Best Future CFB Conference Matchups Due to Realignment
Three distinct waves of conference realignment have placed a new era of college football on the horizon.
Beginning in 2024, the Big Ten and Big 12 are slated to welcome four new members with three programs joining the ACC. Meanwhile, the Pac-12 has dwindled to two teams and faces an uncertain future.
The changes mean two things: College football is set to gain high-profile conference games and lose a little tradition.
In this section, we're scanning the realigned nation to identify some of the best new league matchups. Additionally, a few former rivalries are ready to rekindle their disdain for each other on a regular basis.
BYU vs. Utah
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Hello again, Holy War.
During the rivalry's long history, BYU and Utah typically have played in the same conference. That journey has extended from the Rocky Mountain and Mountain States to the Skyline, WAC and Mountain West.
However, the schools went in opposite directions in 2011 as Utah joined the Pac-12 and BYU became an independent.
To their credits, they've continually made an effort to keep the series alive. In addition to a 2015 bowl clash, the programs have played eight-regular season tilts in the last 13 years. Utah is a combined 8-1 in those matchups, although BYU won the most recent game in 2021.
The future Big 12 scheduling model is uncertain, but a regionalized two-division format would lock in BYU and Utah as an annual game.
Texas vs. Texas A&M
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If you aren't familiar with the Lone Star Showdown, here's the simple version: Texas and Texas A&M can't stand each other.
And that contempt has only grown in recent years.
Texas A&M bolted for the SEC after the 2011 campaign, the last season in which the 118-game rivalry occurred. Since then, there's been finger-pointing from Texas, the SEC allegedly interfering with a potential 2014 bowl, Texas not wanting a 2017 postseason clash and failed state legislation to require an annual meeting.
Now that Texas is also exiting the Big 12, though, the bitterness is finally moving back to the gridiron.
Texas travels to College Station in 2024.
Alabama vs. Oklahoma
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The verified list of college football blue bloods includes eight tradition-rich programs: Alabama, Michigan, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Texas and USC.
As of 2024, Oklahoma will have a second conference foe again.
Not since Nebraska's departure for the Big Ten in 2011 had a blue-blood counterpart shared a league with OU and Texas. While the Longhorns stir up 100-plus years of Texas A&M hatred, Oklahoma is headed for unparalleled, regular games against Alabama.
Throughout their histories, the programs have only six meetings: twice in the regular season, four times in bowls.
The matchup likely won't be particularly emotional, beyond any conference or national implications. But as realignment disrupts parts of tradition, it's also connecting some of that history in a new way.
Oklahoma hosts the first SEC contest in 2024.
Arkansas vs. Texas
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For nearly eight decades from 1915 to 1991, Arkansas and Texas squared off as members of the Southwest Conference. Starting in 2024, they'll be league counterparts in the Southeastern Conference.
Go figure, right?
Arkansas joined the SEC in 1992 with Texas holding a 54-19 record in the all-time series. Since then, the programs have played six times—a set leaning 4-2 in Arkansas' favor—with two matchups in bowls.
Recent years have shifted Arkansas' main rivalry to LSU. But in the SWC days, Texas stood as the Razorbacks' prime nemesis.
Given the extensive history of this duel, it wouldn't be surprising if those old feelings resurface in Fayetteville—where the first SEC showdown will be played in 2024.
Michigan vs. Oregon
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Michigan and Oregon have little history.
Unlike the Wolverines and Washington or UCLA, there's no previous Rose Bowl matchup. Last contested in 2007, the series is 3-2 in Michigan's favor—yet those wins happened in 1948, 1960 and 1973. Oregon swept the home-and-home set in 2003 and 2007.
The near-absence of a past, in this situation, is part of the appeal. Michigan is one of a blue-blood program, while Oregon has earned an AP Top 25 ranking in 26 straight years and 33 of the last 37.
And now, that overlap will be meaningful on the field.
While the Big Ten's Flex Protect Plus schedule model debuts in 2024, Oregon's schedule is unknown. The important takeaway, though, is it won't take another 17-plus years for U-M and UO to play.
Ohio State vs. USC
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On the other hand, you cannot tell the history of the sport without mentioning Ohio State, USC and the Rose Bowl.
Sixteen times has Ohio State made the prestigious bowl; in seven of those contests, the Buckeyes took on USC.
The first matchup ended with a 20-7 OSU victory that sealed the 1954 national title. Ohio State repeated the feat in 1968, but USC returned the favor in 1972 and 1975. Among the others, the Trojans prevented OSU from taking at least a share of the 1979 championship.
The series had already been relatively active in the early days of college football with 12 regular-season games from 1937 to 1964, too.
But since that seventh Rose Bowl clash in 1985, the programs have played only a pair of home-and-homes and the 2017 Cotton Bowl. Soon enough, they'll regularly meet as Big Ten adversaries.
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