The Team That Isn't There

What began as an attempt to help football players raise their profiles for college recruiters has ended up doing the opposite. Eastern Christian Academy, which is based in Elkton, Md., and which started the year with neither a building nor faculty—students take accredited online courses—has played only three games all season, the last on Sept. 21, when the Honey Badgers trounced Archbishop Spalding 54--0, their first game in nearly a month.

ECA's problems began after SI (Aug. 27) revealed that, because the Honey Badgers had not scheduled games against state public schools, they could not be sanctioned by the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association. The news prompted upcoming opponents to cancel their dates with ECA. The future of the team's season, and of its 46 players, is up in the air.

"Unless a kid attended your football camp," one ACC assistant coach told The Washington Post, "it would be hard ... to say, 'Hey, let's move forward with this kid,' when you haven't seen him play a down of football."

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GARY BOGDON (HONEY BADGERS)