How about a better picture of the dance team in cheerleader outfits. This courtesy of one of our long-time readers, Tony in Harrisburg that he describes as “a nice pic with the help of a drunken buddy right before the Furman game”. He sent me a link to a list of other game photos. Take a look.
We also got another e-mail (2 in 2 days? A new record?) . James asks:
Why cannot Pitt schedule the weak sisters from the
other major conferences(Kentucky, Indiana, Stanford,
Vandy, Mississippi State, ASU etc.). Even if it is a
home and home schedule, three or four of these would
lead to a more national schedule and better
attendance. I would also think that this sort of
schedule would help recruiting too.
It’s a good question. One I’d like to spend some more time on at a later date. Off the top of my head, part of it is just money. Eveyone wants the home non-cons. Most big schools want/need at least 3 home non-cons out of the 4 or 5. You need at least 1 patsy, preferably 2. That leaves 1 or 2 other games. Pitt this year has road non-cons against ND and USF. Were it not for Furman (a last minute filler because of the defections of VT and Miami) , I’d call Pitt’s non-con fairly respectable. I think next year we have Michigan State at home and Nebraska away.
The other factor is cancelling. Everyone wants to host the first game, that way they can back out if it looks too hard or they can get another home game from a patsy the following year (think Louisville and FSU) with merely a buy out.
I don’t have time right now, but I hope to return to this. Discussion?
UPDATE: Read this article about the payoffs to patsy schools to go somewhere for a game.
Welcome to the backroom of college football, where athletic directors from Troy’s Johnny Williams to Andy Geiger at Ohio State and DeLoss Dodds at Texas struggle to balance department budgets while often bleeding every cent from their major revenue producer. Acting as a booking agent goes with the job description. And scheduling the right mix of so-called money games isn’t to be overlooked, both for the haves and have-nots.
It’s proven invaluable seed money for the Troy program, which 10 years ago generated $250,000 as a Division I-AA program and last season produced almost $3.5 million — $1.6 million in game guarantees — in its third season playing with the big boys. Money has been plowed back into an $18 million stadium project (Movie Gallery handed over $5 million for naming rights), plus another $10 million in facility upgrades for other sports.
It’s part of the reason the NCAA seemingly “forgot” to fix the rule that allowed Pitt to count the Furman game as a win for bowl calculations.
