Home-and-Home College Football Series We Wish Would Happen
If we’ve learned anything in the two full seasons of the new College Football Playoff era, it’s that scheduling matters.
Ask Baylor and TCU, who were past for the final playoff spot by Ohio State in the final week of the 2014 regular season thanks in part to weaker nonconference schedules. A year later, the Buckeyes’ only loss came at Michigan State’s hands, making them one of only five one-loss Power Five teams competing for three playoff spots. Their best nonconference win was over an average Virginia Tech team, and they finished sixth in the final regular-season poll.
Getting quality opponents on your nonconference slate matters. Every Power Five team has at least one fellow P5 team on its nonconference schedule, and winning high-profile games matters even more. Many programs, most notably Alabama, are skewing toward neutral-site games that protect lucrative home schedules.
Home-and-home series are less common, but series such as Ohio State-Oklahoma, Notre Dame-Texas, Houston-Oklahoma, Clemson-Auburn and Penn State-Pitt will highlight 2016 while also building the resumes of those involved.
They’re great, but here’s a look at home-and-home series we wish would happen in college football. These series were selected for a variety of reasons, from geographic proximity to natural ties to fascinating storylines that could be created if the teams meet on the same field anytime soon. Here we go:
Alabama-Oklahoma
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Under head coach Nick Saban’s watch, Alabama has played its share of prominent nonconference games. Just not many of them in hostile territory. The Crimson Tide haven't played a nonconference road game since winning at Penn State in 2011, preferring a string of high-profile, neutral-site games. The season opener against Southern California at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, is just the latest in a stretch that includes games against Michigan, Wisconsin and West Virginia, among others. Florida State will follow in Atlanta next season.
But if Alabama wants to get back in the business of big-time home-and-home series, it should call Oklahoma. The programs are both among college football’s elite, but their meetings have been rare. They’ve met three times in bowl games (including Oklahoma’s 45-31 win in the 2014 Sugar Bowl) and had a spirited home-and-home series in 2002-03, with OU winning 37-27 in Norman and 20-13 in Tuscaloosa.
Both programs feature spirited fans and storied histories, and as long as Bob Stoops and Saban hang around, don’t expect them to slip far from the top of the college gridiron mountain. If they tangled again, it would be a series to savor.
Clemson-Ole Miss
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One of the best parts of college football is seeing the ups and downs of prominent programs. For years, both Clemson and Ole Miss wandered in the game’s wilderness, well removed from their former elite status (Ole Miss in the 1960s with Archie Manning and Clemson in the 1980s with Danny Ford). Over the past five years, both programs have come into their own.
Led by Dabo Swinney, Clemson has won at least 10 games in five consecutive seasons with two ACC titles and a national runner-up finish. Last fall, Hugh Freeze led Ole Miss to a 10-3 record with a Sugar Bowl win over Oklahoma State, and the Rebels own two consecutive wins over Alabama. Both hope to continue their progress on a national stage this fall.
They haven’t met since 1933, but the programs do have a recent shared history. The former consensus No. 1 national recruit in 247Sports' composite rankings, Robert Nkemdiche, was committed to Clemson before bolting to Oxford. Additionally, the Rebels offense is currently led by quarterback Chad Kelly, who began with the Tigers before being booted from the program following an on-field verbal altercation with an assistant coach during the spring game.
Following a stopover at East Mississippi Junior College, Kelly has resurrected his career in Oxford but hasn’t forgotten his time at Clemson. Speaking to reporters at the SEC media days, he referenced the Rebs’ upcoming game at LSU by calling Tiger Stadium “the real Death Valley," per ESPN.com's Greg Ostendorf, a slight to any Clemson supporter.
While this is Kelly’s final season, Clemson and Ole Miss would be a fascinating future matchup, as both teams boast high-powered offenses and stingy defenses. Clemson pulled out of a home-and-home series with the Rebels set for 2015-16 when it appeared the ACC would adopt a nine-game league slate, but now is the time to rectify that mistake and sign a new series.
Georgia-Miami
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Georgia-Miami is hardly what you would call a traditional rivalry. Both programs are among the South’s most storied programs in recent memory. But the Hurricanes are more likely to face off with Florida than Georgia, and the Bulldogs have a permanent rivalry with Georgia Tech. In fact, while Georgia holds a 7-4-1 lead in the series, the teams haven’t met since 1966.
We’ll admit that this series didn’t have much cache until last December. Georgia parted ways with Mark Richt following 15 seasons at the helm after he failed to make the SEC title game in three consecutive seasons. UGA hired Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart as its new leader, while Miami quickly snapped up Richt—a south Florida native and Hurricane alum.
This fall, it won’t be surprising if Georgia fans look over their shoulder and see how Richt is faring in his first season in Miami. But how great would it be to see him lead the ‘Canes into Sanford Stadium wearing orange and green? Would he be cheered? Booed? Could Miami hang with Georgia? It’d be a fascinating tableau.
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Iowa-Notre Dame
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In recent years, Notre Dame has made a habit of adding Big Ten opponents to its schedule—Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue and Indiana are regular opponents. The Fighting Irish’s scheduling agreement with the ACC has changed that a bit, although Michigan and the Irish recently agreed to renew their rivalry.
One team that has been missing from the slate for some time? Iowa.
The Irish and Hawkeyes were regular foes in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, meeting annually from 1945-62. But they haven’t met since 1968, with Notre Dame holding a 13-8-3 lead in the series.
Both teams value a hard-nosed style and strong defense. Iowa visiting Notre Dame Stadium (and Notre Dame visiting Kinnick Stadium) would be great college football theater.
The Big Ten’s move to a nine-game schedule has limited Iowa’s nonconference slate; aside from an annual rivalry game against Iowa State, the Hawkeyes have no non-Big Ten Power Five foes scheduled for the foreseeable future. Adding the Irish would give Kirk Ferentz some much-needed heft outside the usual routine.
Michigan-Stanford
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Jim Harbaugh’s head coaching career has two familiar traits that have followed him through each stop.
No. 1? Quick success. He has achieved a winning record at all four stops (San Diego, Stanford, the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers and Michigan) by no later than his third season and has a combined 112-49-1 record as a head coach.
No. 2? He moves on quickly. None of Harbaugh’s previous three stops have lasted longer than four seasons, which leaves plenty of room for successors to make their mark following his run. That’s exactly what happened at Stanford. Harbaugh turned around one of college football’s worst programs, leading the Cardinal to a 12-1 record and Orange Bowl win before leaving for the 49ers following the 2010 season.
Successor David Shaw has solidified Stanford’s place among college football’s elite, compiling a 54-14 record in five seasons with four Pac-12 North titles and three Pac-12 titles. The Cardinal are a true national power with a strong running game and tough defense.
A home-and-home against former mentor Harbaugh and the rising Wolverines would be must-see TV. Michigan holds a 6-3-1 lead in the series, but the teams haven’t met since 1976.
Of course, there’s always the chance that this matchup could happen earlier than expected in the College Football Playoff or Rose Bowl.
North Carolina-Tennessee
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North Carolina and Tennessee share a border and, as eastern Tennessee and the Smoky Mountains bleed into western North Carolina, a rugged landscape. The programs both take college football seriously and compete in recruiting territories. But their on-field showdowns have been few and far between recently.
Tennessee owns a 20-11-1 record in the all-time series. But after meeting yearly from 1945-61, they’ve met just once since then, with UNC taking a wild 30-27 win in the 2010 Music City Bowl. They were scheduled to play a home-and-home series in 2011-12, but it was canceled.
With Butch Jones steadily restoring Rocky Top’s glory and Larry Fedora doing the same at North Carolina (with an 11-3 record and ACC Coastal Division title in 2015), this would be a natural series.
A home-and-home, either at Knoxville and Chapel Hill or Nashville and Charlotte, would be a perfect addition to either program’s nonconference schedule while pleasing fans who can make an easy trip across Interstate 40 to the games.
Ohio State-Southern California
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Ohio State and Southern California are two of college football’s most powerful programs. Both are national powers with rabid fans, excellent facilities and talented rosters. Yet aside from the Rose Bowl, they don’t get together often. The Buckeyes and Trojans have met just 23 times in their long histories. Seven of those came in the Grandaddy of Them All, with six Rose Bowl meetings occurring between 1969 to 1985.
Ohio State and USC last met in a home-and-home series in 2008-09, with the Trojans taking both games (35-3 and 18-15). Since then, Urban Meyer has arrived in Columbus and rebuilt the Buckeyes into a national power. Entering his fourth season, he is 50-4 with a national title and a Big Ten title under his belt.
Meanwhile, Clay Helton hopes to prove himself worthy of the full-time job he earned after relieving Steve Sarkisian and leading USC to a Pac-12 South title last fall.
With the Trojans’ yearly series with Notre Dame unlikely to move, this would be a tough series to fit in. But it would be worth it for both sides and fans of tantalizing rivalries.
Texas-Texas A&M
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Ever have a fight with your sibling that was broken up by your parents? Maybe they sent each of you to your respective rooms with the understanding that you won’t come out until you shake hands and make up.
That’s about where we find the Texas-Texas A&M rivalry. From the Southwestern Conference to the Big 12, this was one of college football’s best, most heated rivalries. The Longhorns and Aggies shared a state and recruiting territory, and they simply didn’t like each other.
Texas dominated the series, leading 76-37-5 all time, but the game was a fixture of Thanksgiving weekend, the sport’s biggest rivalry weekend.
Five years ago, that rivalry was put on hold. A&M was tired of playing second banana to Texas (and its ESPN-run Longhorn Network) and bolted to the SEC. Outside of the Johnny Manziel era, A&M’s SEC success has been fleeting. Texas hasn’t fared well either. After slipping into mediocrity under Mack Brown, the Longhorns are 11-14 in two seasons under Charlie Strong’s watch.
"They're trying to work something out now where we go play the Aggies," Strong told the Touchdown Club of Houston, via Ryan Autullo of the Austin American-Statesman. However, nothing is imminent.
Simply put, these teams need each other. Both programs are scheduling aggressively in nonconference play—with the likes of LSU, UCLA, Clemson and others on their slates—but a renewal of the Longhorn State’s best rivalry would move the needle in the state and nationwide.
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