The college football non-conference scheduling process is a constant game of tug-of-war that must be viewed through the lens of everything else happening in the sport.
Are you like me in hoping the College Football Playoff remains at 12 teams? If so, it means a higher-stakes October and November, thereby creating a more exclusive December and January, would likely come at the expense of September. Like it or not, most programs have internalized that the CFP committee punishes losses more than it rewards victories, and so a 12-team CFP will see teams try to get to 10-2 or better by any means necessary.
A 24-team CFP would dilute December and January, lower the stakes in October and November, but it would, in time, create more action in September, since the bar to make the tournament would be significantly lowered.
As of this writing, no one knows what the 2026 College Football Playoff will look like -- college football, everybody! -- but we do know that the SEC and ACC are joining the B1G and Big 12 in playing nine-game conference schedules, which significantly reduces the inventory for interesting September games. Particularly in the cases of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Kentucky, who already have annual ACC rivalries they play each Thanksgiving weekend.
Add it all up and you get exactly two ranked vs. ranked matchups in September (at least, that's how it appears at the very beginning of an 8-month offseason).
Does the 2026 non-conference schedule appear like a snoozer compared to years past? Yes. Would I press fast-forward on life to watch all of these games tomorrow? Also yes.
For purposes of this exercise, we're only considering games played in September. (Rankings via On3.)
13. Tulane at Duke (Sept. 5): Admittedly, this game lost a lot of juice after Darian Mensah left Duke and Jon Sumrall took the Florida job, but it's still one of two meetings of defending conference champions on the 2026 FBS schedule.
12. Boise State at Western Michigan (Sept. 26): And here's the other. Credit to Boise State who, in addition to a road trip to Oregon, also hosts 8-game winner Memphis (after visiting there in 2023) and visits defending MAC champion Western Michigan. The Broncos have lined up home-and-homes with the Who's Who of the G6 in recent years: UCF (before they joined the Big 12), USF, Memphis, App State, Georgia Southern, while also playing Notre Dame, Oregon and Washington.
12. Arkansas at No. 16 Utah (Sept. 12): We talked about the downside of the SEC moving to nine non-conference games above, and having said all that... why the heck is Arkansas playing Utah?? At Utah? This type of challenge is pretty much the last thing Ryan Silverfield needs in his first month as the Head Hog -- Arkansas will be 16th of 16 in the SEC preseason poll -- but the first Razorbacks-Utes game will be a nice Big 12 After Dark cool down at the end of an action-packed day.
10. Baylor vs. Auburn, at Atlanta (Sept. 5): Last year, this was the debut of Hugh Freeze's big bet on Jackson Arnold -- a game Freeze won, though he ultimately lost the bet. This year, Auburn looks to just-add-water with the additions of Alex Golesh and Byrum Brown, while we get our first glimpse of what Jake Spavital can do with DJ Lagway.
9. No. 6 Oregon at Oklahoma State (Sept. 12): No one's going to expect Oklahoma State to win this game, but the game will provide a baseline between whatever Mike Gundy was doing ahead of the Ducks' 69-3 beatdown last September and the new-look Cowboys under Eric Morris, Drew Mestemaker, Caleb Hawkins, and company.
8. Arizona State at No. 8 Texas A&M (Sept. 12): Kenny Dillingham's team never had the right chemistry in 2025 -- defending a title is a far different challenge than chasing one. The Sun Devils will be chasers again in 2026, and their first trip to Kyle Field will be a nice appetizer to the No. 1 game on our list.
7. Iowa State at No. 21 Iowa (Sept. 12): Matt Campbell won three of his last four CyHawk games after starting 0-5 in the game. Eight straight have been decided by 10 points or fewer, and the last four have been decided by a total of 14. Jimmy Rogers will be the fifth Iowa State head coach to square off against Kirk Ferentz.
6. Michigan State at No. 4 Notre Dame (Sept. 19): In the 78th meeting all-time but the first since 2017, we'll see if Pat Fitzgerald can "Cignetti" the Spartans into instant contenders in the Big Ten. In four seasons as Notre Dame's head coach, Marcus Freeman is 13-6 in August and September and 30-5 thereafter.
5. Louisville vs. No. 15 Ole Miss, at Nashville (Sept. 5): I'm writing this assuming Trinidad Chambliss will be at the helm for the Rebels' offense. The Ferris State transfer will serve as the centerpiece of Pete Golding's first team, and the club's second-ever meeting with Louisville will provide a glimpse at how Golding has re-made the program in his own image. How's this for weird? This will be Golding's first attempt at a win outside of the College Football Playoff.
4. Florida State at No. 17 Alabama (Sept. 19): Florida State 31, Alabama 17 was one of the most WTF moments of the 2025 season. Both sides have quarterback battles to hold over the coming spring and summer, so we're certainly not going to prognosticate an outcome eight months in advance of this one, but one thing is absolutely certain -- Kalen DeBoer had better win this time.
3. Clemson at No. 12 LSU (Sept. 5): The most anticipated game of LSU's September comes to weeks later, when the Tigers visit Ole Miss. But that doesn't fit the premise here. This will be our first look at Lane Kiffin and Sam Leavitt in purple-and-gold, as well as our first look at... whatever Clemson has become.
2. No. 10 Oklahoma at No. 11 Michigan (Sept. 12): The win over Michigan in Norman announced Brent Venables's team as a real player under new quarterback John Mateer, though it was clear that the Wolverines clearly had the training wheels on true freshman Bryce Underwood. Both quarterbacks are back, and now we'll get a look at Underwood under the coaching of Kyle Whittingham.
1. No. 1 Ohio State at No. 3 Texas (Sept. 12): Last year, Arch Manning and Julian Sayin made their starting debuts in both sides' season-openers, which heavily played into a conservative game and the 14-7 final score. In the return trip, Manning and Sayin now have a year under their belt, Texas has acquired Cam Coleman to match with Jeremiah Smith, and both teams will have played a gimme opener to work out the cobwebs by the time they'll line up across from each other. Long story short: expect lots of fireworks under the Austin skyline.