That said:

make them the best damn 15 home games you can possibly make them

Great, in theory, but if you operate under the assumption that they’re going to schedule those 15 home games in two years (and there’s really no doubt about that anymore), you have to realize that it’s awfully difficult to fill each of those 7 non-conference slots with quality teams. It’s logistically impossible, because the little schools now realize that they have more bargaining power than they used to.

We’ll always be able to schedule a 2-for-1 with Temple, but the days of Texas Tech, Southern Miss, or UCF giving us one home game are over unless ABC/ESPN steps in with $$$ like they did with Oregon State.

is who exactly do you think we should (and would actually be able to) schedule in place of what other games?

I think pretty much everyone is in agreement that scheduling 1-AA games is ridiculous, but as RUTS points out, the cupcates in 1-A are starting to charge a LOT of money, since they know that they are in high demand. In many cases they are charging more than the host team can afford out of its budget, making it not worth playing that team economically (basically negating the advantage of the 15 home games every 2 years).

As RUTS also points out, ESPN came in and saved our ass last year by helping to arrange (and front $) for the OrSt game. There were similar attempts this year, but no team or arrangement was able to come around that was beneficial to everyone involved. ESPN isn’t gonna help us schedule a game with the likes of San Diego St, because they know they won’t get the viewership. Penn State can’t schedule many of these “cupcakes” without paying more money than they are willing to spend. As you go higher up the ladder looking for competition, you start finding teams that won’t play anything less than a home & home.

When you have 8 OOC games to work with over the course of 2 years, 2 of those are already taken up by our quality home & home games, 2 more are taken up by our MAC obligation (though Temple gives us a 2 for 1 deal, so it really depends on what set of 2 years we’re talking about). That brings us down to 4 games over 2 years to work with, 3 of which we have to have at home, which leaves us an option. Schedule one more home and home, giving us 2 cupcakes (1 each year), or we can just schedule 4 cupcakes (2 each year) for MUCH cheaper, especially considering we’ve been pulling one of those games from 1-AA, where are payments are on the order of hundreds of thousands, instead of over a million, which is what 1-A cupcakes are starting to ask for.

but the real answer is a national championship playoff. Then the OOC games don’t mean quite as much. Maybe the top eight conference champs with four At-Large bids or something (it is always going to always be hard to decide the last seed over the team(s) left out).

On the flip side, that would create a logistical nightmare for administrators and fans alike. Just think about trying to get 100+ players, coaches, cheerleaders, bands and other hangers-on to the first round game in Austin or Norman or somewhere…even a bowl city (you think Rutgers lost a lot!) on short one-week notice. Then, you find out the National Cattlemen’s Association (or the Gay and Lesbian Society…. I know some of you guys will say that sounds HOT!) is in town for their annual convention so there are no rooms for hundreds of miles.

Then, think about the fans trying to scramble to get hotels, flights, etc. Many fans would have to decide…Do I go to the first round game or take a chance that PSU wins and gets to the second round against USC or FL? I can’t go to two or three playoff games, even if they are at the Beav at a couple hundred $ a pop.

And, if you have “host teams” for the first round or two, then you have to get the stadium staff in gear on pretty short notice. Not to mention the wonderful weather that the Southies may have to play in in Columbus, SC, or AA in December.

Then you have the scholar-athletes at FL, OK, TX (not the Nits) off the books and out of class for another two-three weeks.

Guys, while we’d like to fix it all, let’s be realistic and keep the pressure on Curley to keep getting an Alabama, Nebraska, Notre Dame, etc, for a few years of Home and Homes and put up with two Macs and French Fries…I mean Temples in the off years. Maybe they can eventually coerce Pitt into a 2-1 or 3-2. After all, in the almost 100 PITT-Penn State games, only about 1/3 were played at PSU!

Does anyone know how much $ PSU football brings in during a season (and/or how much they get for each home game)? We keep bringing up the point that we have to pay these teams ~$1 million, and granted that seems like a lot of money (and it is), I was just wondering at how much of a percentage $1 million is compared to what we make on a home game.

And I can’t believe I’m going to write this, because I’ve been bitching about this scheduling thing for years.

1. We all know that football is the lifeblood for the entire athletic department, so wouldn’t Penn State be irresponsible to not maximize its revenue with these extra home games?

2. If the difference between paying Buffalo or Eastern Illinois for a PSU home game is $400,000, and the result in either case is a 98% Penn State victory, what is the real harm in going with the cheaper option outside of the obvious SOS concerns?

3. Each Penn State home game brings in tens of millions of dollars to the local economy. Isn’t scheduling cupcakes in the current fashion the socially responsible thing to do for State College and surrounding areas?

1a.) The PSU administration could assess each student a few extra thousand dollars for an activity fee to fund the athletic dept. or

1b.) A straight tuition hike to make up the athletic dept budget gap. Affordable tuition vs. decent football competition. Hmmmm.

2.) Turn Beaver Stadium into a corporate monkey like so many other sports facilities. Any large irresponsible corporations still out there looking to throw away tens of millions of dollars?

3.) Find a corporate sponsor for OOC games to sweeten the pot.

4.) Whore out your copyrighted logo for license fees on everything from baby rattles to grandpa’s rocking chair. (crap already done!)