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Mississippi State spent big money to get destroyed by Toledo

The Bulldogs paid how much to get blown out by Toledo?

By Andrew Miller

Sep 14, 2024; Starkville, Mississippi, USA; Toledo Rockets players react after defeating the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Bush-Imagn Images
Sep 14, 2024; Starkville, Mississippi, USA; Toledo Rockets players react after defeating the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Bush-Imagn Images / Matt Bush-Imagn Images
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Mississippi State football suffered one of the program's worst losses in recent memory tonight. The Bulldogs got steamrolled 41-17 at home by the Toledo Rockets, and the game was never even close. Toledo was vastly superior.

And for as bad as that loss was, the sports world decided to make it even worse and pour some salt into Mississippi State's wounds.

Mississippi State reportedly paid Toledo $1.2 million to come play in Starkville and lost by 24

After Toledo's demolition of Mississippi State football was complete, sports outlets online made sure to get the word out that the Bulldogs paid big money for their own beatdown. Reportedly, State paid Toledo $1.2 million to come play a one-off game in Starkville.

Obviously the idea was that State was spending that money for a guaranteed win. Yeah, how'd that work out?

Look, buy-games are a regular part of college sports. Power conference programs write big paychecks to Group of 5 and FCS programs to come play a non-conference game that, under normal circumstances, the mid-major will lose by a wide margin. Those mid-major teams gladly agree to these games because the check they receive helps fund their athletic departments that frequently struggle to make it financially.

But sometimes upsets happen. Paying for the game doesn't guarantee a victory. That's especially true when you've got a strong G5 team like Toledo taking on a bad P5 team like Mississippi State. And that's exactly what happened tonight. But it doesn't make it any less embarassing.

Also, who thought paying Toledo $1.2 million to play this game was a good idea? They're too good of a G5 program for Mississippi State of all programs to think they can spend that much for a buy-game. No, a SEC program should never worry about losing these games, and I'm sure it was scheduled at a time where State was unquestionably better.

But if you're going to spend that kind of money for a game, don't spend it to play a team that has actual talent on the roster and competes for conference titles. Drop the bag to beat up on an actual bottom-dweller if you're trying to assure yourself a win. This was just asking for trouble.

As college basketball reporter Jon Rothstein says when hoops programs drop buy-games, this was the ultimate "epitome of brutality."

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