By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Barring what would rank as probably the biggest upset loss for the Iowa football team under Kirk Ferentz, fans will witness history on Saturday at Kinnick Stadium.

With his next win, Kirk Ferentz would match Woody Hayes as the Big Ten’s all-time winningest head coach with 205 victories.

If it doesn’t happen on Saturday against an FCS opponent that finished 4-8 last season, and that is a 39-point underdog, as is the case with UAlbany, then Ferentz and the Hawkeyes would be one of the biggest stories for week one, but for all the wrong reasons.

And while you never say never when it comes to competition, it’s hard to even imagine Iowa losing this game.

That is meant as no disrespect to UAlbany, but the Great Danes are basically playing the role of sacrificial lamb to earn a nice $500,000 pay day.

Teams that are massive underdogs play games in which they have virtually no chance of winning because the bills have to be paid.

There is always excitement surrounding any season opener, and with Saturday’s game sold out, and with the 5 p.m. kickoff, and with Ferentz poised to tie a coaching legend in wins, Kinnick Stadium should be rocking and filled with fans who in many cases probably spent most of the afternoon tailgating.

The game itself, however, had better not be competitive or Kirk Ferentz and his players would have some explaining to do.

If Iowa were to win by a much smaller margin than expected, Ferentz would almost certainly bring up the 2009 season opener against Northern Iowa when Iowa had to block two straight field goal attempts in the closing seconds to escape with a 17-16 victory at Kinnick Stadium.

It was easy to assume the worst for Iowa after that unexpected close call.

But then Iowa would go on to compile a 9-0 record before finishing 11-2 overall.

The same Iowa team that barely beat UNI at home would go on to beat fourth-ranked Penn State 21-10 and it nearly upset No. 8 Ohio State before falling 27-24 in Columbus with backup quarterback James Vandenberg filling in for injured starter Ricky Stanzi.

The close call against UNI, and the way in which Iowa responded to it, will always serve as a reminder that strange things sometimes just happen during the heat of competition.

More times than not, though, games in which one team is heavily favored, and vastly superior on paper, go as expected.

Quarterback Mark Gronowski will make his Hawkeye debut on Saturday, but it won’t be his first game against Albany, or his first game in Kinnick Stadium.

Gronowski led Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) powerhouse South Dakota State to a 59-0 win over UAlbany in the national semifinals two years ago.

He would go on to win the 2023 Walter Payton Award for FCS’ outstanding offensive player.

Gronowski also faced Iowa in the 2022 season opener, losing 7-3 at Kinnick Stadium in what proved to be an offensive snooze fest.

It’s probably fair to say that Albany’s defense won’t be anywhere nearly as good as Iowa’s defense was in 2022.

Gronowski looks forward to finally facing a different defense after having faced Iowa’s defense during preseason practice.

“What’s tough is throughout the entire fall camp we continue to go against our own team and go against them and our defense runs a defense that is kind of different than a lot of teams,” Gronowski said. “So, it’s been kind of fun to actually go back to maybe a base quarter’s (defense) that UAlbany runs.

“It’s been fun, I guess, just trying to navigate that side of things and kind of go against a defense that is a little bit different.”

The fun should continue on Saturday for Gronowski and his new Hawkeye teammates because this game has mismatch written all over it.

It will mark the first time Iowa and UAlbany have ever faced each other.

And quite frankly, it should probably be the last time they face each other.

Prediction: Iowa 42, UAlbany 9

UAlbany (0-0) vs. Iowa (0-0)

When: Saturday. 5:10 p.m.

Where: Kinnick Stadium

TV: Fs1

Radio: Hawkeye Radio Network

Series: This will be the first meeting between the two teams.

Iowa in season openers: Iowa is 101-33-2 all-time in season openers, including 22-4 under head coach Kirk Ferentz. The Hawkeyes have won their last four and 10 of their last 11 season openers dating back to the 2014 season