(Fine, since a few of you have reached out to me, “sense” is not an error! Have to spend money to make money and WVU was doing that in the Big East before the Big 12, where it stands to make more than ever before. That, in theory, makes sense. Do I make sense?)

USA Today took us inside the college sports financials again this week and — you’ll never believe it — business has never been better in sports!

You can look at these things a whole bunch of different ways, and USA Today gives a bunch of angles to peruse in its main bar, but we’re all here for the WVU perspective.

Understanding private schools are excluded — so think Syracuse and TCU for what follows — WVU put together a pretty nice ledger in the 2011-12 year, its last in the Big East. There’s a net loss, of course, because of various expenses and the bill paid for exiting the conference for the Big 12, but among all the schools, the Mountaineers were No. 28 in revenue.

That would be second in the Big East, behind only Louisville … but also probably Syracuse.

Going forward, WVU’s losses will diminish and the revenue will jump, so the overall numbers will change as the school gets cozy in the Southwest. Still, last year’s numbers would rank behind titans Texas and Oklahoma and not terribly far from Oklahoma State in the Big 12 … but, again, I’d wonder if TCU is up there.

I think we can agree revenue and expenses are more critical in the Big 12 than the Big East, so you probably take comfort in knowing WVU entered the Big 12 in the appropriate frame of mind.