I believe Michigan State is doing 3-for-1 contracts with each of CMU, EMU, and WMU. Don't know if the MAC schools get the home game and a guarantee or just the home game.

The last time Nebraska played a MAC team they almost lost, and should have lost, so maybe that's why they have avoided the MAC for a long time. That was in 2007, against a Nate Davis-led Ball State team which had 610 yards of total offense. Ball State led 31-28 going into the fourth, and held the lead until 3:45 left when Nebraska took the lead at 41-40. In the waning seconds a wide open Ball State receiver dropped a TD pass that was perfectly on the mark, and which should have been an easy TD, then Ball State missed a long FG.

A little of both. I do remember that particular game because, before the game, I warned people that Davis was very good, and that Ball State might win, and they scoffed at me (after the game, they said that Ball State should have won). I listened to most of the game on the radio, but had to leave at the end, and wasn't able to hear the final quarter, so I read about it later. It was in part based on that game that I made the prediction the following year that Ball State would be undefeated, and they were, up until the MACC.

I did have to refresh the details, though, so I re-read the game recap on ESPN before I posted. I also double checked on ESPN.com whether Nebraska has played another MAC team since then. I didn't think they had, but I wasn't 100% sure, and I like to check my facts before I open my mouth.

Or any party.

Never been to a party yet where the conversations weren't pure BS.

There's that part, and there's the fact that a certain neighbor up US33 in the past did a darn good job of avoiding playing UC when they were scheduled to play them while UC was at their very best under Brian Kelly. They moved a couple games during that time to later seasons. For reasons like that, I tend to have little faith in the P5 and the game as a whole because the ones making scheduling decisions are interested in money first, and the kids and respectable competition a distant third. I watch to root for my Bobcat and Bearcat teams and be social, and I try to stay out of the 'grumpy old man' mode about it.