To Open Their New Stadium, The Gophers Will Face ..

Nebraska? No. Notre Dame? Nope. North Dakota State? We want to win the first game at TCF Bank Stadium, don't we?

While Tim Brewster has talked a lot about improving the Minnesota schedule, and rightfully so, the Gophers will face Air Force to open TCF Bank Stadium in the second game of the 2009 season. I'm not going to complain about this because opening against Air Force brings a little charm along with it. As was mentioned at the Star Tribune's Gophers blog in a post by Chip Scoggins, the Air Force tilt will likely provide for a kick-ass flyover to begin a new, outdoor era in Minnesota football.

And while it would have been nice to open the new stadium against Notre Dame or Nebraska, or someone with a higher profile, the Gophers could have done worse than Air Force. I'm thinking Florida Atlantic, the University of Minnesota-Duluth, etc.

What are your thoughts? Who would you like to have seen open the new stadium?