Future College Football Home-and-Home Series We Wish Started in 2015
Every time an announcement is made that big-name college football teams have agreed to play each other in their home stadiums, it gets us excited about the prospect of seeing some of the game's top players square off on the field.
And then we see when those games are set to be played...and that anticipation gets quickly tempered knowing that, in most cases, nobody currently affiliated with those programs might even be around to be a part of those future home-and-home series.
While the willingness of top-tier schools to schedule each other (and not just for one-off games at neutral sites) is a promising development, one that no doubt has been influenced by college football's new playoff system, we can't help but wonder why these games are lined up for so far out rather than make a stronger push to line them up in the more immediate future.
Zach Barnett of Football Scoop said the trend of far-out scheduling makes athletic directors look proactive but without having to deal with the ramifications of those games when they're actually played.
"If I was an AD I'd schedule as far into the future as possible," Barnett tweeted Thursday. "Earn pub as a mover-and-shaker, let your successor(s) deal with consequences."
There are parts of some great home-and-home series that will be played during the 2015 season, but what if some of the more notable games set up for some time in the next 10-12 years were also on this year's schedule? Check out the contests we would have loved to see be part of the upcoming slate rather than far off in the future.
Auburn vs. Clemson
1 of 10
When: 2016 (at Auburn), 2017 (at Clemson)
Two of the top football programs in the South have played several times in the last decade, most recently finishing up a three-year series in 2012 with Clemson taking the final two contests. Prior to that, though, these pair of Tigers hadn't played outside of a bowl game since the 1960s yet have 49 all-time meetings.
Set to be the teams' 2016 opener in Jordan-Hare Stadium, at that time it should still feature most of each program's best current players including Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson. But who knows if Will Muschamp will be running Auburn's defense next year, or if Clemson's Brent Venables won't have decided to make a foray into the head coaching world.
A meeting this fall would be a great clash of these defensive minds, especially considering the offenses each is set to put on the field.
Penn State vs. Pittsburgh
2 of 10
When: 2016 and 2018 (at Pittsburgh), 2017 and 2019 (at Penn State)
Pennsylvania's two biggest college football programs haven't met since 2000, the last of a 96-game history that dates back to 1893. They'd never gone more than five years without playing until the current hiatus, which ends next September at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh.
Even better, instead of just two games and then moving on to other opponents, the Nittany Lions and Panthers are set to play for four straight years after the schools agreed in 2012 to double the series.
"We are thrilled to have the University of Pittsburgh back on the schedule for several consecutive years," then-Penn State coach Bill O'Brien said at the time, per Kevin Kelley of FBSchedules.com.
Both O'Brien and Paul Chryst (Pitt) have since moved on to other jobs. We expect that James Franklin and Pat Narduzzi, who is set to make his Pitt debut this fall, will still be there next season, but considering Pitt's recent run of coaching turnover this can't be assumed.
Georgia vs. Notre Dame
3 of 10
When: 2017 (at Notre Dame), 2019 (at Georgia)
Notre Dame ruffled some feathers last spring when the school announced that coach Brian Kelly and his staff would invade SEC country in the summer of 2015 to serve as guest coaches at a football camp hosted by FBS newcomer Georgia State.
This came on the heels of Penn State's coaches getting tabbed to work the 2014 Trent Miles Football Camp in Atlanta, beginning a trend of schools reaching into other teams' backyards for satellite camps that serve as great recruiting tools.
Had Notre Dame and Georgia agreed to start their future series—which was agreed on a month after the Irish's coaches agreed to work the Georgia State camp—then Kelly's trip south this summer could have served as an advance scouting excursion to see how much bigger, faster and stronger Georgia running back Nick Chubb has gotten.
Instead, Chubb isn't ever likely to face Notre Dame, since in 2017 he'd be a senior but most likely entering his rookie season in the NFL.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
Texas vs. USC
4 of 10When: 2017 (at USC), 2018 (at Texas)
They played one of the greatest championship games in sports history, not just in college football, when Texas beat USC in the BCS title game in 2006 thanks to Vince Young's touchdown run with 19 seconds left. It was the kind of game that everyone associated with it, not to mention us fans, would have loved to see a rematch of the following week.
Instead, we'll have had to wait more than 11 years for the Longhorns and Trojans to tangle again, though instead of at the Rose Bowl it will be down the road at the Los Angeles Coliseum.
By 2017, Texas coach Charlie Strong figures to have built his team into the defensive juggernaut he'd created at Louisville. Same goes for USC's Steve Sarkisian, though more on the offensive side, as with a few full sets of sanction-less recruiting classes his talent will be overabundant.
The teams they'll field this fall won't be too shabby, either. USC is much farther along than Texas, but if the first game were in Austin instead of LA that might help balance the scales a bit.
Arizona State vs. Michigan State
5 of 10
When: 2018 (at Arizona State), 2019 (at Michigan State)
A decade ago, neither Arizona State nor Michigan State were considered among the best teams in their respective conferences nor were looked at as potential national powers. This can't be said anymore, as Todd Graham and Mark Dantonio had made their mark and turned the Sun Devils and Spartans into rising juggernauts.
We're hoping this will still be the case in a few years—and that assumes Graham, who has developed a reputation for job-jumping, is still with ASU—and that their games in 2018-19 are as exciting as the one played this September would be.
MSU is already hosting a Pac-12 school this season, getting the return visit from Oregon after playing in Eugene in 2014, while ASU gets to take on Texas A&M in Houston. Neither necessarily needs another big-time nonconference game this year, but that doesn't mean we wouldn't want to see it sooner rather than later.
Arkansas vs. Michigan
6 of 10
When: 2018 (at Michigan), 2019 (at Arkansas)
About a month before Bret Bielema made the surprise move from Wisconsin to Arkansas, his athletic department ensured that he wouldn't be able to completely escape his Big Ten past by setting up a future series with Michigan. Bielema went 3-2 against the Wolverines during his time up North, beating both Lloyd Carr and Rich Rodriguez but never getting a chance to take on Brady Hoke.
Assuming no other coaching changes happen, in 2018 we'll get to see Bielema go toe-to-toe with Jim Harbaugh. It's hard to think of many things that are worth waiting that long to see, but why should we have to go that long before seeing a coach who has declared himself "all Hog" face off against one of the game's best social media gurus.
Looking at Arkansas and Michigan's 2015 schedules, we've got an easy fix to make this happen. On Sept. 12, Arkansas is set to host Toledo, the same day Michigan takes on Oregon State in Ann Arbor.
As cool as it will be to see Toledo running back Kareem Hunt try to run against Arkansas' great defense, and for new Oregon State (and former Wisconsin coach) Gary Andersen return to Big Ten country, let's just have the Rockets and Beavers play so the Razorbacks and Wolverines can tussle.
Ohio State vs. Oregon
7 of 10
When: 2020 (at Oregon), 2021 (at Ohio State)
Even without having Marcus Mariota around to do so, there's little doubt any of Oregon's players and coaches who had to watch Ohio State celebrate a national championship in front of them in January would pass up the chance at a rematch. Sadly, only the coaches will have this chance, assuming Mark Helfrich and his staff are still running the Ducks when they host the Buckeyes in five years.
The games in 2020-21 are certain to be great ones, and the rematch storyline will get plenty of play at that time. Not as much if Ohio State and Oregon were playing again this fall, despite Heisman Trophy winner Mariota off in the NFL and OSU title game hero Cardale Jones possibly on the bench as a backup quarterback.
Every season should have as many Big Ten/Pac-12 clashes as possible, beyond the traditional Rose Bowl matchups. We're getting a handful of those this year, including Oregon visiting Michigan State, but if ever there was a reason to leave an open spot on the schedule to add a game at the last minute it would be for this one.
LSU vs. UCLA
8 of 10
When: 2021 (at UCLA), 2024 (at LSU)
LSU has been one of the pioneers of the season-opening neutral-site games that have become so big in college football the last few years. The Tigers have faced North Carolina, Oregon, TCU and Wisconsin in places like Arlington, Atlanta and Houston since 2010 and have future games against Wisconsin (in Green Bay), BYU (in Houston) and Miami (in Arlington).
The last time LSU played a power-conference non-league opponent on someone else's field was 2011, at West Virginia, and while the trip to Syracuse this September is a nice step it doesn't register very high on the excitement meter.
The Mad Had Hatter's program has some big home-and-home series lined up in the future, facing Arizona State, Oklahoma, Texas and UCLA between 2019-2028. Of those games, the one that stands out the most involves LSU getting to play in the Rose Bowl against UCLA, one of the few venues that could rival Tiger Stadium in terms of atmosphere.
The Tigers could end up in the Rose Bowl before then, possibly in the playoff semifinals after the 2017 or 2020 seasons, but there's no guarantee Miles (or UCLA's Jim Mora, who flirted with NFL jobs this offseason) will be around much longer.
Nebraska vs. Oklahoma
9 of 10When: 2021 (at Oklahoma), 2022 (at Nebraska)
One of the biggest downsides of college football's major realignment of the past decade has been the disruption (and often end) of some great rivalries. We have no idea when we'll get another Border War (Kansas-Missouri) or Backyard Brawl (Pittsburgh-West Virginia), or if Texas and Texas A&M will ever agree to meet, and this is a sad reality that realignment has brought us.
At least longtime Big 8/Big 12 foes Nebraska and Oklahoma have decided it's worth rekindling their longstanding rivalry, though not for another six years. When they play in 2021 it will mark 11 years since they last played, when Oklahoma pulled out a 23-20 win over the Cornhuskers in the 2010 Big 12 title game.
The next year, Nebraska moved to the Big Ten and hasn't faced an old conference foe since. It's set to play Colorado—which left for the Pac-12 at the same time—in 2018-19, but that won't rekindle the same kind of nostalgia as when it heads to Norman to face the Sooners.
Oklahoma has a 45-38-3 edge in the series that dates back to 1912.
Stanford vs. TCU
10 of 10
When: 2024 (at Stanford), 2027 (at TCU)
Just announced this week, Stanford is the latest power program that TCU has added to its future schedules in an effort to minimize the chance that its team will be kept out of the playoffs because of who it played.
But unlike upcoming games with Arkansas or Ohio State, when the Horned Frogs play the Cardinal there's a very strong chance that the cyclical nature of college football will have one of both teams trending downward rather than both being near the top as they are now.
That was the case the previous time these programs met, in 2007-08, when Stanford was just getting started on its rise under Jim Harbaugh while TCU was moving toward becoming a BCS buster and earning an upgrade from the Mountain West to the Big 12.
If the Cardinal and Frogs played this season, we know what we'd get from the game. In nine years, we don't even know what the game of college football will be like as autonomy, paying players and other issues are apt to alter the landscape between now and then.
Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
