Top 10 BEST non-conference games in 2024 | Always College Football

Intro I think there are more questions on George's roster Than People realize doesn't mean that they're not going to be really good they're going to be excellent is a team that is no worse than number two in college football coming into the [Music] season hello and welcome to always college football I'm your host Greg mroy and we hope that you are having a terrific start of the week we appreciate all of you coming to us from whever you're coming to us from whether it's on the podcast platform if you're here with us via the ESPN college football YouTube page please continue to like rate and subscribe to the show wherever you get the show leaving the review leaving a rating all that stuff really helps us regardless of what you rate it doesn't matter we just need the rating that'd be awesome we really really appreciate alongside as always Mark kubak Jack Foster Jake Garcia and Griffin is with us as well today we got a really fun show we're gonna go through some of the best non-conference games and I am off the top going to have a bit of a discussion how valuable are non-conference games going to be here moving forward because I think there's a conversation to be had about that too so non-conference games will be the primary discussion point today we also are going to dive in a little bit to a couple news and notes it's been kind of slow which I might add I think it's a good thing this time of year because it's not very fun to see your team or your team's name in the headlines at this point of the Season June should be quiet May should be quiet July should be quiet and then we start getting into football that's what you want so everything's in a good spot right now so let's dive in some non-conference games and how the non-conference might be perceived here in a new look college football in 2024 now there's been a lot of debate about how the non-conference should be Why big non conference games will be important in the 12 team CFP waited moving forward when it comes to the college football playoff now a lot of people have said well back in the day if you run the table if you're undefeated you're going to get in right this is back in the day when TCU in 20 2009 almost made the national championship I believe they finished three right behind Texas who did play for the national title back in the day when UCF was actually crowned National Champion granted by one publication but still it didn't matter as much your non-conference According to some because was more about your win loss record you couldn't control who you played against just the fact that you beat the teams that you played against now that changed drastically in perception last year Alabama and Texas played in the non-conference and Alabama lost that football game Texas they found their way into the playoff that was never up for debate but Alabama's was and it was being measured against an undefeated Florida State team so whatever side of the argument you were on a lot of people said well Alabama had they just played fil in the blank University they would have beat Phil in the blank University and would have been undefeated in the regular season obviously they didn't they played Texas Texas made the playoff Texas ultimately proved to be a really good team and that really was a quote good loss for Alabama so either way it's going to be interesting I think moving forward into the 12 team playoff era are we going to reward teams that play more difficult schedules and in particular more difficult non-conference schedules because if you really look at it Alabama wasn't penalized for the loss last year they weren't at all why because they challenged themselves against the best team one of the best teams in the country will that be the case moving forward we've already seen games like Texas Michigan on the schedule for a while Texas Michigan though regardless of who wins the game who loses the game is it really going to make a huge impact on whether or not the loser is in the hunt for the college football playoff perhaps but we don't know and that's I think going to be interesting will they take a team that's say nine and3 over a team that's 11- one when the 11-1 team didn't beat anybody but the nine and3 team really challenged themselves against the best teams in the country and came up short in a couple of outcomes that's going to be something we need to watch I think non-conference I think it's going to be even more important moving forward and once we get to the point where everybody and I think this is coming I think it will get to a point where the SEC and the AC ACC and every other league in college football will ultimately play nine conference games I don't know when that day is going to come but I think that will happen eventually so when everybody's playing equal number of games in conference will the teams continue to schedule up in the non-conference to Inc improve their strength of schedule or they scheduled down because the conference Gauntlet is already so difficult that's going to be something worth watching moving forward but this will be a great year to try to figure out is it beneficial to my program to play against the best teams in the country even if I lose is it going to have as much of an impact on me as if I beat a team from the FCS that's something I think that is worth monitoring this year but looking at this year's schedule there's a lot of great non-conference games and weeks one and two are littered with outstanding matchups and I'm G to go through here in a moment I'm going to rank the 10 best non-conference games that we have on the Slate this year and it was actually quite difficult to get to 10 I went and Non-conference games that just missed the list researched and looked at a lot of different lists and people had their own list for this exact ranking and a lot of people have it viewed a little differently and there were even games in there that are quote conference matchups that are listed as non-conference matchups Allah Arizona at Kansas State you're thinking hang on a second that doesn't that doesn't make sense Arizona's in the Big 12 Kansas State's in the Big 12 why why would that be a non-conference game ah because it was scheduled previously so that game was on the schedule they didn't want to break it up they just made it a non-conference game even though it's against two conference opponents so we've seen that before with some of the North Carolina schools against wake and others so we've seen it happen in the past but it is a little unique so these are the best non-conference games of 2024 okay and you're going to notice too a lot of this has to do with my perception of how the teams are going to be this year um some of them are rivalries in some cases but a lot of them have to do with the fact that this team might be in the playoff hunt and this outcome could have a massive massive either benefit to their playoff candidacy or it could hold them back drastically so let's go through it week one's got a bunch of good games by the way Notre Dames at A&M Penn States at West Virginia Clemson Georgia Miami Florida scsu I mean we got great games week one but week two is not to be outdone now on paper some of the matchups aren't quite as intriguing depending on who you ask but for me Iowa Iowa State's fascinating Boise State Oregon really interesting Cal on the road at Auburn really interesting Mississippi State at Arizona State that's interesting so there's a lot of I think good meat on the bone even though maybe some of the games aren't of the highest possible billing when it comes to the college football playoff conversation but you look at a game like Mississippi State and Arizona state two teams that are expected to be you know bottom half of their respective leagues if Mississippi State goes to Arizona State and beats them convincingly will that be an additional feather in the cap for the Southeastern Conference when it come to hey does a second Big 12 team get in or should a third or fourth SEC team get in so those are the games that could potentially have an impact like I said I don't think Mississippi state's within Striking Distance of the playoff this year no disrespect to Jeff Levy no disrespect to the Mississippi State program I just don't think that's likely I don't think the same I think the same for Arizona State I don't expect that game to be an indicator of who's going to make the playoff amongst those two teams but it could be an indicator of whether or not Kansas state gets in alongside Oklahoma State just using them as an example or Utah gets in alongside Arizona okay like a second Big 12 team could make it in if Arizona State beats Mississippi State convincingly but if Mississippi State beats Arizona State convincingly then guess what maybe we're looking at an ol Miss who's the third best team in the SEC getting in maybe we're looking at a Tennessee who's the fourth best team in the SEC getting in those are things that could potentially play out and a lot of them are on display here in week two one game in particular in week two that I found fascinating doesn't make my top 10 but what if Arkansas goes to Stillwater and knocks off Oklahoma State now Arkansas expected by many to be 13th 14th in the SEC that's a 16 Team league most people are not going to prognosticate Arkansas being in the top 10 most probably won't even have them in the top 12 so if they're 13 14 15 and they go to Oklahoma State who by all accounts is two three four depending on how you stack them up in the Big 12 Oklahoma State's a top team in the Big 12 Arkansas a bottom team in the SEC if the SEC team goes on the road to the Big 12 team and beats them that could be significant as well so weeks one and two totally loaded week three is loaded as well and then it starts to thin out but without much further Ado we've been talking about it for a while now let's get into the top 10 games in the non-conference here in 2024 I start at number 10 much like what I just discussed a moment ago much like what 10 Miami @ Florida what I just discussed as it related to Arkansas and Oklahoma State nobody's going to disagree that the SEC and the Big 10 are the top two leagues but I think this year there is a very strong case to be made on behalf of the ACC just because the depth at the top and really the depth in the middle too so in week one we get Miami at Florida we have a real college football playoff Contender an ACC champion ship contender in Miami with a revamped roster with improved quarterback play with Cam Ward with a bunch of additions via the transfer portal traveling to a Florida team a rivalry game that we've seen only seven times since 2000 and Florida's not expected to do a whole lot in the SEC now I think Florida is painfully underrated coming into the season but I also am not going on the limb and saying yeah they can win the SEC yeah they can beat Georgia they can beat b they can beat Old Miss they can beat all those teams potentially in a one game season but do I really want to fast forward to the end of the season and expect Florida to be nine and three 10- two probably not not with that schedule so Miami with playoff expectations ACC Championship expectations they got to go to their bitter rival in week one that to me is must CV massive game for Miami but also a massive game for Billy Napier and the Florida Gators and potentially a massive game four teams in the SEC that might finish third or fourth and teams in the ACC that might finish second or third so something to keep in mind there in week one lot on the line when the hurricanes travel to the swamp let's go to number nine 9 Alabama @ Wisconsin Alabama at Wisconsin this will be week three now kayin dbor it's his first road trip and going against a big 10 foe that has always been very very disciplined along the line of scrimmage but they're also starting to adjust their own philosophy offensively and the one thing that we know is that Alabama's secondary has experienced quite a bit of turnover they might be young in the secondary in some spots and what does Wisconsin do they're going to throw it all over the yard with Tyler van djk the good news is for Alabama their first two opponents in USF and Western Kentucky they also throw it all over the yard so Alabama will be well positioned to take on an offense that is comparable in style but it's on the road in Camp Randle in a rivalry game that we've had circled for a while now you get Wisconsin and Alabama in Camp Randall would jump around and all the excitement there in Madison what more could you possibly ask for that comes in at number nine at number eight Colorado at Nebraska now if you look at Colorado and we look at where they were 8 Colorado @ Nebraska vulnerable last year okay we know that they were extremely vulnerable along both lines of scrimmage right but Colorado is so Dynamic and had such great speed and so much weaponry on the perimeter that they were able to kind of handle their business they were able to out athlete Nebraska that probably won't be the case this year I think Nebraska has improved athletically I think some of the transfers that they've added athletically should help quite a bit and I think defensively they're going to be much further ahead than the where they were last year when they took on Colorado in the first month of the season and this might be the first Glimpse that we have of Dylan Rola up against a quality teammate quality opponent so I look at this matchup and and while I'm not trying to sit here and pretend that either one of these teams are going to make a ton of noise this year this game to me indicates whether or not a bounceback is possible if Nebraska loses this one at home then what does year two really look like for Matt rule as you fast forward and look at some of the other games that might have to be played and won to meet expectations and then you look at Colorado they go on the road and lose to Nebraska then has the shine continued to wear off on Colorado's and frankly Prime's tenure at this point in year number two so Colorado at Nebraska comes in at number eight at number seven LSU against USC in 7 LSU vs USC week one now two of the worst defenses in America last year take the field LSU was 10 and something USC was 10 and something both went out and decided to shake things up make some adjustments from a defensive coordinator standpoint Blake Baker at LSU de Anon Lynn full USC you also have a couple of new quarterbacks that are having to replace some pretty key pieces we know Caleb Williams went number one Miller Moss probably gonna step in there as Caleb Williams replacement Garrett nus is trying to replace Jaden Daniels who went number two so a lot of intrigue there in week one and the fact that that game's on Sunday you know I love that Sunday game it's going to be amazing big 10 SC matchup SEC feels more normal USC and the Big 10 will feel a little bit unique but their first game wearing a big 10 patch it's against an SEC team it's in Vegas it's on a Sunday night in a standalone window yeah count me in for that one as far as the Fallout and the event in which one of those two teams loses I don't I don't think it's going to necessarily Crush that team's possibilities moving forward either those teams are equally well respected right now coming into the season I think I know I expect USC to be better than people anticipate I also think LSU has a chance to be a lot better than people realize so I look at this game and while we're probably going to overreact strongly so that whoever loses we might fast forward to the end of season these two teams might be within striking this is the playoff they really might be when you look at just kind of how everything might sort itself out in college football this season let's go to number six Florida State at Notre Dame this is week 11 you get the defending ACC 6 Florida State @ Notre Dame Champion that is going through a ton of roster turnover a ton of adjustments a lot of guys back in some spots on the defensive side but a lot of guys turning over on offense get some new wide receivers out there you get a couple new running backs in there as well you get a new quarterback and DJ uang you got to replace a couple key pieces along the defensive front I think you've adequately done that by way of the transfer portal and you have some young guys at defensive tackle that are pois to step up I look at FSU and I think FSU is gonna be solid now I don't know if they're a shoe in guaranteed Bonafide playoff Contender at the moment I think they're in the mix for that but this would be massive if they can go on the road to Notre Dame and get a win Notre Dame is considered by many to be one of the best teams in America at worst a top 10 team coming into the season so if Florida State can go on the road in week 11 when starts to get a little bit colder and the playoff situations starts to kind of clear up just a little bit this would be huge for them to be able to go and get this win and Notre Dame they're on this list a bunch by the way because you know I think Notre Dame is going to be the real deal this year and I also think Notre Dame schedule is very very manageable this is one of the few hurdles that I think stand in their way between where they're at right now and a college football playoff birth let's go to number five this game is painfully 5 Penn State @ West Virginia underrated by the way this game is painfully underrated here in the early part of the Season Penn State at West Virginia now this has been a remarkably lobs sited rivalry considering the fact that Penn State has or currently leads the alltime series 499 and two last year Penn State handled their business and beat West Virginia convincingly 3815 but it was really a couple of moments at that game where we were just not sure what West Virginia was I don't even know if Neil Brown knew what West Virginia was at that point when you really think about it because Neil Brown fast forward the end of the year West Virginia had a pretty dang good season they I think established uh a possible star at quarterback you got a legitimate differen maker as an all-purpose weapon running back you got an offensive line and the defense that got better as the season went along like I think West Virginia has a chance to be real sneaky dangerous this year we've talked about them in the past I think this is a much tougher game for Penn State Than People realize now Penn State has more overall Talent than West Virginia but West Virginia is a difficult place to play and this will be an interesting road trip for Penn State to make even though they've dominated in the past this I think was a better West Virginia team than Penn State faced a year ago so this I think is a really underrated game that no one's really talking about but we probably should spend a little bit more time on it here as the season starts to approach let's go to number four and we 4 Notre Dame @ Texas A&M can really throw number three in this one as well number four is Notre Dame at Texas A&M that's week one number three is Notre Dame at USC that's week 14 so Notre Dame we talked about them already when we were talking about the Florida State game Notre Dame schedule is pretty manageable okay now if you want to count a road trip to Purdue if you want to count a you know a difficult matchup against Florida State at home by all accounts totally support that but their schedule's pretty manageable most of their most challenging games are going to come at home with the exception of these two games when they go on the road to Texas A&M week one luckily for them it's going to be at night so it won't be one million degrees there in Kyle Field but Mike Elco and Riley Leonard formerly of Duke Now find themselves squaring off against each other Riley Leonard the quarterback at Notre Dame Mike Elco the head coach of Texas A&M so his debut as the aies head coach game day is on campus should be a pretty exciting environment there for Notre Dame and if they can get that one if you look at their schedule man they can almost punch their ticket barring something completely unforeseen to the college football playoff and then you go to number three Notre Dame at USC now A&M tough way to start the season finishing 3 Notre Dame @ USC it LO in Los Angeles is also very very difficult but there's really not a lot of huge hurdles for Notre Dame between week one and week 14 yes Louisville tough game Florida State tough game they can get the agies and our number four non-conference game they're in a really really good spot like we've always said if you go 10 and two should be in a pretty good spot to potentially make the playoff in one of those at large spots if you are Notre Dame but it's going to be fascinating I think you look at this game I think SC like I said already assuming they're significantly improved on defense which I think is a fair assumption just based on D Danton Lyn's track record I think they're going to be in a really good spot now Notre Dame was a difficult matchup for SC last year very physical really good along the line of scrimmage and I would expect them to be similar this year now we're going to find out here in week 14 whether or not USC is truly up to the task but but given the conference schedule that USC played they're going to be much more well prepared to handle the bludgeoning along the line of scrimmage that Notre Dame might provide to them like they did last year so that's something to keep in mind I think USC will be more well equipped to handle the beating that Notre Dame's going to try to create because they're going to have played a big 10 schedule at that point so that's a fascinating game that comes in at number three number two Texas at Michigan this is week two probably thinking how is this number two I'll 2 Texas @ Michigan explain here in just a minute now Michigan is the defending national champs there's no doubt about it however if you look at what Michigan has defensively they still resemble the national championship team of a year ago their defense is going to be loaded I mean really really loaded and I think this is a game that a lot of people wanted last year in the national championship Texas and Michigan felt like it would have been a great matchup because of how Texas is built and how Michigan is built and I think Texas according to many would have provided a little bit more of a challenge to the Michigan Wolverines there in Houston for the national title problem is Texas didn't get there they lost to the Washington Huskies and Texas that's where they were vulnerable last year in the secondary well is Michigan's passing attack going to be capable enough of taking advantage of a Texas team that might have some vulnerabilities in the secondary and this would be a good opportunity for us to assess Texas's defensive front that was the strength of their team last year not the case this year it's a bit of a question mark doesn't mean they won't be good just doesn't mean they're going to have the two best defensive tackle tandems in the entire country Michigan probably has the best defensive tackle tandem right now going into the season so this game comes in at number two why because I just have so many question marks about Michigan I love them I think they are deserving of a top 10 spot in the preseason but man I have my doubts and I have my question questions I really do I've been hot on Michigan for years this year man it's hard for me to get as on board as I was a year ago and let's go to number one the Georgia Bulldogs and the Clemson Tigers will Square Off in week number 1 Clemson vs Georgia one now you're probably sitting there thinking well George is a couple touchdown favorite I understand that I think there are more questions on George's roster Than People realize doesn't mean that they're not going to be really good they're going to be excellent is a team that is no worse than number two in college football coming into the season okay there is no team outside of Ohio state that has more capable bodies on their roster okay they are legit Carson Beck's the real deal I think the wide receivers have a chance to be among the best in the SEC I think the offensive line has a chance to be one of the best in the SEC Defensive line should expect them to be a little bit better a little bit more consistent than they were last year I think the linebackers have a chance to be elite and there are some pieces that need to be replaced in the secondary but they've recruited so well at that position it's just not a position I'm going to be losing a lot of sleep over so I look at Clemson and people have kind of Knocked Clemson saying they're not what they used to be I'm gonna push back on that just a little bit now I've had my own hesitations with Clemson in the past I have and partly because I think when you have young players in some cases playing against veterans because Davos Sweeny has not chosen to utilize the portal as much as some of the teams he's facing off against they're often times operating at a disadvantage well last year they were young and they really finished strong and they I mean they finished really really strong down the stretch and if you look at some of their personnel some of the guys that made the biggest impact for them last year they were true freshman most of which were on the defensive side of the football and I look at their run game and how their run game seemed to improve as the season went along as they leaned a little bit more heavily on Phil mafa the big question is whether or not Kate club can Elevate his play to a point in which he can be one of the more dangerous players in the sport because that has not happened just yet it's been really really inconsistent and maybe this is the year that the light goes on it happened for Bo Nicks remember Bo Knicks when he was at Auburn kind of underwhelming and when he got to Oregon he was a different guy guess who skill sets a lot like Bon Nick's Kate kumnick so maybe this is the year for him I think Georgia Clemson is a battle between two teams teams that will find themselves very much in the playoff conversation at the end of the season Georgia because they're I think they're a shoe in and Clemson because even if they don't win the ACC which I think they have a real chance of being able to do even if they don't win the ACC as far as an at large is concerned because of this game against Georgia I think they're GNA have a really good argument that can be made on their behalf so looking at all that number one comes in as Georgia Clemson from Atlanta in week one all right Ma you just listed a top What to say to people who say the regular season won't matter anymore 10 great games non-conference I just got a question what do you say to the the people that say that with a 12 team playoff the regular season games won't matter as much because these games are going to be awesome I'm just what do you say to those people uh well I would say that they're right in some cases uh partly because it just depends on who you're rooting for if you're a fan of Georgia yeah the regular season won't matter as much because you can lose two or three games and still get in the playoff if you're a fan of Texas or Ohio State you're going to be given the benefit of the doubt because of how good your roster is how talented your team is and what your team ceiling is now if you're a team like Oklahoma state if you're a team like USC if you're a team like Clemson you don't have the benefit of the doubt so I think it's reasonable for people to say well the regular season because of the access to the playoff is not quite as significant but that's just my assumption right now because I think you're going to have the top teams that's that's part of my issue with expansion is that some of the top teams are got to play their way out of the playoff I mean so for instance like Georgia they're in like if this if the playoffs started tomorrow they're in no doubt about it why because I think they're one of the 12 best teams Georgia is in but the only way that they're not going to be in is if they continue to play their way out by losing game after game after game and it could happen week one I mean Clemson's a very capable opponent and then you look at some of their Road games at Texas at B atol Miss Florida in a neutral site I mean these are tricky games so uh I can understand why people would make that case but I also look at some of these matchups and I'm hopeful that teams will continue to schedule games like this because they won't be penalized as much for challenging themselves in the non-conference couple news and notes from college football here in the last couple days the SEC has announced kick times for the remainder of the schedule in 2024 if you have not seen this just yet we will leave a link in the notes comment SEC Announces game times section if you will right below the video here on ESPN's YouTube channel so if you want to go check it out you can you can just Google SEC kick time schedule if you'd like to do that as well the one thing I would say it's kind of interesting to have to know some games that are going to be played now at 11 o'clock local kind of fast forwarding throughout the entire season I thought one team kind of had a slight disadvantage that was ol Miss Miss has a bunch of early kick times a bunch I think it's five to be exact in which they're kicking off at noon or 11 o'clock so that is a playoff Contender that has a lot of early kick times so that might be a bit of a challenge for the Rebels the other thing I'd say too I love that the SEC did this I absolutely love this I wish the Big 10 would follow suit I wish the ACC the Big 12 all I wish all the power five teams power four teams would follow suit with this approach all the conferences would follow suit what if we just did our scheduled announcement in June like the kick times is great love that we have all the kick times out but what if we announced the schedule at this point of the Season like the NFL just did it not that long ago what if college football were able to follow suit I know there's planning and there's other things that needs to be done before you can this is probably a little bit late in the calendar to do it but man we could Captivate the audience because to see just how much buzzed kick times got as opposed to actual matchups itbe something that I would totally be on board for moving forward Virginia also decided to start a scholarship in honor of the players that were killed in the 2022 shooting I think this is great um it's just the 11541 scholarship in honor Virginia to honor football players from 2022 shooting of the slain football players it's just it's a hard story to think about it's a hard story to kind of wrap your head around but knowing that there's the memorial fund that is going to serve as a powerful reminder um and testament to the impact of Devon lvll and Deshawn that was from athletic director Carla Williams so I think job well done there by Virginia and trying to honor the football players the best way possible after what was that tragic moment there in 2022 the Holiday Bowl is switching to Holiday Bowl has a new home Snapdragon Stadium which is San Diego State's home stadium my question is what took so long this makes all the sense in the world if look at Snapdragon Stadium it's beautiful venue by the way really really cool venue so that'll be a little bit more of an intimate setting and something I think will be very very good for a lot of the Holiday Bowl teams here in the future hey thanks for being with us this has been an awesome show diving into the non-conference we look forward to continue continuing to kind of put some lists together some of the best games some of the best matchups some of the things that we're going to do here throughout the course of the summer we also are going to have a bunch of coaches that will join us here in the next couple weeks as well so as always we appreciate it if you could like rate and subscribe to the show wherever you get your show whether it's on the podcast platform Spotify Apple podcast you name it or if you're here with us via the ESPN YouTube channel hit that thumbs up button it really means a lot to us for all of us here at always college football for Mark Jake Jack Griffin we appreciate you guys very much and remember it's always college football hey guys it's Greg maroy thanks for watching Always college football make sure you like rate and subscribe to ESPN's YouTube channel and wherever you listen to your podcast