Oklahoma The Latest to 'Suffer' the Slings and Arrows of Scheduling Woes

Poor Oklahoma. They had an unsigned agreement to have Middle Tennessee State come to Norman for a guarantee game, but instead MTSU took a better offer. The Blue Raiders got a home-and-home with Mississippi State -- the first time an SEC team will play MTSU on the road. Mississippi State agreed to this only because Central Michigan reneged on its visit to Starkville.

Since MTSU pulled out late, Oklahoma was forced to scramble and could only find 1-AA Tennessee-Chattanooga to fill the gap. Something that pissed off Oklahoma AD Joe Castiglione when people then questioned why Oklahoma would play such a game.

Several factors go into making a schedule work, including corresponding dates, availability and the exorbitant amount of money BCS powers like OU are forced to pay I-A teams to play in Norman.

"Let's face it," Castiglione said. "There are some (I-A) schools that just don't want to play you regardless of the opportunity or the offer."

Yes, the opportunity to travel for a road beating with no reciprocal game. Of course, those same BCS teams helped create the market that they then decry. The BCS schools were happy to support the addition of the 12th game that increased the demand. They seek only guarantee home games whenever possible and only against teams they can handle. They happily poach opponents with the increased bids.
Ohio State, for example, will pay Navy $1.4 million for a single game in 2009.

Ohio State's Gene Smith calls the Navy payout a "special situation" and says he doesn't plan to pay that much at least until after 2014 because his schedule is set till then. The Navy payout came because another school pulled out of a contract with Ohio State, leaving the Buckeyes with a hole in their schedule. But Navy had to buy its way out of a contract in order to come. Ohio State's guarantee will in effect cover Navy's buyout as well.

In other words Ohio State got "jammed" by one school on their schedule, so they "jammed" another school to buy Navy.

It's hard to feel too much sympathy for Oklahoma, or any of the BCS schools that "have" to pay huge money for the guarantee games. It's the one time the non-BCS teams actually have any leverage and a position of strength over the BCS schools. Too many of the BCS schools want the extra home games rather than schedule more home-and-home series or even a few two-for-one series. Plus, if the BCS schools still weren't turning a profit on the guarantee games, they wouldn't keep paying the rising prices.