Check, please

"For starters, we have seven conference games," Pastilong said. The Mountaineers play Syracuse, Cincinnati, South Florida and Rutgers at home; Connecticut, Louisville and Pitt on the road.

"There are some teams we consider regulars, like Maryland. So that's eight games," Pastilong said. The Terrapins visit Morgantown Sept. 14.

For the ninth game, Pastilong likes to line up a home-and-home series against a team from a BCS conference. This year, the Mountaineers begin a two-game set against Mississippi State of the SEC.

"For No. 10, we try to schedule a two-for-one school if we can," he said. This year, WVU will play at East Carolina in the start of a two-and-two series.

Game No. 11 is a one-game deal; in other words, a small I-A or a I-AA team that's willing to travel. This season's rent-a-foe is Eastern Washington of the I-AA Big Sky Conference.

The 12th opponent depends upon whether WVU needs another home game or if there's a matchup that's too good to pass up. This year, the Mountaineers open against in-state rival Marshall.

"It's a challenge," Pastilong said of the schedule-making process. "Supply and demand dictates a lot of it."

Pastilong would love to re-start the series against Penn State, which has been on hiatus since 1992. The two sides have talked, but so far cannot come to terms.

"We'd expect a home-and-home deal," Pastilong said.

To plug a hole in Pitt's football schedule, athletic director Jeff Long had to come up with a $75,000 birthday present.

At least it didn't have to be gift-wrapped. A plain, old envelope -- containing a big, fat check -- did the trick.

As winter crept in last year, Long still had an empty slot on the 2006 schedule. Time was running short. One afternoon, Long got a call from a guy he had worked with at North Carolina State. They both knew Les Robinson, the former athletic director at N.C. State, who now is the athletic director at The Citadel.

Long mentioned Pitt needed an opponent for Sept. 23, 2006. What a coincidence, his pal replied, so did The Citadel.

Five or 10 years ago, Long might not have considered negotiating with a Division I-AA school. However, scheduling has gotten more difficult for teams in the power conferences -- the Big Ten, Big 12, Atlantic Coast, Pacific-10, Southeastern and Big East. Smaller schools are willing to help ... for a price.

They are called "guaranteed games," meaning the I-AA team will receive a certain amount of cash simply for showing up -- no matter which team wins, whether or not the game is televised, or how many fans are in the seats.

The next thing he knew, Long was on the phone with Robinson. The Citadel was willing to travel to Pittsburgh. The date was a gimme. Eager to close the deal, Long offered The Citadel a $275,000 guaranteed payout.

That all sounded pretty good to Robinson. There was just one thing, he said, that troubled him: Sept. 23 will be his 62nd birthday.

No problem, Long said. In fact, there will be a cake waiting in the press box.

Robinson paused.

"I appreciate that," Robinson said. "The problem is, I'm bringing a lot of people to my party. So I need a little bit more money in the guarantee."

Long raised the offer to $350,000.

Done deal.

"An extra $75,000 for making me work on my birthday," Robinson said last week. "(Long) got a laugh out of that, and we got a little more money, so it worked out good for both of us."

Things do not always go so smoothly when it comes to filling out a schedule.

Game contracts usually are brokered years in advance. Conferences add and drop members. Coaches beg for open dates. Fans demand marquee-name opponents.

"Everyone assumes that (setting the schedule) just happens," Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said. "But after having conversations about it with Jeff, I can see that it's a nightmare."

The task got more challenging this year, when the NCAA permanently expanded the regular season to 12 games. The standard season had been 11 games since 1971.

"Why are we playing 12 games? Let's not kid ourselves," West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez said. "It's not for the excitement of college football. It's to make more money."

For West Virginia and Pitt, one home game generates between $1.5 million and $2 million for the athletic department.

With eight members, the Big East is the smallest of the BCS leagues. Some years, Pitt has just three Big East home games. That means Long must set up five nonconference games every season -- and at least three of them had better be at Heinz Field, to maximize the cash flow.

But to make money, Long must spend money.

"The bidding is more intense now," Long said. "Price-gouging is out there. I would say that $300,000 is not exorbitant. In fact, for a lot of those I-AA schools, that's the low end. Some schools with huge stadiums are really driving the market upward. For those with 50,000- and 60,000-seat stadiums, like ourselves, it's hard to compete just because we can't generate the same revenue."

Penn State pulls in more than $4 million on a typical football Saturday. With room for 107,282 fans, Beaver Stadium in the second-largest college venue in the country.

The Nittany Lions play eight Big Ten games a year, leaving four dates for athletic director Tim Curley to fill. One of them comes during a conference bye week that usually falls in the latter half of the season.

"That becomes a little bit challenging, as it limits you on some of the opponents you can have," Curley said. "We've had a lot of discussions about moving the conference schedule to go into the Thanksgiving weekend, but so far there hasn't been enough support to do that."

Curley's top priority is to set seven or eight home games a year. He tries to sprinkle in intersectional foes -- Syracuse, Alabama, Nebraska, Notre Dame -- but those types of schools always insist on home-and-home series.

The Big Ten and Mid-American conferences recently agreed to act as scheduling buddies. Two Big Ten teams, Indiana and Minnesota, agreed to play at MAC venues this year -- a sign the MAC is gaining leverage in negotiations.

"We have not had as much success with that, because a lot of MAC schools want to go with 2-for-1 arrangements," Curley said. "We're more interested in (playing) just a single game."

The cost of netting a one-and-done contract is rising fast. Curley believes it won't be long before some lucky school nabs the first million-dollar payout.

"It might already have happened," Curley said.

Robinson has had preliminary discussions with West Virginia officials about bringing The Citadel to Mountaineer Field. He has not yet spoken with Penn State -- but he'd like to.

"The bigger the stadium, the more money we get," Robinson said with a laugh.

This season, Troy State will get $750,000 to play at Nebraska. Buffalo broke its contract to play West Virginia to accept a bigger payday from Auburn. To fill the open date, WVU gave a $450,000 deal to Eastern Washington.

Last year, Youngstown State got $250,000 to play Pitt at Heinz Field. YSU squeezed every dollar it could out of the game, busing to and from Pittsburgh on the day of the game to hold the line on travel expenses.

Next month, Youngstown State will face Penn State, its first Big Ten opponent. Curley lined up YSU -- the Lions' first I-AA foe since 1984 -- after Louisiana Tech backed out of its contract with Penn State due to scheduling conflicts in the realigned Western Athletic Conference.

Youngstown State will receive $350,000 for the overnight trip to Happy Valley. YSU also announced it will open its 2007 and '08 seasons against Ohio State in Columbus, and collect $650,000 for each game.

"The 12th game for Division I, obviously, has helped us," Youngstown State athletic director Ron Strollo said. "We going to be smart about it. We've got to be able to make a dollar on it. It's got to help our recruiting. And we try to keep it close, so our fans can get there."

In a twist, Youngstown State, a I-AA program, also pays a smaller, local school for a game. In 11 days, the Penguins will open their season against Division II Slippery Rock.

This will be the fourth year in a row The Rock has played at Youngstown. The two schools are just 31 miles apart, so the games are well-attended, even if they are not very competitive. Youngstown State has won the previous three by an average score of 41-13.

"Basically, we're paying them $35,000 to come here and lose to us," Youngstown State spokesman Trevor Parks said.

Division I-AA decides its champion with a postseason playoff, and any loss -- whether against a I-A powerhouse or a Division II doormat -- hurts a team's chances to qualify. But many schools are willing to absorb a beating to reap financial gains.

The six teams that make up the Southland Conference don't mind being well-paid punching bags. Of the league's 30 nonconference games this season, 12 are against Division I-A teams.

Sam Houston State will take on defending national champ Texas -- in Austin, of course. Stephen F. Austin will play at Arizona. Texas State travels to Kentucky.

Northwestern State opens with back-to-back games against Big 12 teams, Kansas and Baylor. In November, it will go on the road again to face Mississippi State.

"That's a big challenge," Northwestern State coach Scott Stoker said. "We only have seven seniors. Our kids are young and fearless. When they hit that field at Kansas, we hope they retain that attitude."

If not, perhaps the nearly $1 million Northwestern State will gain from guarantees will salve the wounds.

Then again, the payouts aren't always jackpots.

Last year, Montana backed out of a home game against a Division II team, Central Washington, and accepted $450,000 for a road game against Oregon.

Montana paid a $50,000 cancellation fee to Central Washington. It cost about $100,000 to fly the Grizzles to Oregon, feed them and put them up in hotel rooms.

After expenses, Montana pocketed about $300,000 -- the same amount it would have generated from its home game against Central Washington. At least the Grizzlies almost certainly would have picked up a win. Instead, Montana was whupped, 47-14, by Oregon.

Montana officials learned their lesson ... sort of.

When Iowa was stuck without an opening-day opponent this season, it offered the Grizzlies $400,000 to come to Iowa City. Montana at first refused, but ultimately caved in when Iowa sweetened the pot to $650,000.

Nonconference opponents

Pitt

2006: Virginia, Michigan State, The Citadel (I-AA), Toledo, at Central Florida

2007: Bowling Green, Grambling (I-AA), at Michigan State, at Virginia, Navy

2008: Central Florida, Iowa, at Navy, at Notre Dame, one game to be announced

2009: Central Florida, Navy, at North Carolina State, Notre Dame, one game TBA

2010: Miami, Clemson, Notre Dame, two games TBA

2011: at Iowa, at Clemson, Notre Dame, at Navy, one game TBA

Penn State

2006: Akron, at Notre Dame, Youngstown State (I-AA), Temple

2007: Florida International, Notre Dame, Buffalo, at Temple

2008: Central Florida, at Syracuse, two games TBA

2009: Syracuse, Temple, two games TBA

2010: at Alabama, three games TBA

2011: Alabama, three games TBA

West Virginia

2006: Marshall, Eastern Washington (I-AA), Maryland, at East Carolina, at Mississippi State

2007: Ball State, at Marshall, Mississippi State, at Maryland, East Carolina

2008: at Auburn, Marshall, Villanova (I-AA), at East Carolina, one game TBA

2009: Auburn, Marshall (site TBA), East Carolina, two games TBA

2010: at Marshall, Maryland, Michigan State, two games TBA

2011: Marshall, at Maryland, at Michigan State, two games TBA

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