UAlbany football ranked in STATS FCS Preseason Poll
ALBANY — The UAlbany Great Danes football team received the twenty-fourth selection in the STATS FCS Top 25 Preseason Poll released on Wednesday.
The Danes were among five Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) teams to make the poll. James Madison, last year’s FCS champion, was ranked No.1 with Richmond (No. 7), Villanova (No. 10) and New Hampshire (No. 13) not far behind the Dukes.
UAlbany, which opens its season Sept. 2 on the road against FBS opponent Old Dominion, finished last year with a 7-4 overall record and 4-4 mark in the CAA.
In 2016, the Great Danes were ranked for a program-record six straight weeks at the start of the season and reached the No. 16 slot after opening with four straight wins.
Here is the full preseason poll:
| 1. | James Madison | 4,034 (134 first place) |
| 2. | North Dakota State | 3,874 (19) |
| 3. | Sam Houston State | 3,610 |
| 4. | South Dakota State | 3,385 |
| 5. | Eastern Washington | 3,270 |
| 6. | Jacksonville State | 3,081 (1) |
| 7. | Richmond | 3,041 |
| 8. | North Dakota | 2,871 |
| 9. | Youngstown State | 2,658 |
| 10. | Villanova | 2,628 |
| 11. | Wofford | 2,543 |
| 12. | Chattanooga | 1,995 |
| 13. | New Hampshire | 1,741 |
| 14. | Charleston Southern | 1,710 |
| 15. | Central Arkansas | 1,685 |
| 16. | Citadel | 1,545 |
| 17. | Lehigh | 1,369 |
| 18. | UNI | 924 |
| 19. | Samford | 893 |
| 20. | Illinois State | 876 |
| 21. | Grambling State | 692 |
| 22. | Fordham | 604 |
| 23. | Cal Poly | 427 |
| 24. | UAlbany | 418 |
| 25. | Western Illinois | 367 |
Others: North Carolina Central (326) , Weber State (322) , Northern Arizona (307) , McNeese (261) , San Diego (250) , Montana (215) , North Carolina A&T (198) , Kennesaw State (154) , Liberty (134) , Tennessee State (102) , UT Martin (90) , South Dakota (87) , Harvard (36) , Saint Francis U (31) , Delaware (27) , Princeton (23) , South Carolina State (22) , Nicholls (21) , Southeastern Louisiana (20) , Southern Utah (17) , Penn (14) , Duquesne (14) , Stony Brook (13) , Maine (11) , Montana State (6) , Mercer (6) , Southern Illinois (5) , Alcorn State (4) , William & Mary (4) , Eastern Illinois (3) , ETSU (3) , Wagner (3) , Eastern Kentucky (2) , Indiana State (1) , Bethune-Cookman (1) , Dayton (1)
Pete Iorizzo contributed to this story