Fans of ESPN’s College GameDay may have heard the talking heads crucifying LSU for its weak out-of-conference schedule this year. The truth is, making these schedules can be quite a fight.Lately, even more obstacles have arisen with out-of-conference opponents now demanding more money than ever to play.Contracts for last season’s top-10 BCS schools show the average pay-out for non-conference opponents increased from $320,144 to $456,277 between 2005 and 2007, according to a Bloomberg report. Pay-outs increased 43 percent over the past five years.LSU paid non-conference opponent Appalachian State $750,000 to travel to Tiger Stadium for the season opener Aug. 30. Last year Michigan paid Appalachian State $400,000 to open their season at Michigan Stadium, a game Michigan lost.In 2005, LSU paid North Texas $500,000 to play in Tiger Stadium. This season the pay-out for North Texas is $750,000.The pay-outs for the larger schools are usually smaller if they are willing to play a return game at the non-conference team’s stadium, called a home-and-home.Southeastern Conference teams play four non-conference games a year along with the set conference schedule. Non-conference games are usually scheduled about six or seven years in advance.LSU is paying $2.9 million for its four non-conference opponents this season, the most spent by a Division-I school, according to an Aug. 24 article by the Des Moines Register.LSU Senior Associate Athletic Director Verge Ausberry, Athletic Director Joe Alleva and football coach Les Miles have the daunting task of scheduling an out-of-conference schedule that will appease both fans and critics.”They know we’ve got to pay it,” Ausberry said. “That’s just the market value right now. You have teams now paying up to $1 million. [Out-of-conference opponents] go to the highest bidder. LSU is a big school in a big conference, and with the TV contract that just came out, everyone knows how much we can afford.”The SEC and ESPN recently inked a 15-year deal worth more than $2 billion for televising sporting events.”We are LSU, one of the top programs in the nation,” Ausberry said. “We’ve got the highest-paid coach in the nation in the best conference in the country. We’re going to be in the $750,000 and higher bracket. It goes up every day.”Rick Villarreal, athletic director at North Texas, said BCS schools in the major conferences across the board generate a lot of dollars and are willing to pay more money to non-conference opponents.”Schools that are in the BCS get large pay-outs from the conference, as well as big attendance numbers,” Villarreal said. “Their pay to go and play at their place is higher than other teams in other conferences. A lot of times [other teams] play a home-and-home whereas an LSU might not do that.”Steve Dennis, athletic director at Troy, said the pay-outs are crucial for non-conference opponents because the money is used to fund a large part of their academic program.”[SEC] revenues have gone up, especially with the SEC signing a TV contract,” Dennis said. “As those things go up, it’s important for us. It finances not only our football program but a lot of other sports.”Ausberry said there are several factors in the price negotiation process, including travel.”We throw some numbers out there and try to work out the cost,” Ausberry said. “We’ve got to make it work for them too. If it doesn’t work for them, they’re not going to play you. Sometimes it’s a good fit, sometimes it’s not.”Ausberry said there are also several factors that go into selecting a non-conference opponent.”Our philosophy at LSU is to schedule one BCS opponent a year and three bye wins,” Ausberry said. “I want to play that [BCS opponent] earlier in the year, usually the second game. It gives you a little leeway to get you ready for conference play.”Ausberry, a former linebacker at LSU, said his playing experience helps in scheduling teams.”I played at LSU, so I know not to schedule a game between Florida and Tennessee,” Ausberry said. “I know what’s best for the team and the players; I know what it takes to go through the SEC.”Although it may be a goal, LSU does not have a BCS opponent on the non-conference schedule this year, something commentators have noticed.”Over the years, we’ve dropped some teams and got caught moving some teams around, so now we’re trying to fill in some gaps,” Ausberry said. “We were supposed to play Appalachian State next year, but I moved them up to this year so we could fit in the Washington game [next year].”But what the College GameDay crew says makes no difference to Ausberry.”I don’t worry about what the people on ESPN say,” Ausberry said. “You have to control what you do on the field. I have played this game; I played against some of those guys. They’re going to say what they’re going to say. They say about the SEC primarily that we don’t play much outside the Mason-Dixon Line, but we are the best conference in football. We have nothing to prove to anybody.”While some critics continue to downgrade the Tigers’ non-conference schedule this season, Ausberry doesn’t care.”If you win the conference games and do what you’re supposed to do it doesn’t make a difference,” Ausberry said.Some non-conference games already scheduled that LSU fans can look forward to include: Washington in 2009(away) and 2012(home), Arizona State in 2015(home) and 2016(away), NC State in 2017 and 2020 and Oklahoma in 2018 and 2019.—-Contact Tyler Harvey at [email protected]