Tik Tok Video About SFA’s Epic Blowout Win Has 3 Million Views

Saturday night, the Stephen F. Austin State University football team broke numerous records on their way to a historic victory over a team from Florida. The Lumberjacks defeated the Warner Royals from Lake Wales, 98-0.

As hard as it is to believe, the score could have easily been much worse.

As you might expect, this game has thrust this university from Nacogdoches, Texas into the spotlight. The game, which was basically over before the kickoff, has been featured on major news and sports outlets, and various social media portals have been having a field day with it.

One particular and popular TikTok influencer, 'sportsbettingtiktok', has garnered over 3 million views with a video that gives his insight into the game's final touchdown.

@sportsbettingtiktok Replying to @tdubbz11 ♬ Fight Song - Alyssa Grace

SFA has obviously received a lot of press over the game with reactions from amazement to disgust to laughter.  Before you pronounce judgment on a situation, it's always good to know the facts.

I was at the game handling the public address.  Here are some things you should know.

SFA never wanted this game to happen

This summer, the 'Jacks had their football schedule for 2022 finalized and ready to go.  However, a couple of schools on the SFA schedule decided to de-commit from the Western Athletic Conference. That left empty spaces on the schedule. SFA sent out the word that they were looking for a 'fill game', and Warner University, an NAIA division school from Florida, answered the call.

This is called a money game.  SFA would pay Warner a hefty sum to potentially be embarrassed on the field and scoreboard. In their previous game, the Lumberjacks were on the receiving end of a beating in a money game with Louisiana Tech.

Are the Claims that SFA was 'Classless' in this Blowout Fair?

Anyone on the outside looking in who sees the final score of 98-0 is naturally going to be drawn to the conclusion of a team 'running up the score'.  Let's take a look at some of the facts of the game and then you can draw your own conclusion.

It was a Top 25 FCS team going against a not-so-good NAIA team, it was definitely going to be a blowout.

Turnovers didn't help Warner at all.  Three fumbles and an interception led to four immediate SFA touchdowns, including the last two Lumberjack touchdowns. It wasn't like the 'Jacks were driving downfield to score, it was Christmas and the Royals kept bringing out more stockings full of gifts for SFA.

What about Kicking Field Goals When the Game was out of hand?

SFA kicked two fields in the game.  The first made it 59-0, the second increased the lead to 71-0. Some would say that SFA should have just done a running play on 4th down instead. But, the way things were going that could have just led to another 6 points, instead of 3. Plus, you still want your kicking team to get some real-game reps from more than just extra points.

12 Minute Quarters

College football games are supposed to have four-15 minute quarters.  Since it was already 59-0 by halftime, the 3rd and 4th quarters were reduced to 12 minutes each.

So Many Lumberjacks Played, There Weren't Enough Helmets

89 total players from SFA saw action in this blowout. It was reported that some of those that played later in the game had to borrow helmets from other players because there were just not enough matching helmets to go around.

Lining Up for a Two-Point Conversion

When SFA scored its final touchdown after another Warner fumble, the score was 98-0. When I saw the Lumberjacks line-up for what appeared to be a two-point conversion, my jaw dropped.  Surely, we were not purposely going for the century mark.

Turns out, SFA decided that 98 points was enough, and took a knee to end the scoring.

A Shout Out to Warner

The school, the coaches, and the players all knew that a blowout loss was in the cards for this past Saturday night.  Personally, I thought a spread of 70-75 points seemed realistic.  However, those four turnovers that led to immediate touchdowns had a lot to do with the score reaching what it did.

At no time during the game, did I see any of the players from Warner give up.  They played hard and without animosity toward SFA or the situation. There were handshakes after the game, and several of the players even took photos with some of the Lumberjacks.

This team from Lake Wales, Florida loaded up on a couple of buses and endured the 34-hour round-trip drive. The windshields on those buses were covered with the carcasses of thousands of love bugs. Now, Lake Wales is expecting hurricane conditions by Wednesday night.

Keep them in your prayers.