Before the start of last season, college football went through a major makeover.
The Pac-12 dissolved (and is now coming back). Texas and Oklahoma joined the SEC. The Big 12 added a handful of new teams and became the league of parity. And the ACC became the first-ever conference to literally stretch from coast to coast.
The 2025 offseason has been a bit quieter on the realignment front. Sure, there’s been movement on the edges, but the Power 4 has remained largely unchanged.
Realignment, as a construct, has both intended and unintended consequences. One of the great things about teams joining new leagues is the increased likelihood of great helmet games. You know, brand on brand. Think Ohio State vs. Oregon or Texas vs. Georgia.
One of the unintended consequences is reconfigured schedules, which lead to some strange matchups along the way.
Here’s my annual list of funny, bizarre and downright head-scratching matchups to look forward to during the 2025 college football season.
Week 1
Saturday, August 30 - Long Island University vs. Florida
Few aspects of Southern lore eclipse the heat index and humidity levels south of the Mason-Dixon in the summertime.
Where It Just Means More, Augusts feels hotter. Stickier. Nastier.
One of my favorite early college football season subplots to watch is when teams not from the South have to play a 3.5-hour football game in unbearable heat. It’s bad for everybody, but especially for them.
Get ready to learn Gainesville, LIU.
A quick Google search tells me that the world-beating LIU Sharks will travel over 15 hours and 996 miles to play in the sweaty armpit that is The Swamp in late August.
What a truly absurd way to start a season.
Week 2
Saturday, September 6 - Sam Houston vs. Hawaii
Hey, would you look at that! Sam Houston gets a fun Hawaiian vacation in early September.
How sick is this situation for Sam Houston fans?
You get a lovely trip to Hawaii, will play a football game that only real sickos will watch, no one will care whether you win or lose and everyone will forget it even happened as soon as the Houston Texans kick off the next day.
Week 3
Saturday, September 13 - Iowa State vs. Arkansas State
Yes, you read that correctly. Ranked Iowa State will travel to Jonesboro to take on the Red Wolves.
How did this particular arrangement come to be? I’m glad you asked.
It appears that Iowa State is more than comfortable playing true home-and-home games against G5 opponents. Back in 2021, the Cyclones travelled to Las Vegas to take on UNLV. In 2023, Iowa State hit the road to take on Ohio University and lost 10-7.
This season, Iowa State will play a road game at Arkansas State. In 2027, the Cyclones are scheduled to play on the road at Bowling Green.
Not gonna lie, I find it a bit odd that Iowa State is so willing to play so many road games against opponents that are a notch below them.
Week 4
Saturday, September 20 - Maine vs. Georgia Southern
OK, be honest. Maine vs. Georgia Southern sounds like scheduling logic from your 2033 dynasty in the new College Football 26 video game, right?
Nothing quite like a smooth 19-hour, 1,265-mile trek from Orono, Maine, to Statesboro, Georgia, am I right?
I really hope the fellas from Maine are hydrating well that week. It’s gonna be a scorcher.
Week 5
Saturday, September 27 - Appalachian State vs. Boise State
Dudes will see this matchup and say, “Hell yeah!”
Nothing gets the juices flowing quite like a G5 darling matchup between two of your rowdiest cousins. The boys from Boone traveling to the blue turf of Boise sounds like fan fiction. (My fan fiction, to be specific.)
All jokes aside, this should be a really fun matchup. App State is hoping to rebound after an underperforming campaign in 2024. And an Ashton Jeanty-less Boise State is looking to build on its first-ever College Football Playoff appearance last season.
Week 5 will undoubtedly have a whole swath of watchable games. I recommend making this game priority viewing, if you can swing it.
Week 6
Saturday, October 4 - ULM vs. Northwestern
ICYMI, last season, Northwestern played its home games in a makeshift, 15,000-capacity stadium alongside Lake Michigan. The Wildcats will also play the majority of their home contests there again in 2025.
Let me paint you a picture. It’s a blustery, cold October day. The sun is not shining. The wind is whistling. And in strut the ULM Warhawks, ready to play a very normal October non-conference game against Northwestern.
See how ridiculous that all sounds?
The only way this game could get stranger is if the outcome is impacted by a truly bizarre play. I’m thinking something along the lines of the wind catching hold of a game-winning field goal attempt and the ball getting blown directly into Lake Michigan.
Dear God, please let it happen.
Saturday, October 4 - Oregon State vs. Appalachian State
Buddy, I’m tired just looking at Oregon State’s 2025 football schedule.
After a pair of home games to kick off the campaign, the Beavers will play a very normal stretch of football where they’ll travel to Lubbock, Texas, then to Eugene, Oregon, back home to play Houston and then will hit the bricks to play on the road in Boone, North Carolina.
God bless the Pac-12 lone survivors. Next year, both Oregon State and Washington State will get back to equilibrium. But until then, both schools are the journeymen of the college football world.
Week 8
Friday, October 17 - North Carolina vs. Cal
Remember when I talked about how the ACC is the One True Coast-to-Coast Conference? Well, enjoy your westward voyage, Bill Belichick.
I included this game for a few reasons.
That’s a long ass road trip for UNC.
I think it’s very funny that both Cal and North Carolina are in the same football conference.
Cal has gone through a season of mass roster turnover. And yet, wouldn’t it be painfully on-brand for the ACC to have the #CALgorithm knock off arguably the most accomplished football coach of all-time during a sleepy, late-night, West Coast game?
Week 10
Saturday, November 4 - UAB vs. UConn
What the hell is UAB doing in East Hartford, Connecticut, in November?