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The list below consists of out of conference games that I would like to see materialize. In a world without a playoff, teams are stepping back from scheduling great out of conference games and ...

Ten Out-of-Conference College Football Series That Need to Happen

by Justin Goar (Senior Writer)

84

1,450 reads

Rankings/List

July 28, 2008


The list below consists of out of conference games that I would like to see materialize. In a world without a playoff, teams are stepping back from scheduling great out of conference games and I think one of the benefits of a playoff is that coaches would be more likely to battle test their teams with exciting out of conference games.

 

Whether you agree with me or not that a playoff would help scheduling, at the very least a playoff could possibly spawn some of these meetings below.

 

Some of the series below have some history, some don’t, but all would benefit the rabid college football fan in all of us. So in no particular order…

 

 

Arkansas-Texas (Texas leads series 55-21)

 

I kind of cheated on this one as I am aware that they are playing this year but this old Southwestern Conference match up should be an annual one. We need to remember the good ole days when these two schools got to express their hatred for each other the way most rivals do: on the field.

 

When talking to a Razorback fan, it won’t take long for a vein to pop out of their foreheads when mentioning the Longhorns. Plus you gotta love the mascots. Beef and pork, this match up is just delicious.

 

 

Miami-Nebraska (Series tied 5-5)

 

Two storied programs trying to build their way back into the land of dominance. This would be a chance for Husker fans to travel down to sunny Miami and Canes fans to head up to the heartland.

 

Oh who am I kidding, we all know Miami fans don’t travel. Nevertheless, with a tied series score, these two teams can duke it out and prove which program is ascending back to a level with which they are more familiar.

 

I think all of us whether we love them or hate them would like to live in a world where Nebraska and Miami are the big dogs.

 

Oh and no police blotter jokes here, that’s so 90’s.

 

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84 comments Last one added 10 months ago — Leave a Comment

  1. Jimson Cuenta 11 months ago

    "Clemson-Georgia (Georgia leads series 41-17-4)

    Georgia already plays an ACC opponent every year and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with clean old fashioned hate especially with new GT coach Paul Johnson and the triple option entering the fold. But Clemson and Georgia used to lace ‘em up on a yearly basis. On my first trip to Athens back in 2000, I saw a female Dawg fan with a T-shirt that read “I hate orange!”

    On the back it listed Tennessee, Florida, Auburn, and Clemson. And I remember thinking…when did UGA play Clemson? The series stopped in 1995, but it’d be great to see it crank up again. Clemson is no stranger to SEC opponents and will take on Alabama this year in Atlanta. And since it’s early in the season, I feel good about Clemson’s chances."

    Man, the Sugar Bowl last season... SHOULD have been this matchup, lolz :)

    Seriously, Hawaii did NOT DESERVE to play in the Sugar Bowl last season... I mean, Hawaii NEEDED OVERTIME, to defeat Louisiana Tech, on SEPTEMBER 8th!

    Heck, if I was on the Sugar Bowl Committee... I would have chosen the Clemson Tigers over Hawaii, to play in the Sugar Bowl last season!

    In fact, I truly believe that Clemson head coach, Tommy Bowden, is a seriously underrated head coach... and that most people seem to have forgotten that Tommy's Clemson Tigers defeated his father Bobby's Florida State Seminoles, THREE years in a row!

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    • BabyTate 11 months ago

      Jimson you know the rules governing non-BCS schools qualifying for the BCS Bowls and Hawaii met them. Clemson went to the Peach Bowl and lost.

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    • Jimson Cuenta 11 months ago

      "Jimson you know the rules governing non-BCS schools qualifying for the BCS Bowls and Hawaii met them. Clemson went to the Peach Bowl and lost."

      Man BabyTate, I KNEW that you were going to respond to my comment... because you are SO ANTI-Clemson, lolz :)

      But seriously, though... Don't you think that SEPTEMBER 8th is just WAY TOO EARLY, to NEED OVERTIME, to beat Louisiana Tech???

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    • Jon Ellsworth 11 months ago

      Jimson, I thik an overtime in September is early enough to forget about completely. You could assume Hawaii was green and working kinks out and all that. Now I don't think Hawaii needed to be in the Sugar bowl, just like I don't think Ohio State should have played for the championship, but the way the system works- if you go undefeated, you're in. The best argument for the BCS is that every game counts, and at the same time this is the best argument against it- you just have to win, not play anyone good.

      Clemson-Georgia would be great, though I think Tommy Bowden is not underrated. He's as good as his record every year: Top 5 among ACC coaches, but never the best.

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    • Jimson Cuenta 11 months ago

      "Jimson, I thik an overtime in September is early enough to forget about completely. You could assume Hawaii was green and working kinks out and all that. Now I don't think Hawaii needed to be in the Sugar bowl, just like I don't think Ohio State should have played for the championship, but the way the system works- if you go undefeated, you're in. The best argument for the BCS is that every game counts, and at the same time this is the best argument against it- you just have to win, not play anyone good."

      An OT win on SEPTEMBER 8th is a telling sign that a team has a VERY BAD ATTITUDE!!! That is WAY TOO EARLY in the season to be needing OT!!!

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    • Justin Goar 11 months ago

      or maybe they were rusty early in the season and needed OT.

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    • Jimson Cuenta 11 months ago

      "or maybe they were rusty early in the season and needed OT."

      Or maybe this is just another EXCUSE... to DEFEND Hawaii's NEEDING OVERTIME, on SEPTEMBER 8th, just to defeat Louisiana Tech, lol :)

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    • Justin Goar 11 months ago

      i'm not defending hawaii i'm defending any team that may be rusty to start a season.

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    • Jimson Cuenta 11 months ago

      "i'm not defending hawaii i'm defending any team that may be rusty to start a season."

      You can't be serious, right???

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    • Justin Goar 11 months ago

      c'mon jimson, you don't think a team gets better as the season goes on? inexperienced players gain experience. units begin to jel. playcalling becomes sharper once a coach knows his team's strengths and weaknesses?

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    • Jimson Cuenta 11 months ago

      "c'mon jimson, you don't think a team gets better as the season goes on? inexperienced players gain experience. units begin to jel. playcalling becomes sharper once a coach knows his team's strengths and weaknesses?"

      Man, this has got to be the dumbest argument... in the history of mankind, lolz :)

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  2. David Wunderlich 11 months ago

    A few I could think of...

    Boise State-BYU (Boise State leads series 2-0): The most successful non-BCS school of the decade against the only non-BCS school of the last couple decades with a national title.

    Florida-Georgia Tech (GT leads series 24-9-6): Two engineering powers in a resurrection of an old-time SEC matchup. It dates back to John Heisman's Tech teams, but they haven't played since 1981.

    South Carolina-Oklahoma (never played): Spurrier versus Bob Stoops, the DC of Steve's 1996 championship squad.

    Cincinnati-Ohio State (OSU leads series 4-0): Cincinnati is up and coming, and now that it's in a BCS conference, there's no reason for them not to play every year. It's a rare chance for a Big Ten team to have an in-state, out of conference rival.

    Texas Tech versus Florida or South Carolina (never played): Seeing Mike Leach go up against Meyer or Spurrier would be great, especially if they got Leach and Spurrier to do a joint press conference.

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    • M. Black 11 months ago

      As a Gator fan, I would love to bring back the GT-UF rivalry!! But I would settle for USC. Playing teams like the Citadel, while relaxing and therapeutic, can get old. I say UF needs to prove their might by scheduling a tough OOC team-from a BCS conference, though.

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    • David Wunderlich 11 months ago

      They tried to by scheduling FSU every year and Miami once in a while, but what are you going to do? USF comes to the Swamp in '10 and '11 though.

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    • M. Black 11 months ago

      So true, so true.
      I can't wait for that USF game. Potentially great match up between Grothe and Tebow!

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    • David Wunderlich 11 months ago

      Well, they'll both be gone by 2010 unless they both medical redshirt in one of the next two years, but it should be interesting to see Tebow's successor go up against whoever replaces the most successful quarterback in USF history.

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    • Jimson Cuenta 11 months ago

      How about Kansas vs. Florida... The ONLY TWO schools to WIN the NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP in BOTH College Football AND College Basketball, during the SAME ACADEMIC year, lolz :)

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  3. Lisa Horne 11 months ago

    YES!!!!!!!!!!!! I love the USC v Florida gig. And make it a home and home format...USC fans love traveling to Florida. I wanna go see my boys play in the Swamp. Nice job! My POTD!

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    • David Wunderlich 11 months ago

      I think Sean Salisbury still has nightmares about Wilber Marshall from the first time Florida and USC played in '82: http://www.gatorsports.com/article/20070927/COLUMNISTS/70927002/1044

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    • Edmon 11 months ago

      Jerry Jones is looking for a product to put in his billion dollar dome. I can't stand Texas, but I'd make a trip out to see USC via UF. I'm honestly not worried for Florida to play too many teams, but Pete Carroll has shown that he really puts time in for the big games. Now he just needs to worry about those Stanford teams.

      Matter of fact, just have Florida, USC, Okalahoma, and Ohio State just play a round robin tourney.

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    • SEC Idiots .com 11 months ago

      Ark-Texas A&M start up in Jerry Jones world in 2009. Its supposed to run for at least 10 years. Not exactly Ark-TX, but its close.

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  4. Lisa Horne 11 months ago

    Whoops....gotta do POTD tomorrow, I already voted today. :) I won't forget!

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  5. James Doker 11 months ago

    You know that Notre Dame and Washington play this year, right? They also play in '09; I'm not sure if the series continues after that. But still, that's going to be an interesting game. Some psychology student could write a thesis paper on that coaching matchup.

    All of the potential nonconference series mentioned in the article would be great to see. I also particularly liked David's suggestion of Boise State-BYU and Cincinnati-Ohio State.

    My favorite, though, might be a potential University of Miami vs. Miami University match. That could get confusing.

    Here are some other serendipitous dream matchups (call them Unique Mascot Bowls):
    Red Raiders v. Blue Raiders
    Golden Hurricane v. Hurricanes
    Owls v. Owls
    Rebels v. Rebels
    Wolfpack v. Wolf Pack
    Mountaineers v. Mountaineers

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    • Justin Goar 11 months ago

      "You know that Notre Dame and Washington play this year, right? They also play in '09"

      then my work here is done.

      actually no, i did not know that. oops better change that one.

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  6. Kent Moore 11 months ago

    In order to see big games like this, the NCAA needs to cut down on the 119 teams in Division 1A.

    My suggestion is to split D-1A in two halves (D-1A and D-1B).

    D-1A consists of the BCS Conferences, with some teams being excluded due to poor performances and non-BCS Conference teams getting invited. Teams like Notre Dame, Boise State, BYU, Utah get invited to be in D-1A. Teams like Baylor, Duke, Iowa State, Northwestern, get demoted.

    Split D-1A into 6 Conferences with each conference having 10 teams. Each team plays a 12-game schedule consisting of every team in their conference and 3 out of conference matchups that are RANDOMLY chosen every year. If your team has Ohio State, USC and Oklahoma as their out of conference games...SORRY. Better luck next year. Out of Conference games are played first. Homefield advantage for OOC games is decided by coin toss prior to season. Conference games are on a home-home series format.

    Example Schedule - Florida
    @ Notre Dame
    @ Rutgers
    Nebraska
    LSU
    Georgia
    South Carolina
    Ole Miss
    Mississippi State
    Arkansas
    Alabama
    Auburn
    Kentucky

    Conference Champions will automatically go to the playoffs. If there is no clear conference champion (wins vs loses are equal for 2 teams in a single conference) then they play an extra game. If a team has clearly won its conference, there is no need for a conference championship.

    8 team playoff with the 6 conference champions and 2 At-Large Invites. May the best team win.

    Same scenario would be played with D-1B. You could therefore cheer for your favorite D-1A school and D-1B school. And the lesser schools could at least get a shot at winning something, instead of being in a division where they have no chance of making it to the championship.

    This way, we could see these big games all the time. The scheduling of D-II schools and other warm-up games must stop. It is taking away from great football games.

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    • Justin Goar 11 months ago

      kent,

      thanks for the comment. i think you have a whole new article right there!

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    • Kent Moore 11 months ago

      It is a dream that will never come true. Can you imagine the opening week's matchups consisting of:

      Florida @ Notre Dame
      Ohio State @ Oregon
      Miami @ USC
      Penn State @ LSU
      Oklahoma @ Pittsburgh
      West Virginia @ Arizona State
      Alabama @ Virginia Tech

      And that is just some of the first week's games!!!

      What if LSU had Penn State, @Michigan, and the @Boise State? It would be awesome to see LSU walking on the Blue Turf of BSU.

      Or Oklahoma having to go on the road @Pitt, @Auburn, and then @Clemson?

      I get goosebumps just thinking about it. Those first three weeks would really shake up rankings and cause a nightmare for voters. Depending on the schedule, you could potentially have your pre-season #1 (Lets say Georgia) traveling away from home its first 3 games to play Ohio State, USC, and Oklahoma. It could walk away with 3 loses right there.

      It would put college football soooooo far ahead of any other sport in the United States.

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    • James Doker 11 months ago

      Kent: this sounds like the NFL. If you want everything broken up into neat conferences with automatic bids and playoffs, just watch the No Fun League.

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    • Kent Moore 11 months ago

      James,

      So you like it when everyone complains about how their favorite team got shafted out of a spot in this bowl or that bowl?

      This would give EVERY team a chance at becoming champions. Even schools in the MAC and Sun Belt could be playing for a title. What is so wrong about that? Why have these teams in a division where there is no chance at them reaching the championship game. Look at Boise State a few years ago. The only team to go undefeated and they weren't even considered champions. If you cut it in half and break everything up into need conferences, it puts everyone on an equal playing field. What's wrong with that?

      1.) It gets rid of the "you play a weak OOC schedule therefore you suck." No more playing D-II schools

      2.) It gets rid of pointless Championship games. Why does an undefeated team have to play a 2-loss team for a conference championship? that's stupid! No sharing of conference championships either.

      3.) It gives us great matchups every single year.

      4.) It gets rid of teams not playing everyone in their conference. Look at Ohio State and Iowa a few years back. They didn't play each other and ended up sharing the Big Ten Title.

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    • James Doker 11 months ago

      You're right, it does do all those things, Kent. But like I said before, you might as well just watch the NFL.

      Besides the fact that there's absolutely no way that any of your plan could be implemented, I'm not sure if it would really even be an improvement. Arguably the best part of College Football is analyzing and comparing the teams to decide rankings. It's certainly the most unique thing about the sport, and it also increases interest and makes people more interested in watching every game.

      Just because some people complain about their team being left out doesn't mean we should overhaul the entire sport.

      If you don't like teams playing in pointless conference championship games, then what would you think if the national championship ended up being a matchup between one undefeated conference champion and one 3-loss conference champion?

      I don't think it's worth pointing out all the problems with your overhaul plan for the FBS, so I won't.

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  7. Michael Bergman 11 months ago

    Sheesh, that would give Texas one heck of a tough schedule every year, but hey, I'm down. It'd be nice to beat to SEC teams every year so that I could talk trash here in Atlanta. In another article similar to this one, the writer suggested Texas vs. USC. I think that'd be a lot of fun, although I don't wanna play them this year.

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    • Justin Goar 11 months ago

      "Sheesh, that would give Texas one heck of a tough schedule every year, but hey, I'm down."

      michael,

      i'm a little unfamiliar with UT's ooc schedule.

      i know the big 12 is rough, but putting ark on schedule means you can still line up SMU, TCU, Rice, Houston, UNT, etc. to fight over the other three slots.

      am i forgetting a traditional non conf opponent for UT??

      i think that match up would rock and i would think lately y'all would be getting the better of the razorbacks anyway. don't you want to beat petrino??!!! lol.

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  8. Liger 11 months ago

    Great article...I was a huge UGA fan (like everyone else in NE Georgia) when I was a kid. We lived in Lake Hartwell, which is about mid-way between Athens and Clemson and man, that UGA-Clemson rivalry was huge. I miss it. Certainly deserving to be in the top 10.

    I'd like to see a Bama-ND game...that would be pretty cool. Two storied programs trying to make it back to the top.

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    • Nic Gulas 11 months ago

      Saban has mentioned ND specifically when listing teams he would like to schedule OOC. We had FSU last year, Clemson this year, and VT next year is not out of the question yet.

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    • Justin Goar 11 months ago

      nic,
      so is clemson just a one year series? i guess so at neutral site. VT had some great fans that visited last year, one of our favorite tailgates ever. they were good sports.

      ND, bama would be great.

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  9. Pierce Wilford 11 months ago

    I wanna see USC play any of the powerhouses in the SEC. Just to shut up some ESPN analysts that think college football is USC and Ohio State first, then the other teams second.

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  10. Michael Bergman 11 months ago

    I was saying I'm up for adding Arkansas and Alabama to our schedule. But we don't play any ooc teams annually. Although there are trends like rice, houston, and a couple of series against ark.

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  11. Toby Parker 11 months ago

    How about an Arizona State/Florida State series? Not much for the football but for the scenery...

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  12. Jimson Cuenta 11 months ago

    How about a Kansas-Ohio State series? Or a Kansas-LSU series? Or even a Kansas-Hawaii series?

    I would LOVE to see MY Kansas Jayhawks play these 3 Out-of-Conference series EVERY YEAR... so people can STOP complaining about how MY Kansas Jayhawks play a "schedule full of cupcakes", lol :)

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  13. Mitch Rowe 11 months ago

    I was thinking that maybe OSU @ USC was as good of a match-up us as college football fans could see. But, the more I think a matchup that gives us USC against the best the SEC has to offer would be the even better. A Florida-USC game would put the bed the "SEC is invinsible" talk early in the season or add to it given the outcome. This game would have some of the fastest athletes from the east and west coast, it would be a five star showdown.

    "How about an Arizona State/Florida State series? Not much for the football but for the scenery..."

    I attend school at ASU and this game sounds like a party to me...bring on the 'Noles and their women

    The Coed Bowl

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  14. Vincent Franco 11 months ago

    Your lame choice of ND agaist Washington was just an excuse to take a shot a ND... very transparent
    move on the authors part.... now a great game that I would love to see would be ND against Alabama.
    Two programs of great tradition as well as huge and intense fan bases.

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    • Justin Goar 11 months ago

      well actually i took lots of shots in the article, they're all in good fun.

      a friend of mine was a stren and cond coach there for a few years so i actually rooted for ND a little in that time.

      my mistake was not realizing the two teams played this year.

      if i had to replace those two teams i'd say maybe fla st vs south carolina as honorable mention.
      spurrier vs bowden plus these team have played alot thru the years.

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  15. Justin Hokanson 11 months ago

    I agree with all of these. They would all be great series.

    I especially like Miami-Nebraska, Virginia Tech-Tennessee, Michigan-West Virginia, and of course USC-Florida.

    But don't count on a Big 10 team traveling anywhere. Auburn tried to set something up with Michigan a year or so ago and Michigan wouldn't travel down south for whatever reason.

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    • Kristofer Green 11 months ago

      That's Michigan. Do your research, this season alone Ohio State travels to USC, Michigan State travels to Cal, Wisconsin travels to Fresno State, Iowa travels to Pitt, and Illinois plays Missouri in St. Louis.

      Michigan is representitive of the Big Ten as a whole. There are Big Ten teams who are willing to travel anywhere, anytime, and to play anybody.

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    • Kent Moore 11 months ago

      Don't count on a Big 10 team traveling anywhere?

      Don't you mean a SEC?

      I think the Big 10 does a lot of traveling around the country. When was the last time Florida or Georgia have traveled anywhere? (I know Georgia is playing ASU this season)

      I wish they would do something like they do in NCAA Basketball with the Big 10/ACC Challenge.

      Have a Big 10/Big 12 Challenge or PAC 10/SEC Challenge.

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    • Justin Goar 11 months ago

      LSU tried to contact mich for a home and home (i gues b/c of miles and the two teams have never met) and they told us they would not play us as long as they had notre dame on the schedule.

      maybe if that contract ends we have a shot, i would love to play michigan.

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  1. Kristofer Green 11 months ago

    I meant, Michigan is NOT representitive of the Big Ten, when it comes to OOC scheduling.

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  2. Alex Ferguson 11 months ago

    Great article. But aren't the Big Ten, SEC, Big XII and - quite frankly - the Pac-10 good enough right now? The Big East's not bad either, with Pitt, South Florida, West Virginia and Louisville always battling it out for supremacy.

    Personally, Notre Dame should simply go and find itself a conference. I really believe that.

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    • SEC Idiots .com 11 months ago

      Until ND joins a conference, every one of their opponents have a responsibility to run up the score on them unmercifully. I really believe that.

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  3. Mark Rupert 11 months ago

    I remember those early 1980's, games between GA and Clemson, it was as good as it gets.

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  4. Scott Taylor 11 months ago

    at least Tennessee schedules one top program for noncon games year in and year out, despite playing in the SEC. They play Oklahoma in a few years and OSU in 10 years... I am already excited!

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    • Justin Goar 11 months ago

      scott, totally agree.

      tennessee is excellent with scheduling, i wasn't knocking them for it.

      i just thought putting VT on the schedule (even if it's a 2 year home and home) would make a lot of sense especially b/c of proximity and the fact that they are two great programs.

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  5. Stephen Black 11 months ago

    Good stuff, Justin. Very interesting piece.

    Georgia-Clemson was definitely a great rivalry when we played. From '78 to '87, there wasn't a more important series in the Southeast.

    I don't get USC-Florida, but I definitely understand this part: "If you played it in a 100,000 seat stadium and allotted half of those tickets to USC fans and half of those seats to Florida fans, where would their egos sit?" LOL!

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    • Justin Goar 11 months ago

      USC florida are just two football machines with similar situations situated on different ends of the country.

      i think it would spark great interest and if i were to rank these matchups, i'd have this one 1st.

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  6. Thomas Brown 11 months ago

    Good point about USC, but the only reason LSUs not on the schedules cuz they are scared

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  7. Justin Goar 11 months ago

    link??

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  8. Mark Holdread 11 months ago

    2 flaws in your matchup dream:
    1. The lack of a playoff system does not truly give teams an incentive to play strong programs OOC. Sure, they get a slight boost in strength of schedule by playing a strong team and loosing, but the W-L record is more important when it comes down to picking between two equal programs for the right to go to the BS (oops, typo :) Title game.
    2. Money. Why wouldn't Michigan want to play Auburn like Justin suggested? CASH. Auburn probably sees itself as a big enough program to warrent a home-home series. For Michigan that is a huge loss in revenue. When you can sell out 110,000 seats for $40-$75 per seat, plus parking, consessions, etc., why would they want to play at Auburn for the $200,000 visiting team fee?

    OOC game I would like to see: Tennesse vs. Michigan. These two storied programs have only met once (2001. UT won), but they like each other much. Tennessee resents the "fact" that Charles Woodson "stole" the 1997 Heisman from Peyton Manning. Michigan cannot stand the crying out of Knoxville to this day and hates the fact that for one season (97 or 98) was the largest stadium in college football.

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    • Justin Goar 11 months ago

      mark, thanks for the comment.

      in response to your points:
      1) i think you're just agreeing with everyhting i said in the opening to this article. that basically a playoff would help these matchups occur and the present system hinders it.

      2) no, i get it. money is the main reason LSU doesn't have too many home and home's every year. we play tulane but we get a big cut of the gate at the superdome in order to make that deal happen.
      but i have to disagree on the Auburn point. AU is just as big a program as michigan.
      the reason you play a tough home and home matchup is to garner nat'l attn against a major program that could help your strength of sched as well as boost your team's resume in the eye of the pollsters. also tv money.

      3) i think tenn vs michigan would be an awesome matchup. lastly, (and you're not gonna like this one), i think manning was robbed in the heisman.

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    • Mark Holdread 10 months ago

      Justin,

      I have two words that prove Peyton was not deserving of the Heisman that year, "Tee Martin". Peyton was good in college, had a great career. He is an NFL Hall of Famer, but essentailly the same Tennessee team the following year, minus Peyton, went on to win the national championship guided by Tee Martin. If he was the true Heisman player that year, how could they replace him with an inferior QB the following year and go even further? Peyton's Heisman argument is based on 4 years, not one.

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  9. Kevin Spencer 11 months ago

    Justin,

    I'm completely with you regarding TAMU and LSU, except for playing the game in Houston. Although I went to LSU and bleed purple and gold, attending games at Kyle Field is an experience. Having the whole stadium chant the same thing is a unique phenomenon in sports, although playing in the afternoon there in early September will melt most fans.

    I thought LSU vs. TAMU was becoming a great rivalry, until we screwed it up. In addition, since as you said the campuses are about 6 hours apart, and, since both fan bases travel well, it was a great tailgating experience at both sites. Some of my favorite football memories were playing the Aggies in the 80's, until Mike Archer led us to becoming cellar-dwellers of the SEC for a decade. I think LSU has tried to start the rivalry back up, but, like you said, we burned that bridge.

    As for the moron who suggested that LSU is scared of USC, just ask Ohio State how scared we were last January....or Oklahoma back in 2004....we wanted to play USC back then. In fact, when the SEC Championship game was over we were chanting:

    LSU!
    USC!
    Oklahoma number 3!

    We want to play USC, but we're hoping it will be in the NC game as it should have been 4 years ago. The only teams that are scared have NC hopes, but are scared of playing LSU in the regular season. Just ask Virginia Tech...they rescheduled several years ago after we won the BCS title, only to get completey dismantled last year anyway, which is why we vaulted past them to get to the NC game after we won the SEC title.

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  10. Evan Wiley 11 months ago

    God, I wish they'd bring back the Clemson UGA game to an every year event. It's a great time and a friendly rivalry. Plus it's only an hour or so of travel time for either school

    Remeber kids....Cupcakes are for Ohio State.

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  11. Jon Ellsworth 11 months ago

    Pit any of these teams from these states:

    California- USC, UCLA
    Texas- Texas, Texas A&M, TCU (always a great upsetting team)
    Pennsylvania- Penn State, Pitt
    Florida- FLorida, Florida St., Miami
    Alabama- Alabama, Auburn
    Ohio- Ohio State

    You'll have a great matchup of the most hyped recruiting bases in the nation. Throw in Michigan, Ohio State, and Notre Dame and you've got a great pool of epic matchups.

    USC v. Texas needs to happen more. I would love to see USC v. Florida and TCU v. any team. TCU is just scrappy enough to make a great game.

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  12. Raj Kamruddin 11 months ago

    I dont care to see ND play Washington. I wouldnt mind if we never play them again. I dont care much for Ty and can care less about the story line.

    I want to see Notre Dame vs. Miami again. Catholics vs. Convicts III

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  13. BabyTate 11 months ago

    One out of conference rivalry I miss is Louisiana State vs. Texas A&M. They played every year from 1960 through 1975 and went at it again from '86 to '95. These were good games. Had players that were from each other's area as they recruited against each other. Remember long-neck Harvey Williams? That was a tussle every time these two teams met.

    Another out of conference series that should be brought back is Penn State vs. Alabama. These titans clashed 13 times between 1959 and 1990, often the aroma of a national title would be in the air.

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    • Justin Goar 11 months ago

      harvey had a swan's neck. kinda reminded me of merton hanks that 49ers safety.

      i thought williams neck woulda snapped off at some point.

      who wouldn't want to see penn st vs bama. that would be great.

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    • Jamie Wulf 11 months ago

      Penn State - Alabama renew their rivalry for a 1-1 in 2010 and 2011. The series was originally supposed to be a couple seasons ago, but Alabama backed out and requested it be moved.

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  14. Hank Poteat 11 months ago

    great article!

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  15. Tyler Jones 11 months ago

    I'm sure Louisville fans would love a shot at the Hogs now. lol

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    • Justin Goar 11 months ago

      no doubt. although the way UL's going, petrino might get the better of them.

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    • Tyler Jones 11 months ago

      very true. I agree with on the Ark v. texas game too. Should be every year. We were supposed to play them in Austin this year, which we will, but then they were supposed to come to Faytteville in '09. Now, that won't happen until like 2011 or 2013, something like that. We moved the game back because in '09 we're starting a series with Texas A&M at the new Cowboys stadium, and we didn't want to have to put both on next years schedule. I think we have a series with TCU coming up as well. TCU not the best, but no push-over.

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  1. Brian Hood 11 months ago

    Tennessee and Virginia Tech have been trying to get a game at Bristol Motor Speedway over the years. It is approximately halfway between the two schools and it holds 165,000!!

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    • Justin Goar 11 months ago

      I just heard that today, someone emailed that to me today from cfn.com (this article was posted there too) that would be crazy.

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  2. Joan Goar 11 months ago

    i'm your 78th comment!!

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  3. Matt Noe 11 months ago

    No Doubt you picked some great would be games but i think you should have included Miami - Notre Dame...that was the best rivalry of the late 80's early 90's...BTW if Miami and Nebraska did play again i would travel up there and i would bring all 4 of my fellow canes fans with me..LOL

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  4. Matt Noe 11 months ago

    No Doubt you picked some great would be games but i think you should have included Miami - Notre Dame...that was the best rivalry of the late 80's early 90's...BTW if Miami and Nebraska did play again i would travel up there and i would bring all 4 of my fellow canes fans with me..LOL

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  5. Tom Dessalet 11 months ago

    I would have to agree with the post up above mentioning a BYU-Boise St game. I'm surprised the lifetime records are as small as they are. You'd think sometime in the teams' histories they would have happened upon the other more frequently than that. Cheers to all these other ideas too, y'all should take it to the NCAA, they certainly would hear ideas, anything to make money.

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  6. Chris Kelly 11 months ago

    I would love to see Pitt-PSU, the removal of that game really hurt PSU recruiting Western PA in my opinion.

    PSU-ND should become annual not just some game that is played every 10 years with a home - away series.

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  7. Matt Gard 11 months ago

    Notre Dame-Penn State would be great...

    ...and I know that no one cares about this one but me, but I miss the Indiana-Kentucky rivalry. That needs to be continued instead of our (IU) stupid athletic department scheduling Murray State and Western Kentucky

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