Should Alabama Play Troy In Football?

Phil Paramore of the Dothan Eagle wrote this week that he thinks and hopes that Alabama or Auburn will play Troy in football, but should they?
 
First off Paramore is being very realistic about this, he acknowledges that Alabama and Auburn are not going to be playing games at Troy. “No, neither will venture to Pike County” says Paramore. They shouldn’t venture there either; Troy has in no way earned a home game with Alabama or Auburn.
 
Paramore also admits where Troy is as a football program. “that’s not to suggest the Trojans could win against Alabama or Auburn, and right now, maybe not even be able to make the contest competitive” states Paramore. I think you can probably take the “maybe” out of that sentence.
 
Paramore justifies his maybe by mentioning the 1998 Auburn Tigers and the Mike Shula era Tide. I have to think that if you’re going back a decade to get examples of teams that you “maybe” could beat then you’re a little more than “maybe” going to get stomped.
 
Despite the fact that Troy went 3-9 in the lowly Sun Belt I think Paramore might be on to something here. Why not play Troy? Paramore asserts that it’s because Alabama and Auburn might be afraid they would lose, but Alabama beats the stuffing out other cupcakes, why would Troy be different?
 
This isn’t Ole Miss refusing to play Southern Miss. I don’t think there’s really much of a realistic shot of Troy getting a win on Alabama if they scheduled a game in the foreseeable future.
 
I do think a loss to Troy would be something most Alabama fans would hate deep in their soul, but would I hate it more than a loss to Georgia Southern? Probably not… even though Georgia Southern is a better team than Troy; Georgia Southern beat Troy 42-10 this year.
 
I don’t see why Alabama doesn’t do a good deed for a team in their own state and give them a cupcake game. It would certainly help Troy’s program and I wouldn’t mind seeing the $1 million dollar cupcake fee going to Troy rather than the Western Carolina Catamounts.
 
The problem is that with the new College Football Playoff there’s going to be less and less room for cupcake games. As the CFB playoff grows, and it will grow, the “strength of schedule” factor is going to get more and more important. Right now SEC teams get some strength of schedule help because they play in the conference that is undisputedly considered the toughest in the nation. The pendulum swings though, and that might not always be the case.
 
This means teams that want a shot at the playoff, like Alabama, are probably going to start playing fewer and fewer cupcake games and more and more big time out of conference teams. The time for cupcakes is fading fast.
 
A game with the 7-5 Carolina Catamounts is just a better game than one with the 3-9 Troy Trojans. It may not be a huge distinction, but it is one. If Troy wants to get a game with Alabama before something else happens like an increase in conference games or a significant change to the CFB playoff they are going to have to prove they are ready now… and they are probably going to have to get some political help to make it happen.
 
I hope we do see a game with the Trojans of Troy one day, I just hope it’s in a year when they didn’t lose to the Abilene Christian Wildcats. To me it’s simply a case of you can’t jump to a heavy weight championship bout until you win in your own current weight class.
 
Do you think Alabama should play Troy? Let us know in the comments below.