[Papa John]

Well, the problem is that it is a classic no-win situation.  If we lose (and there is a low but non-zero probability), we'll have been beaten by a non-Big5 foe.  If we win, it will be expected and won't help our strength of schedule.
BC

I have no idea how good SDSU or Virginia will be in 2017-2018, but over the past five seasons consider SDSU's end-of-year Sagarin ratings versus Virginia's and Stanford's (SDSU/UVa/Stanford):

2010: 34/87/2
2011: 70/71/7
2012: 66/87/9
2013: 78/106/5
2014: 91/51/18

So yeah, SDSU is not a Power 5 school, but recent past performance doesn't indicate that it will be a big hit on Stanford's strength of schedule, at least not in comparison to UVa.

I'm probably in the minority, but I've always liked the idea of Stanford playing one OOC game per season versus an FBS Cal State or Nevada team: Nevada-Reno, UNLV, SDSU, SJSU or Fresno State. I'd much prefer that over playing an FCS team such as UC Davis. I know that there are many reasons why that won't happen, but the Pac-12 is so spread out that it would be nice to build in some more regional rivalries for Stanford like the closer-spaced schools in the other Power 5 conferences have.

[Papa John]

Well, the problem is that it is a classic no-win situation.  If we lose (and there is a low but non-zero probability), we'll have been beaten by a non-Big5 foe.  If we win, it will be expected and won't help our strength of schedule.
BC

I have no idea how good SDSU or Virginia will be in 2017-2018, but over the past five seasons consider SDSU's end-of-year Sagarin ratings versus Virginia's and Stanford's (SDSU/UVa/Stanford):

2010: 34/87/2
2011: 70/71/7
2012: 66/87/9
2013: 78/106/5
2014: 91/51/18

So yeah, SDSU is not a Power 5 school, but recent past performance doesn't indicate that it will be a big hit on Stanford's strength of schedule, at least not in comparison to UVa.

I'm probably in the minority, but I've always liked the idea of Stanford playing one OOC game per season versus an FBS Cal State or Nevada team: Nevada-Reno, UNLV, SDSU, SJSU or Fresno State. I'd much prefer that over playing an FCS team such as UC Davis. I know that there are many reasons why that won't happen, but the Pac-12 is so spread out that it would be nice to build in some more regional rivalries for Stanford like the closer-spaced schools in the other Power 5 conferences have.