University of Albany Great Danes

[ANYCHawk]

OP has no clue there is a world outside the state of Iowa.

 

[kceasthawk]

I just looked up this highly competitive rivalry between Drake and Iowa in football. From a Fandom website I found the last time Iowa played Drake was 1985. That is 40 years ago so your statement is hazy at best.

Prior to that the game was in 1941. I didnt think Iowa played Drake very much in modern day history.

I would say there are several reasons for playing these lower level teams, 1) it is hard to find teams to schedule sometimes especially when another team drops it scheduled game agaisnt you 2) you want an easier team usually for that very first game as you want to start positive and get video of your issues and 3) it was good to play N Iowa for instance to keep the money in the state and help their program which also goes for N Illinois etc

I Just remembered that we played Drake back when Fry was coaching before they dropped all the way down to D3 I believe. Obviously they didn't have an interest in spending the $$ in playing at that level, in a small state with 2 P5 teams. I just find in funny that people rarely call out SEC teams for playing these games in Nov, so they get an easy win, and can rest starters who are dinged up if needed. One of the main reasons they stayed at 8 conference games instead of going to 9 like the B1G....

 

[kceasthawk]

I mean I could be wrong here but didn’t the university of Chicago used to be a power house back then? They don’t even have a football team anymore.

I believe they were an original charter member of the Big 10 conference and MSU was added in 1950 when U of Chicago gave up football....

 

[uihawk82]

I Just remembered that we played Drake back when Fry was coaching before they dropped all the way down to D3 I believe. Obviously they didn't have an interest in spending the $$ in playing at that level, in a small state with 2 P5 teams. I just find in funny that people rarely call out SEC teams for playing these games in Nov, so they get an easy win, and can rest starters who are dinged up if needed. One of the main reasons they stayed at 8 conference games instead of going to 9 like the B1G....

Oh I squawk about the SEC playing total cupcakes in mid-november all the time on this board and to friends when talking college sports. It is like Bama having an extra bye week before the last game of the season as you say so it is a competitive advantage

 

[KinnickCrawler]

Sorry to bump this, but does anyone have any insight as to why this change was made? We assumed that Maryland had poached FAU for their schedule but according to this Gazette article, not only did we reschedule the game, we paid a $450k penalty “in consideration of the visiting institution agreeing to change the date of the contest.” It seems absolutely bananas that we would pay FAU almost half a million dollars to dodge them before turning around and paying an FCS school to make the trip to Iowa City instead. The total amount we will be paying FAU for that game, $2.05 million, will be more than any school paid a team in a pay-to-play game this year and that doesn't account for the $500k we had to play Albany to fill the schedule slot. Absolutely Brutal.

 

[MeetTheFerentzes]

Sorry to bump this, but does anyone have any insight as to why this change was made? We assumed that Maryland had poached FAU for their schedule but according to this Gazette article, not only did we reschedule the game, we paid a $450k penalty “in consideration of the visiting institution agreeing to change the date of the contest.” It seems absolutely bananas that we would pay FAU almost half a million dollars to dodge them before turning around and paying an FCS school to make the trip to Iowa City instead. The total amount we will be paying FAU for that game, $2.05 million, will be more than any school paid a team in a pay-to-play game this year and that doesn't account for the $500k we had to play Albany to fill the schedule slot. Absolutely Brutal.

No insight, but my guess is that it’s not as bad as it looks on the surface. Iowa is in the position of power, not FAU. We don’t have a smooth brain running the athletic department anymore.

 

[herkhatescy2]

Oh Lord, have some self-respect Kirk

Opponent: University of Albany Great Danes
Date: Aug. 30, 2025
Location: Iowa City, Iowa

No different than Bama playing Mercer.

 

[herkhatescy2]

No insight, but my guess is that it’s not as bad as it looks on the surface. Iowa is in the position of power, not FAU. We don’t have a smooth brain running the athletic department anymore.

We have a smarter brain for sure.

 

[NevadaHawk]

Didn’t Iowa just beat a Dakota school a few years ago??

Yes, South Dakota State with Mark Gronowski starting at QB. I think they won FCS national championship that year and Iowa was there only loss.