Round 1: UC Davis @ South Dakota State Also for FCS teams, you get a better return by playing P5 or G5 teams in your own or adjacent region. That's why you see the Ags playing Cal, Washington, Nevada and SJSU etc. Granted we did just play Tulsa but that is more of a rarity. The travel costs are less and there is a likelihood of having local alums connect with the school.
Cal and UC Davis love playing each other because it keeps the money in their system and provides an attendance boost for Cal (and for Davis it allows them to get Bay Area fans excited for the team and see them in person). A school like Stanford also appreciates playing us because they will get a boost by playing us. SJSU/Fresno/Nevada can keep the payouts lower since they are relatively close to Davis but still get a home game.
A school like Sac or Davis probably will not spend the money to travel to Florida or Georgia to play a gimme against an ACC or SEC school. One because there are a lot more G5 and FCS teams back east and for the reasons I previously gave. Secondly, the payout is higher but the school may not have the alumni networks that they will in CA or the west coast and some of that is offset by the travel aspect. Third, since there are fewer western teams, the demand for gimme games is still somewhat high. Notice that Cal or Stanford often play their FCS game against Big Sky teams (exception being Stan will play Colgate next year).