Iowa football planning for first game with little knowledge on Albany

IOWA CITY — Usually in Week 1, players and coaches don’t know too much about their opponent. That’s OK, though.

In the modern age of college football, the transfer portal often reshapes a roster almost every six months. There’s always at least one or two big changes, but in Iowa football’s case, it’s a whole bunch of changes.

The Hawkeyes host Albany in their home opener, now just four days away. It’s the first time these two programs have ever met on the gridiron, with the Great Danes being led by an interim head coach, Jared Ambrose — who earned the title in March.

So how do you prep for a team with that much uncertainty?

“You got to take it with a grain of salt,” TJ Hall said. “You got to expect what's coming. But no, like we have to adjust, and there might be something new that we might have to get ready for.”

Iowa has two advantages in preparing for Albany’s arrival: consistency across the coaching staff and Mark Gronowski’s last matchup against the Great Danes.

Despite Albany former head coach Greg Gattuso’s spring departure, the majority of the Great Danes’ coaching staff has stayed the same. Ambrose was the team’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, and even filled in as a head coach in 2023 when Gattuso wasn’t available for a game.

The rest of the staff is almost identical, with a few titles shifted around to fill in Ambrose’s role at offensive coordinator. The Great Danes’ new OC is a former quarterback, but hasn’t held a coordinator position before.

Which leads to one of the best ways Iowa can prepare for Albany: the schematics.

“I think schematically, at least we think, you would imagine they'd stay pretty consistent,” head coach Kirk Ferentz said. “Coach Ambrose has done a really good job as an offensive coordinator, was at Delaware at one point in his career and has done a really good job there, so I don't see them drifting too far.”

Ferentz said it’s all about pieces what the Hawkeyes can together. Even if individual players change, Ferentz knows this first game can expose his team to different scenarios and see how they approach it in real time.

“There's a lot of guesswork on our side. Same thing for them, I'm sure,” Ferentz said. “Bottom line is you want to be as alert, sound as you possibly can, and the team has got to be ready to adjust as the game goes on because I'm sure there will be some things that we're going to have to react to and see if we can do a good job there.”

Gronowski played Albany in 2023 during the FCS Semifinals, en route to his first of two national titles with South Dakota State. A few Great Danes heading to Iowa City played against Gronowski, and the transfer signal caller still remembers playing against Albany two seasons ago.

The former Jackrabbit threw for 269 yards and three touchdowns and rushed another 50 yards in that win.

Gronowski said he remembers a lot about preparing for the Great Danes, and noted he recognized Albany’s defensive coordinator, Bill Nesselt, from the playoff game.

“It's some of the same plays we ran two years ago, which is kind of cool,” Gronowski said. “Knowing that this is how teams attack them ... but we're going to try and bring what we want to bring, and execute at a high efficiency.”

The Hawkeyes will still have some growing pains to work through, and Ferentz anticipates rotating a number of players in and out of positions the full 60 minutes of gametime.

And they’ll figure out how to manage the Great Danes, too — but maybe a little sooner than an entire game.

“You're looking at film from here, there or wherever — we'll learn during the game, the first half of the game I'm sure,” Ferentz said.

Comments: madison.hricik@thegazette.com