For starters, WVU plays NINE conference games yearly in the Big 12. Under prior, and I am sure the current AD, their philosophy when it comes to OOC scheduling was to play a POWER foe yearly, which usually meant a home and home deal. Then, the priority was/is to schedule home games yearly with a G5 foe and a FCS foe. This would ensure the NEERS of SIX home games minimum in those years when they played only 4 B12 teams at home, and SEVEN home games at least when they played 5 League games in a season.
MU has OOC openings starting 2025. We have Power foes on the road in the next few seasons, including OSU, this season, and then Penn State followed by Wisconsin, through the 2027 season.
Hopefully, it won't be too long until we get some info from the Athletic Department concerning the scheduling efforts, and results, of AD Spears and staff. I hope in trying to get name/Power(?) foes to come to Huntington, that Mr. Spears concentrates on schools like VA Tech, NC State, Cincy, Louisville, etc., who have been willing to play in H-town in the past and who are really not that far from the City in terms of travel. Would also like to see some new opponents, perhaps Indiana U., maybe Wake Forest, UVA, who also are not all that far away from MU. Maybe even Purdue, another Big 10 school we have a "history" with! Since Spears was previously at Pitt, I'd hope he approaches that school, perhaps even offer them a 2-1 deal, which would give HERD fans "easy" travel to play a Big 10 school in a NFL venue!! Hopefully, Spears tries to involve basketball games in such dealings, like say with Pitt give them a offer that includes home and home games with the HERD in BASKETBALL!! Same applies to Tech; trying for, say, a 4-game series with perhaps home and home games and 2 neutral games, one in Roanoke and one in Charleston!! Got to think outside the box in terms of scheduling when you're at a school like MU, IMO!!