i agree with the overall gist of your comments, as i would prefer 4 guaranteed wins when we play the tougher teams in the east in that respective year, but the reality is that we are being forced by the conference into playing the upper tier conferences and if we cant secure deals with the likes of kansas, iowa state, purdue, indiana, maryland, etc, we may have to look elsewhere. we are automatically going to see a jump in the SOS based on new sec regulations....that is our new reality. i am totally on your side prior to the sec's new decree, however, things have changed and i think we receive more benefit from a single road game with ND than we do with a home and home with iowa state if we were even lucky enough to land them on our schedule. i dont say that with a smile, as i would obviously prefer the home and home, but establish that connection, eek out a win, an maybe they might be more apt to play us in the future for revenge purposes. i know michigan fans would relish the opportunity to get revenge assuming they fielded a competent team. obviously, i think a casualty of that would be a lost recruiting weekend which should not be trivialized, but i think it would be worth it on a one-time bases....but thats just my opinion. regardless if you agree with the prior statement, it would be tremendous exposure for our program and worth consideration.