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BYU's Opening Day Opponent is...

If you guessed Northern Iowa from the Gateway Conference then you are correct!! Thanks from Total Blue Sports. This team is from the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly I-AA), and this is a tough game to swallow if you are a BYU season ticket holder because for 3 of the past 4 years BYU has had a FCS team for a certain win. I know Bronco Mendenhall wants a balanced schedule but with what Nevada did to BYU this is not a shocker that a FCS team was scheduled. Most reasonable fans of BYU would have like to see at least a top team from the C-USA, MAC, or schedule a mid to low team from the Big XII, Big 10, or Pac-10 so that the game would not be a FCS team but rather a solid team that the Cougars know they would win. This is also puzzling because Nevada was to help find an opponent for BYU but looks like they did not try hard enough. The game is set along with the rest of BYU's non conference schedule with games against @Utah State, UCLA, @ Washington, and now Northern Iowa.
The Panthers were one of the better FCS teams by achieving the number one ranking nationally, going undefeated in regular season before losing in the playoffs to Delaware. They have also won 4 straight Gateway Conference championships. With BYU's finish and the year starting out with Northern Iowa, a mediocre Washington and UCLA team, and then Utah State the Cougs could be looking at a top 15 ranking at least heading into conference play.