Nonconference Home-and-Home Series College Football Fans Want to See
More and more top college football teams are showing the willingness to square off in nonconference action, though many still opt for the one-time meetings held at neutral sites. That's better than nothing, but we're always hoping for more.
Specifically, we want to see more of the home-and-home series that are starting to pop up on the schedule. The 2016 season features the beginning of several of these, including Ohio State/Oklahoma, Clemson/Auburn and Penn State/Pittsburgh. The last of those is the renewal of an old rivalry that hasn't been played since 2000.
Pitt will also soon rekindle its blood feud with West Virginia in the Backyard Brawl, but not until 2022. At least it's scheduled.
We've picked out a few other home-and-home series that should be part of the next wave of scheduling agreements. These need to be added as soon as possible.
Kansas-Missouri
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The Border War was played every year from 1891 to 2011, but Missouri's move from the Big 12 after that season put the kibosh on the series. Since then, both schools have seemingly gone out of their way to avoid getting it back on the schedule.
New Missouri athletic director Mack Rhoades has shown more of an interest in renewing the rivalry, but the same can't be said for the Kansas side. According to Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star, even discussing the subject has become taboo for the Jayhawks:
"Here is a scene described by multiple people around the Kansas athletic department. A KU donor will, without prompting, ask administrators if they’re thinking of playing Mizzou again. When the answer comes back 'No,' the response is often the same: Good, because if you ever do, you should all be fired.
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Missouri holds a one-game edge in the series, 56-55 with nine ties, but the Tigers had won five of six before they stopped playing. Since then, Mizzou went on to win two SEC East Division titles (though it was below .500 in 2015), while Kansas went 7-41 and was winless last season, taking a 15-game losing streak into 2016.
Arkansas-Louisville
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Many schools without any other major connections end up being linked through a common head coach, and not always in a good way. Such is the case with Arkansas and Louisville, the schools that have served as Bobby Petrino's employer for three of his last four coaching gigs.
Yes, you read that correctly. Two schools, three jobs.
Petrino is entering his third season of this stint at Louisville, but he also coached the Cardinals from 2003 to 2006 before making the jump to the NFL. It was a short leap, as Petrino walked out on the Atlanta Falcons after 13 games and ended up back in college at Arkansas.
With the Razorbacks, Petrino rose steadily from 5-7 in 2008 to 11-2 in 2011 when they finished fifth in the country. Then came the coach's ill-fated motorcycle ride in April 2012, one that ended in a crash and involved a female passenger who he later admitted to having an extra-marital affair with.
Petrino was fired not long after, and Arkansas went 7-17 the next two seasons under two different coaches. The latter was Bret Bielema, who has turned things around with consecutive winning records.
Petrino returned to coaching in 2013 with Western Kentucky, but one year later he was re-hired at Louisville and has gone 17-9 in his second go-around.
Arizona-West Virginia
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Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez is a major proponent of playing as fast as possible, and his Wildcats teams are regularly near the top of the list nationally in offensive snaps per game. This is a mindset he's been cultivating throughout his career, and the first place it gained national attention was at West Virginia.
From 2001 to 2007 Rodriguez went 60-26 with the Mountaineers, winning 32 games in his final three seasons with a spread-out attack that put relentless pressure on defenses. He wasn't able to make the same system work in his three-year stint at Michigan, but since his arrival in the desert, the Wildcats have averaged 80 plays, 485 yards and 34 points per game.
West Virginia has remained an offensive power since Rodriguez's departure, first under Bill Stewart and the last five seasons under Dana Holgorsen. His attack is almost as fast, having snapped more than 1,000 times in three of the past four seasons.
The schools have never met in football.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
Baylor-Clemson
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The push for better nonconference scheduling has swept up nearly every top-tier FBS team, with Baylor being the notable exception. The Bears' future schedules over the next decade feature a scant five games against power-conference foes, home-and-homes with Duke (2017-18) and Utah (2023-24) and a recently announced one-off with Ole Miss to take place in Houston in 2020.
That's a start, but it's certainly not enough. We want to see Baylor play one of these every season, preferably against a team that operates at the same pace and success level. Someone like last year's national runner-up.
Clemson is no stranger to playing power teams out of conference, as it finishes every season with in-state rival South Carolina and this year opens at Auburn. The Tigers rarely venture out of the Southeast, however, though they are set to play a home-and-home with Texas A&M in 2018-19.
Alabama-Ohio State
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Between them, coaches Nick Saban and Urban Meyer have won eight national titles at four different schools. Meyer's most recent title, in 2014-15 with Ohio State, came after a victory over Saban's Alabama team in the first-ever playoffs. Saban then claimed the most recent championship, along the way demolishing a Michigan State team that prevented OSU from defending its title.
As long as each is at the top of his game, we can hope Alabama and Ohio State will meet during the postseason. But it would be nice to see these coaches go at it during the regular season, too, especially if that means doing so in each other's stadiums.
Alabama hasn't played a nonconference road game since winning at Penn State in 2011, preferring to go the neutral-site route (including this season against USC in Arlington, Texas). Ohio State has gone the other direction, having visited Virginia Tech last season and with non-league road games set for six of the next nine seasons including this fall at Oklahoma.
Michigan-Notre Dame
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When Notre Dame entered into a scheduling agreement with the ACC, it meant having to push to the side some of its traditional series in order to fit these new games on the slate. Since the Fighting Irish didn't want to give up their annual trips to the West Coast against Stanford and USC, that meant Big Ten foes were the unfortunate victims.
The worst is Michigan, which had faced the Irish 26 times from 1985 to 2014, and that contest was among the most anticipated non-league clashes every season. Their final meeting in September 2014 resulted in Michigan's first shutout loss since the late 1980s, a fitting way to end the series.
But could this rivalry be coming back soon? It's starting to look that way.
Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly struck the first match last fall, saying on the Rich Eisen Show (h/t Detroit Free Press) that a renewal was "trending up." And earlier this month Michigan athletic director Jim Hackett stoked the fire by saying the line of communication between the schools was "open and strong" on WTKA-AM radio, per NDInsider.com.
The swift rise brought about by Jim Harbaugh's return to Michigan has likely sparked this discussion. Harbaugh went 2-0 against the Fighting Irish during his playing days, piloting the Wolverines to victories in 1985-86.
Texas-Texas A&M
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When it becomes an issue in the state legislature, you know a rivalry is a big deal.
In 2013 a bill introduced by Texas State Representative Ryan Guillen called for an annual football game between Texas and Texas A&M. If such a game wasn't scheduled, the school that prevented it from happening would suffer scholarship restrictions. While this bill never made it past the state's higher education subcommittee, the simple fact it was floated shows how much the Texas/Texas A&M rivalry means in the Lone Star State.
Sadly, there appears to be little traction to renew the series that dates back to 1894 but went away after the 2011 season with A&M's move from the Big 12 to the SEC. The schools continue to battle in other ways, such as on the recruiting trail, and A&M reportedly courted Texas defensive line coach Brick Haley before he opted to stay in Austin, according Robert Cessna of TheEagle.com.
Their fans also regularly clash on message boards, but that's about it.
Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
