One of the quirkier subplots to the opening of the college football season has been the odyseey of FCS school Savannah State. The Tigers, who are one of the worst teams in FCS, accepted trips to two Top 25 FBS powers in the first two weeks of the season – Oklahoma State and Florida State. Those two games produced the two largest point spreads in the history of college football, 67.5 points at Oklahoma State and 70.5 points at Florida State. Only because an act of God was Florida State's demolition job stopped at 55-0 early in the third quarter due to thunderstorms. Florida had scored 55 points in 36 minutes and was on pace to top Oklahoma State's 84-0 victory from the week prior.
Savannah State was always going to be on the short end of two of the worst blowouts in college football history. We have to go back to 1912's infamous Georgia Tech 222, Cumberland College 0 to find a result somewhat comparable and a mismatch so great. The numbers tell the story of just how shorthanded Savannah State was in their matchups against the Seminoles and Cowboys. Florida State and Oklahoma State used these games as scrimmages. Savannah State used them as needed fundraisers…
First, the reason these games were so out of hand was because Savannah State isn't just a run-of-the-mill FCS scheduled by an FBS power to provide a glorified practice. This isn't a good FCS school like App State or Montana or even an average one like Florida A&M or Dayton. Savannah State is one of the worst programs in the former Division I-AA. Need proof?
-Since joining the FCS in 2000 from Division II, Savannah State has a record of 19-108, good enough for a .149 winning percentage. That includes back to back 1-10 seasons.
-Prior to joining the FCS, Savannah State had a losing record in D-II (97-108-4) and D-III (15-20-0) going back to 1973.
-In 2011, Savannah State was 120th out of 120 FCS teams in both PPG and total offense. They were much better defensively though – 117th in points allowed and 116th in yards allowed.
With that in mind, here are the combined stats for Savannah State's 6.5 quarters against Florida State and Oklahoma State…
Total Score: FBS 139, Savannah State 0
Rushing: FBS 65 carries, 562 yards, 8.64 YPC; Savannah State 60 carries, 77 yards, 1.28 YPC
Passing: FBS 43/58, 533 yards, 7 TDs, 1 INT; Savannah State 14/42, 90 yards, 0 TDs, 2 INTs
Total Yards: FBS 1095 yards, Savannah State 167 yards.
Florida State & Oklahoma State combined for over 6 times the total yards of Savannah State.
First Downs: FBS 53, Savannah State 11.
Yards per play: FBS 8.90, Savannah State 1.65.
Points per minute: FBS 1.45, Savannah State 0.
Extrapolating these numbers over the course of an entire season, Savannah State would allow 955 points and 6,022 yards in an 11 game schedule. They would score nothing.
$$$$$: Savannah State $860,000 – almost one fifth of the school's entire athletic budget and a quarter of the school's endowment was raised by the football team these last two weeks.
Savannah State earned $6,187 for every point scored against them. That's the only number that counts.
