The bar has been raised. Now Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference football programs are doing what they can to reach it.

The 2010 season marks the third year since the PSAC welcomed Mercyhurst, Gannon and C.W. Post into the fold and increased the league's maximum allowable full-scholarship equivalent from 25 to the NCAA Division II national limit of 36.

"Everybody's trying to pick it up more," California (Pa.) coach John Luckhardt said. "I know Slippery Rock is having an athletic fundraiser now and other schools are trying similar things.

"I don't know if that happens if these new schools don't come in. They've forced us all to compete."

California offers a total of $663,006 in football athletic grant money, compared to PSAC West bottom feeder Lock Haven's $108,800.

Those dollars pan out to 35.63 full-scholarship equivalencies offered to players by California compared to 7.04 offered by Lock Haven.

"Schools on the lower end of the scholarship dollars have to stay injury-free," Lock Haven coach John Klacik said. "Maybe I can get 22 solid starters on the field, but I'm not going to have the depth of some of these other programs.

"We always need young guys to go in and play, so we're often outmanned by seniors on the other side. Maybe the league should look into a restructuring — put the high scholarship programs in one division, the low ones on the other."

The PSAC has five schools offering the equivalent of at least 20 full scholarships and seven that offer less than 10. Slippery Rock offers 17.76.

"We have started athletic fundraising, but that takes time to get the numbers to where they should be," SRU coach George Mihalik said.

"When it comes to recruiting, people are willing to listen, but ultimately — especially now in today's economy — they're going to go for the best offer."

California offers the most scholarship money in the PSAC West and is atop the conference preseason poll for the fifth straight year. The Vulcans have not lost a PSAC West game in three years and have won three consecutive region championships.

When SRU won its four straight PSAC West titles from 1997-2000, The Rock offered the most scholarships among Western Division teams.

"Money talks," Mihalik said. "If you want to survive anymore, you need resources. Quality coaching helps, but you need talent."

Clarion finished 8-3 last season, narrowly missing a Division II playoff berth, despite offering just 12.18 scholarships.

Golden Eagles coach Jay Foster admitted he's not going to get the caliber of athlete that California attracts.

"We don't even try to go there," Foster said. "I can look at the Mercedes, but the sale's not going through. I'm gonna wind up in a Honda Civic."

Foster said he tries to recruit "good people, good students who will stick around for four years and develop into good football players.

"Programs like Cal get the ready-made product. We have to grow 'em. If we do our homework right, we can get enough good players to win.

"The kids we recruit, Cal doesn't even look at them because Cal believes those kids aren't good enough play there. Our selling point is they can play for us," he added.

Edinboro coach Scott Browning said programs with limited budgets need to be patient in recruiting.

"It never ends. We never stop recruiting," he said. "In Western Pennsylvania, there are more good football players than there are spots to play. It just takes time to find them — or for them to find you."

Recruiting isn't just a competition between PSAC West schools. Programs like Robert Morris, Duquesne and St. Francis enter the mix as well.

"Those schools are recruiting the same kids we are," Mihalik said. "Mercyhurst and Gannon never recruited Western Pennsylvania much when they were in the (Great Lakes Interscholastic Athletic Conference) because they didn't play any games around here.

"Now they want these kids because this is where they play. The recruiting game is much tougher now."

Indiana (Pa.) coach Lou Tepper pointed out that it takes only one opposing school to result in a lost recruit.

"If there's six schools bidding on one kid and we offer that kid a $5,000 scholarship while four others offer him $2,000, we don't get him if the other school offers $10,000," Tepper said.

"With so many college teams in a condensed region like this, you really have to pay attention to how you allocate your scholarship dollars."

The PSAC might well be developing into a league of haves and have-nots.

Mercyhurst coach Marty Schaetzle says it all comes down to the commitment of each school toward its football program.

"The No. 1 team in this league each year is California and that's not by coincidence," he said. "They're no different than a Grand Valley State, Valdosta, Northwest Missouri.

"The maximum is 36. The programs that can get there? More power to them."

<B>West DivisionSchool Full scholarships</B>California (Pa.) 35.63Gannon 35.27Mercyhurst 33.41Indiana (Pa.) 20.85Slippery Rock 17.76Edinboro 15.20Clarion 12.18Lock Haven 7.04<B>East DivisionSchool Full scholarships</B>C.W. Post 33.43Bloomsburg 10.95Shippensburg 7.90West Chester 9.26Cheyney 7.18Kutztown 6.58East Stroudsburg 5.93Millersville 4.94