The Southeastern Conference is composed of many of the toughest football teams in the nation every year.
Consequently, that leads to some of the toughest schedules in the nation. Knowing that, most SEC programs schedule an annual cupcake game against an FCS opponent to provide at least one breather on an otherwise-challenging slate.
That has led to some extremely odd and uncompetitive matchups throughout the SEC’s rich history.
All that got us thinking about the quirkiest opponent in the history of every SEC program. See our selections below. We’ve tried to include a mix of new and old, but admittedly, the olden days and wartime periods of college football generated the wackiest matchups.
Recalling the most obscure opponent for all 16 SEC teams
There are several good candidates here, including Carlisle Indian School, Case Western Reserve, Cumberland, Georgia Pre-Flight and Wetumpka. However, the nod for wackiest opponent in Alabama football history has to go to the 2nd Ambulance Company of Ohio, which the Tide defeated 7-0 in the 1917 season opener.
The squad was composed of military members who were training in Montgomery, Ala., and supposedly included former Ohio State players. The Tide’s official website commemorates the game, but details are scant.
While games against Dallas Medical and Cherokee Male Seminary/Tahlequah Seminary certainly rank as extraordinary, we’re going with the two-game set against Kansas City Medical in 1901 and ’05.
Both games were played in Fayetteville, with Kansas City Medical taking the first encounter by a 10-6 score. Arkansas would have to wait four years for revenge, but would finally get it with a 26-0 blanking.
Arkansas had trouble with the medical schools during this period as Dallas Medical posted a 5-0 win in 1901, the only time the programs would meet.
On Oct. 21, 1939, Auburn played the Manhattan Jaspers in a night game in New York City. It was in the middle of a short-lived football run for Manhattan College, which fielded a team from 1936 to ’42.
During that time, Manhattan also played current SEC schools Kentucky and Texas A&M, going 1-3 against them. However, the Jaspers’ 7-0 win over Auburn in 1939 started a three-game winning streak for Manhattan and they would go on to beat Boston University and West Virginia as part of a 4-4 campaign.
Auburn’s loss was the first of three consecutive defeats that season (all on the road) as the Tigers dropped games at Georgia Tech and Boston College on their way to a 5-5-1 finish.