It started with the season opener against Colorado. Northeast Louisiana, the newest NCAA Division I-A football program, was on the wrong side of a 48-13 blowout.
It got worse.The following week the Indians went back on the road and met with similar results - Auburn 44, NLU 12. Next up was Georgia, which showed little mercy in a 70-6 rout.
It wasn't much of a welcome to major college football.
The Indians had been a Division I-AA power since winning the national championship in 1987. Entering the '94 campaign, NLU had won at least seven games in each of the previous four seasons and had been a fixture in the I-AA rankings.
But the jump up to be with the big boys has been rough. Playing a schedule The Sporting News rated the toughest in the nation, Northeast Louisiana has struggled. The Indians will bring their 1-7 record into Cougar Stadium to play No. 25 BYU (7-2) Saturday.
"Our biggest difficulty this year has been the schedule," said first-year NLU coach Ed Zaunbrecher.
This would have likely been a rebuilding year for NLU even if the team hadn't moved up to I-A. Twelve starters, including nine that were invited to NFL training camps, graduated from last season's 9-3 team that was ranked fourth in I-AA. The Indians' coach Dave Roberts, wisely after looking at NLU's '94 schedule, bailed out to become the offensive coordinator at Notre Dame.
The team opened with five of its first six games on the road. When the battered and bruised Indians returned home, they were ambushed by I-AA Central Florida (33-16) and Division II Jacksonville State (32-28).
Last week's bye was cause for celebration at NLU.
"At least we didn't lose one last week," Zaunbrecher said.
NLU's only victory of the year was a 62-37 home win Oct. 1 over Weber State.
Northeast Louisiana has been particularly bad defensively. The Indians gave up an average of nearly 600 yards in the first three games. For the season, opponents are averaging 41 points and 495 yards per outing.
Offensively the Indians aren't bad. Receiver Stepfret Williams will be a major concern for BYU's secondary. Williams has 45 passes for 840 yards and seven touchdowns. He's caught passes for at least 100 yards the past five games. Sophomore QB Raymond Philyaw is responsible for getting Williams the ball. Philyaw has thrown for 1,396 yards and 10 TDs while completing 59 percent of his passes.
"I'm sure BYU is going to be cranked up trying to get back into the swing of things (after losing to Arizona State)," Zaunbrecher said. "It's going to be a very difficult job for us this week."
Kickoff is set for noon. The game will be broadcast live on both KSL TV (Channel 5) and KSL Radio (1160 AM).