East Carolina would be a decent opponent, IMHO. They beat North Carolina (Week One this season) and Nebraska would be a big name/TV draw for their program to help replace Virginia Tech, which was also an away game. In the East Carolina AD's mind, Nebraska might look like an easier opponent than the #13 ranked Hokies. (In addition to potentially being a big payday for their program).
They are also from Scott Frost's old UCF division, so our staff would be familiar with them (and to some extent, them familiar with Frost's offense/Chinander's defense). We would be their most distant opponent on the year (which is currently Tulane at 950 miles), since it is more like 1350 from Greenville, NC to Lincoln.
This matchup makes a lot of sense.