A winning proposition for Norfolk State

BY ALEX DELANIAN, Star-Ledger Staff

Division 1-AA teams reap benefits when they take on the big boys

It's a win-win situation.

And who knows, you might even win.

Division 1-AA football teams get a pretty good deal when they add a Division 1-A team to their schedule. They receive attention, a chance to compete against the best and a significant payout from the team in question in return for a likely loss.

Norfolk State, a member of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, will receive $265,000 from Rutgers when they play tomorrow, divided between cash, hotel rooms, tickets and other benefits like courtesy tents for alumni.

Now, Appalachian State showed that the rewards can extend much further.

With their win over Michigan two weeks ago, the Mountaineers of Boone, N.C., made two important announcements. The teams in the next tier, now known as the Football Championship Subdivision, are not only less fearsome of the bullies above them -- they're getting better, too.

If Michigan's unexpected loss this year was to Northwestern or Eastern Michigan, it would've been embarrassing. Losing to Appalachian State, however, is historic, and all it cost the Wolverines was a hefty $400,000 to become the butt of every college football joke for the next year. The payouts given to these schools in return for scheduling a game may be in jeopardy if the big names in the former Division 1-A (now the Football Bowl Subdivision) are less inclined to put themselves at risk.

Charlie Cobb, Appalachian State's athletic director, believes an already difficult process will only become more frustrating. He remembers trying to schedule another 1-A team which was offering $300,000 to a less prestigious 1-AA school. He called about five times, offering to play the game for $100,000, but the 1-A team wasn't interested in playing the more dangerous Mountaineers, the two-time defending 1-AA champion.

Norfolk State is adopting a similar attitude. Athletic director Marty Miller said the payout is not an inconsequential amount of money and has a vast impact on his program. The real value, however, comes from pitting his team against a program like Rutgers to see where they stand.

"This is a great opportunity to expose our football team to that level of competition," Miller said. "... (The money) does help our program, but we're going in with the mind-set that we're not going in to lose a ballgame. We're trying to be as competitive as possible."

Rutgers plans to continue scheduling 1-AA opponents even with the payouts rising year by year. Deputy director of athletics Kevin MacConnell said he will continue to make calls for future games but doesn't sense any backtracking from other top programs.

"I wouldn't know if schools are apprehensive after Appalachian State," MacConnell said.

There are certainly no reservations on the other side of the fence -- the experience of playing a 1-A team doesn't have a price tag. Cobb was excited to give his players a chance to play at Michigan's famed Big House in front of 109,000 fans, to give the school band an exciting venue at which to perform and to build the national exposure of his school.

And in the "1-in-100" chance that you win the game, he now knows that the benefits are immeasurable.

"Our university cannot buy the exposure that we've received in the last 10 days," Cobb said.

For a school with a $9.5 million budget for 20 sports, the $400,000 payout has serious impact. It can pay a number of salaries, improve facilities and pave the way for better things in the future. Cobb has received estimates that say by also winning the game and receiving unprecedented media coverage, the school "earned" anywhere from $10 to 20 million.

The top 1-AA schools have become more threatening because scheduling top teams shows recruits that they'll have the chance to play some prominent games, and you can't win without players. Pittsburgh is one of six Big East teams to play a 1-AA school this year. Last week it hosted Grambling State, whose athletic director, Troy Mathieu, said the team is trying to broaden its approach to tougher opponents.

"From our end, it helps with recruiting," Mathieu said. "They (the players) all have visions in high school of playing 1-A football. As the process unwinds, everyone can't go to a 1-A school ... you may have a better chance of getting a quality college football experience at a school our size. One of the tools that we use in recruiting is if you have a desire to play against the big boys, you will get the chance."

MacConnell said the payouts are often in the same range, anywhere from $200,000 to $300,000, depending on travel costs and familiarity between the schools.

Miller has scheduled a rising SEC school, Kentucky, for next season. Cobb's list of recent and future opponents reads like the annual preseason top 25: Michigan, Wake Forest, Auburn, LSU, NC State, Florida, Georgia and Virginia Tech.

The prospect of falling to a 1-AA school may be more likely, but that doesn't make it any easier to stomach. On a conference call Monday, Norfolk State coach Pete Adrian joked that after looking at the Scarlet Knights' game tape, he'd "rather play Michigan."

And considering the money saved and potential ridicule avoided, maybe Rutgers would, too.
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The game will be televised nationally on a pay-per-view basis on ESPN GamePlan and in the New York/New Jersey area on the MSG Network. Fans can hear the game in the Hampton Roads area on WNSB Hot 91.1 FM.