Faulk: Southern's 77-6 Loss at Houston Was 'Not Really a Game' — SkimNews
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- Marshall Faulk told reporters after Southern's 77-6 loss at No. 22 Houston that 'that wasn't really a game,' calling it a 'preseason crash-dummy test for Houston to work on all the good plays.'
- Southern received a $450,000 guarantee, 125 pizzas as a postgame meal, and 400 complimentary tickets (with the option to purchase 1,000 more) for traveling to Houston, according to the Houston Chronicle.
- Faulk said FCS programs like his 'don't have the budget to compete' with Power Four teams, adding: 'Guts and glory and want and will is not enough to compete with a team like that.'
- Houston led 70-0 after three quarters, prompting both teams to agree to a shortened eight-minute fourth quarter; the Cougars finished with 388 rushing yards from 10 ballcarriers, five touchdown passes, and a school-record-tying 28 first-quarter points.
- Southern managed just four first downs, minus-6 rushing yards, and three turnovers in the loss.
- Buy games have produced near-identical routs elsewhere in the first two weeks — Miami 77 over Florida A&M, Georgia 63 over Tennessee State 3, Kansas State 77 over Nicholls 3, TCU 63 over Grambling 7, Arizona State 70 over Morgan State 7, Syracuse 66 over New Hampshire 3, Cincinnati 62 over Western Carolina 10, and UCF 73 over Bethune-Cookman 6.
- Faulk, a Pro Football Hall of Famer and 2000 NFL MVP, signed a three-year contract with Southern last November after serving as Colorado's running backs coach under Deion Sanders; he joins Michael Vick (Norfolk State) and DeSean Jackson (Delaware State) among former NFL stars now coaching at lower-division programs.
- Faulk recalled that in an earlier era, a Southern team with 'juniors and seniors ... this could be a competitive game playing a team like Houston,' underscoring the roster and resource gap he says now makes such matchups unwinnable.
- JMU and first-year head coach Billy Napier also joined the glorified-scrimmage club in Week 2, setting a record with an 87-3 win over Wagner.
Why it matters: FCS programs pocketed six- and seven-figure guarantees to absorb beatdowns of 60-plus points, and Faulk's candor makes explicit what everyone already knows: these are scheduled scrimmages with scholarship-labor rosters on the losing end, not games. With buy games now netting FCS schools roughly $450,000 a pop but routinely producing 70-point margins, the financial lifeline is becoming harder to justify as anything more than a preseason tune-up for the Power Four.
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