Football Tops Cornell for First Win of 2025

By Sofia Lamdichi | September 22, 2025

Jojo Uga (#0) recorded 126 rushing yards and a touchdown Saturday night.

Photo Credit: Liam Martin | The ASP

On Saturday (9/20) the University at Albany Football team had their first win of the season against the Cornell Big Red 13-10.

The game maintained a slow pace in the first half with both offenses struggling to break through. The only scoring of the first half was a pair of UAlbany field goals courtesy of James Bozek.

The second half proved to be more of the same of the first half initially, with the Big Red providing the only scoring of the third quarter via a field goal. The UAlbany defense set the team up for success stopping Cornell from getting into the box at least three times. 

This led the offense to be able to score a touchdown. With just over 6 minutes remaining in the 4th quarter, sophomore Jojo Uga broke several Big Red tackles on his way to a 43 yard touchdown run. When asked how it felt to get through the line of Cornell’s defense and score a touchdown, he said, 

“Good, and it’s been a couple weeks since [he] was able to get into the box”. 

The Big Red would answer with a touchdown on the ensuing possession to make the score 13-10, and after a failed possession, the Great Dane defense would need to make a stop.

 UAlbany defensive back Jayden Estes would come up with an interception that came in clutch for UAlbany and added to the fire that was needed to secure the win. When asked about what is to be attributed to his ability to secure the game winning interception  for the Great Danes, Estes said, 

“In practice we were--getting a lot of reps in and trusting what the coaches were coaching us to do throughout the week, and made the play. I was reading the receivers and reading the quarterback, and when he [quarterback] threw it, [I] made the play.”

Alongside the players, Coach Jared Ambrose was overjoyed for the Great Danes to have their first win of the season. Consistently calling it “a players game,” goes to show how much he believes in the men on the field and their ability to execute what the coaching staff is training them to execute on game day. 

When asked how it felt to secure the first win, Ambrose responded by saying, "Lot of feelings.---Having them [Great Dane] be able to reach an outcome of this based upon the last two weeks and how hard we’ve had to work and how much we felt we deserve to win, not finish games. Teams have to learn to win before they start doing it regularly. Hopefully this is a sign of that. So, personally, it feels great.”

Their next game will be Saturday, September 27th at New Hampshire with kickoff scheduled for 1PM, The Great Danes return home on October 4th, when they take on the Stony Brook Seawolves.