The Mountaineers will play a “home” game in the home of the Washington Redskins against the 2004 Football Championship Subdivision national champion Dukes. This is in the i dotting, t crossing phase as the involved parties work out small and standard things, like who gives what if the contract is broken, which is entirely normal.

If and when it is finished, WVU will have filled its schedule for the 2012, 2013 and 2014 seasons. The 2012 schedule had two openings. One goes to Texas Christian and one will go to the Dukes. The addition of JMU goes along with WVU’s scheduling philisophy of including one FCS team.

And, as best as I can tell, that’s where things get a little prickly. A “home” game hours away from home against a FCS opponent?

In short, yes. Get used to this idea. “Home” or neutral games are going to become more frequent. Regular? Probably not, but not rare, either. Always a FCS opponent? No, not always, but never say never. And remember, we went over this in May.

Tim said:

How about BC, ND, Army or Navy in Philly? I love the thought of neutral site games – its like an extra bowl – win or lose the team makes some cash & the fans get to see a cool matchup in a new place.

I can get with any of those, but I can see another angle here. Why does it have to be a big-time opponent? Why, for example, couldn’t Luck pull on some of his connections and get WVU v. Stephen F. Austin at Reliant Stadium? If WVU takes its show on the road and hits the right market, it’ll sell tickets. The game might not sell out that stadium, but that stadium only seeds to sell a certain amount of tickets to begin to make a profit. WVU might get 50,000 for a FCS school and make close to the $2 million it generates at most home games, but a neutral-site game against the FCS team might guarantee as much and more money. And WVU with Luck and Holgorsen and the need to get in that particular area as TCU packs its boxes makes a lot of sense.

That actually happened! Anyhow, pro stadiums are trying to get in on this college thing and colleges are wise to pounce. There’s good money and good exposure opportunities, so why not take it? And in this case, there are bad organizers and good organizers and Russ Potts has a pretty solid reputation. He’s had a pretty solid reputation. Not a bad friend to have for the future, when these deals will become more common.

Logistically, it works for both teams because of fans and alumni in the area. WVU fans won’t want to hear this, but for a staged game like this, Washington, D.C., is palatable for the team and its travel plans. It’s not, for example, Reliant Stadium. And if you’re one of the kids from the metro area who plays for WVU or who is being recruited to play for WVU, this is a nice incentive.

Could the opponent be better? I would answer yes, but only if I thought WVU should have opted for a FBS weakling. I don’t believe in that at all, though. Here’s the very simple truth: WVU has to play a FCS team every year. A lot of schools have to. That. Is. The. Plan. There are economic factors schools literally can’t afford to ignore. No one wants to be held hostage by a FBS school. 

The strength of schedule argument isn’t a strong one, either. In fact, it’s sometimes wrong. There are FCS teams who do more for your schedule than FBS teams. JMU beat Virginia Tech last year. It’s a solid program and it isn’t going to hurt you. WVU destroyed the Dukes in 2004. The Dukes won the national title.

The qualifiable difference between WVU v. JMU and WVU v. Some Scrub From the MAC, CUSA or Sunbelt Conference is negligible. You might get a bump, but not a huge one. Relative to the rest of the country, which is playing FCS teams, it almost doesn’t exist.

Plus, WVU paid a ridiculous ransom to play UNLV last season. It was an awful game that did nothing for WVU but make WVU look silly for paying three-quarters of a million dollars to hammer the Rebels.

The money has people flustered here, too. WVU will get, say, $2.1 million for the game. That’s roughly what it makes for a home game. So, in that view, it isn’t an obvious win for WVU, especially when you consider the travel costs.

But guess how much WVU is paying JMU … $0.00. In essence, WVU makes, I would guess, $250,000 because it’s not paying the opponent that amount — or whatever amount — in this case. It’s not a terribly big number, but it matters and when you think of that when you think of the $2.1 millionish guaranteed, it helps you swallow.

The big issue I anticipate is how this game would factor into 2012 season tickets. I don’t have an answer on that yet because no one can talk about it and some haven’t even heard about it. Also, I forgot to ask someone who may have known. My hunch, though, is WVU will sell a six-game package next season. I doubt the JMU game would be forced upon people and I suspect season ticket holders would get priority for buying tickets to the JMU game.