ORONO – It’s something virtually every Division I-AA football player wonders about at one time or another:

“How would I stack up against Division I-A competition?”

The University of Maine will have its chance to get a heaping helping of I-A football Saturday when it takes on Southeastern Conference member Mississippi State at Starkville, Miss.

“You’d see other teams in the [Atlantic 10] conference play a I-A team and you’d always wonder how we’d match up against them, so a lot of people are real excited about being able to play against a I-A team,” said senior wide receiver Christian Pereira.

Head coach Jack Cosgrove and some of the UMaine players have tried to downplay the matchup with the Bulldogs, who are in somewhat of a rebuilding mode – on their level.

“We’ll approach it like we approach any game,” said sophomore quarterback Ron Whitcomb. “We’ll watch film, we’ll plan to win and we’ll go in there thinking that we’re going to win. And we’re going to play hard. After that, we’ll move on to the A-10.”

UMaine athletic director Patrick Nero believes it’s an opportunity the Bears deserve.

“I think that great competitors live for days like this,” Nero said. “I think our guys love the challenge of playing probably the best opponent Maine’s ever played.

“It will be the largest crowd ever to witness a University of Maine athletic event.” Nero said, referring to the 40,000-50,000 fans expected in Wade Stadium at Scott Field.

UMaine hasn’t played a I-A game since a 40-17 loss at Rutgers in 1991.

Cosgrove said the Bears have been businesslike, as usual, during practice this week.

“We’re representing our team, our conference, I-AA, so we do have a little bit riding on this,” Pereira said.

The meeting with Mississippi State stems from UMaine’s need to supplement its income with this kind of lucrative payday. UMaine athletics will receive $350,000 for making the trip to Mississippi State.

The Bears’ travel costs will run in the neighborhood of $50,000, which seemingly would leave a profit of $300,000.

Not exactly, Nero explained.

First, UMaine has only five home games this season, one fewer than in 2003. That means about $50,000 less revenue.

Of the remaining $250,000, the majority will go toward defraying the increased cost of the 63 football scholarship equivalencies that resulted from the 10 percent tuition increase implemented last summer by the University of Maine System.

“Right now, it does kind of coincide with the tuition increase that the University gave us over the summer,” Nero said, explaining how the net proceeds would be used.

The next time, UMaine will likely distribute some of the money throughout the department in an attempt to help reduce overall scholarship costs.

“While it’s a nice financial reward, I really want our kids to play this game and our coaches to experience this game,” he added.

The Bears left Bangor via a charter flight early Friday afternoon.