Aggies A Good Addition to 2008 Schedule
Unless it's the first game of the season in 2008, you won't hear many people saying, "I can't wait until the New Mexico State game". The Aggies inspire about as much excitement as Troy did a year ago. Nevertheless, if Nebraska can finalize adding NMSU to the schedule in 2008, they will have achieved a minor victory.
Even with all we hear about strength of schedule in the BCS era, a team can get plenty of SOS simply by playing in a major conference with a championship game. Last season, the Florida Gators managed a championship game appearance despite losing their seventh game of the year with a nonconference schedule that featured home games against Southern Mississippi, Central Florida, and Western Carolina. Sure they also played Florida State on the road, but you could hardly call their nonconference slate a "murderer's row".
In the modern era, one good non-conference game in a conference like the Big 12 is probably plenty. Aside from that, you just want games that bring in some money and don't hurt your team. A walkover against a WAC team (the same conference Boise State plays in), is just strong enough not to kill your strength of schedule (like a Division I-AA team can), but not bad enough that you have to worry about losing.
In fact, a home date against a team like New Mexico State (without a return date) is probably coveted by half of the BCS teams in the country. Short of grabbing a pathetic team in a major conference (like Duke or Northwestern), you can't do much better in terms of filling a date with an easy win. So while this won't be the most exciting game Nebraska plays, I consider it a nice addition. I'll take New Mexico State over Nicholls State any day.
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