What makes college football special, and for some fans, superior to the NFL, is that big games mean something.
The shorter regular season, smaller playoff field relative to the size of the sport, historic rivalries and the organization of teams into (formerly) regional conferences created a unique dynamic. Non-conference games between historic programs are must-see TV, not just because of the stakes, but because fan bases and conferences rely on those results.
And the unfortunate reality of how the sport is organized in the modern era is that those big non-conference games are going to become less and less common. Which is precisely the opposite of what most college football fans want.
The 12-team College Football Playoff has already created incentives for easier schedules. Notre Dame being perhaps the best example. The Irish have, historically, never shied away from tough games, despite being an independent program. But a new arrangement with the College Football Playoff committee has guaranteed them a spot in the tournament moving forward should they finish in the top 12.
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Their schedule in 2026 reflects that reality: Wisconsin at Lambeau Field, Rice, Michigan State, at Purdue, at North Carolina, Stanford, at BYU, Navy, Miami, Boston College, SMU, at Syracuse. That’s a schedule set up to win 10-11 games and be in the top 12 come December.
Compare it to Texas. The Longhorns have Texas State, Ohio State, UTSA, at Tennessee, Oklahoma, Florida, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, at Missouri, at LSU, Arkansas, at Texas A&M. Then, should they finish that brutal, grueling schedule with a quality season, a date in the SEC Championship Game against a team like Georgia or Alabama. Head coach Steve Sarkisian was so frustrated at missing the 2025-26 playoff field at 9-3 that he essentially threatened to stop scheduling top non-conference teams like Ohio State moving forward.
Then, just this month, the American Football Coaches Association came out in favor of expanding the field to 24, further limiting the incentive to schedule tough games. Why put yourself at risk of losing that fourth game when a 3-0 non-conference run and 6-3 in-conference record in the Big Ten or SEC would likely be enough to reach the field?
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That brings us to another recent sign that college football is moving in the wrong direction: the cancellation of a scheduled home-and-home series between Georgia and the Florida State Seminoles.
In a recent statement, the teams announced that they had “mutually agreed” to take the 2027 and 2028 games off the calendar. With hopes of moving to a mutual site.
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“As we considered the effects of evolving scheduling mandates within both the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Southeastern Conference, we have mutually agreed that it is in the best interest of both schools to cancel our home-and-home series scheduled for 2027 and 2028,” said FSU Vice President and Director of Athletics Michael Alford. “We are now discussing playing a future neutral-site contest, and we are optimistic we will get that done. Importantly, this change will not reduce the total home games on our schedule moving forward.”
Well, there you have it. Instead of playing huge games against big-name teams from other conferences, on campus, in front of a student section and raucous home crowds, new “schedule mandates” are influencing teams to move games to neutral sites. Instead of “The Doak” or “Between the hedges,” should the series be rescheduled, it’ll likely be yet another game played at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
These new schedule mandates, playing nine conference games like teams in the Big Ten or the former Pac-12 did for years, as well as the expanded playoff, now mean that schools are looking for ways to minimize their downside. Instead of prioritizing the upside and providing a better and more meaningful experience for fans.
It’s been that way for quite some time, unfortunately. But this new era of super conferences and bigger postseason tournaments is only making it worse. Most fans would almost certainly prefer to play these big games in a home-home format, even if it means an extra loss. Most schools now don’t seem to care.
