Undaunted by recent results against Football Bowl Subdivision teams, Savannah State will continue to pit its football team against the top programs in the nation.
Athletics director Sterling Steward said the Tigers will meet the Miami Hurricanes next season in Miami on Sept. 21.
“We both had a common date to fill, and it was just a matter of us reaching out and agreeing on an amount,” said Steward, whose Tigers will earn $375,000 for the outing.
Last season, SSU was beaten by Oklahoma State 84-0 in the opener in Stillwater, Okla. A week later, the Tigers took a 55-0 drubbing from Florida State in a game stopped midway through the third quarter because of lightning.
SSU might have left its first two games as an 0-2 team, but the Tigers also left with a fatter wallet, pocketing $860,000 on guarantees from the two games.
The paydays netted $660,000 because the Tigers had a game with Northern Iowa originally scheduled for the day of the Florida State game and had to pay $200,000 to get out of the contract.
But the money goes a long way for a school with an athletics budget of $5.1 million.
It’s a practice of many FCS schools, looking for additional revenue for their athletic programs. Georgia Southern played Georgia in Athens this season for $475,000. The Eagles played Alabama last season.
“It’s an opportunity to take your players to some of the best venues in the country and let them match up,” SSU coach Steve Davenport said. “Kids who are competitors like this opportunity.”
The downside is FCS program are at a disadvantage before the coin flip. Schools in the Football Bowl Subdivision play with 85 scholarship players. FCS schools play with a maximum of 63 scholarships.
“(Playing top FBS teams) obviously beats you up, and it can be an ego crusher,” Davenport said. “But the bottom line for your program is how you do against your conference.”
Miami finished the 2012 season 7-5, 5-3 in the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Coastal Division. The Hurricanes earned the right to play Florida State in the ACC championship game but self imposed a postseason ban for a second straight year in hopes of lessening NCAA sanctions that may come from an inquiry into a booster’s payments and gifts to players.
SSU was 1-10 last season, beating only NAIA Edward Waters. The Tigers have had three straight 1-10 seasons and haven’t had a winning season since 1998.
SSU will open the 2013 season on Aug. 31 against Georgia Southern at Paulson Stadium in Statesboro.