Nobody wonders why Florida would schedule to play a team like Charleston Southern.
That part is easy: to give the Gators a warm-up game to start the year and to keep their non-conference schedule as risk-free as possible.
After all, one loss can cost them a chance to go to the national championship, and why risk a hard non-conference game when they already play some of the nation's toughest teams in their conference matchups?
But why would a FCS school like Charleston Southern come to Gainesville to play the best team in country, when it is well aware it will most likely get stomped on?
In recent history, few FCS schools have beaten one of the top FBS teams, most noticeably Appalachian State defeating Michigan 34-32 in 2007, so why put your team through the pain of getting routed 70-3?
The main reason these small schools put themselves through the embarrassing losses is the not-so-embarrassing paychecks that come with playing these games.
Charleston Southern is getting paid $450,000 for playing Florida this year.
The Bucs also played Miami ($400,000) last year and will play South Florida ($450,000) later this season, bringing in a total of $1.3 million to the program for three games of getting manhandled.
Charleston Southern coach Jay Mills said he is also hoping to play FSU soon. Another trip to the bank will be needed for that one to deposit another large check from the Seminoles.
The athletic department has some big plans for the money it is receiving for letting these big schools practice on the Bucs.
"The university benefits from (the payouts) with a new athletic facility in the near future," Mills said. "It's going to give every sport their own locker room, it's going to give us an academic resource center for our athletes and it's going to help out the student body of Charleston Southern, so we are very thankful for the opportunity."
These games don't just help out financially.
They also benefit the team's recruiting. Charleston Southern has gotten more media attention this week than it will the rest of the season. It's unlikely that ESPN's First Take would have invited Mills on its show had his team not been playing Florida.
This doesn't mean the Bucs will steal away blue-chip recruits from the Gators, but those high school players who aren't FBS-caliber but still quality players will now have heard the name Charleston Southern and may give it more thought when Mills starts calling.
Also, the state of Florida has the most high school talent in the country and not all of it gets picked up by the big schools. With so many trips to the Sunshine State for these warm-up games, Charleston Southern coaches have plenty of opportunities to make short drives the night before the game to watch some high school games and evaluate possible prospects.
While these games can help bring in players, facing the Gators can provide the Bucs with on-the-field assistance.
Charleston Southern runs an offense similar to Urban Meyer's spread. Watching tapes and reading books can only get you so far when it comes to developing an offense.
What better way to learn how a spread offense should look than playing one of the premier example of it?
This game can serve as a learning tool for Mills to improve how his team runs the spread in the future.
For Florida, this game is just a warm up for the rest of the season, but for Charleston Southern this game is what's building its program.
