Maggard has always said that his goal is to schedule winnable P5 games, and winnable teams don’t pay as much as un-winnable teams. Yes, we could make much more money scheduling Alabama, but the goal isn’t to make as much money as possible. The goal is to put us in a position to win football games.
I think it’s a good strategy, and I’m glad we’re fortunate enough to have a budget that allows us to leave some money on the table to give us a better chance to be successful.