Yes

by Mark Schwartz

Created on: July 25, 2009   Last Updated: July 26, 2009

Hail to the Victors! Despite its recent struggles, the University of Michigan is a major college football powerhouse. They are the all-time leader in college football victories, with 872. They are in a BCS conference with eight conference games a year, so they have four non-conference games a year to schedule. When choosing who to schedule, they have to do what's in the best interest of the school. For them, that means a winnable home game, which gets the fans excited, brings in revenue, and (hopefully) doesn't damage their chances for a good bowl game.

While on the surface a choice such as Delaware State doesn't look very sporting, it's actually a beneficial arrangement for both sides. Michigan gets what they want out of the deal: money, excited fans, a probable victory, and some exposure to recruit in the Delaware area in the future. Delaware State gets what they want out of the deal: they receive money from Michigan to play the game, their players get to play in one of the biggest and most storied venues in college football, they will have the box score and highlights from one of their games broadcast nationally (adding to their visibility), and they may even get the chance to shock the college football world with a huge upset victory (remember Appalachian State?).

With so much working well for both sides, it is not difficult to see why this sort of arrangement happens all the time. Just about every team from a BCS conference schedules at least one or two of these winnable home games, for the same reasons Michigan is scheduling this one. There are occasional upsets in these types of games, and many would argue that's what makes college football exciting when a powerhouse team schedules a cupcake team like Delaware State and loses, their whole season could be wrecked. The very lack of a playoff that many people criticize means that a team with an ugly non-conference loss can't likely play itself back into national championship contention.

What then are the downsides to this scheduling ploy, and why don't all teams do it? For many teams, there are out of conference rivalries that take up a non-conference game every year (Florida-Florida State, USC-Notre Dame, etc.). For others, there are the financial realities that make it hard to afford paying a cupcake team to come in every year. For some, there is a need to be recognized on the national stage, and playing difficult non-conference games is one of the best ways to do this. Usually, these are non-BCS conference teams trying to get noticed (Fresno State is a good example). Some of the lower-level BCS conference teams do the same thing. Some schools schedule other major programs in hopes of making a game interesting enough to get on TV, or even to honor past college football traditions (Big 10 teams often schedule Pac 10 teams, giving a nod to the classic Rose Bowl matchup).

For whatever reasons, different schools schedule differently, and they all do what they do because it's in the best interest of the school. Michigan is no different, and for them scheduling Delaware State makes sense.

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