Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
How much will Owls pocket on OSU trip?
For 3rd straight year, an early game brings them 7-figure payday
For the second consecutive season, the FAU Owls will receive a lucrative deal to kick off their season against a top-10 opponent as the team travels to Columbus, Ohio, on Saturday for a daunting matchup with the No. 5 Ohio State Buckeyes.
The Owls, who are 27 1⁄2-point underdogs, will receive $1.4 million for playing Ohio State — one of the largest amounts the program has collected in recent years.
“We’ve gotten to the scheduling philosophy where we’re scheduled out at one per year,” FAU athletic director Brian White said of setting up games against top programs.
“I think that’s a good number for us for the foreseeable future. I think we’ll continue with that one opportunity per year, which gives the student-athletes [the opportunity] to play at the highest level.
“If we were to get to a point where we could alter our scheduling philosophy to not just play a road game without any sort of return, I think we would want to alter our scheduling philosophy. But at this point we’re in a situation where I think the one game per year that has been our scheduling philosophy is consistent
with where we are as a program.”
Since taking the position in late 2016, coach Lane Kiffin and the Owls are 0-2 against Power Five conference teams.
Last season, FAU received $1.2 million to open the 2018 campaign on the road against No. 7 Oklahoma and were steamrolled 63-14. In 2017, the Owls were given $1.2 million to play at No. 9 Wisconsin, where they lost 31-14 in the second game of that season.
In upcoming years, the Owls will continue with these big-payout games. The team has scheduled road games against Illinois ($1 million) in 2020 and Clemson ($1.2 million) in 2023.
“I think it depends on where your program is,” Kiffin said. “Let’s say you’re UCF and you’ve established yourself for a couple years of playing really good.
“You [might] say we need one of those games to get us in the playoffs if we go undefeated. Because if you go undefeated otherwise, you’re not going to get in. Well, that’s different.
“If you’re at this level and you haven’t been established for years to where you’ve built up your roster to be a top-20 team, I wouldn’t do it because you can get the same amount of money going to play teams in those conferences that are not the elite teams in the conference.”
Saturday’s game against Ohio State was scheduled before Kiffin’s arrival.
Along with Ohio State, the Owls will also play UCF and Ball State as their FBS nonconference opponents this season.
FAU is set to pay $150,000 for their home game against UCF and it will receive $200,000 for their road matchup against Ball State.