Just about everyone from high school to the pros has started or is starting their training camps while the rest of the world is caught up in pennant races and the last few weeks of summer. Time to take a look at the schedules of the other two power conferences of the FBS; the Big XII and the ACC. We still miss you, Mal Florence.
The Big XII
This conference of many disparate parts came together in a crazy mesh that led to a wild regular season with last place pick Arizona State winning the league title. The current league members are Arizona, Arizona State, Baylor, BYU, Cincinnati, Colorado, Houston, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, TCU, Texas Tech, UCF, Utah and West Virginia.
Big XII Top Out of Conference Games
Note: Utah-UCLA , Cincinnati-Nebraska and Auburn- Baylor can be found in the previous blog. also rivalry games like Houston-Rice, TCU-SMU and Iowa-Iowa State aren't mentioned because everyone knows how important those rivalries are.
9/1- TCU at North Carolina: Monday night of Labor Day weekend will be a crazy affair in Chapel Hill. All the hype and craziness will be about Bill Belichick's first game as the UNC HC. For TCU this is the first challenge of many on a slate that has them playing almost every big game on the road this year. If the Horned Frogs are gonna be the road warriors they need to be, they have to win this one in order establish that mentality. QB Josh Hoover's arm and an experienced defense with eight returning starters will have to lead the effort for a win here for the guys in purple.
9/6- Oklahoma State at Oregon: Last year the Cowboys rode right off a cliff opening up at 3-0. They then lost every single league game the rest of the way to finish the year at 3-9. That led to mass upheaval in the program with 36 new players coming to Stillwater via the transfer portal. That makes this game a hard one to dope out. Who knows what kind of team OSU will be when they hit the road to Eugene? Most likely they will be a work in progress trying to survive against a heavily favored band of Webfoots.
9/6- Arizona State at Mississippi State: Despite the loss of battering ram RB Cam Skattebo to the Sunday league, thew Sun Devils return 17 starters and now have the target on their back of being a contender for the Big XII crown and earning another playoff berth. Yes, MSU is the definition of an also ran in the SEC, but how the Sun Devils handle the cowbells and crazy atmosphere of Starkville will let the nation know if are ready for prime time in 2025.
9/6- Army at Kansas State: the Black Knights of the Hudson hold a 2-0 series edge with the last game being a 41-14 beatdown of the Wildcats in Manhattan back in 1987. Army's pure option game will force K-State to play perfectly disciplined assignment football on defense. It also eats clock which means fewer possessions for each team. That means that K-State has greater pressure to score on every single drive. A couple of mistakes on both sides of the ball and the Wildcats could end up on the wrong end of the scoreboard.
Big XII Intriguing Conference Games
8/29- Georgia Tech at Colorado: 35 years ago these two squads spilt the 1990 National Championship. Colorado won the AP title and Tech won the UPI crown. Lately the two schools have ramped up the rhetoric framing this game as a way to settle the debate over that split crown of long ago. The Yellow Jackets are on the rise under HC Brent Key. Remember when they took Georgia to the limit last year before falling in the 8th OT? They won't come to Boulder unprepared. As for the Buffs, Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter are gone and so is most of the offense. CU returns just three offensive starters. However they do return eight starters on the defensive side of the ball. The defense will have to carry the Buffs if they are to win this game at the base of the Flatiron Mountains.
9/13- Pittsburgh at West Virginia: Yes, I'm violating my own criteria for this week's blog, but I can't leave this game alone. Crusty Pitt HC Pat Narduzzi and Volatile WVa HC Rich Rodriguez get together for the 108th edition of the rivalry known as The Backyard Brawl. Pitt comes to Morgantown experienced and talented while the Mountaineers need to rebuild. However, an upset in RichRod's first year back would work wonders for recruiting most likely get his team to 3-0 and halfway to a bowl game.
Fun Fact: Pitt holds a 22 game series edge with a 63-41-4 mark against West Virginia. One of the reasons for this edge is the decade of the 1930s when the Panthers went 10-0 while allowing WVa to score 12 total points during those 10 games.
Big XII Top Conference Games
8/23- Iowa State v Kansas State- Aviva Stadium, Dublin Ireland: Hey, nothing like playing a key conference game on week zero in another country. The Cyclones have everything to lose here as they are look to contend for the league crown again. The Wildcats don't have a lot of experience coming back, but despite that are being touted as a dark horse to win the Big XII. One thing for sure is that neither team wants to be 0-1 in league play a week before Labor Day.
9/20- Arizona State at Baylor: If these teams live up their hype, the winner of this clash earns an inside track to the league title game. Can Baylor bounce back from last year's disappointing eight win campaign? Can ASU survive in the spotlight? The key matchup for me is how Baylor HC Dave Aranda's defense will fare against ASU HC Ken Dillingham's offense. Could be a barnburner on the Brazos.
9/27- BYU at Iowa State: Pretty bold of the Cyclones to make a game this big their Homecoming game for 2025. The Cyclones need this win to set up a showdown with ASU the following week. BYU will be coming off their annual Holy War battle with Utah. Will the Cougars show up drained in Ames? Is Iowa State truly a league title contender? The odds favor the Cyclones as BYU brings an inexperienced bunch of 25 and 26-year olds to Jack Trice Stadium. Iowa State QB Rocco Becht comes back for his third year as the starter. Last year he threw for 3500 yards and 25 TDs while the Cougars are reeling with the loss of QB Jake Reztlaff who had the audacity to actually have sex as an unwed college student and chose to leave BYU instead of suffering a possible suspension by the school. Evidently, having any kind of fun is a violation of the honor code in Provo. Funny, I seem to remember Jim McMahon breaking almost every rule in the book there and still being able to throw TD passes for Lavell Edwards way back when. Oh how the world has changed in 40 short years.
10/11- Arizona State at Utah: If the Utes want to prove that 2024 was just an off year and not a developing trend they need to stick a fork in the Sun Devils. Meanwhile ASU has just a brutal Big XII road slate with games at Baylor, Utah, Iowa State and Colorado. ASU may need the win worse than Utah does by the time the game rolls around.
Big XII Intriguing Games
9/12- Kansas State at Arizona: This game doesn't count in the league standings as it was scheduled before the collapse of the Pac 12. The Wildcats are looking to go bowling this year. They need to pile up wins early to get there as Iowa State, Baylor, BYU and ASU all lay ahead for them after this game. K-State gets the Cats after hosting Army. They ought takeout a lot of frustration about facing Black Knights of the Hudson out on the Wildcats.
9/12- Colorado at Houston: Friday Night Lights for the first conference game of the year for both schools. Colorado will be hyped up and the broadcast will make you feel that only the Buffaloes are playing if Mark Jones is the play by play guy. However, the Buffs are down on talent with only three starters back on offense. Also, for the first time ever Deion will not have his son at QB. Meanwhile Houston is in their second year under HC Willie Fritz and has nine starters back on offense and are looking make a big leap up the league standings this year. Mark Jones may have a rough Friday night.
Big XII Scheduling Notes
...Predators meet; Baylor and Arizona will face each other for the first time ever this in regular season when the Bears travel to Tucson on 11/22. Only other meeting between the schools was in the 1992 John Hancock Bowl when the BU beat UofA, 20-15.
Fun Fact: The Sun Bowl sold its' soul a long time ago and for a four year stretch from 1989-93 was renamed the John Hancock Bowl in honor of their primary sponsor, John Hancock Financial Services.
...They have a history; Arizona State and Northern Arizona have squared off 41 times coming into this season's meeting on 8/30.
...They met once; Texas Tech hosts Oregon State on 9/13. It's their first meeting since 1959 which was also in Lubbock.
Trivia Time; What conferences were Texas Tech and Oregon State affiliated with when they first played back in 1959?
...That time we partied in Tokyo; Houston travels to ASU on 10/25. Last time the schools met was in 1990. In a game known as the Mirage Bowl, Houston beat the Sun Devils in a shootout, 62-45. UH QB David Klingler lit up the ASU defense throwing for a then NCAA record 716 yards.
...Been awhile; Arizona plays Iowa State for the first time since 1968 when the Wildcats travel to Ames on 9/27. The Cats beat the Cyclones that day, 21-12. The Iowa State HC that day was Johnny Majors.
Trivia Answer: None. Both were independents in 1959. Texas Tech left the Border Conference in 1956 and wouldn't joint the Southwest Conference until 1960. Oregon State was an independent after the splitting from the PCC in 1958.
..Weakest FCS foe; That nod goes to Cal Poly SLO who takes on Utah on 9/6. The Mustangs went 3-8 last year and finished 10th in the Big Sky Conference.
Fun Fact: CalPoly SLO's HC is former Wazzu HC Paul Wulff and Co-OC is former Wazzu QB Timm Rosenbach.
...One Zero has to give; BYU is 0-5 all-time v Iowa State, 0-2 all-time v. West Virginia and 3-0 all-time v, Cincinnati.
...Bookend firsts; Kansas starts the year playing Fresno State for the first time and ends the year playing Utah for the first time.
The ACC
The Atlantic Coast Conference now stretches to the west coast and has 17 full time members and a loose football affiliation with Notre Dame*. The 17 full-time members are Boston College, California, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Miami, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Pittsburgh, Stanford, SMU, Syracuse, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest.
*Notre Dame is full-time member in almost all other sports with the ACC.
Also, rivalry games in the league are left off these lists as people already know how big those games are.
ACC Top Out of Conference Games
8/30- Alabama at Florida State: What a great way to christen the newly remodeled Doak Campbell Stadium. A win here makes everyone forget about the nightmare that 2024 was for the Seminoles as they managed just one win over an FBS foe (Thanks, Cal!) en route to a 2-10 mark. Can the 'Noles register double digit wins again? An upset over Bama here and that is a distinct possibility. There are no moral victories here for FSU. A loss just turns the temperature up that much higher on FSU HC Mike Norvell's hot seat.
8/30- LSU at Clemson: Ol' Dabo Sweeny has 17 returning starters just itching to hand LSU another season opening defeat. Clemson is looking to win another ACC crown and make the CFP while the Bayou Bengals are looking to jump into the upper echelon of the SEC race. Clemson can survive a loss here better than LSU. Another first game loss for LSU and buyout numbers will start to be thrown around Baton Rouge dinner parties. This is the first time these team teams will face each other in the regular season. All four other meetings were in bowl games or the CFP.
Fun Fact: Clemson and LSU first met in the 1959 Sugar Bowl, where the great Billy Cannon threw a nine yard TD pass to Mickey Mangham in the third quarter for 7-0 lead. LSU made that lead stand up for a 7-0 win.
8/31- Virginia Tech v South Carolina- Mercedes Benz Stadium, Atlanta, GA: The Hokies are coming off a 6-7 2025 season with a loss to Minnesota in the Duke's Mayo Bowl. The skinny on this year's squad is that it is the best one that HC Brent Pry has fielded. Defense will have to carry the Hokies early on as they have just five returning starters on offense including their PK. South Carolina comes in off a 9-4 season and their stock is trending down as though their nine wins last year were seen as a fluke. The teams just might meet in the middle and give us a good game on Sunday of Labor Day Weekend.
9/1- TCU at North Carolina: The Monday of Labor Day Weekend features Bill Belichick in his first ever game as a HC or any other kind of coach in college football. Belichick started off his coaching career in 1975 as a $25-per-week assistant to then Colts HC Ted Marchibroda. His whole resume is at the NFL level. many will want to see what the 73-year old Belichick will do in Chapel Hill. The actual team he has inherited is thin on defense with just five returning starters, but has a serviceable offense that returns the entire offensive line. Can this team live up to the hype in week one? They might, but there its a pretty decent Horned Frogs squad lining up across from them. The Belichick college era could easily open up at 0-1.
ACC Intriguing Out of Conference Games
8/23- Stanford at Hawaii: Just what will the Cardinal look like this year? Who the heck knows? HC Troy Taylor was fired in March and has been replaced this year by Frank Reich. Reich only took the job as a favor to his old QB Andrew Luck and only as a one-year interim deal. The Cardinal have 14 starters returning and did get a couple of transfer for their QB job, but this team is behind the eight ball almost everywhere else. For The Rainbow Warriors, It's year four for HC Timmy Chang. His team does have the talent to challenge in the Mountain West Conference. The game could be the launch of a great year for the Warriors. Also, it's a Week Zero game. Just watch it and enjoy the fact that football is back.
10/11- Wake Forest at Oregon State: Yeah,. this is an oddball match up and a space filler on the schedule for the Beavers who were in scramble mode after the collapse of the Pac 12. However, the game is now little more intriguing with ex-Wazzu HC Jake Dickertt now walking the sidelines for the Deamon Deacons. Dicker knows what it is like to be the road team ate Reser Stadium. That might give Wake the edge in this one.
ACC Top Conference Games
9/13- Clemson at Georgia Tech: I'll ask this again. Do you remember that Yellow Jacket team that took Georgia to eight overtimes last year before finally losing a 44-42 heart breaker? Well most of those Yellow Jackets are back and ready to make a serious run at the league crown. Clemson has won the last nine games in this series, but doesn't usually play very well when they make their first road trip of the season under HC Dabo Swinney. Could be an upset brewing at Bobby Dodd Stadium.
11/1- Miami at SMU: Winner of this game could have an inside track to the ACC title tilt. Both teams have title dream but they also btioh need to win a big game to make this game a really really big game. If SMU beats Clemson and Miami wipes out Florida State, then this is a must watch game. If they don't then it may to see who might get a Duke's Mayo Bowl bid.
11/15- NC State at Miami: Wolfpack HC Dave Doeren always seems to put a team on the field with the talent to pull off an upset or two during the year. An NC State win at Miami would throw the ACC race off kilter and most likely make it a four team race down the stretch. Also the Wolfpack doesn't have a really tough league schedule so they could be in great shape for the league title with a win. For Miami, it will be senior day for the Canes as they finish the year off at VaTEch and Pitt. No home team on Senior Day plays well in the first quarter. Could be a tight one near Coral Gables.
ACC intriguing Conference Games
9/11- North Carolina State at Wake Forest: New Wake HC Jake Dickert gets his first taste of ACC league play in a series that stretches back without interruption back to 1910. Bowl prospects are slim for the Deacs, but an upset here would make life easier for Dickert. The Wolfpack are looking for redemption after dropping last year's game, 34-30.
10/4- Duke at Cal: This year's brain bowl in the league takes place in Berkeley. Cal looks to be bowl bound again with eight returning starters on defense to take on Duke's seven returning starters on offense. The winner gets a crucial step closer to a bowl game for 2025. What we do know for sure about this game is that it won't end like the last time Duke visited Cal back in 1963. That game ended in a 22-22 tie.
ACC Scheduling Notes
...Frequent flyer miles galore; Stanford will travel a little over 26,000 miles this year. The Earth's circumference is only 24,900 or so depending on what reference guide you use. Wow.
...The ND Factor; the Irish will face the following ACC schools as part of their scheduling agreement this year. ND opens up at Miami on 9/31, hosts NC State on 10/11, travel to BC on 11/1, Pitt on 11/15. They then host Syracuse on 11/22 and then to head to Stanford on 11/29. However, I don't believe the Stanford game actually counts in the ACC standings as it was an annual game on ND's slate well before the Cardinal joined the league.
...Not just in the Big Ten; The ACC will have former Rose Bowl foes square off when Stanford heads to SMU on 10/11. The Stanford Indians beat the Mustangs 7-0 in 1936's version of the Grandaddy of Them All.
...Long awaited Panther revenge?; Pitt and fellow Steel City school Duquesne meet every year on the basketball court. This year they meet on the gridiron for the first time since 1939. The last time they did meet was momentous as the #1 Panthers were upset, 21-13 by the Dukes.
...Weak sauce; Wake Forest's non conference schedule is pretty soft. The Demon Deacons take on Kent State, FCS foe Western Carolina, Oregon State and Delaware who makes the jump to the FBS this year.
...They were all Eastern Independents then; ND and Pitt will square off for the 74th time when they meet in Pittsburgh on 11/15. They played each other almost every year when many schools back east were unaffiliated to any conference. ND holds a 51-21-1 record in the series with only tie being a scoreless one way back in 1904.
...Sunshine State of Mind; Miami doesn't leave the state of Florida until 11/1 when they play at SMU. Until then, the Hurricanes play six home games along with a road trip to Florida State and a bye mixed in.
...Feeling Tobacco Road; For the first time since 1970 Virginia will play road games at North Carolina, North Carolina State and Duke.
...Couplets for Carolina; Even with the byes mixed in North Carolina's schedule is evenly split in six Home-Away doublets.
...Go west young man, go west; In consecutive weeks, Boston College travels to Michigan State on 9/6 then to Stanford on 9/13.
...Short road trip; Syracuse and Colgate will meet for the 69th time when the Red Raiders head to see the Orange on 9/12. These old foes are separated by about 40 miles on I-90. The series is surprisingly even with the 'Cuse holding a slim 32-31-5 lead.
Until next time folks, remember the games aren't played on paper. Real people make it all happen.
-The Commssioner
