20 Potentially Awesome College Football Games If There’s A Conference Only Schedule

If all of the Power Five conferences go to a conference-only college football schedule, here are 20 potentially great matchups

If all of the Power Five conferences go to a conference-only college football schedule – like the Big Ten and Pac-12 will do – here are 20 potentially great matchups


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As the man said, always look on the bright side of life.

If there really is college football in 2020, the potential is there for one of the coolest seasons ever – if you’re a fan of a Power Five conference.

And why? All of a sudden, we might get a whole slew of great conference matchups that weren’t going to happen had the season gone off like normal.

Oh sure, your athletic department is totally screwed if you’re in the FCS, and the Group of Five programs – American Athletic Conference, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, Sun Belt – are going to take a massive hit, but let’s table the cataclysmic side of things for another time.

For now, just enjoy the flower growing through the gigantic pile of (bleep).

In an attempt to control protocols, schedules and pandemic guidelines – and, if you’re cynical, to not have to pay those Group of Five and FCS programs in non-conference games that won’t have fans in the stands to generate any revenue – it’s possible that all Power Five conferences will go to a conference-only football schedule for just this one year.

The Big Ten and Pac-12 have already decided to go there, and while the ACC and SEC are still figuring it out, and the Big 12 is still waiting and seeing what the options are, be shocked if everyone doesn’t make the move.

Yeah, it stinks to miss out on Ohio State vs. Oregon and Alabama vs, USC, but think of what we’re possibly getting with a world without fluffy tune-ups or cupcakes.

All ten teams in the Big 12 already play the other nine, so there won’t be any new matchups, but the potential is there for a whole slew of amazing games in the other leagues.

Here are 20 potentially awesome games that aren’t currently scheduled, but could be – not all of them could happen, though – if the Power Five conferences keep things in-house.

CFN Preview 2020: Previewing all 130 teams

20. Louisville vs. Miami

Miami would LOVE to keep its conference scheduling as is with no Clemson – more on that in a moment – NC State or Louisville. The Cardinals and Canes have only played twice in ACC play – Miami won 52-27 last year – and this time around it might be an even more fun offensive shootout.

19. Stanford vs. Utah

Stanford catches a huge, huge break by not getting Utah from the South – Arizona State is the other team missed. For a team looking to bounce back from a clunker of a 2019, somehow not getting the Utes would be a huge help.

If Stanford really is back to form, Utah would get the gut-punch of having to play a strong Cardinal team along with Oregon if the conference goes to an 11-game format.

CFN Preview: Ranking all head coaches by conference

18. Arizona State vs. Washington

The last two games were close, but these two didn’t play last season. This year, this might be an elimination game – if they play – considering all the big things ahead for both of them.

As it currently stands, Washington misses the Sun Devils and UCLA – it would rather have the Bruins if they had the choice.

17. Clemson vs. North Carolina

Clemson 21, North Carolina 20. Can we have the same sort of thrill ride the 2019 game was? Please?

The Tar Heels are also supposed to miss Florida State, Louisville, Syracuse and Wake Forest. Considering them peeved if out of all those teams, they get Clemson again.

CFN Preview: ACC Preseason Rankings

16. Florida State vs. Virginia Tech

This feels like one of those pecking-order-behind-Clemson games that needs to be played.

It would be a huge moment for the Mike Norvell era at FSU with a win, and a bad look for the Coastal if the Hokies dropped this. No matter what, a slew of narratives would come from it.

Virginia Tech won the 2018 season opener 24-3, but the previous meeting was in 2012. The two have only played three times since 2008, and once was a fun 44-33 Hokie win in the 2010 ACC Championship.

NEXT: Top 15 Potentially Awesome Conference Only Games

Pac-12 Conference Only Football Schedule. 5 Things To Know

The Big Ten will move to a Pac-12-only conference schedule this fall. Here are 5 things to know including the lost games we’ll miss the most

The Big Ten will move to a Pac-12-only conference schedule this fall. Here are 5 things to know including the lost games we’ll miss the most, and what’s about to happen.


Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak

Pac-12 to go with a conference-only schedule. 5 Things To Know.

The Pac-12 announced that it’s about to follow the Big Ten’s lead and go with a conference-only schedule.

What are the five big things that matter?

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5. It’s probably going to be a ten game Pac-12 season … maybe

4. The Big Loser Is …
3. Ranking The Lost Non-Conference Games
2. Every Pac-12 Team’s Missing Pac-12 Games
1. Pac-12 Schedule: What Will Happen?

It would make the most sense in terms of competitive balance if it’s an 11-game all-Pac-12 schedule – everyone plays everyone.

At the moment, UCLA and Utah both miss Oregon. In an 11-game schedule, no big whoop since the Bruins and Utes would play the loaded Ducks just like everyone else win, but in a ten-game slate, one of those two would catch a massive break.

After doing some digging, friend of the program @MichaelJLev – football reporter for the Arizona Daily Star – thinks the odds-on favorite model will be ten games, mostly for the same reason that the Big Ten will go with it – flexibility.

The idea might be to go two games on, one off, to allow as much rest and as many options to move things around as possible.

And here’s where it gets quirky.

ESPN reported that the Pac-12 would be thinking about delaying the start of the season to buy more time for USC and UCLA, because the Los Angeles area is such a hot spot.

So then what? Start in October? A ten-game season might be pushed well into December, and then what happens to the College Football Playoff rankings and the bowl games? Would a backloaded schedule be packed together, or could it be spread out over 14 weeks or so by starting in September?

Let’s just say it’s a fluid situation.

NEXT: The big loser is …

15 Possible Games If There’s No Pac-12 Season, Or If California Schools Don’t Reopen

What might happen if the Pac-12 doesn’t play non-conference games? Here are 15 ideas for college football matchups to fill the void.

What might happen if the Pac-12 doesn’t play non-conference games – or doesn’t play football at all – and if the California schools don’t reopen this fall? Here are 15 ideas for college football matchups to fill the void.


Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak

With the announcement by the California State University system that there likely won’t be in-person classes in the fall, and with the University of California system likely to do the same, what happens if the various schools decide the cancel all athletics and not have a college football season?

Or, what happens if the Pac-12 figures out a way for all the members to play, but decides to go with an 11-game conference-only schedule? What happens to all the big games against the big teams on the various slates?

All of a sudden, several athletic departments across the country will be scrambling to fill the holes – some are supposedly looking into filling out their schedules right now.

We already tried to come up with the idea of how the Pac-12 season might look if it played an 11-game schedule with only conference teams, but what happens to the schools on the non-conference schedule?

Let’s play the role of part athletic director and part matchmaker and come up with the best possible games if there’s no Pac-12 college football non-conference season and/or if all California schools choose not to have athletics if they conduct all of their classes on-line.

Let’s also start with a few massive assumptions.

1. The idea that there won’t be football if students aren’t back on campus holds. If everyone really tried to work the problem, it might be possible to test players, quarantine them in an athletic facility for a few months, have them take online courses like everyone else, and then play in a limited way. However, that all seems unlikely.

2. Other schools across the country are actually going to have students on campus and will play college football. That’s a massive leap – it’s not just going to be the California schools that put the kibosh on in-person classes in the fall. But let’s assume – for now – that it’s all-systems-go for everyone else.

3. This assumes that there either won’t be a Pac-12 football season, or there will be one with no non-conference games. All 15 of the potential matchups listed below take out the Pac-12 teams and also assumes the absence of Fresno State, San Diego State, and San Jose State. Those last three are Mountain West schools in the California State University System. UCLA and Cal are in the University of California system.

Got all of that?

Basically, here are 15 potential ideas for college football matchups if the Pac-12 and three California Mountain West schools end up not playing college football for the 2020 season.

Obviously not all of these can happen considering Alabama, for example, only has to potentially fill just one game on September 5th. These are possibilities to play around with.

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15. BYU at Wyoming, Sept. 19

Current Scheduled Games
Utah at Wyoming, Sept. 19
BYU at Arizona State, Sept. 19

This one’s relatively easy – it’s almost like a normal Mountain West matchup. The two haven’t met since BYU won the 2016 Poinsettia Bowl over the Cowboys 24-21, but they’ve played 78 games starting in 1922.

14. North Dakota State at TCU, Sept. 5

Current Scheduled Games
North Dakota State at Oregon, Sept. 5
TCU at Cal, Sept. 5

The main problem here – and the the NCAA might have to chill a bit if this matters when it comes to bowl eligibility – is that TCU will start the season with two games against FCS schools. It would kick things off against the Bison, and then play Prairie View A&M.

13. Hawaii at Notre Dame, Nov. 28

Current Scheduled Games
Hawaii at San Diego State, Nov. 28
Notre Dame at USC, Nov. 28

This is a no-brainer. Notre Dame avoids a road game – which might matter in a big way; more on that later on this list – and Hawaii has to fly a little further. The two last played in the 2008 Hawaii Bowl – a 49-21 Irish win – and it would be the fourth meeting all-time between the two. Notre Dame is 3-0.

12. BYU at Texas Tech, Sept. 19

Current Scheduled Games
BYU at Arizona State, Sept. 19
Arizona at Texas Tech, Sept. 19

This is easy. BYU’s plane would fly just a wee bit further east to Lubbock instead of Tempe. Texas Tech would happily take this deal with the Big 12 season kicking off the following week against Iowa State on the road. This would be the second all-time meeting between the two – BYU can finally get a shot at revenge for the 21-20 loss back in 1940.

11. BYU at Penn State, Sept. 19

Current Scheduled Games
BYU at Arizona State, Sept. 19
San Jose State at Penn State, Sept. 19

It would be the fourth meeting between the two schools – the last one a 30-17 BYU win in 1992 – and it might be the most likely of the September 19 options for Penn State. BYU was supposed to play a road game anyway, and the Nittany Lions aren’t going to be too keen to go on the road to play anyone. There would be a fight for the other possible Penn State matchups, like …

10. Texas Tech at Penn State, Sept. 19

Current Scheduled Games
Arizona at Texas Tech, Sept. 19
San Jose State at Penn State, Sept. 19

Neither team will want to give up a home game and later concessions would have to be made to the school that travels. Penn State will be coming off a trip to Virginia Tech and kicks off the Big Ten season the following week against Northwestern – no chance it’ll want to move for Texas Tech.

The Red Raiders play Alabama State the week before, but have to travel to Iowa State to start the Big 12 season the following week.

It would be the second meeting between the two – Penn State won 24-23 to kickoff the 1995 season.

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9. BYU at Texas A&M, Sept. 19

Current Scheduled Games
BYU at Arizona State, Sept. 19
Colorado at Texas A&M, Sept. 19

BYU is going to be the most coveted team on this September 19th date because it’s simply swapping a road game for another road game. Texas A&M isn’t going to want to travel, and this makes it easy.

The two teams are 2-2 against each other with the last meeting a 41-37 Cougar win in the Pigskin Classic to start the 1996 season.

8. Texas Tech at Texas A&M, Sept. 19

Current Scheduled Games
Arizona at Texas Tech, Sept. 19
Colorado at Texas A&M, Sept. 19

The politics of getting this game going would be next to impossible, but the matchup would be a whole lot of fun.

The two former Big 12/Southwest Conference rivals first started playing in 1927 and last faced off in 2011 – a 45-40 Texas A&M win.

In a perfect world, these two meet in the middle and play in AT&T Stadium in Arlington, but 1) Texas A&M plays Arkansas there the following week and 2) no chance A&M travels to Lubbock with three of its following four games away from College Station, and 3) Texas Tech probably wouldn’t want to concede a home game to A&M.

7. North Dakota State at Michigan, Sept. 5

Current Scheduled Games
North Dakota State at Oregon, Sept. 5
Michigan at Washington, Sept. 5

Realistically, this is the most likely of all the North Dakota State possibilities on September 5th. Michigan not only doesn’t have any other games against FCS teams on the schedule, but it gets to exchange a road game at Washington for a home one.

Of course, against the defending FCS national champion Bison, be careful what you wish for.

6. TCU at Michigan, Sept. 5

Current Scheduled Games
TCU at Cal, Sept. 5
Michigan at Washington, Sept. 5

Which school would be cool with staying with a road game? It would be the first ever meeting between the two schools, and Michigan wouldn’t have any real beef traveling to Fort Worth considering it plays Ball State the following week. TCU has Prairie View A&M to follow, and then a week off – it would probably be the one to travel.

NEXT: Top 5 Schedule Possibilities If Pac-12 Teams Don’t Play Non-Conference Games

Pac-12 Football Conference Only Schedule? Here’s How It Might Look

Could the Pac-12 end up playing a conference-only 11-game schedule? Here’s how it might look.

Could the Pac-12 end up playing a conference-only 11-game schedule? Here’s how it might look.


Pac-12 Football Schedule Composite 2020

Current Pac-12 Football Schedule Analysis
North Cal | Oregon | Oregon State
Stanford | Washington | Washington State
South Arizona | Arizona State | Colorado
UCLA | USC | Utah

No Notre Dame vs. USC? No Ohio State traveling to Oregon? No USC dealing with Alabama?

The Pac-12 might want to blow off that last one, but discussions really are happening among conference members about the possibility of going to a Pac-12-only 11-game season.

And why? Ease of travel for one, but mostly because it would eliminate a whole slew of logistical headaches as everyone tries to figure out how to play a college football season through a pandemic.

Forgetting all the various parts to this – like the College Football Playoff, the bowls, and what this would do to the contracts and the budgets for the FCS programs on the various schedules … how would an 11-game all-Pac-12 schedule look?

Here are all the Pac-12 schedules as they stand right now, along with how they might end up changing if the conference really does go through with this.

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Pac-12 North

California Golden Bears

Pac-12 Teams Added To Possible New Schedule: Arizona, Colorado
Non-Conference Games Lost: at UNLV, TCU, Cal Poly

Losing the home date against TCU only stinks if you really needed to closure on the 2018 Cheez-It Bowl disaster – the 10-7 Horned Frog overtime win was one of the worst-played college football games ever. Adding Arizona and Colorado wouldn’t be all that bad.

Aug. 29 at UNLV OPEN DATE
Sept. 5 TCU OPEN DATE
Sept. 12 Cal Poly Colorado
Sept. 19 OPEN DATE at Arizona
Sept. 26 Utah
Oct. 3 at Washington State
Oct. 10 at USC
Oct. 17 Oregon
Oct. 24 at Oregon State
Oct. 31 Washington
Nov. 7 at Arizona State
Nov. 14 OPEN DATE
Nov. 21 Stanford
Nov. 28 UCLA

Oregon Ducks

Pac-12 Teams Added To Possible New Schedule: UCLA, Utah
Non-Conference Games Lost: North Dakota State, Ohio State, Hawaii

This totally stinks. It was going to be a blast of a non-conference home slate for Oregon, but now it has to do some moving around. On the plus side, there would be a nice week off between road dates at Cal and Arizona.

Sept. 5 North Dakota State at UCLA
Sept. 12 Ohio State OPEN DATE
Sept. 19 Hawaii Utah
Sept. 26 at Colorado
Oct. 3 Washington
Oct. 10 OPEN DATE
Oct. 17 at Cal
Oct. 24 Stanford
Oct. 31 at Arizona
Nov. 7 USC
Nov. 13 Arizona State
Nov. 21 at Washington State
Nov. 28 at Oregon State

Oregon State Beavers

Pac-12 Teams Added To Possible New Schedule: Colorado, USC
Non-Conference Games Lost: at Oklahoma State, Colorado State, Portland State

The Beavers get burned more than anyone. They might have needed the home games against Colorado State and Portland State to get bowl eligible, and not having USC on the slate from the South would’ve been a plus.

Sept. 3 at Oklahoma State OPEN DATE
Sept. 12 Colorado State USC
Sept. 19 Portland State at Colorado
Sept. 26 Washington State
Oct. 3 at Arizona State
Oct. 10 at Washington
Oct. 17 OPEN DATE
Oct. 24 Cal
Oct. 31 at Stanford
Nov. 7 UCLA
Nov. 14 at Utah
Nov. 21 Arizona
Nov. 28 Oregon

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Stanford Cardinal

Pac-12 Teams Added To Possible New Schedule: Arizona State, Utah
Non-Conference Games Lost: William & Mary, at Notre Dame, BYU

Stanford is the one team that screws up everyone. Unlike most Pac-12 teams that start out the season with three straight non-conference games, the Cardinal’s three were spread out. Not only would they have to fit in Arizona State and Utah, but they’d have to move around their dates with USC and Colorado so they wouldn’t have two off weeks in a row in the middle of October.

Sept. 5 William & Mary at Utah
Sept. 12 at Arizona
Sept. 19 USC Arizona State
Sept. 26 at UCLA
Oct. 3 OPEN DATE Colorado
Oct. 10 at Notre Dame OPEN DATE
Oct. 17 Washington State
Oct. 24 at Oregon
Oct. 30 Oregon State
Nov. 7 at Washington
Nov. 14 Colorado OPEN DATE
Nov. 21 at Cal
Nov. 28 BYU USC

Washington Huskies

Pac-12 Teams Added To Possible New Schedule: Arizona State, UCLA
Non-Conference Games Lost: Michigan, Sacramento State, Utah State

Boo. This was going to be a shot for new head coach Jimmy Lake to get off to a hot start with a huge game against Michigan to kick things off, and then two winnable games before diving into an off-week. At least the Pac-12 season doesn’t start with a trip to Oregon with this.

Sept. 5 Michigan OPEN DATE
Sept. 12 Sacramento State at Arizona State
Sept. 19 Utah State OPEN DATE
Sept. 26 OPEN DATE UCLA
Oct. 3 at Oregon
Oct. 10 Oregon State
Oct. 17 at Utah
Oct. 23 Arizona
Oct. 31 at Cal
Nov. 7 Stanford
Nov. 14 at USC
Nov. 21 Colorado
Nov. 27 at Washington State

Washington State Cougars

Pac-12 Teams Added To Possible New Schedule: Arizona, USC
Non-Conference Games Lost: at Utah State, Houston, Idaho

Nick Rolovich might be breaking something tasteful with no Utah State, Houston or Idaho – no non-conference games against Power Five teams – to get everything in place. The Utah game would have to be moved so the Cougars could have a midseason open date.

Sept. 5 at Utah State Arizona
Sept. 12 Houston
Sept. 19 Idaho at USC
Sept. 26 at Oregon State
Oct. 3 Cal
Oct. 10 Utah
Oct. 17 at Stanford
Oct. 24 OPEN DATE
Oct. 31 Arizona State
Nov. 7 at Colorado
Nov. 14 at UCLA
Nov. 21 Oregon
Nov. 27 Washington

NEXT: Pac-12 South