FCS playoffs: What to know about the Albany Great Danes

Dec. 11—BROOKINGS — For the second time in three weeks, South Dakota State is facing a team having the best season in program history.

While fans and Jackrabbit players looked forward to a potential reunion with former SDSU assistant Jason Eck and his Idaho Vandals in the semifinals, it's the Albany Great Danes who will be making the trip to Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium on Friday.

This year's Coastal Athletic Association champions, the Great Danes are making their first appearance in the FCS semifinals and just their third-ever trip to the playoffs.

Now in their 10th season under coach Greg Gattuso, UAlbany, as the school brands itself, has an enrollment of 16,000 in the New York State capital city, and has been a member of the FCS since 1999. Aside from a brief three-year stint in the 1920s, UAlbany football dates back to 1970, and Gattuso is just the second coach in program history. The Great Danes operated under Bob Ford, the namesake of their stadium, from 1970-2013, reaching the FCS playoffs in 2011 under Ford and again under Gattuso in 2019.

While this year's success is new territory for them, it's not a fluke. Two of UAlbany's three losses came to FBS foes: 21-17 at Marshall and 31-20 at Hawaii. They walloped Villanova 31-10, opened the playoffs with a 41-13 rout of Richmond, and lost just once against FCS opponents this year — a 38-31 barnbuner at New Hampshire.

"I know we're the new guys on the block," Gattuso said. "But hopefully this is the start of what we've all dreamed of at UAlbany."

Making this year's success all the more impressive is how far the Danes climbed to get there. They were 3-8 last year and 2-9 the year before that. But it all came together this year under the 61-year-old Gattuso, who went 97-32 with eight conference titles in 12 years as the coach of Duquesne before coming to UAlbany.

The Great Danes have ridden a defense that limits opponents to 17 points per game while being especially stingy against the run, allowing 78 yards per game on the ground. Those stats are at least partially aided by a pass rush that's recorded a whopping 50 sacks to go with 17 interceptions. Anton Juncaj has 15 sacks and AJ Simon has 12.5. Dylan Kelly has a whopping 155 tackles to go with three sacks and two interceptions, while Ori Jean-Charles has 112 tackles and five sacks. Amir Hall has five interceptions.

On offense, the Great Danes have rallied behind sophomore quarterback Reese Poffenbarger. He's thrown for 3,371 yards and 36 touchdown passes, developing a dangerous connection with receiver Brevin Easton, who has 53 catches for over 1,000 yards and 13 touchdowns. He caught nine balls for over 200 yards in last week's win over Idaho. They have a solid running game, too, with Griffin Woodell rushing for 888 yards and Faysal Aden 453. Poffenbarger has five rushing touchdowns as well.

Besides going into the home environment of a reigning national champion that has won 27 games in a row, what might most be working against the Great Danes is fatigue. Their game at Idaho didn't start until six hours after SDSU's quarterfinal ended, and it didn't end until almost 2 a.m. on Saturday night/Sunday morning, after which they had to fly back to New York. Now they have to play the early semifinal on Friday, meaning they'll be back in the air to fly to South Dakota on Thursday.

"We'll make it work," Gattuso said. "We were laughing today at our meeting — we just take it as it comes. It's our 9th away game. We're used to the drill. The kids don't let it bother them."

ALBANY (11-3) AT SOUTH DAKOTA STATE (13-0)

WHEN/WHERE: 6 p.m. Friday at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium

TV: ESPN2

RADIO: WNAX-AM 570; Jackrabbit radio affiliates

RECORD LAST YEAR: SDSU 14-1 (FCS champions); UA 3-8

SERIES: First meeting

LAST WEEK: Albany beat Idaho 30-22; SDSU beat Villanova 23-12

RANKINGS: SDSU is ranked No. 1 in FCS, Albany is the No. 5 seed in the playoffs

COACHES: SDSU — Jimmy Rogers (1st year); UA — Greg Gattuso (10th year, 50-60)