Editor's note: This is the 19th in a series previewing each opponent BYU, Utah and Utah State will face this season.
The matchup
Wagner at BYU, Oct. 24
1 p.m. MDT, TV: BYUtv

LaVell Edwards Stadium, Provo
For the second season in a row, BYU is bringing an FCS team from the other side of the country to LaVell Edwards Stadium for a fall matchup.
Last year, it was Savannah State from Georgia. This time, it's Wagner College from the state of New York.
So, who are the Wagner Seahawks?
The Deseret News caught up with Jim Waggoner, who covers Wagner football for the Staten Island Advance, to discuss the Seahawks' expectations for this season.
DN: What are the expectations this year for Wagner after finishing tied for first in the Northeast Conference last season?
JW: They were picked to finish fourth in the seven-team league in the NEC coaches’ poll, which might be good news for the Seahawks. They were ranked seventh in a nine-team race in 2012 and fifth in 2014 — before capturing their first two NEC titles and first NCAA automatic bid in program history. It’s really a toss-up every year in a league that lost former kingpins University of Albany and Monmouth a few years back. It’s a growing conference at the FCS level, and Wagner has a couple of active NFL products in Detroit linebacker Julian Stanford (fourth year) and Minnesota running back Dominique Williams (spent most of the 2014 season on the Vikings’ practice squad.)
DN: What does Wagner hope to get out of the trip to BYU, the team’s third road game in a four-game road swing?
JW: They’re getting a big paycheck with a lot of zeroes on it, first and foremost. They open the season at Rice, which makes two nice paydays for a small, private school with an enrollment of 2,000 that plays its games in a stadium that can squeeze in 3,300 fans (and also has one of the greatest views in all of New York City high atop the Grymes Hill section of Staten Island). Besides the economic realities, Wagner has a number of FBS transfers and uses the NEC limit of 40 football scholarships. The players I’ve talked to are naturally relishing the prospect of stepping inside LaVell Edwards Stadium (which I visited once long, long ago and would rate the view even better than Wagner Stadium). This is a school best-known for winning the NCAA Division III national championship in 1987 and then knocking off Patriot League champ Colgate for the NEC’s first FCS playoff win in 2012. That’s a long ways away from BYU’s major-college football history.
DN: Who are the players to watch on offense?
JW: Senior running back Otis Wright from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, is a speedster that they try to isolate. Junior quarterback Chris Andrews matured greatly down the stretch in 2014, and the left-hander from Queens is more of a running threat than passing (think Michael Vick). Senior Anthony Carrington is a tall wide receiver who has been plagued by injuries but is athletic and dangerous if he can stay on the field. The offensive line is loaded with seniors, including transfer newcomer Andrew Oberg, a 6-foot-8, 300-pound tackle who was a two-year starter at UNLV. The Long Island, N.Y., product was a two-time member of the All-Mountain West Academic team.
DN: Who are the players to watch on defense and special teams?
JW: There are some stout returnees, but none better than 6-2, 295-pound nose tackle Al Page, a Rutgers transfer. The Bronx native (and father of a young daughter) played his way into shape in 2014 and by midseason was a one-man wrecking crew. Greg Hilliard, a 6-3, 245-pound linebacker and a UMass transfer, is another excellent player.
DN: What major question marks does the team need to solve in fall camp?
JW: There’s a new head coach, former offensive coordinator Jason Houghtaling, but the old boss is still around. Walt Hameline stepped down after 34 seasons but remains as the school’s athletic director. They lost their highly regarded defensive coordinator, Malik Hall, to the University of Pennsylvania but the staff remains pretty much the same. I think you always have question marks when there are new coordinators involved, however.
Email: bjudd@deseretdigital.com; Twitter: @brandonljudd