Millions of dollars are spent in college football to pay coaches, have state-of-the-art facilities and although it’s a NCAA violation… offer ‘incentives’ to entice recruits. I don’t care what anyone says – you know it happens. Why do colleges pump so much money into their football programs? My guess is that they want to win… at all costs.

Does bigger mean better? Evidently not.

It’s pure irony that the current #1 team in the country (Mississippi State University) has one of the lowest football budgets in the SEC and spends the least of all the colleges currently ranked in the AP Top 10. MSU’s football budget is $15.3 million dollars and has the fourth smallest enrollment of the ten ranked teams.

Here’s the breakdown:

Enrollment (approximate):

1. MSU – 20,161
2. FSU – 41,477
3. Ole Miss – 19,431
4. Baylor – 15,616
5. Notre Dame – 12,126
6. Auburn – 25,912
7. Alabama – 34,852
8. Michigan State – 50,085
9. Oregon – 24,548
10. Georgia – 34,538

The Top 10 will change after the dust settle’s from today’s games…. but for now, bigger doesn’t mean better.