So Sean and I went back and forth a little about this on Twitter.
And the explanation he gave makes some sense.
The A&M to Texas Tech move was made relatively late in the scheduling timeframe. And it involved a change in weekends. So when we moved that game, it changed the date that we needed our FCS game and at that point there weren't many better options left. I do wonder though, why we didn't already have an FCS game lined up at that point (for the other weekend)? It's possible that we did, or had some informal agreement that we then broke. Or I guess if we knew the A&M game might be moved, we could have been holding out of scheduling one for that reason.
Next season's schedule is still really odd to me. I get the A&M to Texas Tech change. That's a wash (or better).
I don't love playing UA in Fayetteville instead of Little Rock, but I'd be surprised if that possibility wasn't written into the contract the whole time (whether it should have been or not, I guess probably depends on how bad we wanted that game - I bet they always reserve the right to pick the location up to a certain date for their $ games). Even back when they played 3 a year down there, it was always announced with the schedule which ones would be in Little Rock.
Moving MSU still bugs me. I love what it means for 2017, but combined with playing @ UMASS first means you gave away everything you had at home (save this crappy FCS game, which you knew at the point of moving MSU and UMASS was going to be crappy because all that shuffling happened late). I do think it's telling that our moving MSU and scheduling UMASS happened at the same time that MSU and UMASS announced their series. There must have been some agreement behind the scenes from everyone, but I just can't figure out why Tech or MSU would care so much about playing UMASS that they be willing to move at all, much less agree to travel first. How is it better for MSU to play @UMASS in 2016 and @Tech in 2017 than just playing Tech in 2016 (and @UMASS in 2017 or never)?
I mean, it's a silver lining sure, and you sell what you have to sell, but playing in a big, empty NFL stadium is something you tack on after you justify the series, it's not a reason to schedule someone. You could say, "we get to play former WAC rival and current AAC member SMU in nearby Arlington where lots of our fans live and most could travel easily and where we recruit hard and we also get to play in a big NFL stadium" or "we get to play in-state team and current AAC member Tulane who we owe a whipping to in a huge recruiting area where many of our fans live or could travel and we also get to play in a big NFL stadium." But not "we're playing a bad team (on the field) with little support (off the field) that we have no history with or interest in and that is located far away and we're postponing a home SEC game to get this and oh, the only advantage we can think of besides the return home game in a couple of years is that it'll be in a big, largely empty NFL stadium."
If MSU really wanted it (for some reason?) and it was do this or they just buy out of our Ruston game, then I get that. And I wouldn't expect that kind of thing to be public.
I get that there is more to all of this than we'll ever know.
And that 2017 will be a great OOC schedule. I just can't look at next season's schedule without scratching my head. If @Texas Tech, @Arkansas, FCS, MSU was really viewed as too hard(!), then the option there is to look around for a G5 team who can start a home and home in Ruston in 2016. And the late date on this can't be a factor, because we knew we were playing 2 road games and MSU at home for a long time.
Sounds like there were few options and they had all the negotiating power because we had to have an FCS game?
It was 1982...
I didn't read the whole thread, just skimmed it. So, I apologize if someone got the answer.
Their mascot, a bulldog, was a guy in a bulldog head, kinda like Champ's, but! he wore a WHITE TUX. Yes, a white tux. Well, the playoff games of '82 were in December....and it was chilly....and it rained. And rained. And then rained some more. Aillet had a natural mud field, er a natural grass field (mostly). So, when our Champ and their mascot got into a "mascot fight," well it was inevitable that the white-tuxed SC State mascot went splash in a mud puddle.
I was like...Oh, crap! Then I thought, oh, that had to have been planned....surely. But, evidenced by the irate behavior of the SC State folks, whoever was in charge of the cheer squads and the mascot, well, they didn't appear none too happy about it.
The Dawgs won the game 38-3.