Monmouth isn't your typical September money-game opponent, either. Jeff Gallo takes over as head coach after 33 years under Kevin Callahan, but Gallo built this attack himself as offensive coordinator — an offense that finished No. 1 in the FCS in total yards and No. 2 in passing a season ago. Junior safety Jaeden Jones, a preseason All-American, gives the defense a legitimate anchor too, so this isn't a roster the Broncos can simply overlook.
The only previous meeting between these two programs came in 2019, when Western Michigan rolled Monmouth 48-13 in Kalamazoo behind 5 touchdown passes from Jon Wassink. That result lines up with how these FBS-FCS scheduling games usually go, and the market treats this one the same way — WMU as a heavy favorite hosting a paid visitor before conference play starts in earnest.
What makes this one slightly less predictable than the standard buy game is the gap between rosters isn't as lopsided as the records suggest. Monmouth went 9-3 last year, its best season since 2019, and was ranked nationally for most of the year before an FCS playoff snub. Western Michigan, meanwhile, is coming off a Michigan trip to open the season and is breaking in Greer Martini as its new defensive coordinator after Chris O'Leary left for the NFL.
Add in that this is billed as WMU's CommUniverCity community event and a MAC-champion team trying to build early-season habits, and you get a game that should be lopsided on paper but has just enough intrigue in Monmouth's passing attack to keep it from feeling like a total formality.