2019 Albany Great Danes football team

The 2019 Albany Great Danes football team represented the University at Albany, SUNY in the 2019 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by Greg Gattuso, in his sixth season as head coach, and played their home games at Bob Ford Field. The Great Danes played as members of the Colonial Athletic Association for the sixth season. They finished the season 9–5, 6–2 in CAA play to finish in second place. They received an at-large bid to the FCS Playoffs where they defeated Central Connecticut in the first round before losing in the second round to Montana State.

2019 Albany Great Danes football
FCS Playoffs Second Round, L 21–47 vs. Montana State
Conference	Colonial Athletic Association
Ranking
STATS	No. 18
FCS Coaches	No. 20
2019 record	9–5 (6–2 CAA)
Head coach	Greg Gattuso (6th season)
Home stadium	Bob Ford Field (Capacity: 8,500)

2019 Colonial Athletic Association football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 2 James Madison $^		8	–	0					14	–	2
No. 18 Albany ^		6	–	2					9	–	5
No. 15 Villanova ^		5	–	3					9	–	4
New Hampshire		5	–	3					6	–	5
Towson		4	–	4					7	–	5
Maine		4	–	4					6	–	6
Elon		4	–	4					5	–	6
Richmond		4	–	4					5	–	7
Delaware		3	–	5					5	–	7
William & Mary		3	–	5					5	–	7
Stony Brook		2	–	6					5	–	7
Rhode Island		0	–	8					2	–	10
$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

Previous season

The Great Danes finished the 2018 season 3–8, 1–7 in CAA play to finish in last place.

Preseason

CAA poll

In the CAA preseason poll released on July 23, 2019, the Great Danes were predicted to finish in twelfth place.[1]

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	James Madison	238 (20)
2	Towson	217 (3)
3	Maine	201 (1)
4	Elon	164
5	Delaware	162
6	Stony Brook	151
7	New Hampshire	109
8	Rhode Island	104
9	Villanova	84
10	Richmond	62
11	William & Mary	58
12	Albany	34

Preseason All–CAA team

The Great Danes did not have any players selected to the preseason all-CAA team.[1]

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 29	7:00 p.m.	at Central Michigan*		Kelly/Shorts Stadium Mount Pleasant, MI	ESPN3	L 21–38	12,207
September 7	7:00 p.m.	Bryant*		Bob Ford Field Albany, NY	FloSports	W 45–3	5,014
September 14	1:00 p.m.	at Monmouth*		Kessler Field West Long Branch, NJ	ESPN+	L 35–38	2,329
September 21	3:30 p.m.	Lafayette*		Bob Ford Field Albany, NY	FloSports	W 36–7	3,241
September 28	3:30 p.m.	William & Mary		Bob Ford Field Albany, NY	FloSports	W 39–31	3,329
October 5	2:00 p.m.	at Richmond		E. Claiborne Robins Stadium Richmond, VA	FloSports	L 20–23	8.061
October 12	4:00 p.m.	at No. 9 Towson		Johnny Unitas Stadium Towson, MD	FloSports	W 38–21	4,809
October 19	3:30 p.m.	Rhode Island		Bob Ford Field Albany, NY	FloSports	W 35–28	7,763
November 2	3:30 p.m.	Maine		Bob Ford Field Albany, NY	FloSports	L 31–47	3,315
November 9	1:00 p.m.	at Delaware		Delaware Stadium Newark, DE	FloSports	W 21–17	13,472
November 16	1:00 p.m.	New Hampshire		Bob Ford Field Albany, NY	FloSports	W 24–17	2,486
November 23	2:00 p.m.	at Stony Brook		Kenneth P. Lavalle Stadium Stony Brook, NY	FloSports	W 31–26	6,171
November 30	1:00 p.m.	No. 17 Central Connecticut*	No. 25	Bob Ford Field Albany, NY (FCS Playoffs First Round)	ESPN3	W 42–14	1,660
December 7	3:00 p.m.	at No. 5 Montana State*	No. 25	Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT (FCS Playoffs Second Round)	ESPN3	L 21–47	12,947
*Non-conference game Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

• Source:[2][3]

Game summaries

at Central Michigan

	1	2	3	4	Total
Great Danes	0	7	7	7	21
Chippewas	7	17	7	7	38

Bryant

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bulldogs	0	0	0	3	3
Great Danes	7	21	7	10	45

at Monmouth

	1	2	3	4	OT	Total
Great Danes	0	14	7	14	0	35
Hawks	7	14	7	7	3	38

Lafayette

	1	2	3	4	Total
Leopards	0	0	0	7	7
Great Danes	12	10	0	14	36

William & Mary

	1	2	3	4	Total
Tribe	14	3	7	7	31
Great Danes	3	9	10	17	39

at Richmond

	1	2	3	4	Total
Great Danes	7	6	0	7	20
Spiders	10	13	0	0	23

at Towson

	1	2	3	4	Total
Great Danes	7	10	14	7	38
No. 9 Tigers	7	7	7	0	21

Rhode Island

	1	2	3	4	Total
Rams	7	7	7	7	28
Great Danes	0	6	22	7	35

Maine

	1	2	3	4	Total
Black Bears	10	14	23	0	47
Great Danes	7	14	3	7	31

at Delaware

	1	2	3	4	Total
Great Danes	7	7	0	7	21
Fightin' Blue Hens	0	17	0	0	17

New Hampshire

	1	2	3	4	Total
Wildcats	7	7	0	3	17
Great Danes	7	10	0	7	24

at Stony Brook

	1	2	3	4	Total
Great Danes	21	3	0	7	31
Seawolves	0	14	0	12	26

FCS Playoffs

The Great Danes were selected for the postseason tournament, with a first-round pairing against Central Connecticut.[4]

Central Connecticut–First Round

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 17 Blue Devils	7	0	0	7	14
No. 25 Great Danes	0	7	28	7	42

at Montana State–Second Round

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 25 Great Danes	7	0	0	14	21
No. 5 Bobcats	16	10	14	7	47

References

1. Washburn, Rob (July 23, 2019). "James Madison Picked to Capture CAA Football Championship in 2019". Colonial Athletic Association. Retrieved July 23, 2019.
2. "2019 UAlbany Football Schedule". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved May 17, 2019.
3. "Football - Schedule - UAlbanySports.com—Official Web site of University at Albany Athletics". www.ualbanysports.com. Retrieved May 17, 2019.
4. "FCS bracket revealed for 2019 Division I football championship". ncaa.com. November 24, 2019. Retrieved November 24, 2019.