Ball State was much better than their 5-7 record last year. They blew out Toledo, and hung with Indiana, FAU and N.C. State. They only lost by 8 to Notre Dame in 2018. I'm not sure what they lost in the off-season, but they should be decent this year, assuming we have a season. Looking through their stats, they have a dangerous running game and a decent passing attack with a good amount of their weapons and their starting QB returning this year.. Defensively they force a lot of turnovers but had no players with 5 or more sacks last year.
UNLV has three home games, against California, LA Tech and Arizona State before coming to Ames. That kinda sucks, they will have three tough games before they play us. They have former TCU QB Justin Rogers and have a really good RB. Their top WR is back, but their passing game was not impressive last year. Their defense sucks. They only had 12 sacks and 11 QB hurries last year. Purdy should be able to stay in the pocket and pick 'em apart. They have an o-lineman named Tiger Shanks and a punter named Charlton Butt.
South Dakota... not even a tiny bit worried about them. They got blown out by Oklahoma, UNI and NDSU last year (outscored 151 - 55 in those games).