A good (and fair) take on the SEC practice of scheduling a cupcake on the 2nd to last weekend of the season. And to his point, hopefully it goes away as the SEC moves to a 9 game conference schedule.

Cupcakes in November?@joelklatt responds to Dan Lanning's criticism of SEC teams playing "cupcake" games this late in the season. Do you agree? pic.twitter.com/NUXsPg9DP8

— The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football on FOX Pod (@JoelKlattShow) November 24, 2025

DCIAP

Makes for bad football viewing to be stuck watching teams like Samford and Mercer this late in the season. Replacing these creampuffs with another conference game is a good move.

We need ten conference games, one P4 opponent, and one good Go5 opponent.

Most logical solution is one conference with the top 48 teams (based on AI LLM determination). 50 week season, w/ 3 bye weeks. Play every team once.

Bad football
Good for Srs who haven't played much to get PT in their last home game
Good to semi-rest up for rival while still staying sharp

I bet Alabama wishes their cupcake game and FSU had been swapped on the schedule.

I like that it adds some quality games to watch earlier in the year and scatters the extra bye later. If Oregon thinks it is an advantage, then do the same thing if you want. They already have some cupcake conference games though.

TyperWoods said:

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Bad football
Good for Srs who haven't played much to get PT in their last home game
Good to semi-rest up for rival while still staying sharp

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I love watching the team celebrate the seniors who never saw the field until the last game. Pretty fun watching them try to will a touchdown to a senior walk on. It's what makes college football special.

Either the committee treats a late loss the same as an early loss or everyone can go to hell. Two teams with identical schedules with a loss to the same team will end up in drastically different spots depending on when that loss occurs.

Odd complaint. Sure it is a bad game late in the season, but better than a series of bad games up front. I don't mind it. Been going on for years, just now people are complaining. tu leading this charge with other conferences? Wait till tu gets Alabama right before us. It could get worse.

Positives -
- Loved the easy late season game when the kids were young. Easy tickets and potential cool weather game.
- Rest up for reminder of season/Seniors get to play.
- Deer season started, so opportunity to hunt and watch recording.

Never understood why this bothers people so much. Everybody plays cupcakes, what difference does it make what week you play them?

TXAG 05 said:

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Never understood why this bothers people so much. Everybody plays cupcakes, what difference does it make what week you play them?

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I wish we had no cupcake games but agree that when we play them is irrelevant.

TXAG 05 said:

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Never understood why this bothers people so much. Everybody plays cupcakes, what difference does it make what week you play them?

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Because everybody else hates the SEC and this gives them an angle to try to knock the conference. Just like knocking an 8 game conference schedule when some of the "great 9th games" are against teams like BayLOL/UCF/WVU/Colorado/Okie State or UCLA/PENN ST/Rutgers/Wisconsin/MD/Mich St/Purdue.

We already cancelled our slate against Tarleton State next year originally scheduled for Nov 21 so yes, we're no longer having cupcakes at the end of the season.

The B1G is rich talking about cupcakes. 3/4 of their conference is cupcakes.

As a consumer, I hate the November cupcakes.

As a fan, I'm indifferent because I understand the strategic significance going into rivalry week and post season football.

Overall, I'd prefer quality football at the end of the year, especially now that the conference is adopting a 9 game conference schedule.

Opponents *****ing about it is irrelevant because they could have adopted the practice if they thought if gave the SEC an advantage.

It's different watching an SEC school early in the season trying to find out who they are against lesser opponents. It's completely deflating to be stuck with one of these games late in the conference season. And after all, this is meant to be entertainment.

I also have a serious problem playing FCS opponents. It's one thing to play a team you clearly outmatch. It's another to play a team without as many scholarships as you. No reason to be playing these schools. Plenty of low-level FBS schools to pick from. There's one right down the road in Huntsville who loves playing at Kyle.

Fine,
Simply schedule one of the 8 crappy Big 10 teams instead of Samford, same result

So, the Big-10 is relatively weak, the Big-12 is a complete joke across the board with conference and OOC games, and even a G5 school will take one of the 12 CFP spots - but SEC schools should further cannibalize each other in late November and knock each other out of CFP spots?

dabo man said:

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It's different watching an SEC school early in the season trying to find out who they are against lesser opponents. It's completely deflating to be stuck with one of these games late in the conference season. And after all, this is meant to be entertainment.

I also have a serious problem playing FCS opponents. It's one thing to play a team you clearly outmatch. It's another to play a team without as many scholarships as you. No reason to be playing these schools. Plenty of low-level FBS schools to pick from. There's one right down the road in Huntsville who loves playing at Kyle.

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This.... I know the FCS schools love the money, but a power conference member shouldn't ever be playing an FCS school in football. The other sports are a different matter.

And Texas does have a valid gripe. They played a real game the week before, and we had a bye/scrimmage.

Not our fault they couldn't make their schedule work to have the late season gimme

P4 teams dont need to be playing FCS teams at any point

agchugger said:

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We already cancelled our slate against Tarleton State next year originally scheduled for Nov 21 so yes, we're no longer having cupcakes at the end of the season.

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But, I keep hearing that the Tarleton Texans are a great football team because they defeated the Cadets at West Point this season.

If B1G and Big 12 did away with their cupcake games, they'd play less than 4 games a year.

SEC plays more high level games than any other conference. Scheduling a cupcake at the back end of the season is great because it spreads out the good games instead of loading them only near the end. Fans can watch other conferences that week if they are looking for close games.

Also saying it goves the B1G homers something to whine about is foolish. They are going to find something to cry about either way. Why would we do anything other than make the best decisions for our own conference and let them talk knowing they play a mostly dog**** schedule?

Commander-In-Beef said:

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If B1G and Big 12 did away with their cupcake games, they'd play less than 4 games a year.

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B1G did that one year and OSU still got invited to the playoffs.

hey you stole my fav mangino meme from 20 years ago...that I recently posted !!!