What's behind Kent State's rugged schedule that includes Georgia, Oklahoma and Washington?

Kent State’s Sean Lewis is one of 65 head coaches that vote in the USA Today Sports AFCA poll.

Those votes — especially early in the season — could be based largely on checking out scores and catching highlights for many of the coaches.

Lewis, though, will have an up-close perspective on three top 25 teams by the end of the day Saturday.

More: Kent State coach: Georgia football with 'greatest collection of talent ever assembled'

Also: Is this Georgia football team better than the national champion Bulldogs of 2021?

His Mid-American Conference football team will have gone into three of their stadiums.

After flying to Seattle for a Sept. 3 game at Washington and traveling to Norman for a Sept. 10 game against Oklahoma, the Golden Flashes visit Sanford Stadium in Athens on Saturday for a 12 p.m. game against No. 1 Georgia.

“It gives me a nice advantage with the perspective that I have,” Lewis, who was co-offensive coordinator in 2016 at Syracuse when it went up against a Clemson team that won the national title, said Monday. “I have a pretty accurate description of who belongs where. I’ve got to see quite a few of them firsthand live and up close.”

Kent State is receiving $5.2 million for the three games against Power Five conference schools, the most of any school nationally, according to USA Today Sports.

During his career at Kent State, quarterback Dustin Crum went on the road and played in games at Texas A&M, Iowa, Maryland, Auburn, Arizona State, Wisconsin and Penn State. Crum signed a free agent NFL contract with the Chiefs and is now on the practice squad with Ottawa in the CFL.

“I think it just tests you mentally a little bit,” Crum, who threw for 7,420 passing yards and rushed for 2,071 in his career, told the Banner-Herald at the NFL combine. “You have to have some mental toughness. You’re going to face adversity in those games. It’s going to challenge you in a lot of different ways that you might not normally see in a Group of Five game. You have to be especially sharp in those games and be a calming voice for your team. At Kent State, we have a good, supportive fan base but obviously we’re not playing in front of 110,000 every week.”

Lewis was hired in January of 2018 by athletic director Joel Nielsen whose time in that position ended June 30, 2021. He was replaced by Randale Richmond.

“I’ve got tremendous input now with our new AD in the direction that we’re headed for future scheduling,” Lewis said. “We’re looking to put our kids in the best spot, in the best position to be successful. Ultimately, that’s the main goal, right?”

Playing three top 25 teams — No. 1 Georgia, No. 6 Oklahoma and No. 24 Washington — in the first four games seems less than ideal for a Group of Five program, but it goes a long way towards the budget.

More: Is this Georgia football team better than the national champion Bulldogs of 2021?

Kent State reported $27.8 million in revenue in fiscal year 2020 with guarantees making up $4.66 million or 17 percent of that, according to a financial database compiled by the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics and the Syracuse University Newhouse School of Public Communications.

“It’s not insignificant when you look at roughly a $30 million budget," Nielsen told USA TODAY Sports in 2019. "So (guarantee games were) part of our conversations with university administration when we’re projecting a five-year budget and what can be done to enhance revenues and control expenses.”

Student fees were $13.45 million or 48 percent and institutional/government support was $4.72 million or 17 percent of revenues. The school had $28.94 million in expenses in the 2020 fiscal year.

The $1.9 million that Kent State is getting for the Georgia game is tied for the third biggest payout this season behind only the $1.92 million Louisiana-Monroe got for its game at Alabama last week and $1.91 million Utah State received for its Sept. 3 game at Alabama. Hawaii-Michigan Sept. 10, California-Notre Dame last Saturday and Western Kentucky-Auburn Nov. 19 are also $1.9 million payouts.

Kent State has games next season at UCF and Arkansas for $2.5 million in total guarantees with a spot still to fill, has games with Pitt, Tennessee, and Penn State in 2024 for $4.05 million and a 2026 game with Ohio State for $1.9 million, according to the Record-Courier in Kent, which says the school seems set on playing three Power Five games a year.

"Ideally, we'd like to get away from that model," Richmond told the publication. "However, there are some sizable financial hurdles we'd have to overcome."

Kent State lost to Washington 45-20 and to Oklahoma 33-3 before crushing Long Island, an FCS program. 63-10 on Saturday. Kent State went from Seattle to Tulsa to practice during the Oklahoma game week rather than return to northeast Ohio.

“Man, they can score points and they’re aggressive as hell,” Iowa offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz, whose team beat Kent State 30-7 last season in Iowa City, said this summer. “They will not be intimidated walking in there. …They’re not going to be scared. That impressed me just the way they carried themselves.”

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Kent State is facing three teams currently ranked in the top 25