UAlbany Football Getting Much More Respect In The FCS

Albany's potential for upset no longer a secret. Delaware expects big challenge in rematch with team that stunned Blue Hens at home in 2006.

Albany football coach Bob Ford posed a question during his pregame chat with New Hampshire counterpart Sean McDonnell last week.

He was peeking ahead to this weekend's visit to Delaware, where in 2006 Ford's Great Danes stunned the Blue Hens -- and all of NCAA Division I-AA football -- with a 17-10 win.

"I said to Sean McDonnell, 'You think we can slip into town this year?'" said Ford, the only coach Albany has had in its 36 years of varsity football.

"He said, 'There'll be absolutely no way.' "

The element of surprise may not be in the Albany arsenal, but the Great Danes still come to Delaware Stadium apparently well equipped.

Albany (1-2) has beaten Delaware's Colonial Athletic Association rival Hofstra in overtime in Hempstead and given nationally ranked Massachusetts and New Hampshire all they can handle before falling 28-16 in Amherst and 32-24 in Durham.

Ford brings a team armed with just 26 scholarships spread among 50 players to tangle with the Blue Hens, who award the I-AA maximum 63 scholarships and last year were NCAA runners-up.

"They're going to grind and play hard," McDonnell said. "You watch what they've done the last couple years with teams in our conference and especially this year, battling at Mass and with Hofstra. I was very happy to get out of there with a win."

No. 17-ranked Delaware (1-2), struggling itself to open 2008, would likely feel the same way after Saturday's 6 p.m. showdown. It's the Blue Hens' final nonconference game before they commence CAA play next Saturday with a treacherous assignment at UMass.

UD coach K.C. Keeler expects nothing short of a major challenge.

"I think they have to feel pretty good about who they are and where they're going and the fact they're coming here," Keeler said.

"The other thing that rings so true in my memory of playing Albany is that when they beat us here in 2006, they called it the greatest single win in the history of their program. And the man who said that should know, because he's the only head coach they've ever had."

Keeler, who coached against Ford when he was at Division III Rowan before coming to Delaware, said the Great Danes have benefitted immensely from Ford's leadership. It also doesn't hurt that the New York Giants have made Albany their preseason base, leading to facility improvements.

"New York is a pretty good base for [high school] football, and they get a lot of kids who come there on partials or financial aid," Keeler said, "so it gives them a lot of depth."

Albany is a member of the Northeast Conference, which limits teams to 30 scholarships. The NEC champion will earn an automatic berth to the I-AA playoffs when the conference expands from 16 to 20 teams in 2010. Albany has won or shared three of the last six NEC titles. Five of its last six losses are to CAA, Big Sky or Patriot League opposition.

As a measure of its continued success, Albany has won at least seven games in nine of the last 12 seasons. The 2006 victory over Delaware, Ford said, "elevated our reputation tremendously."

But, he pointed it out, "it means absolutely nothing going into this ballgame."

By KEVIN TRESOLINI