Shortly after noon on Saturday, the University of Maine had a 7-0 lead over Oklahoma.

The lead lasted 52 seconds, and it was ground into dust as the Sooners scored 52 straight points on the way to a 59-14 win over the Black Bears, but those 52 seconds at least allowed the Black Bears to dream, however briefly. Could the Black Bears pull off the upset of the season in college football? Maybe?

They could not.

When this Maine-Oklahoma game was announced last year, the optimists might’ve said “Cool!” The pessimists probably said “Why?”

The answer is, hey, why not? Maine had nothing to lose in accepting a game against one of college football’s traditional powers. Cape Elizabeth’s Nick Laughlin, a sophomore wide receiver for Maine, will always remember that his first college touchdown came against Oklahoma. Laughlin scored on a 5-yard run in the fourth quarter.

For teams in the Football Championship Subdivision, taking on a Football Bowl Subdivision opponent once or twice each season is necessary for the growth and development of your program. And honestly, it’s good for the athletic department’s bottom line.

The salve for this shellacking is the cool $635,000 that Oklahoma paid the Black Bears to make the trip.

Getting a traveling party of 120 people from Orono, Maine, to Norman, Oklahoma, isn’t cheap. It’s not as if the university has its own plane (Bear Force One?) fueled up and ready to go at a moment’s notice. According to university spokesperson Tyson McHatten, a senior associate athletic director, it costs approximately $200,000 to get the Black Bears to Oklahoma and back. That still leaves a much-needed $435,000 for the athletic department’s operating budget.

Last season, Maine received $250,000 from Florida International (a 14-12 FIU win). In 2022, Boston College paid Maine $400,000 for a game and New Mexico cut Maine a check for $350,000. One game against an FBS opponent is already on the schedule for 2025 – a trip to Georgia Southern.

The money is nice, but nobody sets out to be a punching bag for a paycheck. The Black Bears prepared all week as they would for any game, and fully intended to go to Oklahoma and put forth their best effort.

“I’m a competitor, so it’s hard for me to get nostalgic over just playing football,” Maine Coach Jordan Stevens said after the game. “But when you step back, we were here playing at Oklahoma. Everyone around the country understands the magnitude of playing Oklahoma. I don’t care if you’re an FCS program or an FBS program. Oklahoma carries some weight to it… I’m happy for our players that they got that experience.”

As a defensive lineman for the Black Bears from 2006-09, Stevens played in four games against FBS opponents – at Boston College, UConn, Iowa and Syracuse. The combined scores of those four games was 147-27. That’s usually how these games work.

Sometimes though, the punching bag lands a few blows.

The Black Bears are 4-27 all-time against FBS opponents. The biggest of these four wins was a 9-7 victory at Mississippi State in 2004. In 2013, Maine beat UMass, 24-14, but that was the Minutemen’s first season in FBS after decades as one of Maine’s conference rivals. They were FBS in name but not deeds.

One of the big regular-season wins Maine had in 2018 on the way to a spot in the FCS semifinals was a 31-28 victory at Western Kentucky. In 2021, the Black Bears beat UMass again, 35-10.

So far this season, six FCS teams have defeated an FBS opponent. That list includes two teams Maine played in September: Montana State, a 35-31 winner at New Mexico, and Monmouth, a 45-42 winner at Florida International.

FCS vs. FBS can lead to interesting cross country matchups. In 1990, Maine played at Hawaii. The Black Bears lost, 44-3, but got a trip to Hawaii. For years after, mascot Bananas the Bear would occasionally wear the Hawaiian shirt he picked up on the trip.

According to Oklahoma’s official website, Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium seats 80,126 fans. The Sooners routinely stuff a few extra fans in there. The announced attendance for Saturday’s game was 82,831. In comparison, Maine drew 6,860 fans to its Homecoming game against Villanova a couple weeks ago.

One has to add up the attendance of Maine’s last 16 home games, dating to Oct. 9, 2021, against Elon, to get a total of fans that Maine played in front of Saturday afternoon. That’s not to say Maine’s attendance is good or bad, but to point out the difference between college football and COLLEGE FOOTBALL.

In Norman, COLLEGE FOOTBALL is a passion. In Orono, college football is an excuse to put off raking the leaves.

Maine quarterback Carter Peevy played at Mercer before he came to Maine this season as a graduate transfer. Taking on an SEC team was a regular thing for Mercer. Peevy’s team played at Ole Miss last season. Mercer was at Auburn in 2022, and in 2021 they played at Alabama.

“This will be my fourth year in a row going to a big SEC school. It’s always a lot of fun playing in those big atmospheres,” Peevy said last spring.

So you play the game. You go to Oklahoma and play in front of a crowd bigger than any city in Maine. Maybe you catch lightning in a bottle and shock the football-loving nation, like Appalachian State did in 2007 when it left Michigan with a 34-32 victory over the Wolverines.

More likely, you get what happened Saturday afternoon. You walk into Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium and take the L. You walk out with a check, and with stories you’ll tell the rest of your life.