The basis for the article is interesting but also is the number of home P5 games ODU has managed to get since they started playing football.

http://pilotonline.com/sports/college/ol...463a8.html

This article doesn't get down to the point that C-USA fanbases are almost exclusively local. How many ODU alumni get out of southeast Virginia, and how many of those are athletics supporters? The fact that it's ODU playing doesn't drive viewership in their game against UNC. Well over 90% of the viewers will tune in for UNC, and if, as expected, it winds up a one-sided affair, few of the casual non-UNC fans will continue watching through the second half. With that in mind, this game is far more valuable for the ACC Network than it is for the more widespread ESPN or CBS Sports as it can drive those UNC fans to make sure they subscribe. This is exactly the same reason why BeIN will want the game: it compels a large fanbase to subscribe to a new network. ESPN is already getting a lot of cash from those UNC fans for their regular ACC offerings, so this one game isn't worth their Saturday time. The only reason our Stanford game is on ESPN is because it's the very first game of the season. If we kept it at Rice Stadium on the proper opening Saturday, we'd wind up on the PAC-12 Network.

We'll never know for sure now but I think Stanford @ Rice would have been picked up by ESPN or CBSSN. As the article points out, the vast majority of CUSA home games with a P5 opponent have gotten picked up, and Stanford football has more national cachet than UNC. In any event the Pac12 network would not have been an option because conference networks do not hold any rights to away games.