Lebanon, TN – Collegefootballfan.com tries at best every season to select and attend as many competitive games as possible, but this year has started out as our season of “blow-outs.” We’ve attended our share over the years, but never so many in such a short span like this season. Of six games attended thus far, three have been settled by 46 points or more. Even the three closer games finished closer that they really were. In all cases, the losers scored more points after the winners had the results well in hand. Generally, non-starters replaced the winning line-ups in each contest.
In addition, in WEEK Three we avoided one game we envisioned as a sure romp and decided to avoid it. In that FCS action, UT Chattanooga annihilated the Stetson Hatters, 63-0. We decided to replace it with another game that evening, but the logistical timing didn’t work out. Glad it didn’t because the outcome of the alternative was not worth attending either. Austin Peay enjoyed a blow-out over Morehead State, 56-7. To be clear, both Stetson and Morehead both belong to the Pioneer League. This is a non-scholarship football conference. They might be better aligned playing the likes of D-3 Brevard and Sewanee who we saw in action earlier that particular day.
How can College football negate Blow-outs?
Blow-outs have and will always exist. They happen – key injuries, bad-timing, seasonal momentum, multiple mistakes, or just plain, superior talent can lead to such debacles. Consider that last reason. With an inequitable balance of talent among 263 different college football teams, a widening talent imbalance adds to the growing number of blow-outs based on purpose and design. Among 263 college football programs among the Football Bowl Subdivision and the Football Championship Subdivision, evidently great disparities in playing talents exist. Yet, the larger, more heavily, financed schools compete against most of the others for basically the same particular national championship. Of course, that basically comes against 135 other FBS Schools. However, many also schedule any one of the 128 other FCS programs on any open Saturday.
FBS members need wins for rankings to be eligible for bowl game money or now, for College Football Play-off money. To use an analogy considering another major sport – professional baseball. For comparison’s sake, we’re considering not only major league teams, but also the professionals playing in today’s minor league systems. The 30 major league teams own 206 other affiliates comprised of professional players. The best of the best baseball players, you would say. Not only from the United States but from around the world. If you took all 236 teams in this system to play for a common championship and teams could make their own schedules, let’s consider what the competition would be like.
The New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers would be playing teams like the Everett (WA) Aquasox (High-A Mariners) and the Hickory (NC) Crawdads (Single A Rangers) among others. Who has the higher payroll, bigger stadium, more profitable TV contract and therefore the best players? Like college football the talent is concentrated at the top. Yet, this would dilute the competition in baseball just like the NCAA is doing to ‘”major” college football today. Pairing the likes of these teams on the fields of play makes no sense. Everyone knows the outcome before the two of these teams even show up at the stadium. This has to end in college football to avoid the growing number of subsidized Blow-outs.
It’s not ending
Instead, it continues. Schools with the big budgets ensconced from major television contracts, “the haves,” approach other schools, “the have-nots,” to come to their stadiums to play against them for a significant monetary hand-out. In essence, an easy win to come play in front of a larger crowd the invited visitors will seldom experience again. For proof, just watch the trailers at the bottom of your TV screen especially in the early season when pre-game betting information rolls along. Not only are the odds heavily in favor of the home team generally, but the percentages of the “probability” to win generally indicate many forecasts over 90% chance to win. Ridiculous! This is what college football is supposed to be all about? What about more favorable chances for each side to win? In general, and not only in classroom experience, but all of college life should be about learning. Not about being stomped for someone else’s financial benefit.
Changes ahead finally
Good to see that the SEC finally agreed to play a ninth conference game. They also agree to play one Power Four outside of conference. Good to see the ACC added another conference game committed to each team playing at least ten FBS teams, too. However, for the sake of the best competition among all teams in college football, we prefer more steps in this direction. We continue to hear rumors that the SEC and Big Ten along with other prominent programs will eventually branch off out of the NCAA and start some brand of their own for college football. If that’s the case, it doesn’t seem like they want to stop taking advantage of playing “Have-nots” to incur more future blow- outs. In 2026, SEC teams still have FCS opponents North Alabama, Arkansas- Pine Bluff and Austin Peay among others on their slates.
Hopefully, FCS matchups will be FBS games of the past. Some may argue that the FCS schools need games against the FBS for their budgetary requirements. We propose that if the FBS teams all get on board and all play within the competition playing for the same championship, a fund can be set up from the proceeds of these additional games against FBS schools and distributed by the NCAA equally among all the FCS programs. In this way, FCS programs get a share and an equal revenue stream for all from the FBS teams. Even better, they don’t have to suffer humbling losses, and we fans don’t have to watch or attend games where we basically know that the final result is a foregone conclusion.
Other industries call this practice “continuous improvement.”
In addition, we envision another step toward improvement. Break the FBS into two separate championships football subdivisions. One should consist of the 48 or so top football programs based on their budgets. The balance of the teams, basically now the Group of Six, then competes for a separate championship. In the end, all schools compete on equitable talent levels playing amongst themselves. More playoffs, another champion, fewer meaningless bowl games, better competition on the gridiron and a lot less blow-outs! All sounds too good to be true.
Even the limit of the transfer portal window presents a step in the right direction. The next, and perhaps greatest improvement, will come in the form of playing contracts – longer term commitments of players to teams. We’ll see, but step by step, we will see college football become more competitive for more teams than it ever was as the sport continued to bring on more teams to the current FBS level.
Collegefootballfan.com 40 Week Two Records and Rankings
Power Five
| 2025 – The Collegefootallfan.com 42 | ||||||
| Power 5 | Record | Rank | Our Game | Date | Result | Next |
| Arkansas | 2-2 | Mississippi State | Nov. 1 | |||
| Auburn | 3-1 | Missouri | Oct. 18 | |||
| California | 3-1 | at Oregon State | Aug. 30 | W 34-15 | ||
| Illinois | 3-1 | 23 | at Indiana | Sept. 20 | L 63-10 | |
| Indiana | 4-0 | 11 | Illinios | Sept. 20 | W 63-10 | |
| Kentucky | 2-1 | at Vanderbilt | Nov. 22 | |||
| Mississippi State | 4-0 | at Arkansas | Nov. 1 | |||
| Missouri | 4-0 | 20 | at Auburn | Oct. 18 | ||
| North Carolina | 2-2 | at Wake Forest | Nov. 15 | |||
| Notre Dame | 1-2 | 22 | Navy | Nov. 8 | ||
| Oregon | 4-0 | 6 | Montana State | Aug. 30 | W 59-13 | Penn State |
| Oregon State | 0-4 | California | Aug. 30 | L 34-15 | ||
| Penn State | 4-0 | 3 | Oregon | Sept. 27 | ||
| Vanderbilt | 4-0 | 18 | Kentucky | Nov. 22 | ||
| Wake Forest | 2-1 | North Carolina | Nov. 15 | |||
Group of Five (or Six)
| Group of 5 | Record | Rank | Our Game | Date | Result | Next |
| Air Force | 1-2 | at Navy | Oct. 4 | |||
| Arkansas State | 1-3 | at South Alabama | Oct. 14 | |||
| Army | 1-2 | Navy (Balt) | Dec. 13 | |||
| Delaware | 3-1 | at Jack St. | Oct. 15 | |||
| Georgia State | 1-3 | South Alabama | Oct. 23 | |||
| Jacksonville State | 2-2 | Delaware | Oct. 15 | |||
| Missouri State | 2-2 | at MTSU | Oct. 8 | |||
| MTSU | 1-3 | Missouri State | Oct. 8 | |||
| Navy | 3-0 | Air Force | Oct. 4 | at ND | ||
| Rice | 3-1 | at South Florida | Nov. 29 | |||
| Sam Houston | 0-4 | at Western Kentucky | Aug. 23 | L 41-24 | ||
| South Alabama | 1-2 | Arkansas State | Oct. 14 | at GA State | ||
| South Florida | 3-1 | 18 | Rice | Nov. 29 | ||
| Western Kentucky | 3-1 | Sam Houston | Aug. 23 | W 41-24 |
Football Championship Subdivision (FCS)
| FCS | Record | Rank | Our Game | Date | Result | Next |
| Montana State | 2-2 | 6 | at Oregon | Aug. 30 | L 59-13 | |
| North Dakota State | 4-0 | 1 | at Tennessee State | Sept. 6 | W 59-3 | |
| SE Missouri State | 1-3 | at Tennessee Tech | Oct. 25 | |||
| Tennessee State | 1-2 | North Dakota State | Sept. 6 | L 59-3 | ||
| Tennessee Tech | 4-0 | 11 | SE Missouri State | Oct. 25 |
Division III
| D-III | Record | Rank | Our Game | Date | Result | Next |
| Bates | 1-1 | at Tufts | Oct. 11 | |||
| Brevard | 2-1 | at Sewanee | Sept. 13 | W 26-14 | ||
| Christopher Newport | 2-0 | at Castleton State | Oct. 11 | |||
| Sewanee | 2-1 | Brevard | Sept. 13 | L 26-14 | ||
| Tufts | 2-0 | Bates | Oct. 11 | |||
| VT State – Castleton | 2-1 | Christopher Newport | Oct. 11 |
And our tales keep rolling along, but catch our 45 previous seasons of games!
Click on the title of my book about this life-long adventure: Fifty Years of Tailgate Tales: The Good, the Fun, and the Ugly on Amazon.com. Read the reviews on the book page and get your copy today! If you’re trying to follow NILs and transfer portals, read what we predicted in 2023 and more. You’ll see we know what we’re talking about. In addition, we offered solutions to issues occurring that we anticipated when we wrote this book. Based on our game story above, this fun, unique life-long Journey continues. Catch up on the last 45 years, and then please submit a review. We hope you will get a kick out of our great adventure having seen every (well 134) FBS team play over the years! Two newest to be added later this season.
Edited by and photos taken by Steve Koreivo – Member of Football Writers Associatio