When is a cupcake not a cupcake?

Last week, I read a Yahoo Sports article about next year's college football schedule, highlighting the worst FBS vs. FCS games in the 2012 season.  I mainly read this article to get a good understanding of how the awful ACC keeps ending up with more than 2 bowl-eligible teams year after year (Surprise! 4 of the 12 games involve ACC teams this year).

Anyway, hidden in the article was a Purdue mention...

For the most part, Big Six teams don't want anything to do with top-level FCS programs. There are some exceptions, among them ... Eastern Kentucky at Purdue on Sept. 1.

Wait, what??? Surely, we just scheduled Eastern Kentucky so they could get a big payday as a thank you for grooming Danny Hope, right?  After looking at it a little closer, I was wrong.  I am truly frightened by this team...

Facts about Eastern Kentucky:
- Last year, they lost 10-7 at Kansas State.  KSU scored a touchdown with under 2 minutes left to win the game.  This is the SAME Kansas State team that finished 10-2 in the regular season.
- EKU finished 21st in the FCS polls, even though they lost in the first round of the playoffs.
- They return 8 first-team all-conference players (I know it's the Ohio Valley Conference, but how many teams have that many returning first-teamers on it, regardless of conference?)
- Their top QB, RB, and WR are all returning.  Returning RB, Matt Denham, was third in the FCS in rushing yards per game, while WR, Tyrone Goard, had 11 TD receptions.
- Eastern Kentucky's campus is located on the former spot of Central University. and is actually a 4 hour drive to the most Eastern point of Kentucky.  Perhaps they should have stuck with the Central name.

Yes, football season's over 4 months away, but with Notre Dame lurking in week 2, let's hope Purdue doesn't look past a very dangerous FCS team.  This game's going  down to the wire, and when it does, your friends who were super pissed at you for talking about how good Eastern Kentucky was all summer are going to reluctantly say "You were right!".  And isn't getting your friends to say that magical phrase pretty much the sole reason you spend hours upon hours reading game previews?   It's alright, you don't have to give GoBoilers.net credit.  Just knowing that you're thinking about us is all the satisfaction we need.

I like cupcakes.  I don't think I'm going to like EKU.

Stay tuned for more coverage including: 
- A dissertation on The Meaning of John Hart
- The Football Spring Game Recap written solely from watching it on BTN (aka. a replay of the 2011 Purdue-OSU game)
- Part 3 of the epic, entertaining, and heart-wrenching Where Are They Now series

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