Shatel: NU-UNO? It could help both programs

Sometimes I have this crazy dream. Some men dream about drinking piña coladas with hula girls. I dream about UNO playing a game at Memorial Stadium.

Maybe it's the subliminal message from all of my University of Nebraska at Omaha friends talking about how Trev Alberts ultimately will lead them to Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) status. It could be this riveting nonconference schedule that Bo Pelini inherited. Western Kentucky. Idaho. South Dakota State. Now you know why I'm sleeping.

Anyway, the Jackrabbits will run out of the tunnel Saturday night. It could be, should be, UNO one day.

There are two reasons for this. First, SDSU used to park the bus in Omaha, at 60th and Dodge, not so very long ago. UNO was a contemporary of SDSU's in the North Central Conference. In fact, UNO used to beat the Jackrabbits — and a lot of other folks who have made the trek north to FCS land.

Secondly, and this may be upsetting, but Nebraska won't stop playing FCS schools anytime soon.

Sure, Pelini said this week he would prefer to not play any more FCS schools. Well, I would prefer to drink piña coladas with hula girls. The reality is neither one of us is going to get his wish.

Let's review some of the reasons:

1. One home football game is worth approximately $4 million to dear ol' Nebraska U. NU wants/requires seven home games a season to pay the bills, including meeting the budgets for other sports.

2. For the first four seasons in the Big Ten, NU likely will have eight conference games and four nonconference games. Beginning in 2015, the Big Ten may move to nine league games.

3. NU already has two or three nonconference games set each year through 2016, including home-and-home series with mid-majors Fresno State, Wyoming and Southern Miss. More and more mid-majors are in high demand and now require a home-and-home deal to play BCS schools.

4. Schools like Nevada and Western Kentucky are in high demand, too. So even these lower FBS schools are starting to demand a home-and-home in some cases. Or they'll choose to play Kansas or Illinois rather than Nebraska.

7. Nebraska, as we've said, needs home games. If the Big Ten goes to nine league games, there will be some years that NU will have four home league games and some years it has five. During the years of four home games, NU will need all three nonconference games to be at home to make seven. Which cuts down on the chances of doing a lot of home-and-home series with Fresno or Nevada.

8. NU will need someone to come to Lincoln for one game and no return trip. That's where the FCS schools come in.

Saturday won't be the last time you see an FCS school come out of the tunnel. In fact, there's a good chance NU will fill its hole in the 2011 schedule with an FCS school, according to Jeff Jamrog, NU assistant athletic director for football.

“Every single SEC team is playing an FCS opponent,'' Jamrog said. “In a perfect world, would you rather play Idaho than an FCS team? Yes. But that doesn't always work out. We need the home games. There are some challenges there.''

This is exactly why UNO should strongly consider this move. Sure, the jump to 62 football scholarships wouldn't be cheap. But the market to make money would be ripe. Regional schools like Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State and Missouri will be looking for home games with FCS schools. These pay up to $500,000 a pop. One game could pay a lot of UNO bills.

Of course, the natural would be Huskers-Mavs. You would think/hope that Nebraska would extend a game to its neighbor. State politics might dictate otherwise, but the pressure to do it would be immense. Why not keep Nebraska money in state?

“That would be interesting,'' said Jamrog, a former assistant for UNO coach Pat Behrns. “You'd have to see if it made sense.''

That's a debate for another day. But that day doesn't seem so far-fetched anymore.

Contact the writer:

444-1025, tom.shatel@owh.com

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