Money for Matchups: Small Schools Get Paid to Play Bigger Schools

On Sept. 1 the Michigan Wolverines hosted the Appalachian State Mountaineers in the Big House, their 110,000-seat stadium in Ann Arbor, Mich. At the time Michigan was ranked fifth in the nation and Appalachian State was a largely unknown team from the Championship Subdivision (formerly Division 1-AA).

The Mountaineers took Michigan down by a score of 34-32 and the Wolverines fell straight out of the Top 25 and Appalachian State became the rallying cry of every underdog college football team in the country.

Now, BYU has its own Appalachian State to play.

The Eastern Washington Eagles roll into Cougartown this Saturday as the sacrificial lamb for BYU.

It is easy to ask why a team would schedule a game just to get knocked down and have their lunch money taken.

When posed with this question, Eastern Washington head coach Paul Wulff had a very simple answer.

"Money," he said in a conference call on Wednesday. "It helps out our athletic department financially. That is probably the biggest thing for us."

The Eagles have a guaranteed payday of $325,000, according to EWU sports information director Dave Cook. Cook also said the teams' travel expenses would be around $50,000. Last season EWU games against Bowl Subdivision opponents Oregon State and West Virginia and received a combined $750,000. Next year the Eagles will play Colorado.

Cook added that EWU was still in the hunt for a playoff spot in the Championship Subdivision at 4-2 and, win or lose this weekend, would still be in contention for that spot.

BYU is giving the Eagles so much money in order to keep its schedule even. With two games against Pac-10 opponents, it makes sense for the Cougars to throw a likely win on their docket.

"In our non-conference schedule, the word that I have said so many times is balance," Mendenhall said. "I don't regret, nor do I apologize for that type of scheduling because our conference is so difficult."

Mendenhall went on to say the team's preparation and focus would be no different for this game than any other.

"In this particular case, we need to get better as a team and this is our next chance to do that," Mendenhall said.

Obviously, the Eagles are the underdog in this matchup against the Cougars. But, coach Wulff thinks his squad can be competitive in the game.

"We are going down there with a game plan," Wulff said. "If our kids execute it well, we will have a chance to be in there."

Mendenhall knows he can't count the Eagles out and feels his Cougars will respond well.

"They know on any given day," he said, "as Michigan showed earlier, you have a chance to be beaten by anyone."