Sometimes it pays to lose.

The Hornets have started 0-1 each of the last three seasons and that’s exactly how they mapped it out.

The 59-7 loss to the University of Reno was nothing new in a recent trend of blowouts at the hands of bigger programs to start the season. The Hornets lost to Oregon State last season 40-7 and dropped their 2002 opener to UTEP, 42-12.

But there is plenty of wisdom behind the trend of “body bag” games despite their inauspicious results.

The Reno opener paid Sacramento State football $125,000 — enough to pay head coach Steve Mooshagian’s entire yearly salary. They earned $150,000 playing OSU last season and will earn $175,000 in the 2005 opener against Cal. Sac State will receive another big payoff in 2006 when they’ll likely face San Diego St.

Big schools pay for smaller schools to come play cupcake because they need these games and the total cost to them is just a sliver in their total program budget compared to the huge boost it gives a smaller program such as Sac State.

The basketball program follows this practice as well; last season they scheduled Stanford for their first game and this year they will travel to play the University of Michigan in game one.Not all programs need the boost in their budget, and are free from scheduling any automatic losses. Big Sky rivals Montana and Montana State don’t schedule money loses. Fresno State and San Diego State, even with all of their programs’ success, still schedule rough road games as program fundraisers.

“That’s just the state of the CSU system now,” Mooshagian said. “Some teams have one, some have two. Cal State Fullerton was playing three or four ‘body bag’ games.”

Both athletic director Terry Wanless and Mooshagian admitted money was the primary reason these games are played, but both also spoke on many other positives these types of games can bring.

It helps in recruiting players who want to play in a big spotlight and see where they measure up against the best. It does the same for fans, who become more excited at the sight of a big name on the schedule and also want to compare their team to the rest of the nation.

Most importantly though, it readies the team for playing out the rest of a schedule that suddenly looks filled with cupcakes compared to the powerhouse.

When the Hornets play a top-tier team, the whole level of playing is brought to a different height — one which most Hornet players are unaccustomed to having played — where game speed is faster and opponents are bigger and stronger.

Just ask Jermaine O’Neal after he made the move from the bench in Portland to an all-star center in the East — things just seem a lot easier after playing the toughest competition. Last year, after falling hard to OSU, they came back to beat St. Mary’s 69-19 at home. This year, they hope to do the same at home against Southern Utah on Saturday.

Maybe in a few years we’ll be paying them to play sacrificial lamb at Hornet Field.