While most FBS schools will be playing conference games in Week 12, several Southern FBS squads will instead be hosting an outmatched FCS or G5 team as a tuneup in advance of their Week 13 rivalry games.
I personally think it’s embarrassing when Ohio State plays FCS Youngstown State (2023) or New Hampshire (2027) in Week 2 but can’t imagine the sh*tstorm if the Buckeyes hosted the Penguins or Wildcats the Saturday prior to The Game. And yet here we are with these brawls on next Saturday’s undercard:
- #4 FSU: 3-7 North Alabama (FCS)
- #8 Alabama: 7-3 Tennessee-Chattanooga (FCS)
- #9 Ole Miss: 2-8 Louisiana-Monroe
- #19 LSU: 6-4 Georgia State
- Arkansas: 4-6 FIU
- Auburn: 8-3 New Mexico State
- Mississippi State: 3-7 Southern Miss
- Texas A&M: 5-5 Abilene Christian (FCS)
None of these palookas have a real shot but if you want to bet on an underdog, NMSU is riding a six-game winning streak.
Arguably, the poster child for Cupcake Week upsets—which, by definition, excludes Appalachian State’s 2007 season-opening win over #5 TTUN in Ann Arbor—was when Georgia Southern drained The Swamp with a 26-20 win over the Gators on November 23, 2013. Georgia Southern, which was FCS at the time, ran for 429 yards, which was 100% of the team's offense and the most against Florida since Nebraska rolled up 524 in the 1996 Fiesta Bowl. The Eagles also became the only team that season to beat an FBS team without completing a pass (they were 0/3).
Afterwards, ESPN called it Florida’s worst loss ever as the game also had these ignominious milestones:
- Guaranteed Florida’s first losing season since 1979 (0-10-1)
- Florida’s first six-game losing streak since 1979 (UF was destroyed by FSU the next week, 37-7, to run the streak to seven straight losses)
- Guaranteed Florida’s first season not going to a bowl game since 1990
- Florida’s first loss to an FCS/D-II team since 1946
It’s been 10 years. We’re long overdue for another cupcake to bite back.
