ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- While Saturday's game in Morgantown, West Virginia didn't go the way the UAlbany football team had hoped, there were certainly some bright spots for the Great Danes, especially on offense.
Quarterback Myles Burkett, in just his second career collegiate start, and playing in one of the most difficult environments in the country, had what head coach Greg Gattuso described as a "coming-out party."
Burkett threw for 306 yards and a touchdown with no interceptions. After three straight empty possessions to start the game, UAlbany reached the red zone on three of its next four drives; finding the end zone twice.
The sophomore quarterback said a switch just flipped for him in that second quarter.
"It really just was a comfort thing," said Burkett. "As soon as I started really understanding and grasping what Coach [Jared] Ambrose was trying to get me to do in the game, executing the game plan and not trying to be a hero; when I just started going out there and executing my job, the ball started moving. You know, it's a weird coincidence. You do your job, and good things happen."
The intangibles Burkett possesses that won him the starting job out of training camp really shined through as the offensive production picked up.
"He and I had a little discussion in between those drives, and I told him to stop trying to make an impact on the game; just play your game, and it'll come," said Ambrose, UAlbany's associate head coach/offensive coordinator. "He's got a great knack for throwing the ball with anticipation and accuracy. When he sees there's gonna be a hole in the defense, he's got good timing to get it there. And our players catching the ball - those guys understand the scheme, and they're gettin' to the right spots."
The depth and explosiveness of the receiving core was on display Saturday as well. Six different players hauled in catches of at least 20 yards.
The Great Danes have started to show they have the pieces to be a dynamic offense. Now, it's just about developing that consistency, as they prepare for another tough road test this Saturday at Idaho.
"[We] showed spurts last week, but never a consistent withstanding of drives," said Burkett. "You gotta be able to stack drives; to beat good teams, you gotta be able to score a lot of points. We lean on our defense at times to make a big play. But at the end of the day, if we need a big play, we need to make that big play. We had opportunities to do that last week, and we didn't. That's something we can't have this week. We gotta go out there, execute, limit the amount of mistakes early and go in there and try to beat their butt."
