on the ground, the other team's defense is always a step behind.

Third down was a wash: UAlbany converted 9 of 13 and Rhode Island converted 8 of 12. The difference was everything else, and that was mostly La Mons running away from people. The full numbers are in the official box score (opens in a new tab).

What it means

For UAlbany, this is the best stretch of the season. The Great Danes opened with a 2-3 record that included losses to Buffalo, Monmouth and Princeton. Since then, they have beaten Delaware State, reclaimed the Golden Apple with a 48-31 win at Stony Brook and now won in Pawtucket. The Great Danes were ranked No. 25 after this one, and next on the schedule was a Halloween home game against No. 15 Campbell at Casey Stadium, a matchup that suddenly mattered a great deal in the CAA race. After that come a trip to Bryant, Senior Day against Maine and a finale at North Carolina A&T. UAlbany's recap is here (opens in a new tab).

For Rhode Island, the timing hurts. The Rams had just won the Governor's Cup over Brown and gone into New Haven to beat Yale 41-23. A home loss to a conference rival drops them to 1-3 in the CAA and puts real pressure on the last month. Next on the schedule was a Halloween home game against Maine, followed by a trip to New Hampshire, a home game against Towson and a finale at Bryant. Rhode Island's recap is here (opens in a new tab).

The last word

Every time Rhode Island crept back within a score, UAlbany had an answer, and almost every time, the answer was La Mons. A year after a 51-point loss to this same program, that is a long way to come. And with a ranked Campbell team coming to Albany next, the Great Danes have earned the right to believe the climb is not finished.

Sources: UAlbany Athletics recap and CAA weekly honors release, Rhode Island Athletics recap and schedule, and GoLocalProv. More college football coverage on Undrafted.

Photos: UAlbany Athletics.