Every fall, a familiar ritual plays out across college football. Cupcake games. A smaller school travels to a giant stadium, cash in hand, and leaves bruised, bloodied, and humbled. These guarantee games are supposed to boost budgets and exposure, but at what cost? For this HBCU coaching legend, the time may finally come to bring this practice to an end. This comes after Ryan Day and the Buckeyes destroyed Grambling State.

Billy Joe was a coach at Cheyney, Central State, FAMU, and Miles. His harsh critique of cupcake games on HBCU GameDay was posted to IG on September 9. “We don’t have the kind of program to play a Division I single-A team,” he said and went on to list out all the reasons why money games are a bad plan. “Now, we’ve done it for guarantees and for extra money. And of course I was never in support of that as well because, you know, it’s demoralizing when someone puts 50, 60, 70, 80 points on you, and then of course you have sustained a lot of injuries, and psychologically it’s not good for your players’ morale, and when you play a team that’s on your level, you’re not even ready for those teams.” And his perspective is historical.

Billy Joe recounted the televised Ohio State blowout that left the scoreboard at 73-0. But beyond that, the mental tolls and physical risk is real. So the advice is simple. “So I told our folks, look at the Ivy Leagues. You know, the Ivy Leagues, they’re not playing these Division I single-A football teams for money, but they will in non-contact sports, tennis, golf,” he said. “I said, that’s okay for that, but not in football when you’re going to get beat up not only mentally, but most definitely physically as well.” 

Guarantee games are big business. Georgia will pay UMass $1.9 million this Saturday to show up at Sanford Stadium. Alabama, Michigan, Texas, and South Carolina doled out more than $7 million combined in Week 1 alone. Western Kentucky earned nearly $2 million in a 63-point loss to Alabama, a sum dwarfing its entire fiscal-year football revenue before subsidies. WKU athletic director Todd Stewart summed it up saying, “If we didn’t play this game, and our football budget had $1.9 million less, our program would look very different.” 

These pay-to-lose contests are strategic moves to hit the six-win threshold for bowl eligibility or pad records before the playoff chase begins. For schools chasing exposure and money, it’s hard to resist. For players, it’s a grind. Still, Billy Joe’s cautionary perspective couldn’t be more timely after Ohio State steamrolled Grambling State in a display of sheer FBS dominance. 

Ryan Day’s Ohio State humiliates Grambling State

Ohio State, coming off a Week 1 clash with Texas, unleashed the full arsenal on Grambling State. First-year starter Julian Sayin shredded the Tigers’ defense, completing 18 of 19 passes for 306 yards and four touchdowns. One of those was an 87-yard bomb to Jeremiah Smith, the second-longest play in OSU history. Eight of OSU’s first nine possessions ended in scores and they didn’t punt until the fourth quarter.

HC Ryan Day credited the Buckeyes’ execution while acknowledging the mismatch. “They were outmatched talent-wise for sure,” he said. “But I give them a lot of respect for playing hard and playing for four quarters all the way to the end.” For Grambling State, the trip wasn’t without compensation. The Tigers received $1 million for their visit to Ohio Stadium, a payday that offers financial relief but little consolation for the on-field defeat.

Sayin’s performance also highlighted another harsh reality of guarantee games. The talent gap is glaring and sometimes the spectacle is more about money and exposure than competition. Billy Joe’s warning echoes louder than ever. HBCUs must weigh the money against the morale, the injuries, and the long-term program health. Because at some point, no paycheck can justify getting run over on national television.