IU football fantasies

Historically, universities with large football programs have paid universities with struggling programs to play them in the non-conference football season. And this practice still occurs: According to an Aug. 23 New York Times article, the State University of New York at Buffalo will receive $600,000 to play Auburn, and Troy University will receive $750,000 to play the University of Nebraska by the major football programs respectively.\nWith this in mind, and a football team at IU that has struggled greatly in recent seasons, some may wonder whether IU should a) pack its schedule with teams that are perennial losers or b) get some money from teams such as Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State as compensation for the butt-kicking we receive more or less annually. \nIU is in a precarious situation when it is forced to consider whether the football team should be able to pack its non-conference schedule with teams like the aforementioned "easy win" universities. An athletics department ridden with debt has a tendency to put a hamper on the amount of money a team can use to pad its non-conference schedule. And let's be honest: Nicholls State, a team that should not even be competing against a Big Ten school -- that should have been dragged from the field bleeding profusely, carrying various body parts in hand -- came out in IU's second game last season and almost beat the heavy favorites. Nicholls State put up 31 points against the team, and had it not been for a four-touchdown night for Blake Powers and an offense that put up 35 points, IU would have fallen. If this is what we can expect out of IU football, then paying teams to come and play is out of the question. Unfortunately, other Big Ten schools may be able to do so, paying for wins and getting results.\nSo while it would never happen in a trillion years in conference play, we consider that it may be a good route for IU to ask some of the Big Ten power houses for a little pity money. At least that way, the athletics department may be able to crawl its way out of the fiscal dregs as a result of the beatings the football team takes. \nUltimately, however, what matters to students and other members of the IU community is that, come the battle for the Old Oaken Bucket, the team is in position to go to a bowl game. It will not matter if IU bought its wins or was paid for its losses. It won't matter if star players from all the major programs got hurt or were declared ineligible, opening the door for a few more IU wins. It won't matter if Michigan State's bus broke down and the team had to forfeit. It won't even matter if IU has to fly in Antwaan Randle El from Washington, D.C., to throw on his old jersey and win one for the alma mater. A win is a win, and the IU community is ready to see a winner again.