Summary: KSU's head football coach Ron Prince used to brag about the Wildcats' tough schedule and playing quality non-conference opponents like Auburn. It looks as if he is now trying to line up cream puffs to pad his record, and is willing to have the school pay $500,000 to do it. The Wichita Eagle scooped the KC Star (below) by nine days on the story. 03-19-2008 K-State looking to drop Fresno BY JEFFREY MARTIN The Wichita Eagle If all goes as coach Ron Prince plans, Fresno State will be dropped from the Sept. 6 slot on Kansas State's 2008 home football schedule, replaced by a Football Championship Subdivision team to be determined. K-State senior associate athletic director Jim Epps, who is handling the athletic department's day-to-day operations after Tim Weiser announced his resignation Feb. 21, said today that discussions between K-State and Fresno State began about three weeks ago. "Ron brought the issue up about seeing if we could divest Fresno and find a (FCS) opponent," Epps said. "So I got a hold of (Fresno State athletic director) Thomas Boeh and said, 'I know it's late, but we want to work with you. We want to see if we can find another opponent.' " According to Epps, deals for home games with Idaho State and Nicholls State fell through. Epps is currently in negotiations with a third FCS (formerly I-AA) school. Epps said his counterpart at that school said he'd know this week if they were able to drop an opponent to "pick up a money game," setting the odds at 50-50. It's going to cost K-State a good amount if the Wildcats are able to break their contract with Fresno State. In a March 13 report in the Fresno Bee, Boeh said the fee would be $500,000. But Epps said Tuesday that if both parties were able to arrange suitable replacements, the amount could be negotiated. "But if Boeh says, 'Keep your money -- we can't find an opponent,' then we're playing," said Epps, who hasn't spoken to Boeh since last week."... This thing has a pulse beat, but it's faint." Right now, the Bulldogs aren't having much luck. "Kansas State expressed interest in not playing," Boeh told the Bee. "Right now, we're exploring options, but it's very late in the process to find schools (with matching openings and the willingness to play Fresno). "We're not going to put ourselves in a disadvantage." The Bulldogs defeated the Wildcats 45-29 in November in Fresno, the second meeting of a three-game deal signed in 2004. Back then, there was speculation K-State would try to back out of the deal. Asked Tuesday about the timeline, Epps said, "The week before we played Fresno, there was a casual conversation between Ron and Tim about getting out of the game. Tim said he was going out to Fresno, and he's said he'd broach the subject (with Boeh). "The following week, the Monday or Tuesday after the game, Tim said we weren't going to do that." On Dec. 17, Epps more or less confirmed those comments to The Eagle: "We asked Ron, 'Do you want to consider an alternate opponent?' He said forget it. So, the schedule is set." Prince could not be reached for comment Tuesday. Epps was asked Tuesday why K-State might want to drop Fresno. "I'd say the obvious -- to moderate the schedule. Fresno isn't chopped liver." But why now? "That's the $64 question," he said.
HOWARD RICHMAN, KC STAR (3/28)
•NEW FOE: No official word on the Fresno State home game that K-State has tried to drop Sept. 6, but Prince made it sound as if he’d prefer to reduce the Wildcats’ degree of difficulty in terms of schedule strength. K-State is seeking to land a I-AA foe to replace Fresno State, which beat the Wildcats in 2004 and 2007.
“We’d always like to play a top-flight team, whether that comes from the I-AA level, or BCS level, non-BCS level,” Prince said. “We know we’re going to play in the Big 12, and those games are tough enough.”
