Joe Paterno has withstood a lot of things: NFL coaching offers, alumni and booster pressure and, most recently, a broken left leg and two torn ligaments.
But not even he, or Penn State, can resist the temptation to schedule cupcake non-conference opponents. It's way too easy for a program in its position of power.
In college football, the rich need to get richer, even if they have to spend a little, as those pesky mid-majors (i.e. Boise State) continue to crash the BCS party.
And for well-off powers like the Nittany Lions, there's money in the bank to ensure they won't have to leave Happy Valley for a throwaway non-conference opener anytime soon.
The price of tomorrow's win? $475,000 seems to be the going rate.
That's how much Penn State's athletic department is doling out to Florida International, FIU athletic director Pete Garcia said.
Penn State's scheduling powers say it's out of necessity. That it's getting harder to find teams that want to come here to get beat down without a return date guarantee.
"There are not as many teams that actually need that kind of money to support their program, because their programs have moved up and improved," Fran Ganter, the Penn State athletic department official charged with finding opponents, told my Collegian colleague Kevin Horan. "It's just the way things are right now."
There's no doubt this set of circumstances is true. More teams are more competitive than ever, many of which don't want to ruin their chances at a nice bowl game. But it's hard to believe that finding a quality opponent is hard to do, as long as the price is right.
How else can this year's FIU-Notre Dame-Buffalo trifecta be explained?
FIU and Buffalo are two of the worst teams in college football right now. Notre Dame is arguably the most recognized name in the sport. Yet all three appear on this season's schedule, in the same hard-to-schedule time that we live in.
The reasons FIU and Buffalo are playing Penn State this year are fairly simple. FIU, which went winless last season, and Buffalo, which won two games, don't have a chance of much success this season. They will use any money they receive to fund their own athletic departments. Any name recognition is an added bonus.
Notre Dame, though, is in the same category as Penn State as an NCAA power, one that deserves a home-and-home series, in which both teams benefit.
Any risk either team takes at losing will be offset by the rights fees television networks pay to show the game. Notre Dame has a long-term deal with NBC. In Penn State's case, it'll end up with part of the money ABC/ESPN sends the Big Ten as part of the conference and the network's new 10-year agreement.
So if the price is right, good opponents can be found with a home date sacrifice. And I'd bet fans would be willing to give up one laugher against FIU, Youngstown State or Buffalo, for one or two annual marquee matchups against Notre Dame or Alabama.
Because as long as the powers have money, and as long as there's bad teams, matchups like tomorrow's will continue.
"You need to play anyone who wants to play you," FIU coach Mario Cristobal said. "You need to schedule games that place you on a big stage at times."
One year from today: Coastal Carolina.
