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After eight freaking months of waiting, College Football Nation will be treated to the best college football teams in the nation playing these teams in the first week: Coastal Carolina, Youngstown ...

Is It Time for College Football to Go on a Diet?

by Lisa Horne (Senior Writer)

50

815 reads

Opinion

August 27, 2008


After eight freaking months of waiting, College Football Nation will be treated to the best college football teams in the nation playing these teams in the first week:

Coastal Carolina, Youngstown State, Maine, Eastern Illinois, Southern Illinois, Northern Colorado, Chattanooga, Eastern Washington, South Dakota State, Delaware, McNeese State, Charleston Southern, Jacksonville State, James Madison, Northern Arizona, Villanova, Tenn.-Martin, Eastern Kentucky, Hofstra, Georgia Southern, Appalachian State, and Western Illinois.

Now you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that these teams are all cupcakes.

After all, if the directional words "Northern," "Southern," "Eastern," or "Western" are part of the school's name (emphasis on the "ern", it's usually a cupcake.

If it's named after a president or has multiple consecutive vowels/consonants and six syllables, it's usually a cupcake.

If it has a hyphenated name, it's always a cupcake.

If it's named after a mountain range, river or has an foreign-sounding name, it's a cupcake.

And heavens to Betsy, if it has a pretty adjective in its name—i.e. "Coastal"—it's a Little Debbie snack cake.

Are we supposed to be impressed with these games?  Are they worth the 40-plus dollars per ticket?  Does anyone really thump their chests after beating Western Carolina 62-0?

The BCS could start a bakery with all these cream puffs—yet no one complains.

Could it be that money has caused BCS teams to schedule these sugary confections to beef up their win totals and land a bowl?  Of course!

Win all three cupcakes, plus four conference games, and your team could be rewarded for its "winning" season.  Congratulations BCS—you have officially wimped out college football.

Of course, scheduling one cupcake isn't good enough for the ACC.

Clemson, Florida State, and Va. Tech (includes probie Western Kentucky) have decided to pig out and feast on two cupcakes.  And they wonder why pundits have called their conference "watered down."

Isn't it demeaning to schedule games out of your division?  Isn't that the equivalent of the Red Sox playing the Little League champs?

Is it really that impressive when you give Mary Poppins State a beatdown of such epic proportions that ESPN will barely mention the game on their College GameDay Show?  What in the name of William and Mary is going on?

The NCAA needs to stop this farce immediately.  Division I-A football is the best collection of football teams in the country, yet some teams are afraid to play all 12, sometimes 13, games against their own peers.

The fact of the matter is that only five schools have not scheduled FCS schools since at least the '70s: Notre Dame, Michigan State, USC, UCLA, and Washington.  Give them a hand—all five of those schools have won at least one National Championship.

They succeeded without benefit of the cupcake.  The cupcake indeed has changed the way football teams operate and destroyed some football fans' logical thought process.

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50 comments Last one added 10 months ago — Leave a Comment

  1. BabyTate 10 months ago

    I have to disagree with you about directional schools being a cupcake. I feel Southern California is pretty tough this year.

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    • Lisa Horne 10 months ago

      lol....true dat....there are exceptions to every rule. Tennessee has a lot of vowels and consonants as well, and they aren't a slouch!

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    • Justin Hokanson 10 months ago

      Zing. Bet Alabama thought La. Monroe was a cupcake.

      It's not like you can play 12 hard teams. I don't see anything wrong with playing some easy teams when youa re also playing LSU, Tennessee, Georgia, and West Virginia. You will prove whether or not you can play with the big boys, you don't need 10 of these games to do that.

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  2. Mitch at sportschatplace.com 10 months ago

    Lisa, while I love the read as usual I have to say that this year we have to give teams the benefit of a doubt because of the addition of the 12th game didn't allow for scheduling. For instance Miami had north texas state (i guess that is directional? but still D-1) and the game was cancelled, it's not like Oklahoma or Ohio State had an opening. I do think that at least 2 of 4 OOC games for BCS conference teams should be from BCS conferences and all games should be D-1.

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    • Lisa Horne 10 months ago

      Northern is directional....when you travel North, you are going North. But if you travel in a Northern direction, it isn't as specific..it's like saying, "you are going north for the most part". It's hard to explain. The "ern" is what I was going after so I'll change that.

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  3. Rob Reyes 10 months ago

    Maine has a football team? I keed...I keed.

    I do have to agree that I would have like to have seen a game against a ranked team Opening Weekend.

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  4. Gail Hall 10 months ago

    In my opinion, it's completely fair to allow an SEC team like Georgia to play a team like Georgia Southern, when they follow that up by going to Arizona State and playing Georgia Tech, plus their always brutal conference schedule. Sure, Ohio State plays Youngstown State, but they also go to USC. The way I see it, fans of a school in a BCS conference should expect their teams to play one hardcore non-conference game against another BCS conference school (see: Ohio State at USC), or go on the road to play an elite non BCS school (see: Wisconsin going to Fresno State). Teams who don't do at least one of those things are allowed to be scrutinized for their schedules (see: Indiana with four home dates against Western Kentucky, Murray State, Ball State and Central Michigan).

    Teams should also be allowed to schedule a AA team without harassment if another team canceled on them. For example, I'm a big time Texas Tech fan, and we were supposed open with a road game against Tulsa (a 1A team), but they canceled to play Arkansas. There was no one left to play that weekend, so we scheduled Eastern Washington. Yes, they're a cream puff and I wish that game was against real competition, but there wasn't much else they could do.

    Just my two cents...

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    • Lisa Horne 10 months ago

      Hi Gail....was Georgia always a powerhouse? No. Have they almost always scheduled non-conference cupcakes? Yes. From 89-95, for example, Georgia had a 46-34-1 record, a .574 winning percentage, yet played teams such as:

      Baylor and Temple in 89 (those schools accounted for 2 of their 6 wins),
      Southern Miss and East Carolina (those two teams represented half of their total wins in '90),
      (Western Carolina and Cal State Fullerton in '91),
      Cal State Fullerton and Georgia Southern in '92,
      Texas Tech and Southern Miss in 93 (those schools represented 2 of their five total wins),
      Northeast Louisiana and Clemson in '94 (those two teams counted for 2/6 wins)
      and New Mexico State and Clemson in 96 (again, those teams counting for 2 of their 6 wins)

      In short, if it weren't for the non-conference cupcakes they scheduled, the Dogs records would be drastically different, and they may have not been bowl eligible for most of those years.

      Just because the SEC is tougher than it has ever been doesn't dismiss them from playing fair.

      You cannot "allow" some teams mulligans and others no mulligans. It's not fair.

      I do agree you shouldn't have to pay a cancellation fee if someone else cancels on you, but that's hard to enforce. It's like a snowball ...one team cancels, and a bunch of teams suffer from it.

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    • Gray Ghost 10 months ago

      Ouch!!!! Lisa, that was a painful reminder of the Ray Goff years at Georgia! He was a great guy and a really good recruiter, but his coaching years were not our most memorable.

      Georgia Southern played the Dawgs and Florida State pretty tough back in the days that Adrian "The Legend" Peterson was in the backfield. With 6 I-AA championships on their resume', no one should take the Eagles too lightly. However, the Dawgs will feast on Eagles this time.

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  5. Justin Goar 10 months ago

    booooooooo, BT beat me to that one!!!!!!!!!!

    directional california???

    lol.

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  6. Shawn Withrow 10 months ago

    Yes there are several directional schools that are not cupcake teams. A few include: South Florida, Southern Cal, East Carolina (yes - the Pirates are a good team folks), and South Carolina.

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  7. Shawn Withrow 10 months ago

    Of so South carolina is a state..... just kidding on that one

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  8. Lew Wright 10 months ago

    Hey Lisa,

    Great rant. Chances are there will be a long line of apologists to enlighten you as to the flaws in your thinking.

    Rather than mumble a rationalization or two, just let it go. There's little justification beyond $$$ to schedule outside your division.

    And please, no talk about how schools play out of division in basketball all the time. Like that makes it right. Pullease....

    The clock is moving way, way too slow....

    Lew

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  9. . 10 months ago

    I find the picture of Armanti Edwards to be very ironic.

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  10. Gil HHH 10 months ago

    Lisa- great kudos on well written article. Wow, I can't believe the SEC did not make the cut!!! Not only that but three PAC 10 teams have not played FCS Division teams within the past 30 years!!!
    I don't recall MSU or UCLA winning a championship but I could be wrong.
    I concur that cupcake schedules are bad for the sport. One of the reason Texas Tech is unable to beat a top team is because they don't prepare themselves by playing a solid non-conference schedule with teams such as South Carolina, Arizona State, Rutgers and Michigan State would improve Texas Tech's chances of winning the Big 12.
    People talk about the great numbers that the Texas Tech offense produces but those numbers are skewed by playing a soft schedule.
    SEC fans will complain that they need to play FCS teams to avoid losing a home game instead of scheduling a neutral game against a solid opponent. I must give kudos to both Arkansas and Auburn for having the guts to play USC.

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    • Lisa Horne 10 months ago

      Yep, MSU and UCLA have both won NCs, MSU in '52 and '65 (consensus), and UCLA in '54 (UPI).

      I give props to several SEC teams who have played BCS teams: In this decade, Auburn and Arkansas have both played USC twice, Tennessee has played Cal twice and will do the same with UCLA, LSU has played Arizona and Oregon St.

      Thanks for the props!

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    • Daniel Howie 10 months ago

      Lisa,
      It's funny how every BCS opponent for the SEC that you mentioned was from the Pac-10. There are other BCS conferences, you know. ;)

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  11. David Torbeck 10 months ago

    Michigan State won the AP national championship in 1952 and the UPI in 1965. UCLA won the UPI in 1954. Yes, more than 50 years ago but other than 1997 all of Michigan's MNCs are before 1948 I guess it counts.

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  12. sven ghali 10 months ago

    Kudos for laying off the service academies. Navy would beat every one of those teams.

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    • Lisa Horne 10 months ago

      I love the academies...besides, they are independents, for the most part (Air Force being the exception) and they can't have any guarantees on their schedule like conference teams have.

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  13. Curly Morris 10 months ago

    Good stuff Lisa, but as always you are the eternal optimist. :) Stop eating cupcakes? Are you mad?

    How in the hell would the BCS figure out a National Champion with seven teams each having 7-3 records at the top of the polls?

    No way, Jose.

    No offense Jose.

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    • Lisa Horne 10 months ago

      Yeah Curly, that's true. Maybe it's our plight in life. Watching the Colonels, Chanticleers (just what the heck are those?) the Penguins, and Sycamores can't be that bad, can it? (Sigh)

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    • Derek Mahaffey 10 months ago

      A chanticleer is a type of rooster. Then again, what is a Hokie, a Crimson Tide, a Sooner, a Ragin' Cajun, or a Blazer?

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    • Lisa Horne 10 months ago

      A Crimson Tide is red tide, a sooner is one of those land rushers who wanted to stake a claim on land, a ragin Cajun is a mad Cajun and a blazer is someone who lights an intense fire, but it's also a sportscoat!

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    • J.C. Ayvazi 10 months ago

      A Blazer could also be someone puffing away on one of those big Bob Marley style spleefs.

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  14. Gustavo Destro 10 months ago

    It's all about money and beefing up that W-L record, so as long as money runs college football (which will be forever), we won't see the schedule shrink much if anything.

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  15. Kurt Martig 10 months ago

    Lisa, I think something very important to note is what a particular school uses the money from those home game cupcakes for. I recall last year prior to the title game various tid-bits of information being tossed around regarding the universities of Louisiana State and Ohio State. One that really stood out was that LSU sponsors 20 varsity sports, Ohio State on the other hand sponsors 36 varsity sports. Only two sports at Ohio State raise enough money to fund those 36 varsity teams, football and basketball.

    Recently the Big Ten commissioner went on the record to encourage Big Ten schools to play stronger non-conference games. The trick, as Ohio State Athletic Director Gene Smith pointed out, is that Ohio State needs to play 7-8 homes games each year to generate the money to fund football as well as those 36 varsity sports. Therefore you need to be able to schedule teams that are willing to come to your house, and not have you come back to theirs. End of story.

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    • Lisa Horne 10 months ago

      Kurt, true. But when you have to pay at least 250k, well, that theory tends to go wayside.

      I don't understand why fans hide behind excuses for scheduling cupcakes. Youngstown State was a nod to Tressel's old school, I get that. But the rest of the Big Ten's sked is pathetic. Coastal Carolina vs Penn State? Are u kidding me?

      I hated it when Idaho was on SC's sked, even if it was a nod to Nick Holt and Dennis Erickson. It makes the program look like they were looking for an easy win.

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    • Kurt Martig 10 months ago

      Lisa, $250,000 puts that theory to rest?! Ohio State made $31.65 MILLION last year in home game ticket sales alone, that's something like $4.5 million per home game. Giving YSU $250K is a drop in the bucket. College football is not the same as it was even 15 years, let alone 30. Check out this article from the Wall Street Journal: http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=1305306&SPID=10402&DB_OEM_ID=17300&SPSID=87726

      I hardly proposed it as an excuse, I'm only stating it as a reason as to why school's (in this case Ohio State) schedule other schools for home games only. I would rather Ohio State and the like to play two or three non-conference BCS schools, but because of the need to schedule home games (not a home then away series) to generate the necessary money for those 36 sports won't allow it. Ohio State takes great pride in sponsoring scholarships for athletes beyond football. At least, unlike some schools, Ohio State each and every year plays one major school from a BCS conference - this year and next USC, and in the coming years, Miami (Fl), Virginia Tech, Oklahoma among others...

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  1. Kurt Martig 10 months ago

    Lisa, I think something very important to note is what a particular school uses the money from those home game cupcakes for. I recall last year prior to the title game various tid-bits of information being tossed around regarding the universities of Louisiana State and Ohio State. One that really stood out was that LSU sponsors 20 varsity sports, Ohio State on the other hand sponsors 36 varsity sports. Only two sports at Ohio State raise enough money to fund those 36 varsity teams, football and basketball.

    Recently the Big Ten commissioner went on the record to encourage Big Ten schools to play stronger non-conference games. The trick, as Ohio State Athletic Director Gene Smith pointed out, is that Ohio State needs to play 7-8 homes games each year to generate the money to fund football as well as those 36 varsity sports. Therefore you need to be able to schedule teams that are willing to come to your house, and not have you come back to theirs. End of story.

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    • Lisa Horne 10 months ago

      Kurt- the 250k I was referring to was what the lower division schools average when they play the big boys. Yes, it may be a drop in the bucket for big schools, but when you are shelling out that kind of money to play a cupcake, well, draw your own conclusions. They are paying for a win.

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  2. J.C. Ayvazi 10 months ago

    One way to prevent the gorging on cupcakes would be for the NCAA to confiscate the gate receipts on the second Division II game each Division I team plays (sorry, I don't play that FBS game)

    They could disperse it in reverse percentages to the bottom five teams in the offending teams conference. Padding your opponents coffers would stop the sweet toothers akin to wiring their jaw shut.

    That being said, there are reasons for playing a Division II school to start the season. It is a good way to get new players feet wet. It is also a way to give the smaller programs a boost, especially when an assistant leaves a big school to become a head coach at the Division II school.

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    • Lisa Horne 10 months ago

      JC-

      While it's true it does give smaller programs a boost, I seriously doubt any AD says, "let's play Hofstra, they could use some dough." :)

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    • J.C. Ayvazi 10 months ago

      True, but do you think Syracuse would be on USC's future schedule if former senior associate athletic director Daryl Gross was not the A.D. with the Orangemen?

      That's not to say Syracuse is small time, what I am saying is like with coaches, A.D. relationships will influence who teams schedule.

      A.D.'s can get together at a convention, have a couple of drinks, then wake up the next morning with North Eastern Cupcake on the schedule 8^D

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  3. sizzle 10 months ago

    this is an exception rather than a rule, but i think appalachian state could probably beat at least half of the 119 division I-A schools. just thought i'd throw that out there in the event that anyone would count them as half a game in any bcs calculation.

    that they were scheduled - another story. not sure if mich and lsu slated them because of cancellations (often the reason I-AA schools are scheduled), but if there was thought put into it 5 years ago, shame on the AD's.

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    • Tristan Holmes 10 months ago

      I'm with you on this one. Div IA has gotten badly inflated with teams ponying up the money to play with the big boys. For instance, Oregon plays 3 Div IA non-conference opponents this year, Boise State, Purdue, and Utah State. With the state of the program in Logan right now, honestly I'd be more worried about playing Montana or North Dakota State than the Aggies (now watch as the Ducks lay an egg and karma smacks me upside the head...)

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  4. Correy Retzloff 10 months ago

    Lisa,

    Great read, it's something that I've been saying for years.

    Something that you should of mentioned was THE Ohio State played Younstown State, Ohio and Kent State then justified it by playing the worst team in the PAC-10. Sadly, they made it to the NCG. If you play that kind of weak non-conference schedule then you SHOULDN'T be allowed to be in the NCG. This years the same thing, they play three powder puffs and then justify it by playing SC. I actually had a BLOGGER from OSU tell me that Tressell does that becuse he is loyal to the state of Ohio and wants to keep money there. (I guess whatever you need to tell yourself to make you sleep better at night?) Of course, we see what playing that kind of high school schedule does for you when you have to play a real team?

    I am a DUCK and with our situation with QBs right now would give anything to have Ohio States schedule, it's just that easy.

    Something else, I'm not a USC fan at all but I will have to say that they play the toughest non-conference shedule of any team that's in the NCG hunt each year. Ohio State wouldn't dream of scheduling the same non-conference teams year in and year out. Again,

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    • Lisa Horne 10 months ago

      Correy-

      I think the Ducks will be just fine w/ DD gone. Your secondary is second-to-none. SC does do a good job, but Idaho was a laugher last year, especially since the Trojans didn't play very well against them.

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  5. Edmon 10 months ago

    Question. If you alievate "cupcakes" from "powerhouses", how will those "cupcakes" ever be able to win a National Championship. Teams like Florida Atlantic and Boise State could never win a championship if the NCAA went on it's diet. Don't we want to see a team climb from nothing and compete instead of watching USC, Ohio State, and LSU win every three years?
    I know why you write cupcake pieces though. To hype your overhyped Trojans, who aren't afraid to Idaho last year, a weak looking Virginia (in a weak looking ACC) this year, and an even more hyped team that yours, the Irish.

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    • Lisa Horne 10 months ago

      Edmon-

      ???? Idaho was a total cupcake, I agree. But Virginia and Notre Dame are both BCS teams. How can you compare ND to William and Mary? There is a fundamental level of playing difference between a 1A team and a 2A team. Especially a BCS team and ND.

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  6. Anthony D'Angio 10 months ago

    Hold on, nobody should be getting on USC's case. USC will play anybody, anywhere at anytime. I hate USC, but boy do I have tons of respect for them.

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    • Lisa Horne 10 months ago

      Anthony_

      Thanks for that. They certainly aren't afraid to travel to the Deep South and play Auburn. Or Arkansas. Or Va Tech. Or Ohio State (next year). They might get a cupcake every five or six years, but usually play all BCS conference teams.

      Next year they play San Jose St (cupcake), at Ohio State and at Notre Dame (which should be very good). No easy task.

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  7. Colin Flosi 10 months ago

    Sometimes cupcakes happen because your scheduled opponent backs out (Texas Tech, Oklahoma). And sometimes cupcakes happen because a coach has ties to the school that has been scheduled (Ohio St.). And sometimes, cupcakes happen because you want to keep money in state and help other schools improve their facilities and such (Georgia, Arizona)...

    It hasn't become a terrible problem yet, but there are a few schools that need to beef up their schedules, Texas Tech being a prime example.

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  8. William Berry 10 months ago

    Funniest thing I heard was how this is OK because the NFL has pre-season.

    Disregarding how Butch Cassidy was OK because Jesse James robbed more banks aspect, the NFL does not pretend those count.

    Although what really counts with the BCS is another issue that'll come up in October..:)

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