Costly downside of guarantee games for Power Five emerges early in

A span of less than 30 minutes Saturday night again revealed the potential downside of Power Five conference schools paying big appearance guarantees to non-conference football opponents for games intended to pad win totals and home attendance. In a rapid sequence of games decided in the fourth quarter, Illinois and Georgia Tech lost to Group of Five teams they are each paying at least $1 million — and 21st-ranked Washington fell to an FCS team it is paying $675,000, one of the largest payments this season to an FCS team. It was the culmination of a weekend in which three other FCS teams recorded road victories over FBS teams that are providing guarantees. Among those was another Power Five team — Vanderbilt — losing to East Tennessee State in a game that was part two-game series, both in Nashville. For this one, ETSU is set to collect $415,000 on top of the 60 hotel rooms it received under the game contract. In the series’ first game, in 2019, Vandy beat ETSU 38-0. Also on Saturday, Connecticut lost to Holy Cross, which will receive $425,000. On Friday, Colorado State lost to South Dakota State, which will is due $450,000. Late Saturday night, another Group of Five team, Nevada, won at California in the third of a three-game series that involved two matchups in Berkeley and $400,000 payouts to Nevada for each. (This year's will help Nevada cover the $25,000 bonus that coach Jay Norvell gets for any win over a Power Five team.)Illinois began its 2021 season, and coach Bret Bielema’s tenure at the school, last weekend with a Big Ten Conference victory over Nebraska. On Saturday night, the Fighting Illini fell behind Texas-San Antonio, 14-0, and trailed by 10 points in the fourth quarter before having a chance to tie or take the lead in the game’s final series. They couldn’t come through, and UTSA left Champaign with a 37-30 win and $1.1 million. (UTSA coach Jeff Traylor left having gained an additional reward — the $25,000 bonus he is due for any regular-season victory over a Power Five team.)It was the second time in as many non-pandemic seasons that Illinois paid a seven-figure guarantee to a team that also walked away with a victory. In 2019, Eastern Michigan allowed a tying touchdown with less than two minutes to play, then drove for a field goal as time expired. Georgia Tech’s $1 million payment to Northern Illinois also brought in a team that jumped to a 14-0 lead Saturday night. The Yellow Jackets scored three consecutive touchdowns, including two in the fourth quarter, but NIU went 80 yards for a touchdown with 38 seconds to play, then added a two-point conversion. Like Illinois, Georgia Tech also lost to an opponent it paid in 2019 — The Citadel, an FCS school that received $400,000 and took home a 27-24 overtime win. Washington’s 13-7 loss Saturday night, to Montana, was less dramatic. The Huskies scored only on their first possession, and they were outscored 10-0 in the fourth quarter.


All data is taken from the source: http://usatoday.com
Article Link: https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2021/09/05/college-football-guarantee-games-non-conference-costly-downside/5740321001/


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