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By Neil Rudel
nrudel@altoonamirror.com
Penn State's game with visiting Kent State today (3:30 p.m., BTN), is in line with the growing national trend of non-conference "buy games," in which the heavyweights shell out more than a $1 million -- sometimes up to $1.5 million -- to smaller programs willing to accept the guarantee with no return engagement.
Some Power-4 teams aren't looking to risk their potential playoff chances by scheduling a difficult non-conference game while the Mid-American Conference teams can use the money for their overall athletic budgets and are willing participants.
Thus, Penn State scheduled UMass for an open date in 2028. When the teams met in 2023, the Nittany Lions won 63-0.
That adds to PSU's non-conference diet of Nevada, Florida International and Villanova in 2025, Marshall, at Temple and Buffalo in 2026, Syracuse, Temple and Delaware in 2027 and Ball State and at Syracuse in '28.
Try to contain your excitement.
The Big Ten calls for nine conference games while the SEC only plays eight. That adds more "buy games" possibilities in the SEC - unless teams embrace a true challenge by scheduling a real peer.
Such as Alabama going to Wisconsin last weekend. Never mind that the Tide rolled, 42-10.
It depends on the philosophy of the program - and its head coach, who in the case of Penn State is pulling the strings.
Ohio State, meanwhile, schedules ambitiously. The Buckeyes played Notre Dame in a home-and-home in 2022-23, played Oregon in 2021 before the Ducks got in the Big Ten and are scheduled to meet Texas in 2025-26 and Alabama in 2007-28.
Buckeye athletic director Ross Bjork told the Associated Press that with the rising costs of paying athletes, schools may assess whether it's better to bring in a big-name opponent rather than a MAC school because of revenue generation.
He estimated anticipated non-conference matchups, along with Big Ten games, can bring in "double, triple and quadruple" what Ohio State makes from hosting lesser teams.
"I think we have to put it under review to see what is the future of those kind of games," Bjork said. "Meaning there's a ceiling on those type of games from a revenue standpoint versus when I look at our projections for a Big Ten opponent."
Then there's the flip side.
Kent State isn't being fair to its program.
In addition to Penn State, the Flashes played at Tennessee last week (71-0) and opened at Pitt (55-24 loss). They even lost to their FCS opponent, Saint Francis (23-17).
You have to wonder how the athletes feel. It's one thing to go against the bluebloods, but now that those bluebloods are being paid - some handsomely - the Kent States of the world are going to see more scores like 71-0. Pretty demoralizing for the "student-athlete."
James Franklin was asked if a 12-game regular season is still realistic in light of the expanded 12-team playoff field.
"It's interesting because whenever anybody wants to get anything done in college football, we say we're doing it for health and wellness to get things passed, rule changes and things like that," he said. "It's hard to say that when we're talking about a regular season ... plus five more games, possible 17-game season depending on how it plays out for the teams that make the national championship. So, yeah, I don't think that's probably the right thing to do, but that's not changing for all the reasons that you could imagine. You're hoping other conferences will go to nine (games). I could actually even see it possibly going to 10 conference games."
Unfortunately, even if that happens, Kent State - or opponents like it - aren't going away from Penn State's schedule anytime soon.
Nitpicking ...
n Safety K.J. Winston, hurt against Bowling Green two weeks ago, is dealing with a "long-term injury" according to Franklin and is out indefinitely. Tough blow for the PSU secondary and Winston, who made a career-high 12 tackles at West Virginia.
n Penn State's offensive line hasn't been overly dominant in the last few years, and yet the Nittany Lions have eight current linemen on active rosters in the NFL. Pretty impressive, but it hasn't translated to the biggest games in the last few years.
n Penn State and Altoona product Kevin Givens, now in his sixth season with San Francisco, made two tackles, a sack and two quarterback hits in last week's game at Minnesota. Givens earned the 49ers' highest pass-rushing grade of the game, according to Pro Football Focus.
n The most interesting Big Ten game on the schedule this weekend is USC at Michigan, two programs that have begun the season trending in opposing directions. Would be nice if Penn State and the Trojans are both unbeaten when they meet at the LA Colesium on Oct. 12.
Rudel can be reached at nrudel@altoonamirror.com.