The University of Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks are set to face Alabama this Saturday, Sept. 17, and will receive $1.9 million for just stepping off of the bus. Although this is not uncommon for the Crimson Tide, these “cupcake” games may become extinct in college football altogether. 

The Warhawks are looking to bounce back from the 2021-22 season, in which they went 4-8 overall and 0-6 on the road. The five-time Sun Belt champion doesn’t look to beef up their schedule by playing the Crimson Tide, but instead to partake in what is commonly referred to as a “cupcake” game.  

This type of matchup has existed in the NCAA for a while. Power Five teams have been paying lesser non-Power Five opponents to come to town for years.  

The last time the Crimson Tide lost one of these matchups was during Nick Saban’s first year in 2007 versus none other than UL-Monroe.  

Although head football coach Nick Saban has stated many times that these games don’t guarantee second-team reps, it’s almost certain that we will see some new names come Saturday.  

An upset does occur every once in a while, such as in College Station in week two — where Texas A&M paid Appalachian State University $1.5 million to come into town and hand the Aggies their first loss of the season. Barring the rare outlier, these games are seen as a tune-up game for top-ranked teams, and it also offers the smaller schools incentive. 

Not only do these teams receive a hefty financial sum, but this brings a national spotlight to programs that otherwise would never receive attention. This tends to lead to more recruitments by incentivizing players with a chance to play on a large stage during their college career.  

Amidst conference re-alignment and the College Football Playoff’s board of managers’ decision to expand the playoffs as early as 2024 — these matchups could be put to an end.  

If the rest of college football follows in Texas’ and Oklahoma’s footsteps in seeking out other conferences — which seems likely — the college football regular season may change forever. 

With the current 14-team format in the SEC, Alabama has 12 regular season games. The schedule features all six division opponents, Tennessee, a rotating SEC east foe, two non-conference Power Five matchups and two ‘cupcake’ games. With the addition of Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC in 2025, at least one “cupcake” game is bound to be removed.  

Talks of expanding the regular season have been all but squandered with the newly expanded playoffs. Some fans have also suggested the SEC implement a round-robin format much like the Big 12. Both are reasons to believe that we will no longer see matchups like the one this Saturday. 

Many fans have no problem with removing these “cupcake” games, as it would lead to better matchups throughout the season. Nick Saban has expressed he is all for the removal of these games.  

“I think [Power Five] conference teams should play all College Five conference teams,” Saban said. “You know, and we should play more conference games. Then to me, losing two games wouldn’t knock you out of this, because you’d be playing more good teams.” 

While this may be true, it would be truly detrimental to smaller programs that would miss out on the revenue and publicity that these games bring. 

The $1.9 million being paid by Alabama will account for over a quarter of UL-Monroe’s total revenue from the 2022 season. The deal also guarantees a return trip for the Warhawks in 2025 for which they will receive $1.925 million dollars.  

As college football continues to change, the future of the infamous “cupcake” game has yet to be determined. 

The Crimson Tide is set to kick off against UL-Monroe Saturday, Sept. 17 at 3 p.m. CT on the SEC Network.

Questions or comments? Email Austin Hannon (Sports Editor) at [email protected]