10 non-conference college football matchups we want to see soon

Paul Myerberg | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption College football post-spring top 25 SportsPulse: Did your team make USA TODAY Sports' college football post-spring top 25? Paul Myerberg breaks it all down.

Texas deserves a medal for its future non-conference football schedules: LSU in 2019 and 2020, Arkansas in 2021, Alabama in 2022 and 2023, Michigan in 2024 and 2027, and Ohio State in 2025 and 2026.

Good luck, Longhorns! Scheduling games against marquee opponents is often bad for your win-loss record but is great for the sport, as USA TODAY Sports’ George Schroeder writes.

But we can always use more games outside of conference play that move the needle on a national level. In the vein of Wednesday's announcement of the future Alabama-Texas series, here are 10 games we’d love to see played in September (not counting matchups currently scheduled for a future date):

1. Alabama against anyone

It doesn’t matter. Clemson? It’s been great in January — it’ll probably work in September, too. Southern California? Ohio State? Louisiana-Monroe? Let’s do it.

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2. Kansas and Missouri

I’m always telling my grandchildren about the days long ago when these two bitter rivals would meet on an annual basis, a tradition that began in 1891 and continued through 2011 before conference realignment ended the series.

3. Texas and Texas A&M

In the same vein: The rivalry between the Longhorns and Aggies is fairly nasty, as you’ve probably heard, and college football is weaker for not having this pair meet every November — sometimes with nothing on the line except for bragging rights, which mean the most of all.

4. Missouri and Nebraska

This one, too! It’s unfortunate that the rivalry ended when it did, since Missouri had gone from Nebraska’s little brother — losing every year from 1979-2002 — to taking four of six from 2003-08.

5. Notre Dame against anyone

Notre Dame will always support its beefy schedule of traditional opponents — Southern California, Navy and Stanford — with a few high-profile games against the Power Five. But there are a few uncommon opponents the Irish could add to their rotation: TCU, Ohio State, Oregon and the entire Southeastern Conference. When it comes to the SEC, the only teams Notre Dame has faced more than five times in its history are Alabama, LSU and Tennessee.

6. Michigan and Oklahoma

The two traditional powers have only met on the field just once, in a 14-6 Oklahoma win in the 1976 Orange Bowl that clinched the Sooners’ second national championship under Barry Switzer.

7. Florida State and Ohio State

The Seminoles and the Buckeyes have met three times, last in the 1998 Sugar Bowl, and have never played in Tallahassee. The two previous regular-season meetings were in 1981 and 1982, both in Columbus and both FSU wins when Bobby Bowden was building the Seminoles into a powerhouse.

8. Miami (Fla.) and Texas

Of the three regular-season games between this pair, only one, back in 1981, occurred after Miami began its run among the elite programs in college football. But there was one other meeting: In the 1991 Cotton Bowl, Miami swamped Texas 46-3 while committing school records with 15 penalties for 202 yards.

9. South Carolina and Southern California

For too long our country has been divided along geographic lines on a pressing question: Who is the real USC? Is it South Carolina, which was established in 1801, 79 years before Southern California? Or is it the California-based USC, for reasons easy to understand? We could decide it on the field with the rubber match of a series currently tied at 1-1 after the Gamecocks and Trojans traded wins in 1980 and 1983.

10. LSU and Nebraska

If only so LSU can end one noticeable blemish on its résumé: Nebraska is the only team to have played the Tigers more than three times and never lost. The Cornhuskers 5-0-1 against LSU, with the most recent win coming in the 1987 Sugar Bowl.

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