College Football Schedule 2024-25

Conference Schedules icon
Thursday, September 19, 2024
MATCHUP RESULT HI PASS HI RUSH HI REC
team logo APP USA 48 , APP 14 J Aguilar 266 F Bothwell 116 K Robinson 85
Friday, September 20, 2024
MATCHUP RESULT HI PASS HI RUSH HI REC
team logo SYR STAN 26 , SYR 24 K McCord 339 C Davis Jr. 79 T Pena 101
team logo NEB ILL 31 , NEB 24 D Raiola 297 D Dowdell 72 J Banks 94
team logo SJSU WSU 54 , SJSU 52 J Mateer 390 J Mateer 111 N Nash 152
Saturday, September 21, 2024
MATCHUP RESULT HI PASS HI RUSH HI REC
team logo UL-LAF TULN 41 , UL-LAF 33 B Wooldridge 238 M Hughes 166 T Carter 79
team logo MSST FLA 45 , MSST 28 G Mertz 201 J Daniels 77 M Craver 62
team logo RICE ARMY 37 , RICE 14 E Warner 235 B Daily 145 M Sykes 82
team logo CHAR IU 52 , CHAR 14 K Rourke 258 J Ellison 58 M Price 77
team logo UNC JMU 70 , UNC 50 J Criswell 475 O Hampton 139 O Dollison 125
team logo MARSH OHIOST 49 , MARSH 14 W Howard 275 Q Judkins 173 E Egbuka 117
team logo HOU CIN 34 , HOU 0 B Sorsby 188 C Kiner 78 S Berkhalter 60
team logo KU WVU 32 , KU 28 G Greene 295 D Neal 110 H Clement 150
team logo NCSU CLEM 59 , NCSU 35 C Klubnik 209 P Mafah 107 J Joly 72
team logo VILL MD 38 , VILL 20 B Edwards Jr. 328 R Hemby 67 T Felton 157
team logo STET
@ team logo HARV
HARV 35 , STET 0 J Craig 217 S McLaughlin 64 C Barkate 76
team logo PRINCE
@ team logo LEHIGH
LEHIGH 35 , PRINCE 20 B Hipa 219 J Green 82 L Colella 86
team logo LIU
vs team logo URI
URI 28 , LIU 21 L Stanzani 176 M Grant 141 M Love 77
team logo LAF
@ team logo COLUM
COLUM 31 , LAF 20 D DeNobile 272 J Curtis 102 C Carasia 114
team logo OHIO UK 41 , OHIO 6 B Vandagriff 237 J Wilcox 82 D Key 145
team logo BALLST CMU 37 , BALLST 34 K Semonza 285 B Harris 151 T Koziol 112
team logo MERRIM
vs team logo MAINE
MAINE 26 , MERRIM 15 C Peevy 225 J Corbett 80 J Gillette 86
team logo SHEART
@ team logo STONEH
STONEH 35 , SHEART 21 J Michalski 143 J Washington 184 K McGuire 41
team logo GTOWN
vs team logo BROWN
BROWN 26 , GTOWN 14 D Lauter 343 N Kearney 52 C Pygatt 116
team logo COR
@ team logo COLG
COLG 41 , COR 24 J Wang 313 C Gee 79 B Lee 89
team logo FORD
@ team logo DART
DART 45 , FORD 13 J Capaldi 187 Q Jones 86 P Scott 121
team logo VMI
vs team logo NOR
NOR 32 , VMI 10 J Daniels 277 K King 50 J Jones 143
team logo ARKST IAST 52 , ARKST 7 R Becht 204 C Hansen 58 B Brahmer 73
team logo DRAKE
@ team logo SOUDAK
SOUDAK 42 , DRAKE 3 A Bouman 219 T Theis 94 C Bell 56
team logo STTHMN
@ team logo LINDEN
LINDEN 64 , STTHMN 0 N Glantz 228 C Jones 152 J Caldwell 153
team logo TOWSON
@ team logo NDAKST
NDAKST 41 , TOWSON 24 C Miller 219 C Brown 126 B Lance 63
team logo SD
@ team logo NORDAK
NORDAK 41 , SD 24 G Sergent 243 S Seidl 123 B Belquist 116
team logo USU TEM 45 , USU 29 S Petras 293 R Faison 148 D Wright 116
team logo COASTC UVA 43 , COASTC 24 E Vasko 222 X Brown 171 T Taylor 70
team logo STF-PA EASTMI 36 , STF-PA 0 A Mejia 111 D Brown 33 Z Griffin 89
team logo HOLYCR
vs team logo YALE
YALE 38 , HOLYCR 31 J Pesansky 279 N Denney 80 M Mosey 129
team logo TENNST
@ team logo TNTECH
TNTECH 24 , TENNST 14 D Ellis 246 O Sanni 75 K Brenson 99
team logo EASTWA NEVADA 49 , EASTWA 16 B Lewis 193 S Red 117 E Chism III 85
team logo WCU
@ team logo MONT
MONT 46 , WCU 35 C Gonzales 340 E Gillman 175 D Tamarez 229
team logo MERCYH
@ team logo MONTST
MONTST 52 , MERCYH 13 T Mellott 214 C Coon 102 C Barmore 95
team logo SOUMIS JACST 44 , SOUMIS 7 T Huff 236 T Stewart 96 B Rechsteiner 90
team logo BRYANT
@ team logo UNH
UNH 38 , BRYANT 17 J Guest 335 I Seide 61 C Burke 151
team logo HOUCHR TX-SA 45 , HOUCHR 7 O McCown 226 B Donnell 74 W McCoy 85
team logo AUBURN ARK 24 , AUBURN 14 P Thorne 213 T Green 80 K Lambert-Smith 156
team logo UCLA LSU 34 , UCLA 17 G Nussmeier 352 J Williams 62 M Taylor 77
team logo ASU TTU 30 , ASU 22 S Leavitt 282 T Brooks 117 C Skattebo 117
team logo NIU BUFF 23 , NIU 20 E Hampton 194 A Brown 73 V Snow 72
team logo MEM NAVY 56 , MEM 44 S Henigan 371 B Horvath 211 K Drake 102
team logo KENTST PSU 56 , KENTST 0 D Allar 309 N Singleton 81 O Evans 116
team logo MIA-OH ND 28 , MIA-OH 3 R Leonard 154 R Leonard 143 B Collins 60
team logo GT LOU 31 , GT 19 H King 312 H King 58 J Brooks 125
team logo YSU PITT 73 , YSU 17 E Holstein 247 D Carter 109 C Lee 108
team logo VATECH RUT 26 , VATECH 23 A Kaliakmanis 269 B Tuten 122 I Strong 110
team logo USC MICH 27 , USC 24 M Moss 283 K Mullings 159 Z Branch 98
team logo CENTCT UMASS 35 , CENTCT 31 T Phommachanh 287 J John 65 J Keeney-James 95
team logo OKST UTAH 22 , OKST 19 I Wilson 207 M Bernard 182 D Singer 95
team logo MIDDTN DUKE 45 , MIDDTN 17 M Murphy 216 J Credle 125 N Dalmolin 100
team logo MSVL
@ team logo NICH
NICH 66 , MSVL 0 P McQuaide 184 M Brock 132 N Rembert 106
team logo WAGNER
vs team logo RMOR
RMOR 21 , WAGNER 14 A Chiccitt 219 T Edmonds Jr. 99 N Robinson 90
team logo HOW
@ team logo HAMP
HAMP 27 , HOW 20 J Tolbert 201 J Snipes 117 K Hawthorne 73
team logo VANDY MIZZOU 30 , VANDY 27 B Cook 226 N Noel 199 L Burden III 76
team logo UTEP CSU 27 , UTEP 17 C McConnell 220 A Morrow 156 K Odom 128
team logo TCU SMU 66 , TCU 42 J Hoover 396 B Smith 127 J Bech 166
team logo CAMP
vs team logo STNYBR
STNYBR 24 , CAMP 17 C Mascoe Jr. 160 R Dempster 179 S Brown 63
team logo SOUT
@ team logo IDAST
IDAST 38 , SOUT 28 J Berry 177 T Lambson 172 S Carr 104
team logo ECU LIB 35 , ECU 24 K Salter 223 Q Cooley 105 R Smith 80
team logo FIU
vs team logo MONM
MONM 45 , FIU 42 K Jenkins 362 R Nelson 117 J Derry 108
team logo DELST
vs team logo RICH
RICH 38 , DELST 24 C Coleman 312 Z Palmer-Smith 207 L Ellis 131
team logo MARIST
@ team logo BUCK
BUCK 34 , MARIST 18 R Rucker IV 272 M Cadden 71 M Diawara 125
team logo CIT
@ team logo MERC
MERC 38 , CIT 21 J Bennett 336 D McGee 94 J Graves-Billips 105
team logo ELON
vs team logo EASTTN
EASTTN 34 , ELON 14 J King 233 B Irby 96 H Meggett 85
team logo FURMAN
@ team logo W&M
W&M 34 , FURMAN 24 T Hedden 264 B Yoder 166 C Hinton 89
team logo PENN
@ team logo DEL
DEL 29 , PENN 22 R O'Connor 309 M Hosley 176 P Lutz 144
team logo MOR
@ team logo EASTKY
EASTKY 42 , MOR 13 M Morrissey 162 B Latham 76 N Garnett 55
team logo NW UW 24 , NW 5 W Rogers 223 J Coleman 67 D Boston 121
team logo WYO UNT 44 , WYO 17 C Morris 305 S Porter 120 D Sheffield 109
team logo LATECH TLSA 23 , LATECH 20 K Francis 228 A Watkins 60 E Finley 91
team logo FLAA&M TROY 34 , FLAA&M 12 G Crowder 291 D Taylor 109 D Ross 229
team logo TOL WESTKY 26 , TOL 21 C Veltkamp 242 T Gleason 46 J Stuart 93
team logo NMST SAMHOU 31 , NMST 11 S Marucci 74 H Watson 116 N Smith 38
team logo SIU
vs team logo SEMO
SEMO 38 , SIU 21 H Simmons 341 P Brown 124 V Davis III 132
team logo ETA&M
vs team logo SAC
SAC 34 , ETA&M 0 C Conklin 154 E Tau-Tolliver 127 J Gipson 85
team logo PVA&M
vs team logo SOU
SOU 31 , PVA&M 24 C Peters 193 K Dillon 77 C Cavil 72
team logo NOARI
@ team logo INCWOR
INCWOR 38 , NOARI 14 T Pennington 247 D Taylor 184 R Alexander 76
team logo TXSO
@ team logo LAMAR
LAMAR 20 , TXSO 17 J Longino 63 Q Quinn 149 I Jones 27
team logo ARK-PB
vs team logo CENARK
CENARK 56 , ARK-PB 17 M Hagens 239 S Powell 148 M Henry 87
team logo ALAA&M
@ team logo APSU
APSU 59 , ALAA&M 16 C Brown IV 179 L Wright 142 J Barnes 56
team logo JKST
@ team logo GRAM
GRAM 41 , JKST 20 M Crawley 167 K Hargrove 81 J Fortilien 91
team logo EASTIL
@ team logo ILLST
ILLST 31 , EASTIL 7 T Rittenhouse 228 W Wright 150 D Sobkowicz 93
team logo NWST
vs team logo WEB
WEB 39 , NWST 0 R Munoz 327 K Burrell 60 J Sharp 119
team logo TN-MAR
vs team logo MOSTU
MOSTU 31 , TN-MAR 24 J Clark 388 P Smith 63 L Mason 94
team logo SELA
vs team logo SDAKST
SDAKST 41 , SELA 0 D Stewart 81 K Vorhees 179 D Lewis 56
team logo NORTAL
vs team logo TARLST
TARLST 28 , NORTAL 14 B Harris 100 K Britten 273 D Warfield 91
team logo FLAATL UCONN 48 , FLAATL 14 N Evers 88 M Brown 156 S Bell 43
team logo USF MIA-FL 50 , USF 15 C Ward 404 J Lyle 104 S Atkins 125
team logo CAL FSU 14 , CAL 9 F Mendoza 303 L Toafili 80 J Douglas 86
team logo NCA&T
@ team logo NCCENT
NCCENT 66 , NCA&T 24 W Harris 272 J Taylor 137 M Quick 119
team logo PRESBY
vs team logo G-WEBB
G-WEBB 42 , PRESBY 21 T Ridell 238 C Gresock 134 G Adopte 72
team logo OKLA TENN 25 , OKLA 15 N Iamaleava 194 D Sampson 92 B McCoy 92
team logo BGSU TEXA&M 26 , BGSU 20 C Bazelak 250 M Reed 91 H Fannin Jr. 145
team logo MINN IOWA 31 , MINN 14 M Brosmer 209 K Johnson 206 D Jackson 112
team logo AKRON SCAR 50 , AKRON 7 R Ashford 243 R Ashford 133 G Larvadain 79
team logo GASO MISS 52 , GASO 13 J Dart 382 H Parrish Jr. 89 T Harris 225
team logo BAYLOR CU 38 , BAYLOR 31 S Sanders 341 S Robertson 82 T Hunter 130
team logo UL-MON TEX 51 , UL-MON 3 A Manning 258 J Blue 124 I Bond 75
team logo ABICHR
vs team logo IDAHO
IDAHO 27 , ABICHR 24 M McIvor 288 N Thomas 69 J Dwyer 91
team logo NORCOL
@ team logo SFA
SFA 48 , NORCOL 7 S G. Vidlak 219 J Jenkins 80 B Green 93
team logo ALC
@ team logo MCNE
MCNE 42 , ALC 14 C McDowell 229 X Vaughn 127 D Jones 105
team logo MSU BC 23 , MSU 19 A Chiles 241 T Ward 102 L Bond 102
team logo PUR ORST 38 , PUR 21 G McCoy 104 D Mockobee 168 M Klare 46
team logo NM FRES 38 , NM 21 D Dampier 338 D Dampier 67 L Wysong 126
team logo PORST BOISE 56 , PORST 14 M Madsen 188 A Jeanty 127 M Lauter 91
team logo UTAHTE
@ team logo UCDAV
UCDAV 32 , UTAHTE 14 M Hastings 275 L Larison 120 B Parker 65
team logo KSU BYU 38 , KSU 9 J Retzlaff 149 D Giddens 93 J Brown 51
Sunday, September 22, 2024
MATCHUP RESULT HI PASS HI RUSH HI REC
team logo UNI HAWAII 36 , UNI 7 B Schager 374 A Pesek-Hickson 43 D Crowdus 83

All times are in ET. Tap on each match's time to view it in your local timezone.

College Football Schedule

Rose Bowl

The United States probably has the biggest following with respect to any college sport in the world. In fact, there are plenty of people in America who are not as gung ho about the professional sports leagues such as the NFL, NBA, MLB, etc. as they are about the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletics Association) sports. There could be several reasons for this but the one thing that stands out is the passion individuals have for their school and the respective college team.

The college football season typically starts from the end of August to the early part of January. Teams generally play anywhere between 8 to 12 games a year. They play an equal number of home and away games throughout the season but the scheduling process is quite complex to understand.

Understanding how the NCAA runs college football games can be quite confusing. The NCAA for instance does not control all aspects of college football games. It only has control over the rules and compliances on the field, apart from that everything else including the money and the tournaments is managed by the respective conferences of college football.

NCAA Football Conferences

The NCAA football constitutes first and foremost of four divisions which are Division 1 FBS, Division 1 FCS, Division 2, and Division 3. Most of the college football teams belong to either one of these divisions. Although not everything is set in stone, it is generally considered that playing college football for a Division 1 school will get you the maximum chance of going professional in the future.

We will check out only the Division 1 FBS in this article as it is the most important one and really the only one that matters. FBS stands for Football Bowl Subdivision and within this division, we have a total of 10 different conferences. The four teams of Notre Dame, Brigham Young University, Army, and Navy do not belong to any of the conferences despite being in the FBS.

Out of these ten, there are five conferences known as the Power Five Conferences, which are the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), Big Ten Conference, Big 12 Conference, Pac-12 Conference, and Southeastern Conference (SEC).

The remaining five conferences which are at times referred to as the Non-Power Five (Group of 5) Conferences are the American Athletic Conference (AAC), Conference USA Conference, Mid-American Conference (MAC), Mountain West Conference (MWC), and the Sun Belt Conference (SBC).

NCAA Football Schedule Process

This is where things start getting tricky because every conference in college football has its individual freedom. That means all conferences have the autonomy to create their own schedules, but it is not as simple as just assigning two teams to play each other within their own conference.

Every conference has its own set of rules and guidelines which they use to schedule games. In addition to that, some conferences have more pull than others thereby directly impacting which teams get to play the best games. To create one national schedule from this is one tough ask.

It may come as a surprise that in today's day and age when the simplest of simple things are done with the help of an algorithm run by software, that college football schedules are drawn up by speaking to one another and agreeing to terms. The conference officials and the athletic directors all must come together and work out a possible schedule that works for everyone and which also allots an equal number of home and away games to each team.

There are three main factors which go into consideration during the scheduling of college football games. They are conference scheduling, non-conference scheduling, and TV broadcasting.

Conference scheduling

Since each conference has its own method of scheduling games, the process remains unique to all conferences. Generally, all the schools will play the other schools within their conference at least once a year. The Power Five conferences also play a few cross-divisional games in addition to their conference games.

Non-conference scheduling

These are the games that each team needs to play outside of their own conference against other teams. As each team must figure out with whom they will play and when and where, this can get a bit complicated, especially for the smaller school.

Power Five teams will normally play one or two non-conference games with other Power Five conferences as well as one or two games with teams from Group of Five conferences. Since the reward is greater for Group of Five teams when they go up against the Power Five competition, teams from the former conferences will generally try to play more games with the latter. In doing so, Group of Five teams will get a significantly more amount of revenue.

TV Broadcasting

The third factor that goes into scheduling college football games is that of TV broadcasting. This is because all top networks want to show the best possible games at the best time slots on their respective networks. Therefore, many times the TV networks will also have a say in the scheduling matters and may request any changes or modifications as they see fit.

Power 5 and Group of 5 Conferences

Typically, the best of the best teams are all in the Power 5 conferences. They are the ones who receive the maximum media attention, the maximum revenue, and boast of the maximum fan following as well. The teams in these conferences have a long-standing history of winning and producing the best talent that will carry forward to the professional league.

Each conference in the Power Five has its own rules for scheduling and not all conferences play the same number of games within their own conference. For example, teams in the Big Ten conference will play nine conference games and three non-conference games, but the same is not the case with the SEC as they play only eight conference games and four non-conference games.

However, a lot of mixing up and shaking up of the conferences and their rules keep taking place and therefore not everything can be attributed to a permanent way of functioning. For instance, some teams are looking to jump from one conference to another while some conferences that are playing eight inter-conference games want to move to nine.

Therefore, for the various conferences to make their schedules, a lot of attention must be given to all the guidelines and a committee needs to monitor all the intricacies such as the competitive balance between the teams, broadcast terms and conditions, an equal number of home and away games, and more.

As for the Group of Five conferences, most of them will play eight inter-conference games and four non-conference games. The same level of thought process must go into making the schedule for these conferences as well. But one disadvantage for the Group of 5 teams is that they must strive harder to get a matchup with some of the Power 5 teams.

Conference Scheduling

Since all conferences have their unique ways of creating a schedule, not all teams will play each other from their respective conference on an annual basis. Such a case arises because there are a greater number of teams in conferences than the number of games a team can play. Therefore, each conference needs to resort to a rotation-based design to ensure that teams will play each other once every few years.

For example, if we look at the Big 12 conference, it has a total of ten teams. This conference plays 9 conference and 1 non-conference game throughout the season. Thus, as per the rotation policy, each team will play all other teams in the conference at least once in two years.

Taking the example of the SEC, which is probably the most popular conference today, it has fourteen teams within the conference and it is also subdivided into two divisions, namely: the East and the West. Each team will play a total of eight conference games out of which six are from their own division and the other two are from the other division. This conference also has 1 permanent rival for each team and it rotates the other seven conference games every year.

Non-Conference Scheduling

Scheduling the non-conference games does not require any rotational policy as teams are free to select their opponents mutually. However, teams will want to play games against top-quality opposition to ensure they remain at a high level when they play their conference games. Also, the Group of 5 conference teams can take this opportunity to not only see where they are in terms of performance with the top tier teams, but they can also generate much more income from these games as more media and revenue are associated with the Power 5 teams.

When it comes to non-conference scheduling, there are many teams that have created matchups with one another years in advance. This is done as careful planning is required to generate proper revenue for home games and to maintain steady competition. Teams will alternate between easy and difficult games every other year as a way of balancing out their schedules.

FBS Power 5 Conferences

ACC Scheduling

From 2023, the ACC will play their games with the newly introduced 3-5-5 format. That means that each team will play three of their rivals on a permanent basis which leaves ten teams. These ten teams will be separated into two groups of five and they will be flipped every other year. Therefore, within the conference the ACC will play eight teams and then they will play a further four teams outside of their conference as well.

As of 2023, the ACC consists of 14 schools in the conference which are as follows:

  1. Boston College Eagles
  2. Clemson Tigers
  3. Duke Blue Devils
  4. Florida State Seminoles
  5. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
  6. Louisville Cardinals
  7. Miami Hurricanes
  8. North Carolina Tar Heels
  9. North Carolina State Wolfpack
  10. Pittsburgh Panthers
  11. Syracuse Orange
  12. Virginia Cavaliers
  13. Virginia Tech Hokies
  14. Wake Forest Demon Deacons

The permanent matchups for the ACC teams are as below:

UniversityRival 1Rival 2Rival 3
Boston CollegeMiamiPittsburghSyracuse
ClemsonFlorida StateGeorgia TechNC State
DukeNorth CarolinaNC StateWake Forest
Florida StateClemsonMiamiSyracuse
Georgia TechClemsonLouisvilleWake Forest
LouisvilleGeorgia TechMiamiVirginia
MiamiBoston CollegeFlorida StateLouisville
North CarolinaDukeNC StateVirginia
NC StateClemsonDukeNorth Carolina
PittsburghBoston CollegeSyracuseVirginia Tech
SyracuseBoston CollegeFlorida StatePittsburgh
VirginiaLouisvilleNorth CarolinaVirginia Tech
Virginia TechPittsburghVirginiaWake Forest
Wake ForestDukeGeorgia TechVirginia Tech

Big 10 Scheduling

The Big 10 which is divided into the East and West division follows a nine game conference schedule. Seven teams are placed in both divisions based upon their locality. The Big 10 schedules six divisional games and three cross divisional games. The Indiana and Perdue game is an annual cross division game which is a permanent fixture. Apart from this, each team will face three non-conference teams as well.

As of 2023, the Big Ten’s two divisions and their respective teams are as follows:

EastWest
Ohio State BuckeyesMinnesota Golden Gophers
Rutgers Scarlet KnightsIowa Hawkeyes
Maryland TerrapinsWisconsin Badgers
Michigan WolverinesIllinois Fighting Illini
Michigan St. SpartansPurdue Boilermakers
Penn St. Nittany LionsNorthwestern Wildcats
Indiana HoosiersNebraska Cornhuskers

Big 12 Scheduling

The Big 12’s current scheduling system is a 14 team round robin event. Upon its conclusion, the top two teams in the conference will fight it out in the Championship game to declare the eventual winner of the conference.

The current teams playing in the Big 12 conference are:

  1. BYU Cougars
  2. Cincinnati Bearcats
  3. Houston Cougars
  4. Iowa State Cyclones
  5. Kansas Jayhawks
  6. Kansas State Wildcats
  7. Oklahoma Sooners
  8. Oklahoma State Cowboys
  9. Texas Longhorns
  10. UCF Knights
  11. Baylor Bears
  12. TCU Horned Frogs
  13. Texas Tech Red Raiders
  14. West Virginia Mountaineers

PAC-12 Scheduling

The PAC-12 which once followed divisions of two has done away with them and now hold a round robin system similar to that of the Big 12. Once the season comes to an end the top two teams in the conference will play the Championship game.

The PAC-12 football conference is made up of the following teams:

  1. USC Trojans
  2. Arizona Wildcats
  3. Arizona State Sun Devils
  4. California Golden Bears
  5. Colorado Buffaloes
  6. Oregon Ducks
  7. Oregon State Beavers
  8. Stanford Cardinal
  9. UCLA Bruins
  10. Utah Utes
  11. Washington Huskies
  12. Washington State Cougars

SEC Scheduling

Considered by many to be the best conference in college football at least since the past few years, the SEC operates in a division format with two divisions of seven teams each. However, with more teams joining next year, it is expected that the current system will undergo a change to better accommodate the expansion of the conference. At present though, each team within the conference plays eight conference games.

From the division itself, each team plays all the other six teams every year. Then, each team has a permanent cross division rival for the seventh game and the eighth game is a cross divisional rotation.

The SECs permanent cross-divisional matchups are:

  1. Alabama vs. Tennessee
  2. Arkansas vs. Missouri
  3. Auburn vs. Georgia
  4. LSU vs. Florida
  5. Mississippi State vs. Kentucky
  6. Ole Miss vs. Vanderbilt
  7. Texas A&M vs. South Carolina.

The teams participating in the SEC conference as of 2023 are:

EastWest
Vanderbilt CommodoresAlabama Crimson Tide
Georgia BulldogsArkansas Razorbacks
Kentucky WildcatsAuburn Tigers
Missouri TigersOle Miss Rebels
Tennessee VolunteersMississippi State Bulldogs
Florida GatorsTexasA&M Aggies
South Carolina GamecocksLSU Tigers

FBS Group of Five Conferences

AAC Scheduling

The AAC scheduling system has just recently undergone a change which is expected to be continued till 2026. Featuring a conference of 14 teams, each team is set to play 8 conference games. As per this schedule, each team within the conference will face every other team twice in a period of four years getting one home game and one away game respectively. The ACC has also included six annual matchups which are as follows:

  1. North Texas vs. SMU
  2. UAB vs. Memphis
  3. Rice vs. UTSA
  4. Charlotte vs. East Carolina
  5. Florida Atlantic vs. South Florida
  6. Navy vs. Temple

The 14 members of the AAC are as follows:

  1. Memphis Tigers
  2. Charlotte 49ers
  3. Florida Atlantic Owls
  4. Navy Midshipmen
  5. Rice Owls
  6. SMU Mustangs
  7. South Florida Bulls
  8. Temple Owls
  9. Tulane Green Wave
  10. Tulsa Golden Hurricane
  11. UAB Blazers
  12. UTSA Roadrunners
  13. East Carolina Pirates
  14. North Texas Mean Green

C-USA Scheduling

This conference has been quite unstable since its formation. Several teams have left to join different conferences while new teams are making their way to the C-USA. This conference is set to expand further by next year making it one of the most unpredictable conferences in college football. As a result, the current schedule is in place only for the 2023 season and is expected to undergo some type of modification before the 2024 season. As for now, all nine teams from the conference will play each other in a round robin format.

The nine teams which make up the C-USA conference are:

  1. Liberty Flames
  2. Jacksonville State Gamecocks
  3. Louisiana Tech Bulldogs
  4. Western Kentucky Hilltoppers
  5. Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders
  6. Sam Houston Bearkats
  7. FIU Panthers
  8. New Mexico State Aggies
  9. UTEP Miners

MAC Scheduling

The MAC conference is quite simple as it is divided into divisions featuring six teams each. Teams in this conference are set to play eight conference games which includes five divisional games and three cross divisional games.

The divisions of the MAC are as below:

EastWest
Ohio BobcatsCentral Michigan Chippewas
Akron ZipsEastern Michigan Eagles
Bowling Green FalconsNorthern Illinois Huskies
Miami (OH) RedHawksToledo Rockets
Buffalo BullsWestern Michigan Broncos
Kent State Golden FlashesBall State Cardinals

MWC Scheduling

The MWC has made a change from 2023 onwards. Earlier this conference had a divisional system but now that has been scrapped. The twelve-team conference will play a 2-6 format wherein the 2 games will be against fixed opponents every year. The remaining six games will be rotation based and will be flipped every other year.

The teams making up the Mountain West Conference are:

  1. Air Force Falcons
  2. Fresno State Bulldogs
  3. Wyoming Cowboys
  4. San Diego State Aztecs
  5. New Mexico Lobos
  6. UNLV Rebels
  7. Utah State Aggies
  8. Hawaii Rainbow Warriors
  9. San Jose State Spartans
  10. Colorado State Rams
  11. Boise State Broncos
  12. Nevada Wolf Pack

The two permanent fixtures per team are as below:

UniversityRival 1Rival 2
Air ForceColorado StateWyoming
Boise StateNew MexicoUtah State
Colorado StateAir ForceWyoming
Fresno StateNevadaSan Jose State
HawaiiSan Diego StateUNLV
NevadaFresno StateUNLV
New MexicoBoise StateSan Jose State
San Diego StateHawaiiUtah State
San Jose StateFresno StateNew Mexico
UNLVHawaiiNevada
Utah StateBoise StateSan Diego State
WyomingAir ForceColorado State

SBC Scheduling

The SBC conference is another one divided into two divisions of seven teams each. According to their scheduling, each team will play two cross divisional games, one at home and one away. Furthermore, each team will play against all six divisional opponents every year for a total of eight conference games.

The divisions of the SBC conference are as below:

EastWest
Old Dominion MonarchsLouisiana-Monroe Warhawks
Georgia Southern EaglesSouth Alabama Jaguars
Georgia State PanthersSouthern Miss Golden Eagles
James Madison DukesTexas State Bobcats
Marshall Thundering HerdTroy Trojans
Appalachian State MountaineersArkansas State Red Wolves
Coastal Carolina ChanticleersLouisiana Ragin' Cajuns

Independents (FBS) Scheduling

The Independent programs in college football are very few today with only four of them left. Most of the independent schools from earlier have joined other conferences as they can then earn revenue from television broadcasting. In addition to that, joining a conference makes their scheduling worries easier. However, the independent schools do get more flexibility to schedule their matchups as they are not conference bound. This gives them added advantage in having interesting games throughout the year.

The four independent football schools that are remaining are:

  1. Army West Point Black Knights
  2. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
  3. Connecticut Huskies
  4. Massachusetts Minutemen

The Army has fixed annual games against the Navy and Air Force. They also have a rivalry game with Notre Dame but it is not on an annual basis and is scheduled quite randomly. As for Notre Dame, they have many long-standing rivalry matchups throughout the year and they also have a deal with the ACC which gives them five games every year.

UConn was earlier part of the AAC but their other sports faced some issues due to which they had to leave the conference in 2020. Nowadays, as their football program is not so strong, many FBS schools play against them in order to fill out their schedules.

FCS Conferences

The conferences in the FCS division of college football are undergoing regular changes with new conferences coming up and teams leaving and joining every passing year. As a result of which the scheduling format for these conferences keep on changing and information pertaining to the same is scantily available.

Big Sky Scheduling

The Big Sky Conference consists of twelve teams currently. Their schedule from 2022 to 2024 is set at eight league games which comprises two fixed annual opponents and six rotating ones. This new format was put into action to make sure that teams would get to play other teams in the conference more frequently than earlier. Teams have also been afforded the flexibility to choose at least one of their permanent opponents.

The Big Sky’s twelve-member conference is as follows:

  1. Idaho Vandals
  2. Montana Grizzlies
  3. Sacramento State Hornets
  4. Weber State Wildcats
  5. Cal Poly Mustangs
  6. Montana State Bobcats
  7. UC Davis Aggies
  8. Eastern Washington Eagles
  9. Idaho State Bengals
  10. Northern Arizona Lumberjacks
  11. Northern Colorado Bears
  12. Portland State Vikings

Big South Scheduling

The Big South Conference is one of the newest conferences in college football. Initially starting out with nine teams, it has quickly been reduced to only four at present. This conference has decided to merge with the Ohio Valley Conference in 2026 as both conferences do not have sufficient teams. Due to so many ongoing changes, the exact scheduling format for the Big South Conference is not available.

The four teams in the Big South Conference are as below:

  1. Bryant Bulldogs
  2. Charleston Southern Buccaneers
  3. Gardner-Webb Runnin' Bulldogs
  4. Robert Morris Colonials

Coastal Athletic Association Conference Scheduling

The CAA conference which consists of fifteen teams has each team playing eight games in the conference. Moreover, each team has been allotted two permanent rivals annually while the remaining six games are on rotation basis. This means each team will play every other team at home and away at least once in eight years.

The fifteen members of the CAA conference are:

  1. William & Mary Tribe
  2. Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens
  3. Monmouth Hawks
  4. Rhode Island Rams
  5. Villanova Wildcats
  6. Hampton Pirates
  7. New Hampshire Wildcats
  8. Albany Great Danes
  9. Elon Phoenix
  10. Maine Black Bears
  11. North Carolina A&T Aggies
  12. Richmond Spiders
  13. Campbell Fighting Camels
  14. Towson Tigers
  15. Stony Brook Seawolves

Independents (FCS) Conference Scheduling

In the FCS division of college football, the Kennesaw State Owls are the only team which are playing as an independent conference. The Owls are slowly beginning their transition from the FCS to the FBS as they are moving to Conference USA football conference in 2024.

Ivy League Conference Scheduling

There are a total of eight Ivy League Schools featuring in the college football program. The Ivy League Conference usually starts a little later than the other conferences, mostly near mid-September. These schools play ten games each which include a complete round-robin system where each team plays all the other seven teams. The remaining three games are scheduled against non-conference teams.

Ivy League Conference teams include:

  1. Dartmouth Big Green
  2. Harvard Crimson
  3. Columbia Lions
  4. Princeton Tigers
  5. Cornell Big Red
  6. Penn Quakers
  7. Yale Bulldogs
  8. Brown Bears

Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Scheduling

The MEAC is a conference consisting of six football teams. As per their schedule for the 2023 season, teams will play non-conference games at the start and the end of the season with conference games being sandwiched in between.

The six participating teams in MEAC are”

  1. North Carolina Central Eagles
  2. Howard Bison
  3. Morgan State Bears
  4. Norfolk State Spartans
  5. Delaware State Hornets
  6. South Carolina State Bulldogs

Missouri Valley Conference Scheduling

The Missouri Valley Conference is one of those which has somewhat of a complex history. It has undergone a couple of name changes over the years as well. This conference uses a simple round robin system to decide the eventual conference champion. The first three weeks are usually reserved for non-conference matchups while the remaining nine weeks are for conference games. Teams are also allowed to make changes to their schedule provided both teams have a written agreement in place.

  1. Teams participating in this conference currently are:
  2. Illinois State Redbirds
  3. North Dakota Fighting Hawks
  4. North Dakota State Bison
  5. South Dakota State Jackrabbits
  6. Southern Illinois Salukis
  7. Murray State Racers
  8. South Dakota Coyotes
  9. Youngstown State Penguins
  10. Indiana State Sycamores
  11. Missouri State Bears
  12. UNI Panthers
  13. Western Illinois Leathernecks

Northeast Conference Scheduling

The Northeast Conference features eight teams which will all play each other. Each team will get four home games and three away games in the conference. Each team will also play three away non-conference games for the 2023 season.

The eight teams making up the Northeast Conference are:

  1. Stonehill Skyhawks
  2. Duquesne Dukes
  3. LIU Sharks
  4. Merrimack Warriors
  5. Sacred Heart Pioneers
  6. Saint Francis U Red Flash
  7. Wagner Seahawks
  8. Central Connecticut State Blue Devils

Ohio Valley Conference Scheduling

The Ohio Valley Conference has joined forces with the Big South Conference as both conferences had lost several teams. Now the two conferences together have a total of ten teams and will play a schedule consisting of six conference games. As prior commitments with teams are still prevalent, more conference games cannot be played currently.

The Ohio Valley Conference teams are:

  1. Southeast Missouri State Redhawks
  2. Eastern Illinois Panthers
  3. Tennessee State Tigers
  4. UT Martin Skyhawks
  5. Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles
  6. Lindenwood Lions

Patriot League Conference Scheduling

The Patriot League Conference features seven teams which are as follows:

  1. Georgetown Hoyas
  2. Fordham Rams
  3. Bucknell Bison
  4. Holy Cross Crusaders
  5. Lafayette Leopards
  6. Lehigh Mountain Hawks
  7. Colgate Raiders

Pioneer League Conference Scheduling

This conference is truly a one-of-a-kind conference given the fact that it has teams from both coasts and many more through the heart of the country. The eleven team conference boasts teams such as:

  1. Stetson Hatters
  2. Butler Bulldogs
  3. Dayton Flyers
  4. Morehead State Eagles
  5. Presbyterian Blue Hose
  6. St. Thomas (MN) Tommies
  7. Marist Red Foxes
  8. Davidson Wildcats
  9. Drake Bulldogs
  10. San Diego Toreros
  11. Valparaiso Beacons

Southern Conference Scheduling

The Southern Conference is a nine-team conference which is comprised of the following teams:

  1. Western Carolina Catamounts
  2. Mercer Bears
  3. Chattanooga Mocs
  4. ETSU Buccaneers
  5. Furman Paladins
  6. VMI Keydets
  7. Citadel Bulldogs
  8. Wofford Terriers
  9. Samford Bulldogs

Southland Conference Scheduling

With eight teams featuring in the Southland Conference, each team will play against the other teams in a round-robin format in 2023. This is the first time since 2013 that the round-robin format has been implemented. Apart from these seven games, teams will also play non-conference games.

The Southland Conference is made up of the following eight teams:

  1. Houston Christian Huskies
  2. UIW Cardinals
  3. Lamar Cardinals
  4. McNeese Cowboys
  5. Nicholls Colonels
  6. Northwestern State Demons
  7. Southeastern Louisiana Lions
  8. Texas A&M-Commerce Lions

Southwestern Athletic Conference Scheduling

The SWAC has been divided into two divisions and since 2021, it has implemented the following schedule to its football program. Each team will play five divisional and three non-divisional games. Three teams from the other division will be rotated every two years. The team with the best record in the conference will get the chance to host the Championship game.

The two divisions of the SWAC are as follows:

EASTWEST
Florida A&M RattlersPrairie View A&M Panthers
Mississippi Valley State Delta DevilsAlcorn State Braves
Alabama A&M BulldogsArkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions
Alabama State HornetsGrambling State Tigers
Bethune-Cookman WildcatsSouthern University Jaguars
Jackson State TigersTexas Southern Tigers

United Athletic Conference Scheduling

The United Athletic Conference is a newly formed conference with the merger of two previously independent conferences, namely, the ASUN Conference and the Western Athletic Conference. Having nine teams currently as part of its membership, the UAC will be limited to six conference games for the 2023 season before it switches to a full round-robin system in 2024.

The UAC teams at present include:

  1. Tarleton State Texans
  2. Abilene Christian Wildcats
  3. Central Arkansas Bears
  4. Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks
  5. Austin Peay Governors
  6. Eastern Kentucky Colonels
  7. Southern Utah Thunderbirds
  8. Utah Tech Trailblazers
  9. North Alabama Lions

Conclusion

In short, college football scheduling is not the same for each team as it has more flexibility. This is the case because the NCAA does not have a say in scheduling matters which is being handled by the respective conferences. Furthermore, each conference has its own set of rules that it follows to prepare its unique schedule taking into consideration various factors such as home and away games, conference, and non-conference games, and of course the broadcasting terms and conditions.

Sometimes, another issue which crops up during scheduling is the lack of availability of a stadium due to various factors beyond the team’s control. Considering all these factors, the committee members of each conference come out with a schedule which is then overseen by the NCAA.