10 College Football Teams Guaranteed to Go Undefeated in Nonconference Play
Even in this ever-changing landscape of college football brought on by realignment, playoffs and TV money, it's comforting to know at least one thing has stayed the same: Several Power 5 teams will continue to schedule as weak of a nonconference schedule as possible.
An early look at who plays whom out of league in 2015 finds 10 schools from the power conferences with slates that don't exactly scream "challenging." Combined, they only have seven nonconference road games (compared to nine contests against FCS opponents), and only three of them risked facing another team from the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, SEC or Pac-12.
For these schools, the motivation behind nonconference scheduling is either to help build confidence—while loading up on easy wins that make them more likely to reach bowl eligibility—or because they feel the strength of their league games will account for the lack of preseason competition. Either way, the end result is the same, as a 3-0 or 4-0 mark outside of conference play seems like a guarantee.
Scroll through our list to see who has it easiest during nonconference play, at least on paper.
Arizona
1 of 10
The lineup: UTSA, at Nevada, Northern Arizona
Combined 2014 record: 18-19
Bowl/FCS playoff teams: 1 (Nevada)
Toughest challenge: Sept. 12 at Nevada
Arizona has gone unbeaten in nonconference play in each of Rich Rodriguez's three seasons on the job, helping the Wildcats create momentum for increasingly better performances in Pac-12 play. And like the past two years, they'll again be playing a non-league slate that's completely devoid of power opponents in 2015.
While willing to play on the road against mid-majors (Arizona won at UNLV in 2013 and UTSA last season), having a trip to Reno count as the toughest game on the docket doesn't exactly seem too ominous, especially since the Wolf Pack, which went 7-6 last year, graduated dual-threat quarterback Cody Fajardo and standout defensive end Brock Hekking.
Nevada played the Wildcats to within a touchdown in Tucson last year and also beat Washington State at home, but Arizona's young and talented lineup of skill players—as well as linebacker Scooby Wright—should feast on that game and the rest of the non-league slate to once again head into the Pac-12 unbeaten.
Arkansas
2 of 10
The lineup: UTEP, Toledo (in Little Rock), Texas Tech, Tennessee-Martin
Combined 2014 record: 26-24
Bowl/FCS playoff teams: 2 (Toledo, UTEP)
Toughest challenge: Sept. 19 vs. Texas Tech
Arkansas has managed to put together a nonconference schedule that, on paper, looks relatively solid. But with every game at home (or in their second home, Little Rock), the Razorbacks shouldn't have any trouble getting through these contests.
The first two opponents played in bowls last season, but UTEP graduated 10 starters and hasn't beaten a power-conference team since knocking off Arizona State in 1974, while Toledo is built similar to the Northern Illinois team that Arkansas crushed at home in 2014.
The Razorbacks rolled past Texas Tech on the road last year, and UT-Martin's only win against an FBS opponent came in 2012 against a bad Memphis team. The Skyhawks lost at Kentucky and Mississippi State by a combined 75 points last season.
Baylor
3 of 10
The lineup: at SMU, Lamar, Rice
Combined 2014 record: 17-20
Bowl/FCS playoff teams: 1 (Rice)
Toughest challenge: Sept. 4 at SMU
When the most stressful thing about the nonconference portion of your schedule is having to open on the road against a team that won just one game the previous season, it's fair to say it's an easy lineup.
There's much anticipation about what former Clemson offensive coordinator Chad Morris will do at SMU, but no one is expecting instant miracles. It won't be as lopsided a game as last year, when Baylor christened its new stadium by holding the Mustangs to 67 yards (including minus-24 on the ground) in a 45-0 victory, but Baylor should have no trouble coming out on top.
After that, Baylor hosts a Lamar program that went dark from 1990-2009 as well as Rice. Though Rice has made three straight bowl games (and won the Conference USA title in 2013), the best nonleague win during that run was against Kansas.
Baylor's slate is more befitting of a team trying to guarantee that half of its needed six wins will come before league play begins—something teams like Kansas, Purdue or Wake Forest would put together. Instead, the Bears should again contend for the Big 12 title and a playoff spot, but as we saw last season, nothing short of a perfect record is going to get them into the semifinals.
"The committee has made it clear that non-conference strength of schedule is something they're going to evaluate," Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby told Tony Manfred of Business Insider shortly after Baylor (and TCU) were shut out of the playoffs despite 11-1 records. "I think this is going to be a wake-up call for our schools and others around the country."
But Baylor hasn't gotten that memo. Looking at out-of-league games it has set up for future seasons, a home-and-home in 2017-18 with Duke is the only semblance of an attempt to beef up the pre-Big 12 slate.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
Kansas State
4 of 10
The lineup: South Dakota, at UTSA, Louisiana Tech
Combined 2014 record: 15-23
Bowl/FCS playoff teams: 1 (Louisiana Tech)
Toughest challenge: Sept. 19 vs. Louisiana Tech
As head coach Bill Snyder was working to turn Kansas State's program from one of the worst in major college football to a perennial power, he regularly loaded up the nonconference slate with cupcakes and pushovers. In five of the previous six seasons, however, the Wildcats played at least one opponent from a power league before diving into the Big 12.
They won't do that this year, and it's understandable. K-State figures to be in rebuilding mode after most of its top players from last season's 9-4 team have graduated—most notably quarterback Jake Waters, receiver Tyler Lockett and defensive end Randy Mueller.
The 2015 Wildcats open with a South Dakota team that went 2-10 last season with one of those victories coming against a Division III opponent. A trip south to face Larry Coker's ambitious UTSA team could be a trap, but last year's Roadrunners team had more than 30 seniors and stumbled to a 4-8 mark.
Louisiana Tech won't be a pushover, as the defending Conference USA West Division champs bring back prolific running back Kenneth Dixon and have landed ex-Florida quarterback Jeff Driskel as a graduate transfer.
LSU
5 of 10
The lineup: McNeese State, at Syracuse, Eastern Michigan, Western Kentucky
Combined 2014 record: 19-29
Bowl/FCS playoff teams: 1 (Western Kentucky)
Toughest challenge: Sept. 26 at Syracuse
LSU has won 49 consecutive regular season games against nonconference opponents—a streak that was nearly broken to start last year when the Tigers trailed Wisconsin by 17 in the fourth quarter before rallying to win that neutral-site game in Houston.
If that impressive streak is going to come to an end in 2015, it would most likely have to come at the hands of a Syracuse team that bottomed out at 3-9 last season and will have eight new starters on defense. That's not really the recipe for pulling off an upset against an SEC team that could just hand it to Leonard Fournette 30 times and cruise to victory.
"The games with Syracuse continue a string of high-profile, early season, nonconference games for the Tigers," wrote Ross Dellenger of The Advocate, noting that previous games (as well as future games with BYU, Miami and Wisconsin) were (or will be) at neutral sites.
Beyond that, for LSU's nonconference run to end would require someone going into Death Valley—where no non-SEC team has won since 2002—and shocking the world. McNeese State took Nebraska to the wire last year behind former Kansas State quarterback Daniel Sams, while Eastern Michigan is a regular guest of power programs looking for a pushover win.
The Western Kentucky game on Oct. 24 comes after LSU hosts Florida and two weeks before visiting Alabama, so that contest could be liable for getting overlooked if not for the fact that the Hilltoppers bring back FBS passing leader Brandon Doughty.
Mississippi State
6 of 10
The lineup: at Southern Mississippi, Northwestern State, Troy, Louisiana Tech
Combined 2014 record: 21-29
Bowl/FCS playoff teams: 1 (Louisiana Tech)
Toughest challenge: Oct. 17 vs. Louisiana Tech
A year ago, Mississippi State's odd trip to play at Sun Belt school South Alabama just seemed like a way to make recruiting inroads in that neighboring state while not facing too tough of a road challenge. Playing at Southern Mississippi to open 2015 looks even weirder, but again the Bulldogs shouldn't need to worry much about playing a team that has won four games over the past three seasons.
The remainder of MSU's nonconference schedule is strewn across the rest of the season, serving as pseudo-bye weeks between SEC games. The visit from Troy on Oct. 10 could be a potential pitfall in that it comes immediately after the Bulldogs play back-to-back road games at Auburn and Texas A&M, and because new Trojans coach Neal Brown put up 31 points on MSU as Kentucky's offensive coordinator last season.
A week later will probably be the toughest non-league game, though. Louisiana Tech is coming off a nine-win season, features a running back (Kenneth Dixon) who has 53 career rushing touchdowns and will be led by ex-Florida quarterback Jeff Driskel.
Throw in that MSU's defense is now being run by Manny Diaz, who was at Louisiana Tech the year before, and what was supposed to be a walkover homecoming game could be a trap.
North Carolina State
7 of 10
The lineup: Troy, Eastern Kentucky, at Old Dominion, at South Alabama
Combined 2014 record: 24-26
Bowl/FCS playoff teams: 2 (Eastern Kentucky, South Alabama)
Toughest challenge: Sept. 19 at Old Dominion
North Carolina State is 7-1 in regular-season nonconference games under coach Dave Doeren with the only loss coming in 2013 against a hot East Carolina team. Last year, the Wolfpack's return to bowl eligibility was fueled by a 4-0 start that included the toughest challenges coming at home.
That won't be the case this year, though playing on the road against a pair of FBS newcomers with a combined 0-9 record against power-conference opponents isn't particularly daunting.
Following home games with Troy—which is breaking in a new coach after more than two decades—and a decent FCS program in Eastern Kentucky, the Wolfpack becomes the first power team to visit Old Dominion. However, the Monarchs have a huge hole to fill with four-year starting quarterback Taylor Heinicke set to graduate.
A week later, NC State visits South Alabama, which made a bowl for the first time in 2014 but also laid an egg when Mississippi State came to Mobile last September.
Oklahoma State
8 of 10
The lineup: at Central Michigan, Central Arkansas, UTSA
Combined 2014 record: 17-20
Bowl/FCS playoff teams: 1 (Central Michigan)
Toughest challenge: Sept. 5 at Central Michigan
What a difference a year makes for Oklahoma State on the scheduling front. After opening the 2014 season in Arlington, Texas against defending national champion Florida State, the Cowboys instead begin this campaign in a far less notable locale.
Mount Pleasant, Michigan, to be exact.
Set up in 2011 as the first of a three-game series (with the other two in Stillwater in 2016 and 2018), it will be Oklahoma State's first game against a Mid-American opponent since beating Northern Illinois in 1994. The Chippewas are the only FBS team without a permanent head coach, as Kyle Nystrom has served in an interim capacity since Dan Enos left in January to become Arkansas' offensive coordinator.
Central Michigan got Syracuse to go there last season but was crushed by the 3-9 Orange.
OK State's other nonconference games don't strike any fear, as Central Arkansas is 1-9 all-time against FBS teams and UTSA is replacing more than half of its starters from a 4-8 team.
Penn State
9 of 10
The lineup: at Temple, Buffalo, San Diego State, Army
Combined 2014 record: 22-26
Bowl/FCS playoff teams: 1 (San Diego State)
Toughest challenge: Sept. 5 at Temple
The last time Penn State played a true road game in nonconference play (in 2012), it lost 17-16 at a Virginia team that won only four games that season. This year the Nittany Lions will open the schedule in hostile territory, but only somewhat, as Temple is smack dab in the middle of a Philadelphia region that Penn State routinely does quite well recruiting.
PSU is 39-3-1 all time against the Owls, winning every meeting since 1952 including last year's 30-13 victory in November in Happy Valley.
Everything else on the Lions' nonconference slate fits in with the program's traditional pre-league scheduling. Buffalo, San Diego State and Army will all get paid healthy sums of money to play victim in front of 100,000 PSU fans, but in 2012 a similar foe (Ohio) wasn't so willing to lay down.
San Diego State is the best of the lot, but the Aztecs haven't knocked off a power-conference team on the road since topping Kansas in 1999.
Rutgers
10 of 10
The lineup: Norfolk State, Washington State, Kansas, at Army
Combined 2014 record: 14-34
Bowl/FCS playoff teams: None
Toughest challenge: Sept. 12 vs. Washington State
Rutgers was one of three Big Ten teams to go unbeaten in nonconference play last season, and that required the Scarlet Knights to win games in Seattle (against Washington State) and at Navy. To repeat that effort in 2015, the furthest they'll need to go is upstate New York.
First up is a Norfolk State team that went 4-8 last season and has never beaten an FBS opponent, followed by Washington State. The Cougars slipped to 3-9 a year ago, and they will be very young and inexperienced while also playing 3,000 miles from home for what will likely end up being an early kickoff time to further throw off the Cougars' internal clocks.
The Knights also host Kansas—which hasn't won on the road since 2009, a span of 33 games—in late September and then visit Army in mid-November. The game was originally supposed to be played at Yankee Stadium in New York City, but the teams agreed to move it to Army's Michie Stadium.
Rutgers is the only team on our list playing multiple teams from power conferences, but it also has the slate of nonconference foes with the worst collective record from a year ago.
Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
