Iowa Hawkeyes 2025 Opponent Preview: Albany Great Danes

Iowa football begins its 2025 season in less than 50 days.

The Hawkeyes will look to build on their 8-5 campaign in 2024, which was the first year of the 18-team Big Ten.

Each day, Hawkeyes on SI will preview one of Iowa’s opponents on this year’s schedule. Starting off, we will look at Albany.

Here’s what to know about the Great Danes:

2024 recap

After a season-opening win against Long Island University, the Great Danes’ season spiraled in the wrong direction.

Albany lost its next three games — against West Virginia, Idaho and Maine — before winning back-to-back games against Cornell and Bryant to get back to .500.

The Great Danes then lost their next five games, losing four of them by double digits. They ended their season on a high note, beating Hampton 41-34.

Albany ended the year 4-8 overall and went 2-6 in Coastal Athletic Association games.

Key returners

QB Van Weber (So.), RB Jojo Uga (So.), WR Caden Burti (Jr.), LB Ron Holmes (Sr.), DB Nick Totten (Jr.), DB Denzel Patrick (Sr.).

Notable transfer additions

DB Khian’Dre Harris (Old Dominion), WR Kylen Austin (Liberty), OL Daniel Ogundipe (Florida International), QB Jack Shields (Buffalo).

Strengths

Both offensively and defensively, the Great Danes were toward the bottom of the CAA.

But their pass defense wasn’t horrendous. Albany finished third in the conference in pass defense, giving up 192.5 yards per game. 

READ MORE IOWA HAWKEYES

• Iowa Hawkeyes Explain How They'll Move On From Kaleb Johnson In 2025
• Iowa Hawkeyes QB Ranked Among Best in Big Ten
• Iowa's Cade Obermueller Projected To Move Quickly In Philadelphia Phillies' System

Patrick established himself as a quality defensive back, finishing the year with 33 solo tackles and three pass deflections. Totten logged an interception, which he returned for a touchdown in the win against Hampton.

While Totten’s pick six was monumental in Albany’s close win, the Great Danes need to get better at forcing takeaways — they intercepted just four passes in 2024.

Weaknesses

Perhaps the reason the Great Danes’ pass defense seemed fairly competent is because their opponents ran the ball so often.

Albany allowed opponents to run for 161 yards per game. The inconsistent results in stopping the run were a major factor in the Great Danes finishing 11th out of the CAA’s 16 members in scoring defense (28.3 points allowed per game).

Offensively, Albany never found an identity either.

The Great Danes finished second to last in the CAA in scoring offense, logging just 19.6 points per game. They particularly struggled on the ground and averaged only 108 rushing yards per game.

How do the Great Danes match up with the Hawkeyes?

To be succinct, they really don’t.

It’s hard for any FCS teams to compete with FBS squads, given the natural disparities in budgets, talent and pure size. And Albany isn’t just an FCS squad — it’s a bad FCS squad.

Even though there are plenty of questions surrounding the Hawkeyes entering 2025, there isn’t much on the Great Danes’ roster that suggests they’ll be able to keep the game close for longer than 15 minutes.

More than anything, this game should reveal any internal kinks for the Hawkeyes before they battle Iowa State the next week.