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LOGAN - The payday for playing Oklahoma: $500,000.
The experience for the players: priceless.
Utah State athletic director Randy Spetman has seen the impact of so-called body-bag games from both sides.
As the person most responsible for the athletic department's bottom line, Spetman appreciates the huge paycheck that Oklahoma will write Utah State for traveling to Norman on Saturday and - if the oddsmakers are correct - losing by seven touchdowns.
As a former player at Air Force, however, Spetman has experienced the nonfinancial benefits of playing the nation's best teams in some of college football's most palatial settings.
In the mid-1970s, Spetman was a cadet when the Falcons' list of nonconference opponents included Penn State.
"I ran into John Cappelletti a few times," said Spetman, "and he won the Heisman Trophy. . . . I'll remember that game forever."
After last season, when the Aggies finished 1-11, nearly every departing senior told Spetman that Utah State's 20-0 loss at Arkansas - against Heisman Trophy runner-up Darren McFadden - was a career highlight.
"As a student-athlete, you want to play at the very top level - you want that opportunity," said Spetman, who was also a two-time heavyweight boxing champion at Air Force.
"I don't think our kids are afraid. I think they are looking forward to it. I think they are looking forward to a great experience. . . . You go, give it your best shot and see how it ends up - just like Appalachian State did."
If Utah State upsets Oklahoma, it would be as shocking as Appalachian State's stunning victory two weeks ago at Michigan.
Since 1960, the Aggies are 1-40 against Top 25 teams, including 0-33 on the road, where their average margin of defeat is 32.6 points. In fact, Utah State has stayed within 10 points only twice - both times at BYU in the early 1980s.
Therein lies Spetman's predicament.
How does he balance the need to play big-money games, his players' desire to compete against the best teams in the country, the benefit playing those games have on recruiting and his long-suffering program's need for victories?
For an athletic director in the Western Athletic Conference, that is the half-million dollar question.
"We want to keep playing a 'big' game every year - maybe two," Spetman said. "But we want to keep it at that level. . . . We're not going to play three or four, like Utah State has sometimes done in the past. That's too many."
Spetman has added Southern Utah to the schedule in 2009, when other nonleague opponents include Utah, BYU and Texas A&M. Next season, the lineup of nonconference opponents includes Utah, BYU, Oregon and UNLV.
Of course, other WAC schools find themselves with similar scheduling dilemmas.
At Louisiana Tech, first-year coach Derek Dooley took over a program that always plays a murderous nonleague schedule in exchange for big-money guarantees. This season, the list of opponents includes Cal, Ole Miss and LSU.
"It's something we're evaluating internally," Dooley said. "Obviously there are financial issues associated with that. . . . I think things will get better. If we can find the dollars elsewhere, we won't play them."
USU football
Uphill battle
Utah State, which travels to play No. 3 Oklahoma on Saturday, is 0-8 all-time against teams ranked in the top 5 in The Associated Press poll since 1966.
Date Opponent Result
Sept. 24, 1966 No. 4 Nebraska L, 28-7
Oct. 2, 1971 No. 1 Nebraska L. 42-6
Sept. 16, 1972 No. 4 Oklahoma L, 49-0
Sept. 28, 1974 No. 3 Oklahoma L, 72-3
Nov. 24, 1984 No. 1 BYU L, 38-13
Sept. 5, 1987 No. 2 Nebraska L, 56-12
Sept. 3, 1988 No. 2 Nebraska L, 63-13
Nov. 24, 1990 No. 4 BYU L, 45-10
NOTE: Aggies are 1-40 all-time against ranked opponents.
USU at Oklahoma SATURDAY, 1:30 p.m., KJZZ