Most of the time these lists are for non-league games only. This year, I wanted to add cross-divisional games to the mix as we’ll see some spicy matchups coming in 2022. My apologies to the Big 12 in advance.
The rankings used today are from the Sporting News Composite Top 25 (HERE) made up of their own pre-season poll plus those of ESPN, CBS Sports, Sports Illustrated, The Athletic, Yahoo Sports, 247Sports, Action Network, and Athlon.
You could argue that composite ranking is worth its own article. Anyway, to the games to look forward to in the fall:
#25
Florida State vs. LSU [Mercedes-Benz Stadium, New Orleans, LA]
Sunday, Sept. 4th
I included this game because it’ll be the debut of Brian Kelly at LSU and I think it’s funny that Florida State is preparing with a week 0 matchup against Duquesne.
#24
SDSU at #7 Utah
Saturday, Sept. 17th
Oh boy, that ranking for Utah feels like you should fade it. Also, the Utes lost this matchup in San Diego last year.
#23
Arizona State at #13 Oklahoma State
Saturday, Sept. 10th
Both of these teams have atrocious out of conference slates besides this game. The Cowboys play Arkansas Pine Bluff coming off a 2-9 season the week after this! Perhaps ASU is good in 2022 like I thought they’d be in 2021?
#22
Penn State at Auburn
Saturday, Sept. 17th
The return game from Penn State’s 28-20 victory early last year back when some people thought the Nittany Lions would be a pretty good team. Both teams are coming off disappointing 2021 campaigns (Auburn lost their last 5 games) but have the talent to turn things around quickly.
#21
LSU at Florida
Saturday, Oct. 15th
BK in the Swamp feeling that SEC pressure.
It’s possible the temperature for this game reaches into the mid-to-high 80’s with a level of humidity that could make Brian Kelly turn a new shade of purple.
#20
#22 Cincinnati at #15 Arkansas
Saturday, Sept. 3rd
This may be one of the most strange and weird matchups between pre-season ranked teams and I love every minute of it. Or, maybe Cincinnati isn’t very good after losing a ton of great college players and this gets ugly on the road.
#19
#7 Utah at Florida
Saturday, Sept. 3rd
It’s the Urban Meyer Bowl! Both of these programs have really tough schedules and appear often on our list today.
#18
#15 Arkansas at #24 BYU
Saturday, Oct. 15th
This is a fun game for the Hogs right before a bye week. It’s a good thing Arkansas doesn’t face Florida or Georgia from the SEC East because their schedule would be absurd.
#17
Auburn at #3 Georgia
Saturday, Oct. 8th
The Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry has been tilted heavily in favor of Georgia in recent years. The Dawgs have won 5 in a row, 8 out of the last 9, and 14 out of the last 17 meetings.
#16
Florida at #4 Texas A&M
Saturday, Nov. 5th
The Gators draw LSU from the SEC West (see above) as well as a trip to College Station, all within a 4-week period featuring a bye and the rivalry against Georgia.
#15
#17 Wisconsin at #12 Michigan State
Saturday, Oct. 15th
In the last 2 meetings (2016 & 2019) Wisconsin has won this battle by a combined 68-6 score line.
#14
#9 Baylor at #24 BYU
Saturday, Sept. 10th
Baylor will have a warm up against Louisiana Tech prior to this game as they come off a Big 12 Championship. For what its worth, the Bears travel to Texas and Oklahoma in 2022.
#13
#25 Miami at #5 Clemson
Saturday, Nov. 19th
The Canes will be good this year, we swear.
Miami has been in the ACC since 2004 and have only played Clemson during the regular season 5 times with last year’s game being the first regular season game in 6 years. The series has not been kind to the Hurricanes losing the last 3 matchups by a combined 138-20 score.
#12
#6 Notre Dame vs. #24 BYU [Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas, NV]
Saturday, Oct. 8th
I’d like to announce that ND-Atl is organizing the 18 Stripes weekend bash for this game in Sin City. Do not bring your stories back to the blog.
#11
#8 Michigan at #18 Iowa
Saturday, Oct. 1st
A re-match of this past year’s Big Ten Championship. This will be Michigan’s first visit to Iowa City in 6 seasons. I wasn’t aware of how dominant the Wolverines have been in this series leading 43-15-4.
#10
#18 Iowa at #2 Ohio State
Saturday, Oct. 22nd
It’s going to be a busy season at Ohio Stadium in 2022. This is the first of 3 home games for the Buckeyes to make our list, which doesn’t include Michigan coming to town on November 26th.
#9
#25 Miami at #4 Texas A&M
Saturday, Sept. 17th
It’s pretty neat that both Florida and Miami will be going into College Station this year. These teams have only ever played a home-and-home back in 2007-08 with the Hurricanes winning both times.
#8
#1 Alabama at #19 Tennessee
Saturday, Oct. 15th
This may depend on your belief in how good Tennessee could be in 2022. This rivalry game has been incredibly one-sides with Alabama winning the last 15 meetings and only 2 have been non-blowouts.
#7
#17 Wisconsin at #2 Ohio State
Saturday, Sept. 24th
A lot of people thought this would be the Big Ten Championship last year and neither team ended up making it. The teams last met during 2019 for a regular season and conference title game, both Ohio State wins. Wisconsin hasn’t won in Columbus since 2004, losing their last 5 tries.
#6
#1 Alabama at Texas
Saturday, Sept. 10th
This is the only game in our top 15 to feature a pre-season unranked team. But maybe Texas will be back!? This is the first meeting between the schools since the 2009 BCS National Championship Game and the first during the regular season since 1922.
#5
#7 Utah at #14 Oregon
Saturday, Nov. 19th
After not facing each other in 2019 following at least one matchup from 2013-19 the Utes took both the regular season and Pac-12 Championship over the Ducks in 2021.
#4
#6 Notre Dame at #20 USC
Saturday, Nov. 26th
The Sporting News Composite was completed prior to news of Caleb Williams transferring from Oklahoma to USC. I’d imagine the Trojans may be ranked just a bit higher than 20th.
#3
#3 Georgia vs. #14 Oregon [Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, GA]
Saturday, Sept. 3rd
Let Georgia’s title defense begin.
Many people had this game circled early in 2021 as a potential titanic matchup when the Ducks had just upset Ohio State and moved into the top 5 in the country. Now, it’s not quite that type of matchup but still a fun season-opener for both programs.
#2
#5 Clemson at #6 Notre Dame
Saturday, Nov. 5th
The last time Clemson visited it was pretty fun.
#1
#6 Notre Dame at #2 Ohio State
Saturday, Sept. 3rd
It’ll be 27 years since Notre Dame last visited Columbus and that game did not go well for the Irish. This should be an ESPN GameDay and Fox Big Saturday extravaganza.
man there are some damn bangers on deck for next year
taking out ND games the one I am probably the most hyped for is Oregon UGA
The BYU games intrigue me. Their fans were talking about winning the PAC-12 last year with wins against USC, Utah, both AZ schools and Washington state, and quality losses vs Baylor and Boise. How they felt disrespected only going to the Independence bowl (where they lost to UAB). With the program headed to the Big 12, I am curious to see if they can stay a top 25 team. They are probably playing a tougher schedule in ’22 than they will have as a Big 12 team:
USF
Baylor
Oregon
Wyoming
Utah State
Notre Dame
Arkansas
Liberty
East Carolina
Boise State
Dixie State
Stanford
Good call, that will be a most interesting team. Related: looking forward to the 18S meet up in Vegas, def will be at that game.
Also, Dixie State sounds like a fictional FCS cannon fodder school that would be in the NCAA video games.
Also, Dixie State is in UTAH!!!
Other than the ficitional part, I think you nailed it.
Hopefully they end up bringing some juice. Not any titanic non-cons this year (like UGA/Clemson last year). As mostly is the case, SEC elites don’t have any marquee out of conference games (Texas/Bama doesn’t do it for me) and taking out ND neither does tOSU or Clemson.
But you don’t have to take them out, so that will be exciting. I’m really looking forward to Clemson/ND, the loss of both coordinators for Dabo is a fascinating storyline. Will it be DJ or Klubnik as QB by then? How will Freeman have the Irish playing? Clemson plays almost literally no one by then (FSU, BC their toughest games to that point) and almost certainly should be 8-0. ND could be 7-1 with seven straight wins. I see it as Freeman’s defining game for 2022, since quite frankly going on the road to tOSU for game one is probably not a game to come out with a win. But beating Clemson and headed for 10+ wins would be a great opening year.
I remember the last time we played at OSU. It still stings. USC will be tougher than we expected. They have a new, somewhat proven coach with a ton of untapped talent. First year coaches can do wonders. Look no further than Ty in 2002 and of course, Charlie in 2005. We were two plays away from competing for a National Championship with basically the same skill players and talent from a mediocre 2004 team. We don’t just need to be competitive against OSU. We need to win and gain confidence and establish momentum for the rest of the season. Clemson will be no different. We ended and established streaks that evening that will forever be remembered. The pressure to join a conference will never end, but we are so fortunate to look forward to these games every weekend playing against the best teams even if they are not in the SEC, and we should welcome that because it’s just more fun.