.Northern Illinois stunned No. 5 Notre Dame final weekend on a last-second field goal to scratch university football's very first huge trouble of 2024. For the Huskies, it's a win they'll be actually commemorating for a long times ahead. For the Combating Irish, it is actually a season-crusher. To shed the home opener to a little university coming from a greatly inferior conference was a humiliation for Notre Dame.Especially since they paid NIU $1.4 million to accomplish it.This sparkles an illumination on one of the lengthiest and also very most pricey customs in college volleyball: assurance games. They're also phoned "amount of money games," "payday video games," or, as I just like to contact them, "buy full weeks." An expensive (and also risky) traditionFor decades, in the very first handful of weeks of the time, major college football organizations have actually spent smaller sized institutions to come to play all of them in their house.In Week 1 alone, more than $35 million was actually devoted all over a minimum of 55 guarantee games, according to Front end Office Sports. Alabama created the largest inspection to its rival, Western Kentucky, for an immense $1.9 thousand. WKU dropped that game 63-- 0, but they probably struck the count on the bus flight home and probably will not reconsider it.In Week 2, three colleges-- Western side Michigan, Middle Tennessee, as well as Utah Condition-- received payouts bigger than NIU's $1.4 thousand. They shed through a consolidated score of 156-- 3, yet they took home an overall of $4.85 thousand in the process.It's generally a deal for both crews. The little universities get an income, the big institutions obtain an additional home game to milk gameday earnings. The tiny institution gets to use the huge stage and also obtain national direct exposure, the major one obtains a dish on the schedule to start the year in a sport without any preseason. Therefore all's properly and excellent until the lower crew makes a decision to present out and also draw the upset.