[FarmBoy]

If Stanford's annual rivalries with U.S.C. and UCLA had not been preserved, we would play each of them two years out of three, on average. So by preserving the rivalries, we get one extra game against each of them every three years.

By guaranteeing our SoCal matchups, we play 2 games against SoCal schools every year, while the rest of the North only plays 1 game a year. That's a 100% increase in "risk" exposure, although you're right that you have to compare it to the expected risk of the alternative (more games against UofA, ASU, Utah and Colorado.) It is not an insignficant handicap, IMO, but still  worth the "risk"

[FarmBoy]

If Stanford's annual rivalries with U.S.C. and UCLA had not been preserved, we would play each of them two years out of three, on average. So by preserving the rivalries, we get one extra game against each of them every three years.

By guaranteeing our SoCal matchups, we play 2 games against SoCal schools every year, while the rest of the North only plays 1 game a year. That's a 100% increase in "risk" exposure, although you're right that you have to compare it to the expected risk of the alternative (more games against UofA, ASU, Utah and Colorado.) It is not an insignficant handicap, IMO, but still  worth the "risk"