Sept 8 vs. a I-AA opponent at home.
I do NOT know if ALL MAC teams will play 7 or if some will play 7 and others 8.
Eastern would be getting guaranteed $ from Pitt, Vandy and UofM so that takes care of the budget.
I-AA gives EMU a home game and a win (let's hope so ;-) ).
Northwestern at Ford Field on Oct 20 adds a very attractive game to the schedule.
I assume Gragg was behind moving the date of the UofM game, buyout of the Idaho road game Sept 8, looking for a beatable opponent for Sept 8 at Rynearson, setting up the series with Vandy, etc. etc.
I love ALL those moves.
They give Genyk a chance to be successful.
I wish more MAC teams would schedule to win say 2 non-conference games.
Nothing worse then an early September Saturday seeing MAC teams losing 10 of 12 games, mostly by big margins to teams from the Big Ten, etc.