In College Football, Cupcakes Should Never Be on Your Schedule

I hate cupcakes.  I have never liked them.  When it was a kid's birthday in school, they would always bring in those little cupcakes and we would all sing Happy Birthday, eat the cupcakes, and go on with class.

Instead of just making those little wimpy individual cakes, my mom and I would make an awesome chocolate cake that would trump all the other kid's pitiful offerings.

I guess my point would be that cupcakes are worthless and weak.  The same thing goes for cupcake teams that the big dogs schedule in their non-conference schedule.

With the addition of the 12th game to the regular season, it was assumed that most teams would schedule some great new matchups.  That has happened this season with games like Ohio State vs. Southern California, Clemson vs. Alabama, and Georgia vs. Arizona State.

Of course, teams playing in these games have countered with some severe cupcakes: Ohio State vs. Youngtown State, Georgia vs. Ga Southern, Clemson vs. The Citadel, and ASU vs. N. Arizona.

Nothing good happens when you play a cupcake.  If you win by 40, big deal—that is what you were supposed to do.  If you struggle and get the win, you cannot feel good about that.  If you lose against a cupcake, just ask Michigan fans how they felt.

I do not even think players enjoy playing these cupcakes, which is why you get teams that lack the effort like the Buckeyes did against Ohio.  However, the worst case scenario is if a big time player gets hurt in a game against a cupcake. 

How do the Ohio State fans feel now that Beanie Wells is doubtful for the big game against USC?  How do Georgia fans feel now that Jeff Owens is done for the year after playing Georgia Southern?

The people who get the worst of it are the fans.  Why would anyone want to pay full price to see Oklahoma play a glorified scrimmage against Chattanooga or Missouri play against SEMO?  Those games are not worth $40 to sit in the hot late August/early September sun.

It cannot be that hard to schedule viable opponents.  Tennessee has not played an FCS team since 1983.  While they may not play the most difficult non-conference teams, they at least play teams I have heard of, including one other team from a BCS conference.

Even though they lost their opener to UCLA, it does not hurt the Vols in the long run.  If they run the table, they are still SEC champions and could even play for the BCS title.  That won't happen if you lose to a cupcake.

One solution to the problem is to not allow BCS conference teams to play FCS teams.  Athletic Directors need to make an effort to schedule good matchups that the fans want to see, and opponents that players want to play against.