Doolittledog, not trying to insinuate anything, but since the Spartans are not always on the cusp of the playoffs, why not play a St Ambrose or other Iowa NAIA?
I think a Central-Dordt game would be cool since the Defenders have several Pella areas athletes on the roster.
Dubuque played Iowa NAIA schools in the past. Just looking at the 1980's and 1990's UD played St. Ambrose in 83 and 85, Iowa Wesleyan 1989, Westmar 1990, Graceland 91, 92, 93, 94. And just across the Nebraska border played Dana in 95.
While Dubuque isn't "always" on the cusp of the playoffs, they usually have had a shot going into the last week or two for awhile now, besides making the playoffs in 2011 and 2015. So I imagine that keeps the Spartans from looking at NAIA in the area. Plus, I think another thing to look at is recruiting areas. UD has started to recruit Ohio recently and we had a 2 game series with Marietta the past two years and now have scheduled Wittenberg. We had a 6 game series with Pacific for a west coast trip not too long ago. I wouldn't be surprised if a Texas trip pops up at some point.
Now, if you ask me, I would love to see a conference that included Morningside, Dordt, Northwestern, Buena Vista, Grand View, Central, Luther, Wartburg, Coe, Dubuque, Loras, St. Ambrose