Sacrificial lambs

Saturday, Oct. 8, 2005 | 9:54 a.m.

One of the timeworn traditions at San Diego State has been to load up the nonconference football schedule with top-20 powerhouse opponents, simultaneously filling the program's coffers and -- at least recently -- helping deprive the Aztecs of a winning season.

It is one custom that fourth-year coach Tom Craft would like to see fall by the wayside as he attempts to rebuild a foundering program.

And it is one tradition that UNLV coach Mike Sanford would not like to see revived in Las Vegas.

The lure of these "body-bag" games is a big payday. San Diego State received $450,000 to play at Ohio State three weeks ago (after opening the season by hosting UCLA), and some big-time programs are offering up to $800,000 for smaller schools to play the role of sacrificial lamb, according to UNLV senior associate athletic director Jerry Koloskie.

Craft, 16-25 in his fourth season at SDSU, said he and first-year athletic director Jeff Schemmel are working to balance future nonconference schedules.

"I'm not in favor of it at all," Craft said of playing two or three nonconference "mismatch" games a season. "I think if we played one a year and played some schools we match up against, we could have been in bowl games two of the three last years ... (and) had a winning season probably three years in a row here."

After playing 14th-ranked Tennessee and No. 21 Wisconsin -- both on the road -- last season, UNLV had an easier go of it this nonconference season, hosting Idaho (the Rebels' lone victory) and playing UNR and Utah State on the road. UNLV will host Wisconsin in 2007 and entertain Minnesota the following season as part of what Sanford called an ideal nonconference schedule.

"I think what you like to do is play a balance of maybe a game -- although nothing is guaranteed -- where you could win, at home, a game that should be a 50-50 and then a game where you're seen as an underdog," Sanford said. "That's something we're working on in the future."

Koloskie, who handles most of the football scheduling, said he and athletic director Mike Hamrick are on the same page with Sanford in terms of scheduling.

"When Coach (John) Robinson arrived here, his philosophy was that he had no problem with money games if that's what we needed to do, but he really wanted to try to balance the schedule," Koloskie said. "I think we've somewhat carried on that philosophy, and I know that Mike Hamrick feels the same way."

Thanks to the $2.6 million check it received for Utah's BCS victory over Pitt in last year's Fiesta Bowl and the Mountain West's new TV deal with College Sports TV, the UNLV athletic program turned a $600,000 profit during the last fiscal year. So going on the road for a huge guarantee is not an immediate necessity.

Craft, whose job is rumored to be in jeopardy, said he hopes that when it comes time to evaluate his performance, his supervisors will take into account the sacrifices -- and losses -- his program has rolled up by playing so many "money" games.

"I think they (will)," Craft said. "The most important thing is what our athletic director thinks right now and he really thinks we need to fix the schedule for us to be successful. We've played UCLA four times, at Ohio State twice, at Michigan, at Colorado, Arizona State ... those are the types of things that I think we're all sensitive to."