SSU Tigers reap benefits from two-game stretch of moneyball

SAVANNAH, Georgia - After enduring two of the most highly publicized and meaningless blowouts in the history of college football during the first two weeks of the season, Savannah State is ready to move on and figure out what it was worth to be steamrolled by Oklahoma State and Florida State and hounded by the national sports media.

In the same span that the Tigers were losing to the Cowboys and Seminoles by a combined score of 139-0 in roughly seven quarters of play, there were 14 other games between Football Bowl Subdivision teams and Football Championship Subdivision teams decided by a margin of more than 40 points. Fellow Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference member Florida A&M was humbled 69-13 by Oklahoma last Saturday, and MEAC member South Carolina State’s next two games are certain defeats at Arizona and Texas A&M.

But none of the other FCS scrimmages for hire headlined ESPN Gameday or commanded the allegedly largest point spread in college football history. When FBS programs around the country were bullying their FCS little brothers, what made Savannah State’s beatings such a compelling story?

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