In addition to more than three hours of free advertising on the SEC Network, Troy made $900,000 for willingly playing the sacrificial lamb in between South Carolina and Tennessee.

No, there was nothing in the game contract that required Troy (0-4) to look so awful. The Sun Belt Conference patsies have been outscored 186-62 in four games this season and probably will be an underdog next week at Louisiana-Monroe.

Meanwhile, Georgia (2-1, 0-1) pocketed a 66-0 win in which they rested Todd Gurley nearly for the entire game.

Of course, with a capacity of 92,746 at Sanford Stadium, the Bulldogs more than made up for that fat paycheck. Assuming a near-capacity crowd of 90,000, UGA only would need to charge $10 per person to recoup that money, well below face value for any seat, and that’s before concessions, parking and memorabilia sales.

Not too many years ago, payouts to small-conference or FCS schools were in the $300,000 range.

Granted, it’s not free to move an entire football team, equipment and other personnel across a state line and stay overnight. But as embarrassing as it is to Troy, football paychecks are the lifeblood of Division I athletic programs, and the Trojans are unlikely to produce many of those during home games this season.

The Bulldogs will give out another big paycheck to Charleston Southern for a Nov. 22 game sandwiched between Auburn and Georgia Tech. And UGA also played Clemson to open the season. But around the SEC, there will be fewer of these games starting in 2016 as teams are required to play at least one power-conference team outside of the eight conference games.