Air Force will kick off a season that is filled with potential against a team that could be filled with potential danger.
The Northern Iowa Panthers arrive in Colorado Springs with a long track record of being a top tier powerhouse in FCS. Their record includes 16 Missouri Valley Conference championships and 22 trips to the FCS Championship Tournament.
Most prognosticators see more of the same for Panther football this year. ESPN’s SP+ has Northern Iowa as the 9th best team in FCS, mostly due to a defense it foresees as the best in FCS. Jeff Sagarin’s computer rankings see the Panthers as FCS’s fourth best team, with a rating higher than MW members UNLV, Hawaii, and New Mexico.