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How conference schedules will work in 2024 after a chaotic year of realignment

nick bromberg
Senior writer
·4-min read

The chaos of the conference realignment carousel has led conferences across the country to adjust their scheduling philosophies ahead of the 2024 college football season.

There are no longer any divisions in the four power conferences as the top two teams in the standings at the end of the season will play each other for the conference title. Given that each power conference now has at least 16 teams, there’s a decent chance at least one conference will have its title game participants decided via tiebreaker.

Here’s a quick overview of the schedules in each power four conference.

  • 8 games

  • New members: Cal, SMU, Stanford

With 17 teams now in the conference, each team plays four home games and four away games and just one of the holdovers (NC State) has to play both Cal and Stanford. Cal’s longest road trip is a visit to Florida State, while Stanford visits Syracuse. Both of those games are in September.

Though it’s not officially a part of the conference, Notre Dame still has its scheduling alliance with the ACC. Louisville, Stanford, Georgia Tech, Florida State and Virginia all play the Irish in 2024.

NC State could have the easiest schedule of anyone in the conference as it avoids games against Florida State, Louisville and Miami. Syracuse is a big benefactor of the move away from divisions too. After years of annual matchups against Clemson, Florida State and NC State, none of those three teams are on the Orange’s schedule in 2024.

  • 9 games

  • New members: Oregon, UCLA, USC, Washington

The Big Ten is now at 18 teams with the arrival of the four Pac-12 teams and the conference is stacked at the top. Ohio State, Oregon, Michigan and Penn State all have legitimate CFP hopes.

The Buckeyes have road games at both Oregon and Penn State and are at home for their annual season-ending matchup against Michigan. The Ducks play at the Wolverines on Nov. 2 and Penn State avoids both Oregon and Michigan.

Each of the four Pac-12 transfers have at least two games against each other. UCLA and Washington play the three other teams, while USC and Oregon don’t face each other. Indiana, Michigan State and Northwestern are the only three teams that have both Michigan and Ohio State on their schedules.

  • 9 games

  • New members: Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, Utah

The Big 12 moves from 14 to 16 as it adds four teams and loses Oklahoma and Texas to the SEC. Newcomers Utah and Arizona could both be in the mix for the conference title.

The Big 12 also has a fascinating wrinkle in 2024 as there are multiple games between conference opponents that won’t count in the standings because they’re part of home-and-home matchups that were scheduled before the Pac-12 dissolved. Baylor’s trip to Utah in Week 2 is a non-conference game and so is Arizona’s series with Kansas State the next two seasons.

Now that they’re in the same conference, Utah and BYU will renew their rivalry on Nov. 9. Colorado has seven games against Big 12 teams that made a bowl game in 2023. The only two on Colorado’s schedule who didn’t are Baylor and Cincinnati.

  • 8 games

  • New members: Oklahoma and Texas

The SEC is holding steadfast on its eight-game schedule, despite expanding to 16 members, and is ditching its East and West divisions ahead of the season. That’s good news for certain teams. Ole Miss doesn’t have to play Alabama this season, and also avoids games against Missouri and Tennessee. The Tigers, meanwhile, don’t have Georgia on the schedule for the first time since joining the conference.

Texas and Texas A&M will play on Nov. 30 for the first time since the Aggies left the Big 12 in 2012. The Longhorns and Sooners will continue their annual rivalry game this year on Oct. 12.

Georgia has games against Alabama, Texas and Ole Miss this season along with a late-season home game against Tennessee. Florida, meanwhile, has the toughest schedule of anyone in the conference and perhaps even the country. The Gators bookend their season with non-conference games against Miami and Florida State and play Tennessee, Georgia, Texas, LSU and Ole Miss in between.