These college football teams paid how much to face smaller schools? Cost of Week 5 buy games

Teams dropped nearly $14 million in buy game guarantees in Week 4 but don't expect too much more of the same this week as conference play starts to get into full swing.

Only four FBS games have publicly available information on payouts to small schools but at least seven others are taking place.

Here's what we know about Week 5 buy games:

South Alabama v. No. 14 LSU: $1.65 million

The No. 14 Tigers actually had four out of conference games on their 2024 schedule (USC, Nicholls State, UCLA and now South Alabama). The USC game was in a neutral venue and organized by an outside organization, so there was no pay-to-play scheduling aspect there. It's unclear how much, if anything, was paid to UCLA but LSU will be paying at least $2.41 million in buy games this year. $1.65 million of it is going to South Alabama alone.

Northern Illinois v. NC State: $850,000

It's slightly surprising to see buy game prices this low but, nevertheless, here we are. The Wolfpack will pay $850,000 for the privilege of playing the Irish Slayers (hoping the same won't happen to them). The only other time these two programs met was in 1997, a 41-14 drubbing by NC State. However, NIU is 4-8 all-time against ACC opponents including wins against Boston College in 2023 and Georgia Tech in 2021, per the AP.

Ball State v. James Madison: $400,000

Yes, the teams that usually get paid big bucks to lose have to buy their own wins too. Though, for James Madison it's making out like a bandit this year. The Dukes were paid $700,000 in Week 4 to drop a 70 burger on North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Now, they'll spend over half of that jackpot on Ball State, who comes into town bracing for a potential similar beatdown.

Massachusetts v. Miami (Ohio): $150,000

Cheap and efficient, that's how Miami (Ohio) must view Saturday's game against UMass. If I were the Minutemen, I'd be a little insulted that my opposition values the team so little. It's almost great bulletin board material. However, they're probably just grateful someone wants to play them - they haven't had a season above .500 since 2010. $150,000 for an easy win is straight out of the college football bargain bin.

Paid guarantee information was not immediately available for the following games as of this publishing:

- Buffalo-UConn
- Holy Cross-Syracuse
- Louisiana-Wake Forest
- Old Dominion-Bowling Green
- Wagner-Florida Atlantic
- Middle Tennessee-Memphis