"It's not disrespectful; it's just they can do it," Holmoe said. "I'm fine with it because it's economically good for us. Going back to South Bend, every fan should do it. We won two of six games, one at home and one there. Was it worth it? I think it was a great opportunity and our kids won't forget that. Chris felt the same way about Michigan. It's good for us and it's good for Utah."

In those cases, money matters, says Barnes.

"It's all about finances. The income allows them to do it," the USU AD said. "It's somewhat difficult to get people into Logan, but we begin chartering our first flight directly to Logan at the end of the month. This will open a new door for us, because teams will no longer have to fly in to Salt Lake and then drive up."

"There's nothing I can do to talk them into playing us in Salt Lake," Hill said. "If you're playing poker and you have no cards, there's nothing I can offer them to make them want to come here. It's because they don't need to."

Solving the puzzle?

Spending mass amounts of energy on scheduling can be a taxing, thankless exercise, especially when there's more than one way to solve the puzzle.

"It's an inaccurate science," Hill said. "You're guessing and trying to put the best games out there in the future ... it's difficult to put the pieces together. But we really do consider our fans when in it comes to playing certain teams."

But making sure each square is in its correct place brings satisfaction to the leaders of football schools in the Beehive State.

"Scheduling is a huge part of your success or failures," Holmoe said. "You have to know what you're doing because it can be costly to make a mistake. A week doesn't go by that I'm not working on the football schedule."

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E-mail: nnewman@desnews.com