The financial realities of college athletics have long forced programs like Florida A&M to schedule what are kindly called “guarantee games” against powerhouse opponents like the No. 7 Miami Hurricanes Thursday night.
Playing two games on three days rest at Hard Rock Stadium, the overmatched Rattlers were buried by UM 77-7 in a money game as the Hurricanes set a school record for yards and tied the mark for points in a game. The contest was so one-sided that the teams agreed to shave five minutes off the fourth quarter, setting the clock for 10 minutes instead of the standard 15.
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FAMU (1-2), which lost to fellow HBCU South Carolina State on Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium, was paid $760,000 by Miami (2-0) to play Thursday night’s matchup. The guarantee package included $40,000 to cover travel expenses for the Rattlers’ nationally renowned Marching 100 band.
The outcome, however, left many FAMU fans questioning on social media whether the financial payoff justifies the cost. While guarantee games can provide much-needed revenue for athletic departments, critics argue the payouts often come at the expense of player safety, roster depth and the program’s public image.
“I don’t care about these money games for HBCUs” pastor and lobbyist Darrick McGhee posted on Facebook. “We must stop. Not sure how these games build our teams or players.”
Former FAMU coach Willie Simmons, in his second season at FIU, said the central question is whether the revenue generated by guarantee games is actually worth the long-term cost.
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While acknowledging that low-resource schools need revenue to fund athletic departments, Simmons told the Tallahassee Democrat college athletics may need a new approach that better protects athletes while creating more competitive games.
“We all understand why we play these games,” said Simmons, who attended the FAMU-UM game Thursday and scheduled money games against UCF and North Carolina during his tenure at FAMU.
“But at what cost? That’s what people making those decisions really have to consider. These games nowadays are hard to watch and hard to support. I don’t think schools like ours should be playing those games anymore unless there’s a different way to structure it.”
Simmons pointed to NIL and the transfer portal as major factors contributing to the widening gap between programs at opposite ends of college football’s financial spectrum. Simmons pointed out in past decades players typically stayed at schools for four or five years, allowing coaches to build experienced teams capable of occasionally pulling off major upsets.
Simmons mentioned that UM starting quarterback Darian Mensah’s NIL estimated valuation of $6.5 million exceeds the combined coaching salaries of FAMU head coach Quinn Gray and his assistants. Simmons said he would not want his FIU team, in Conference USA, to play UM in college football’s current climate.
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“It’s becoming increasingly difficult to make those games competitive when Miami has the ability to recruit FAMU’s best players off its roster,” said Simmons, who credited the Rattlers’ spirit and fight against UM. “You can’t keep your homegrown players. It’s an auction.”
Simmons said athletic administrators must also consider public perception created by lopsided matchups.
“Football is the front porch of the university,” Simmons said. “When you get physically outmatched in every sense, it creates a negative perception about the school.”
Former FAMU player and administrator Vaughn Wilson echoed Simmons’ sentiments, posting on Facebook:
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“There was a time where these games made sense,” Wilson said. “As we have shifted to the NIL and Transfer portal era, I would hope FAMU Athletics works toward raising the funds to support the athletic department and away from sending OUR BRAND out against a perennial Power Four championship-caliber team. We don’t just send our team out, they carry OUR BRAND.
“When you have a team with tens of million of NIL money against a team with a few thousand, it’s literally a pro team verses an amateur team. That’s what tonight looked like. It has ZERO to do with the effort of the coaches or the players. This game is truly apples vs oranges. Again, it hasn’t always been the case. But as the Power Four conferences have seized control of the talent and depth, this is the result.”
Earlier this month Edward Waters University President A. Zachary Faison Jr. apologized to his football team and said the school will no longer schedule Division I football opponents unless the financial and competitive terms make sense for the Tigers. Faison made the announcement hours after Edward Waters suffered a 66-14 loss to Jackson State in Jackson, Mississippi.
“I owe you an apology, because the position we placed you in Saturday was not your doing and it was not your coaches’,” Faison wrote on social media. “The decision was mine, and I own it.”
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Former FAMU coach Rudy Hubbard, recently inducted into the Black College Football Hall of Fame, led the Rattlers to a stunning 16-13 win over UM in Tallahassee in 1979.
The 80-year-old now sees a college football landscape that is drastically different from the one he navigated during the Rattlers’ glory years that were punctuated by the inaugural NCAA Division I-AA national championship in 1978. For Hubbard, games against major programs were never viewed as guaranteed losses attached to a paycheck.
When FAMU faced UM during his tenure, the expectation was simple.
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“My thing was we expected to win,” Hubbard said.
Hubbard believes the competitive balance that once existed has largely disappeared. But even before the NIL era transformed college athletics, he preferred a different business model for FAMU football. Rather than sending the Rattlers around the state chasing paydays, Hubbard wanted to bring opponents to Tallahassee.
“I was never in favor of traveling all around playing our games out of town,” Hubbard said. “I wanted to build a home stadium. I wanted to build season ticket sales and grow our fan base. You build from your strength and your strength is your fans.”
In fact, Hubbard said FAMU occasionally did the opposite of today’s guarantee-game model by paying smaller schools to come to Bragg Memorial Stadium. The strategy wasn’t simply about football. Hubbard believed successful home games created a broader economic impact for the university and the Tallahassee community.
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“People came for our home games,” Hubbard said. “We were rolling at the time.”
Hubbard admitted that Thursday’s game was difficult to watch.
The Hurricanes finished with 856 yards, breaking the mark of 750 against Ball State in 2024. Miami had 77 points in a game twice previously, both against Savannah State. UM scored touchdowns on 11 of its first 12 possessions. The one exception: a one-play drive to kneel out the clock and end the first half.
“I felt bad for Quinn and those guys – that has to end up being a long day,” Hubbard said.
Wilson, at the game, applauded the team’s effort despite the mismatch. FAMU, which hosts Tennessee State, Sept. 19, scored on a 72-yard fumble return by Caleb McKenzie with 6:40 left.
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“The pride in these young men for not backing down and avoiding a shutout was pure effort,” Wilson said. “That will bode well for the team in this season. I am proud of the effort from the guys, they were truly just outmanned. Trust me, this Miami team can beat some Power Four schools by the same score.”
Jim Henry is sports editor of the Tallahassee Democrat. Email him at jjhenry@tallahassee.com.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: ‘At what cost?’ FAMU 77-7 loss sparks debate over NIL-era money games
