2024 College Football Schedule Release
College football schedule releases are always highly anticipated events; this year is no different as SEC prepares to welcome Texas and Oklahoma into its league fold.
This week’s schedule features several eye-catching matchups, such as CBS’ 3:30 window game of Michigan against Northwestern and Fox’s Big Noon pick of Colorado against TCU.
SEC
On Wednesday evening during a special live show on the SEC Network, the Southeastern Conference unveiled their 2024 football schedule – making headlines because Texas and Oklahoma will join as new member schools next season, creating new rivalries while renewing old ones and making for one of the toughest conferences in college football.
In 2024, the league will maintain an eight-game conference schedule without divisions to ensure every traditional SEC school plays both Oklahoma and Texas, fulfilling a requirement placed upon it upon the addition of these programs to its fold. That should give Sooners and Longhorns fans something exciting in 2024 when facing Alabama as well as Kirby Smart’s Georgia in their inaugural seasons.
Notable matchups in this conference include Clemson at Notre Dame and Alabama vs LSU, both games likely having major playoff implications; Florida State at Miami could get dirty as well; Arkansas-Tennessee should provide plenty of entertainment; Mississippi State-Ole Miss could bring fireworks as well. Although not featuring as many A+ matchups this season, there should still be enough thrilling contests throughout to keep fans engaged throughout.
Big 12
After much anticipation, the Big 12 Football Conference unveiled their 2023 schedule today. As they return to a 14-team format with BYU, Cincinnati, UCF and Houston joining, this first Big 12 schedule under this era promises plenty of intrigue.
The release also detailed how the league intends to balance out the schedule, with each school scheduled for nine conference games and three nonconference matches during their regular season and three nonconference matches, respectively. Where previously every school played an equal amount of home and away games between conference matches and nonconference, now fans may feel less connected with their team if it’s considered a favorite to win their conference championship.
The inaugural Power Five season for the Big 12 kicks off September 23 with Kansas State, who finished as Big 12 champion last season, hosting their opener against UCF, marking UCF’s debut as part of the conference and kick-starting an action-packed week with TCU hosting “Coach Prime” in Colorado and Oklahoma travelling to Texas Tech.
As Josh Neighbors noted on Locked on Big 12, in response to the Big 12 schedule’s release, newcomers all face different obstacles this season – for instance Cincinnati does not face Kansas State, Baylor or Texas Tech on the road but instead hosts Texas and TCU as home opponents.
Pac-12
The Pac-12 Conference released their 2023 football schedule Wednesday and it promises a wealth of marquee matchups. There will be two Thursday games (Week One) and at least six Friday matches; although their broadcast television schedules have yet to be released by ABC, NBC, Fox, and ESPN.
Utah will open conference play against UCLA and Oregon State. Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams should have a manageable early schedule, but as top contenders Stanford, USC, and Washington will come into the picture later in November as major test for them to face off with.
The schedule also features several repeat contests from last season, such as USC hosting Arizona and Utah traveling to Washington. Stanford and USC will continue their annual series against Notre Dame.
Non-conference schedule is also impressively robust, featuring no FCS teams and only five opponents who made the AP Top 25 last season. This may help the Pac-12 avoid early blowouts that marred its bowl game record in 2021; however, an eight-game conference schedule could become unsustainable if College Football Playoff expands to twelve teams in 2024; thus making more competitive conference games essential.
ACC
On Monday, the Atlantic Coast Conference unveiled its 2023 schedule – its inaugural under its new divisionless 3-5-5 scheduling model that does away with Atlantic and Coastal divisions in favor of pairing teams based on regular-season winning percentage in an ACC Championship Game. Clemson faces one of the toughest regular-season schedules among league schools – starting Thursday against Elon and ending Labor Day against Louisville at home.
The Hokies’ challenging schedule is partially hidden by their absence of traditional rivals Clemson and Florida State in 2023; however, both programs will appear twice each from 2026 onwards. Instead, middle-of-the-road programs like Syracuse, Pitt, NC State are faced instead. A regular-season game against Wake Forest does provide some relief.
ACC Week 5 games could have major ramifications on College Football Playoff qualification, highlighted by Florida State hosting Miami with third-year FSU coach Mike Norvell facing first-year Miami coach Mario Cristobal in what should be an exciting matchup. Other key matchups this week include Alabama at LSU, Oklahoma vs Baylor and Texas A&M vs Mississippi State – so many options!
