Of course. I purposely used the words "could" and "theoretically" prior to the word "leverage" for a reason. We'll never know if we simply settle for Idaho and don't even think about the possibility of conversing with the Houston folk.
And of course that opener vs. Idaho pays a lot of bills. I realize that. So does Buffalo the week later.
But our OOC schedule is resembling a 15-years-married couple that does nothing but think about paying the bills, and never thinks of adventure. 2019 will mark 8 straight seasons where the only Power 5 OOC foes we will have played will have been (1-4) typically-mediocre Pittsburgh, (5) typically-mediocre Virginia in a "home-and-home" where they're getting out of making the return visit, and (6) typically-worse-than-mediocre Syracuse (in a neutral site game).
That's OOC schedule is boring, and also well behind our B1G peers (Michigan, OSU, Wisconsin) in terms of strength.
But, yeah, Idaho --- not even an FBS level team --- that game does pay the bills.