By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Whenever the Iowa football team adds a new nonconference opponent, you can almost be assured that some fans will be less than pleased with the matchup.

That was the case again on Thursday after it was announced that Iowa’s 2020 schedule had been completed with the addition of Northern Iowa as the season opener.

Right away, I started seeing negative feedback on social media, mostly on Twitter where the naysayers complained about the lack of prestige with facing Northern Iowa and about Iowa facing another no-win situation in the nonconference schedule.

Iowa is always expected to defeat FCS member Northern Iowa, and always has to this point, although, it took two blocked field goals in the final seconds to secure a 17-16 victory in 2009. The game never will be a big deal to anybody not affiliated with either program until Iowa loses.

So I understand the frustration, but what’s the alternative?

Notre Dame and Alabama aren’t walking through the tunnel at Kinnick Stadium anytime soon, and probably never will under the current circumstances.

Heck, for that matter, neither will teams like Arkansas, Colorado, Utah and Missouri just to name a few.

It’s no secret that Iowa has very little scheduling flexibility because of facing Iowa State every year and with playing nine conference games.

Some fans want to drop the series with Iowa State, or at least interrupt it every now and then, which I don’t agree with for lots of reasons, and it’s just not going to happen, at least not for a while with the series now extended through 2023 season.

Iowa’s schedule each year basically comes down to 10 locks and two opponents that are willing to play at Kinnick Stadium for a nice paycheck, but nothing else in return, such as a home-and-away series.

Iowa can’t afford to schedule a home-and-away series against a Power 5 opponent while playing Iowa State and nine conference games because that would eliminate a seventh home game, and then the numbers wouldn’t add up.

It’s that simple, and yet, it’s sort of complicated, too.

I had somebody reach out to me on Twitter who criticized the decision to play Northern Iowa again because the Panthers are too much of a threat. This person would prefer that Iowa schedule a terrible FCS team because there is no extra credit for defeating a good FCS team, only more risk, as we saw last season when Iowa lost to FCS power North Dakota State.

So on one hand, you’ve got some fans clamoring for a marquee Power 5 matchup, while on the other hand, you have at least one fan who would prefer to face a terrible FCS team than Northern Iowa.

There is no right or wrong answer with regard to scheduling, nor is there a way to please everybody.

But in fairness to Northern Iowa, there are worse options now that the Big Ten Conference has softened its stand against playing FCS teams. I can think of 12 worse options from the Mid-American Conference.

Nothing against the MAC teams, but they aren’t as appealing as Northern Iowa and they also bring a no-win situation from Iowa’s standpoint.

There is no in-state drama and emotion when facing a MAC team like there is with facing Northern Iowa, only the risk of losing, especially when it's a directional school from Michigan.

And in fairness to Iowa, it’s not as if the other Big Ten teams are scheduling a bunch of marquee nonconference games.

Purdue with five and Michigan with four are the only Big Ten teams with more than three nonconference games scheduled against teams from Power 5 conferences over the next three seasons.

As teams look to play more conference games in football and men’s basketball, nonconference games will become more insignificant and less appealing.

The NFL and NBA both have something similar called preseason games.

2018

Sept. 1            Northern Illinois

Sept. 8            Iowa State

Sept. 15         Northern Iowa

Sept. 22         Wisconsin

Sept. 29         Open

Oct. 6              at Minnesota

Oct. 13            at Indiana

Oct. 20            Maryland (HC)

Oct. 27            at Penn State

Nov. 3             at Purdue

Nov. 10          Northwestern (FW)

Nov. 17          at Illinois

Nov. 23          Nebraska

 

2019

Aug. 31           Miami, Ohio

Sept. 7            Rutgers

Sept. 14         at Iowa State

Sept. 21         Open

Sept. 28         Middle Tennessee State

Oct. 5              at Michigan

Oct. 12            Penn State

Oct. 19            Purdue (HC)

Oct. 26            at Northwestern

Nov. 2             Open

Nov. 9             at Wisconsin

Nov. 16          Minnesota (FW)

Nov. 23          Illinois

Nov. 29          at Nebraska

 

2020

Sept. 5            Northern Iowa

Sept. 12         Iowa State

Sept. 19         at Minnesota

Sept. 26         Northern Illinois

Oct. 3              Michigan State

Oct. 10            at Ohio State

Oct. 17            at Penn State

Oct. 24            Northwestern

Nov. 7             at Illinois

Nov. 14          Nebraska

Nov. 21          at Purdue

Nov. 28          Wisconsin