Early-season college football is filled with buy games.
One big program pays another smaller program to come to their place and play. It's a common setup, filled with sizable contracts that help the less-known college sports programs support much of their athletic departments thanks to the nice payday.
It takes on even more note when an upset is brewing, like the one on Saturday with Troy University playing at Clemson University.
The Trojans took a 16-3 lead to the half, and it begs the question: How much is Clemson paying the Trojans for this matchup?
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How much is Clemson paying Troy to play?
Clemson is paying Troy $1.5 million to play on Saturday, Sept. 6, according to public records obtained by The State.
These contracts can be obtained by public records request for any school that is public, like Clemson.
According to The State, Clemson previously paid Louisiana Tech $1.1 million in 2022, Florida Atlantic $1.2 million in 2023 and Appalachian State $1.25 million in 2024. The Tigers won all three of those games by at least four touchdowns.
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Where is Troy University located?
Troy University is located in Troy, Alabama. Their athletic teams are known as the Trojans.
It was founded in 1887 as Troy State Normal School. It's now the flagship university of the Troy University System.
The university has about 14,000 students.
They've gone through a variety of nicknames. They were the Teachers/Bulldogs from 1910-21, then the Trojans from 1922-1930, then the Red Wave from 1931-1972, and they've been the Trojans again since 1973.
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