Are College Football Blowouts Ruining September?
Bethlehem, PA - September 21, 2026: Last Friday night, week three of FBS college football, Oregon defeated Portland State 84-0 in Eugene. On social media, one pro-Duck account stated: “The No. 21 Ducks score the most points by a BigTen team in the AP Poll since Michigan scored 85 vs. Chicago in 1939.”
In other FBS games the following day, Ohio State defeated Kent State 59-3, Iowa defeated Northern Illinois 55-0, and Wisconsin defeated Eastern Michigan 54-10. These were just a few of the more recent lopsided scores from week three of the Football Bowl Subdivision.
In the last few years, it seems, FBS teams are winning, or losing depending on if you’re a half full or half empty type person, by bigger margins. In 2025, AP Sports (Week Two of College Football) reported that some halftime scores appeared as if they were finals. The Associated Press noted scores of “59-0. 49-0. 48-0.” These were halftime scores across college football on a “romp-filled Saturday.”
If you participate in the social media ballyhoo, that takes the unbalanced matchups to another level, you’ll see such headlines as: “Undefeated This Century - The last time Buffalo beat Penn State, William McKinley was President.” (State Media - A Fresh Look at Penn State Sports).
Some of you may be too young to remember a time when BCS or FBS fans could watch a plethora of highly competitive regular-season football games each and every week. As an anxious fan, it was often hard to choose which game to tune into because there were so many top teams playing head-to-head from week one to week twelve.
Looking back at old schedules for many of the top college football programs, we found many examples when teams opened up or had top ten matchups early in their schedule. In 2011, Penn State played Alabama the second game of the season at Beaver Stadium. The year before, Penn State visited Tuscaloosa during week two. In 2016, Texas and Notre Dame opened the season playing each other to a double-overtime thriller in Austin. This year, Ohio State and Texas played in a week two top ten matchup. The game was a thriller.
Nowadays, it seems schedules have changed and fans are lucky to have one good game to tune into on game day, especially in the first few weeks of the season. Many fans have complained and feel that the first three or four weeks of the regular season resemble scrimmages. One fan said many of these smaller college programs do not have the NIL money, scholarships, or talent to compete with the power teams. Yet, the top FBS teams insist on playing teams such as Howard, UL Monroe, and Coastal Carolina. The same fan noted that he doesn’t even know where Howard is, let alone that they had a football team.
In other examples, teams from the Sun Belt Conference are often chosen by the power teams to be on their schedule early in the season. The Sun Belt Conference as a whole are 4-45 against Big Ten teams from 2001 to 2026. There are also the American Athletic Conference teams, which is a favorite for an early season scrimmage. The American Athletic Conference teams have three notable wins against Big Ten teams since 2015. And then there is the Mid-American Conference. The Mid-American Conference teams are 3-38 against Big Ten teams since 2002.
No Sun Belt, American Athletic, or Mid-American conference football team has ever won a national championship, or even has come close to winning one. You hardly ever see any of them ranked. Northern Illinois in 2012, who was ranked 15th, was the last, and only team, from any of these conferences to qualify for a Bowl Championships Series (BCS) game. The Huskies lost to No. 12 Florida State 31-10 in the Orange Bowl on January 1, 2013. It wasn’t even close.
We believe this highlights a significant gap between such conferences and the Big10, or the SEC for that matter. And, they are not the only conference gaps. Yet, each year for the first several weeks of the schedule, teams from these conferences are getting crushed, and embarrassed, by the “power teams.”
Speaking of ranked, it’s interesting enough the top ranked teams play these never-before ranked teams for the first few games. In our opening paragraphs, we said Oregon and Wisconsin routed their opponent in week three. Oregon was ranked No. 21 while Wisconsin was ranked just outside the top twenty-five. Surely, one would think with these not so highly ranked teams, it would be a better game. It only goes to show the disparity of talent.
Why are schools scheduling these games? Is it to ease their team into to the season? Is it to “pad” their record for the rankings? Or, is it the money? And, what happened to strength of schedule for ranking purposes? We happen to think it’s a combination.
Former Alabama Head Coach Nick Saban has argued that the current College Football Playoff system discourages teams from scheduling difficult opponents. He says that losing to a strong team can harm their playoff chances. Saban believes that a better evaluation metric is needed to assess the quality of wins and losses, emphasizing that some losses can be more valuable than wins against weaker competition.
Saban has advocated for a reevaluation of how teams are judged, suggesting that the strength of schedule should play a more significant role in determining playoff eligibility. He believes that rewarding teams for taking on difficult opponents would enhance the excitement and competitiveness of college football.
This notion by Saban is not new. It is something SEC coaches and administrators have a reputation of doing, along with other conference coaches who are not afraid to play a tough team each week. Yet, some coaches continue to pad their schedule and opt, or hope, beating inferior teams and getting the “W” appeals better to the “playoff committee.”
Let’s take Ohio State or Michigan’s schedule this year, probably two of the toughest schedules of any Big Ten or FBS team in 2026. The Buckeyes played, or play, Texas, Indiana, USC, Iowa, Michigan, and Oregon. The Wolverines played, or play, Oklahoma, Iowa, Penn State, Indiana, Oregon, and Ohio State. That is, at the time of this writing, six ranked teams each of those two teams will have played this season. Meanwhile, there are other teams in the Big Ten that will face one or two ranked teams all season.
Ohio State lost in week two to Texas, who was the 4th ranked team at the time. After the one point loss, and after the Buckeyes dominated most of the game, Ohio State fell from the first ranked team to the 6th ranked team. Texas took over the number one spot. One more loss at this rate by the Buckeyes and it could mean the end to their playoff chances. It didn’t make sense to many of the college football analysts. Hence, what Saban said about why coaches are scheduling easy, non-interesting, schedules.
The South East Conference (SEC) has traditionally argued their schedules are the toughest. It can be argued that the SEC does have the toughest teams. Does a tough SEC schedule wear you down and give you a disadvantage at the end of the season for the playoffs? What about the likelihood of injuries in these high intensity battles?
Curt Cignetti has highlighted the significance of his team's schedule strength as a crucial element in their performance and preparation for upcoming games and he has said in the past that the SEC plays soft teams. Yet, this year, the Hoosiers, play teams like Howard, Western Kentucky, North Texas, Rutgers, and Purdue. Those five teams currently have a combined record of 3-11. Cignetti’s Hoosiers beat Howard 55-0 in week two of the season. In 2025, Cignetti tried to tell reporters his team had a tough schedule, yet they played one ranked team all season. Cignetti told people to “do their research” and “Google” his team to know more. Anyone can look at the schedules online.
There are sixteen teams in the SEC. There are eighteen teams in the Big Ten. Teams in these conferences typically play twelve regular season games. Why is it that they don’t play more in conference games? There are plenty of playoff or bowl games for the inter-conference play. Having more in-conference games would also assure the best team(s) in each conference make it into the post season.
Yes, there are big underdogs in both the SEC and Big Ten. And maybe that is Saban’s point. Some coaches play four teams that are easy games to start and then there are another four or five easy in conference games. Teams like Purdue, Michigan State, Maryland, were a combined 2-25 in the Big Ten in 2025. The SEC has Arkansas, Mississippi State, and South Carolina who were a combined 2-22 in the SEC in 2025. The point is, there are enough teams in each conference and teams don’t need to play against teams from these smaller conferences in games one through four of the season.
On Saturday night, fans had the opportunity to watch a good game. Ole Miss hosted LSU in Oxford in a matchup of the 7th and 8th ranked teams. It was the only good game of the weekend. In the game, Ole Miss’ Kewan Lacy exited the game with an upper-body injury while for LSU, Dashawn Spears left the game with a lower-body injury. It could be argued that Lacy and Spears represent each of the team’s best player. If you watched the game, you saw that it was a very physical game. This leads to the question again: Do coaches schedule easy teams to avoid injuries and keep their team fresh for the playoffs?
There is no doubt that players get injured more often when it’s against a more competitive team. The hype and adrenalin flowing for a top ten matchup is off the charts. Simply, the game means more and players realize it. As one coach stated after the game: “Both teams are dealing with significant injuries after this game and that could impact their team’s performance moving forward.” It takes a toll on the team’s chance to make the playoffs.
It has also been discussed that games between the “power teams” and smaller schools provide an opportunity for those smaller schools to make some money.
In 2025, Grambling State played Ohio State and lost 70-0. The Associated Press reported: “And by day’s end, there were eight games decided by 60 points or more — the most in a single day in the AP poll era, which dates to 1936.”
In the days leading up to their game against the Buckeyes, Grambling State Head Coach, Mickey Joseph, stated: “We understand what we’re getting into. We understand what’s going to happen. We understand it. It’s not balanced with the scholarships, it’s not balanced with what they have resources-wise and what we have resources-wise. We all know why we’re playing the game.”
Why? It’s about the money Grambling State would receive for playing in a big stadium and against a team that has a big draw. As AP reported: “In the longstanding tradition of bigger programs offering guarantees to smaller programs for being willing to play as what typically is a huge underdog, Grambling State received $1 million from Ohio State for playing Saturday’s game.”
“It was a great experience for my kids. It’s a great memory for them,” Joseph said. “Everybody can’t say they played the No. 1 team in the country.”
Lots of money was paid out for some of the other Saturday romps that weekend as well. Alabama paid Louisiana-Monroe nearly $2 million. Texas Tech paid Kent State $1.5 million, which may, or may not, have given Kent State a whole lot of consolation when they were down 48-0 at the half.
We do not have all the answers. We do know that fans want to see better games during the season. We have also noticed at some of these games, the stands have a lot of empty seats. We do know when fans are asked, they want to see more of the SEC teams playing Big Ten teams, as well as the ACC teams playing more of the Big Ten or SEC teams.
More importantly, if the NCAA or the playoff committee wants to use strength of schedule, then it should be a real barometer for ranking teams and for making the playoffs. Right now the term wants to be thrown out there but it is not used in an affective manner.
