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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 major conferences, as the top two teams in the standings at the end of the season will play each other for the conference title. Since each major conference now has at least 16 teams, there is a good chance that at least one conference will have its title game participants decided via tiebreaker.
Below is a quick overview of the schedules for each Power Four conference.
CAC
With 17 teams in the conference, each team plays four home games and four road games, and only one of those left (NC State) has to play both Cal and Stanford. Cal’s longest trip is a visit to Florida State, while Stanford visits Syracuse. Both games are in September.
Although not officially part of the conference, Notre Dame still maintains a scheduling alliance with the ACC. Louisville, Stanford, Georgia Tech, Florida State and Virginia will play the Irish in 2024.
NC State might have the easiest schedule of anyone in the conference, as it avoids games against Florida State, Louisville and Miami. Syracuse is also a big beneficiary of the transition to divisions. 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.
The Big Ten
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9 games
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New members: Oregon, UCLA, USC, Washington
The Big Ten now has 18 teams with the arrival of the four Pac-12 teams and the conference is stacked with players at the top. Ohio State, Oregon, Michigan and Penn State all have legitimate hopes of making the CFP.
The Buckeyes will play both Oregon and Penn State on the road and will play at home for their annual season-ending game against Michigan. The Ducks will play the Wolverines at home on Nov. 2 and Penn State will avoid Oregon and Michigan.
Each of the four Pac-12 transfer teams has at least two games against each other. UCLA and Washington play the other three teams, while USC and Oregon do not play each other. Indiana, Michigan State and Northwestern are the only three teams that have Michigan and Ohio State on their schedules.
12 big
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9 games
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New members: Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, Utah
The Big 12 moves from No. 14 to No. 16, gaining four teams and losing Oklahoma and Texas to the SEC. Newcomers Utah and Arizona could be in the mix for the conference title.
The Big 12 also has a fascinating twist in 2024, as there are several games between conference opponents that won’t count in the standings because they’re part of home-and-away matchups that were scheduled before the Pac-12 dissolved. Baylor’s trip to Utah in Week 2 is a nonconference game, as is Arizona’s series with Kansas State over 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 appearance in 2023. The only two on Colorado’s schedule that didn’t are Baylor and Cincinnati.
SECOND
The SEC is holding firm to its eight-game schedule, despite having expanded to 16 members, and is dropping 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 it 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, plus a late-season home game against Tennessee. Florida, meanwhile, has the toughest schedule of any team in the conference and perhaps even the country. The Gators close their season with nonconference games against Miami and Florida State and play Tennessee, Georgia, Texas, LSU and Ole Miss in between.
