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The Best Way to End the Scheduling Debate

Power Four teams chase easy wins to reach the CFP—but at what cost? Fixing college football’s scheduling flaws starts with reform

Avatar photoTJ Chapman
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By TJ Chapman

There have been many discussions throughout college football regarding the issues with the scheduling from conference to conference. Most conferences have moved to a nine-game conference schedule while the ACC and the SEC play eight conference games.

There has been an uptick in the number of Power Four programs cancelling a home-and-home series with other P4 programs. The perception is that this is being done so they can schedule either a Group of 5 or FCS program instead. Nebraska recently cancelled a series with Tennessee to schedule Bowling Green and Miami (Ohio), both of the Mid-American Conference.

Guaranteed Wins?

While there are issues with renovations at Memorial Stadium, the home of the Cornhuskers, the replacement games have skeptics saying the changes are due to Nebraska looking to add what looks to be guaranteed wins. Getting as many wins each year are what coaches and programs are trying to secure with the rescheduling.

Just this week Nebraska’s fellow conference member Indiana cancelled a series with Virginia of the ACC. The Hoosiers have replaced Virginia with Kennesaw State and Austin Peay. Kennesaw State only started playing football as a member of the FBS in 2024.

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There are a number of factors that cause programs to schedule the way they do. Some programs want to maximize the amount of home games they have. The more home games, the more revenue. A lot of the athletic departments rely on revenue generated from the football program to fund the rest of the department.

When it comes to P4 programs, however, the ability to enhance your win total to get into the College Football Playoff seems to be the theme in the recent rescheduling. Some might make it seem like they are being noble and care about the Group of 5 or FCS schools, but the reality is that they are looking for a home game that is very winnable.

The Group of 5 and FCS schools used in the rescheduling heavily rely upon these games, which some people call “paycheck games.” This is where a lower-level school plays a game at a P4 conference stadium and is handsomely paid for getting beat, typically beaten soundly.

Those lower-level athletic departments rely on the big payday from the P4 school to help fund their athletic departments for the year. Although, as Michigan and Appalachian State will attest to, not all of the paycheck games are very winnable for the home team.

But the college football world craves better games. As is the case with everything else that is not as good as it should be in college football. We need everyone to work together to achieve the goal of keeping this great sport great.

How to Fix Scheduling Issues

To start, the CFP committee needs to adjust their weighted data for wins. They need to make it crystal clear that while they value wins, they also value who those wins come against. That will stop this rash of cancellations and push schools to schedule better games.

Like the issues that plague college football with the transfer portal, scheduling needs to be consistent throughout all 10 FBS conferences. Most people take issue with the SEC for only keeping eight conference games, but the first change should be for all conferences to go back to an eight-game conference schedule. That should start the process of evening out some of the schedule issues.

It will be difficult for some of the larger conferences to go back to eight conference games but there are many people qualified to make the scheduling work. Eight conference games will allow everyone to see that no matter how “different” each conference is, they are playing the same number of games against the same level of competition.

As for the out-of-conference schedules each team will have four nonconference games. All P4 schools must play at least two other P4 schools and one Group of 5 school. The fourth game can be against whoever they choose, including FCS. Essentially, P4 teams need to play 10 P4 games per season.

And to settle the argument of when those out-of-conference games are to be played, it doesn’t matter when the games are played, so stop whining about the SEC playing an FCS school in November. There is literally no difference between playing an FCS school in September or November, none.

If a conference chooses to keep a nine-game schedule that extra conference game will count toward the 10 P4-game requirement. They will then only need to schedule one game with a P4 program.

Smart to Cancel

Indiana is receiving a lot of criticism for cancelling the Virginia series. But in a way, they are the smart ones. The CFP committee has made it clear that they value wins a lot more than who those wins come against. That is the main reason Indiana made it to the CFP last season. Unless the committee puts more weight into who you beat, there is no incentive for a P4 program to play another P4 program in the regular season.

The downside to that kind of schedule is last season Indiana was exposed as a fraud when they went into South Bend, Ind. and were demolished by Notre Dame in the first round of the playoff. Had Indiana played better competition, they might have been better prepared for that game. Or they may not have made the CFP at all. 

Which is why they’re smart for cancelling against Virginia, take the monster loss in the CFP after getting the playoff paycheck. The Hoosiers do not have a P4 school scheduled until they start a home-and-home series with Notre Dame in 2030. 

But while Indiana benefits from the cancellation, college football fans and those who love the sport suffer. That is why scheduling reform is needed, and this is the way to do it. Now if we could just get the conferences to agree.

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