You know, this takes me back to the old days in the MIAA when we had real rivalries and you didn't have a choice about playing a soft schedule. Every week was a battle. I see your point about St. Lawrence, but let me tell you, the game has changed in all the wrong ways. Back in the late 80s under Coach Larry Elliott, we played whoeveer was on the schedule and you built your team through those early games, period. It wasn't about SP+ rankings or numbers, it was about teaching young men how to win. This modern obsession with "strength of schedule" and "program ceilings" forgets that football is about momentum and belief. I watched the 1995 Ichabods start with a couple of softer games, build that confidence, and then go toe-to-toe with Pittsburg State in a classic. You need those building blocks. Now, with the portal, you're lucky if you have the same squad in November that you had in September, so maybe getting some early wins is the only stability you can find. The financial reality for programs like ours, and I assume for St. Lawrence too, is that those guarantee games against FBS teams can break your team's spirit and your roster's health before conference play even begins. I remember what it did to our boys in '02. It's a different calculus now. You're right that you can't hide forever, and the great teams are forged in fire, but you also can't ask a team to run a gauntlet from week one and expect to have anything left for the rivalry games that truly matter. The Liberty League is no joke, I get that. But building a winning culture sometimes starts with learning how to win, even if it's against a team you should beat. The real problem isn't the schedule, it's that players don't stay for four years anymore to learn those lessons. They'd rather portal out after a couple of tough losses. That's what's flattening the growth, not the September opponents.