Fans eagerly wait 6-7 months for College Football to begin after the National Championship Game. Cupcake Games “Paid to Play” typically have a great atmosphere until halftime. By the end of the first half the home team is handily in control and we as fans know the outcome.
Nonetheless these games serve a purpose for more than just host schools. The smaller schools earn a large payday and are able to offset their programs costs. Texas A&M just paid Appalachian State 1.75 million dollars for a game, a game the Aggies were supposed to win.
Where Should Cupcake Games Fall On The Schedule
Ask any football fan and they will say, top tier matchups are what they prefer to watch. No one wants to watch his or her team blowout a smaller opponent the opening weekend of college football.
The games overall become rather boring and fans leave at halftime in order to beat the traffic.
Some fans say these games give coaches a firsthand look at their players and the decisions they make during a game. While this maybe true players can and will overcome mistakes against less talented teams.
Moving these games to the middle of the season will drive TV revenue early for top tier matchups. Simply look at the ratings; everyone would rather see two teams in the Top 25 square off. Even fans that don’t attend the “Cupcake Game” will likely switch to another game on TV once their team is easily winning.
Occasionally we see the team that pays lose, just this year in week 2 we saw two large schools defeated. This not only deflates and enrages a fan base; it also could have negative economic impact to the city that the University calls home.
Smaller schools with less 4-5 star caliber athletes can compete early in the year, mainly due to health and conditioning of their players. Moving the games to the middle of the season allows larger schools the ability to rest some of their players. Rest in the middle of the season is far more vital than early in the year.
Big Loss Easier To Overcome Early In The Season
If a top 10 team suffers a loss early in the season they have time to recover. Losing a big game late in the season is almost impossible to overcome. Few teams in the past have been able to overcome the loss but they are few and far between.
Teams tend to get stronger as more and more wins pile up; throwing a loss late in the season kills momentum. Having Cupcake games near the latter half of the season, keeps the momentum and likely adds wins.
How A Schedule Could Look
Lastly schedules are judged by strength of schedule, so having blowout wins early in the year hurt more schools. The schools they defeat often have early season injuries that impact their future performance.
The proposed schedule would be:
- First two games conference opponent
- Game 3 paid to play “Cupcake”
- Games 4-6 Conference
- Game 7 paid to “Cupcake”
- Games 8,9 conference
- Game 10 paid to play “Cupcake”
- Games 11,12 conference
We may see future schedules look very similar to this model especially now that the college football playoff will be extended. Although coaches and fans may not like this idea in the beginning, a schedule like this could provide teams the right of amount of rest needed to be a complete team all season long.
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