Danes understand magnitude of first-ever FCS semifinal trip

The UAlbany football team has pulled off one of the biggest turnarounds in college football this season. No team in division-one football has improved their win total from last season to this season more than the Great Danes. They jumped from three wins last year, to eleven wins this year. It's led them to new heights, a place they've never been before: the FCS semifinals.

ALBANY, NY (NEWS10) -- The UAlbany football team has pulled off one of the biggest turnarounds in college football this season. No team in division-one football has improved their win total from last season to this season more than the Great Danes. They jumped from three wins last year, to eleven wins this year. It's led them to new heights, a place they've never been before: the FCS semifinals.

After their comeback 30-22 win over Idaho on the road in the quarterfinals, the Danes will take on the top team in the country: 13-0 South Dakota state. The Danes know the job isn't finished, but they also recognize how special this run has already been to get them to this point. "It's been obviously a great time for us and it's been fun," said head coach Greg Gattuso. "I think the win over Idaho was really big and important for us. It puts you in a final four. You know, sometimes I'm not sure everybody gets the significance of this team, any team, making it to the final four because it gets so repetitive with North Dakota State and some of those people, South Dakota State, but we were able to stick our toe in there and we're pretty fired up about it."

"It's just special, " adds quarterback Reese Poffebarger. "These are once in a lifetime runs. Not a lot of pieces that we have on the team this year that we didn't have last year. It's razor thin, the plays that you miss and the plays that you make, and we're making them this year. We didn't make them last year and that's the difference between winning these games and not and being able to put it together and finding a group like this is rare. Only four teams every year can say they made it this far and it's definitely special."

The Danes will take on South Dakota State Friday at 7:00 PM on ESPN 2. Stick with NEWS10 ABC for coverage throughout the week.