Texas A&M, Nebraska, Notre Dame paid Sun Belt teams $4.173 million combined in defeats

The Sun Belt dominated in their Power 5 victories during Week 2, knocking off three teams (two of which were ranked) on their home turf. In total, Appalachian State, Georgia Southern and Marshall accrued $4.173 million between the three major upsets.

Called guaranteed games, it offers mid-major conference schools a chance to offset any costs regarding the athletic budget for that specific sport. Most teams pay Group of Five conferences a ballpark of $1 million, give or take, to essentially chalk a W in the win column against a lesser opponent. As we found out on Saturday, that’s not always guaranteed.

Here is what each program paid to its respective Sun Belt opponent:

Texas A&M paid Appalachian State: $1.5 million

Nebraska paid Georgia Southern: $1.423 million

Notre Dame paid Marshall: $1.25 million

Nebraska was down right outplayed by Georgia Southern. Eagles quarterback Kyle Vantrease passed for 409 yards against the Cornhuskers while allowing 233 yards on the ground. Getting themselves in a shootout, Casey Thompson and the Nebraska offense couldn’t keep up and the Cornhuskers fell to 1-2 on the young season.

The poor showing cost former head coach Scott Frost his job, and associate head coach Mickey Joseph will serve as the interim headman for the remainder of the season.

Appalachian State out-possessed the Aggies nearly 40 minutes to 20 on offense. Keeping Haynes King and the Texas A&M offense off the field kept the game low-scoring enough for the Mountaineers to take advantage and walk out of College Station with a victory.

While Appalachian State has proven it can win in big moments over the past few seasons, and Nebraska seems to be a ship ready to sink as the season progress, the biggest surprise of the weekend came when Notre Dame – a preseason Top 5 team – lost to Marshall 26-21 in South Bend.

Marcus Freeman remains winless as headman of the Fighting Irish, and 0-3 as a head coach. With games against North Carolina, BYU, Clemson and USC still on the docket for Notre Dame, Freeman’s first season could be a long one in 2022.