Drake football

The Bulldogs opened their season in remodeled Drake Stadium with a 48-7 loss to Division-IAA scholarship power Northern Iowa on Thursday night. The Panthers were fresh off a I-AA title game appearance.

More than 10,100 fans sporting purple or blue flocked to the game, leaving less than 4,000 open seats at Drake Stadium. Although its hard to tell if the game would have had more fans if Iowa State hadn't moved its Sept. 2 home-opener with Toledo to Aug. 31 so it could get the game on TV.

The move certainly put a dent in Drake coach Rob Ash's strategy to create more buzz around the Bulldogs' season openers. Ash likes to schedule the first game of the season against a Gateway Conference opponent — like Northern Iowa — on a Thursday night. It's an easy way for Drake to improve its billing in the media because the team has a much better shot at making the sports cover in Friday's paper instead of Sunday's paper.

Do you think it was unfair for Iowa State athletic director Jamie Pollard to move the Cyclones' home-opener after the Drake-UNI game had been set for a year?