UAlbany football will be the five seed in the NCAA FCS Playoffs this year. The Great Danes are making just its third postseason appearance in program history after winning a share of its first Coastal Athletic Association championship on Saturday.
UAlbany defeated Monmouth 41-0 on Senior Day at Casey Stadium to secure a piece of the conference title.
“As coaches, none of us do this for money,” UAlbany head coach Greg Gattuso said. “None of us do it for anything other than we love to compete, and to be with a couple of kids like this is special.”
Sophomore quarterback Reese Poffenbarger threw four passing touchdowns on the afternoon, with three of them going to graduate wide receiver Julian Hicks. Senior linebacker Dylan Kelly had 11 tackles in the game, and it was enough to become the school’s single-season tackler leader.
“It means a lot,” Kelly said. “This team has gone through a lot the past two years, and just the work ethic that we’ve had throughout camp to spring ball, I just knew from the jump that this is a special team.”
The Great Danes will receive a first-round bye and face the winner of NC Central and Richmond. UAlbany will host this second-round matchup on Dec. 2 at noon at Casey Stadium. Richmond also won a share of the CAA championship on Saturday along with Villanova. The Spiders and the Great Danes did not play each other this season, but UAlbany did defeat the Wildcats 31-10.
“We’re ready to play anybody when you have a defense like the one that we have, and playmakers and an offense that can score like we do,” Poffenbarger said.
The Great Danes posted a 9-3 record in the regular season. It’s only FCS loss was to New Hampshire. UAlbany fell at FBS Marshall and Hawaii. The Great Danes enter the playoffs with the best rush defense in the country.
UAlbany last made the NCAA FCS Playoffs in 2019, but lost in the second round. Their only appearance in the FCS Playoffs prior to that was in 2011 under longtime coach Bob Ford.
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