The 2025-26 college football season has just two weeks remaining. That means the top teams in the country are playing extremely meaningful football against tough opponents, right? Well, not all of them.
There are a handful of high-profile programs that are going to be playing some lowly Group of Five or FCS teams to makeup for a lack of conference opposition. For example, LSU faces Western Kentucky, Auburn plays Mercer and Wake Forest takes on Delaware in Week 13.
This is usually because those respective Power Five teams played a high profile non-conference game during one of the first few weeks of the year while everyone else was playing their gimme matchup.
It should come as no surprise that the SEC typically features heavily in these late-season buy games. That's by virtue of their eight-game conference schedule, which will soon shift to nine games to match the other power conferences.
However, those aren't the only big teams playing easy matchups this late in the year. There are a few College Football Playoff contenders that are going to get an insurance victory as they close in on a berth in the 12-team bracket.
Three CFP contenders are paying a combined $3 million for easy late-season wins
No. 3 Texas A&M vs. Samford
The Aggies are paying the Bulldogs $550,000 to travel to College Station and get whipped on a Saturday afternoon. It'll take A&M one step closer to clinching a spot in the SEC Championship game and likely snagging a first-round bye in the College Football Playoff.
A&M played Notre Dame in Week 3 in what was one of the biggest early non-conference games of the year. Had they not been scheduled to face the Irish, then Samford would've likely been their final non-conference opponent in that stretch.
No. 10 Alabama vs. Eastern Illinois
The Crimson Tide are paying the Panthers $560,000 do come on down to Tuscaloosa for a public butt whooping. With Alabama slipping six spots in the CFP rankings after falling to Oklahoma in Week 12, this will be a much-needed auto-win to pad its record.
Alabama played both Florida State AND Wisconsin in its non-conference slate. Everyone knows it fell big time to the Seminoles but that has turned into a bad loss. While Eastern Illinois isn't a good win by definition, it'll even out that early-season stumble in the win column. How convenient for the Crimson Tide as it sits on the CFP bubble.
No. 4 Georgia vs. Charlotte
The Bulldogs are paying a whopping $1.9 million to the 49ers to be mauled at Sanford Stadium on live television. At least the game will be buried on SEC Network. Georgia are set up nicely to drive just a few miles to Atlanta for the SEC Championship Game and an easy win over Charlotte will eliminate one more opportunity to come up short.
Georgia actually had a peachy non-conference slate early this year, easily taking care of Marshall and Austin Peay in the first two weeks. The Bulldogs' power conference foe will actually appear in Week 14 when they face arch-rival No. 16 Georgia Tech. Adding an insurance win against Charlotte is just what they need with no SEC games remaining this year.