Oklahoma State's 84-point victory should set the stage for a new scheduling rule

Football Bowl Subdivision teams like OU and OSU should not be allowed to play Football Championship Subdivision squads like Savannah State and Florida A&M.
By Jenni Carlson Published: September 3, 2012

This past Saturday, we witnessed the biggest abomination of college football that our fair state has ever seen, Oklahoma State's throttling of woeful Savannah State.

This coming Saturday, we're due another shameful matchup when Oklahoma hosts Florida A&M, an FCS team from the same lowly league as Savannah State.

It is football only a vampire could love.

Bloodlust is a must.

This madness needs to stop. The NCAA or the BCS or whoever's in charge of college football these days should ban games against lower-division teams. End the insanity. Bring back the civility.

After what we saw last week in Stillwater and with what we expect this week in Norman, we know these games are immoral.

Now, it's time to make them illegal.

The rule change would be pretty simple, really. Football Bowl Subdivision teams like OU or OSU would only be able to play other FBS teams in non-conference play. They could be from big-time conferences or low-level leagues. They could be powerhouses or powder puffs. But at the very least, they would be operating under the same rules for scholarships, practices and the like.

That means Football Championship Subdivision teams like Savannah State and Florida A&M would be off limits.

It's obvious that they need to be.

Sure, you occasionally have an Appalachian State, a lower-division team that shocks the world like the Mountaineers did five years ago at Michigan. But you're way, way, way more likely to have an ugly blowout that borders on gruesome.

That's what last Saturday's game in Stillwater was. And truth be told, the Cowboys did everything in their power to minimize the bloodbath. They used nearly a hundred players in the game, they benched the starters in the first quarter and they used fourth-stringers and walk-ons much of the second half.

And OSU still won by 84 points.

There was a point in the second half where TV cameras captured Cowboy coach Mike Gundy and one of his assistants sitting in a couple chairs — yes, chairs — on the sideline. Actually, lounging might be a better word to describe their posture.

They looked like a couple Little League soccer parents watching practice.

Who's ever seen such a thing in major-college football?

The whole scene last Saturday night was cringe-worthy. There's a good chance that it won't be quite so bad this Saturday night — Florida A&M won seven games a year ago, including a 47-7 pummeling of Savannah State — but it's still bound to be ugly.

No one is comfortable with these games, not even highly paid coaches who crave wins above all else. Gundy bristled at questions about Savannah State during his postgame press conference.

“I don't think I should have to comment on what the score is,” he said Saturday night. “I think it's irrelevant at this point.”

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by Jenni Carlson
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