In the ever-evolving landscape of college football, change is the only constant-and not all of it is sitting well with fans. One by one, the traditions that once defined Saturdays in the fall are being reshaped or quietly phased out.
The next potential casualty? The marquee non-conference matchups that have long added spice to the regular season.
With the SEC set to expand to a nine-game conference schedule starting in 2026, programs across the league are rethinking how they build out the rest of their slates. The logic is simple: when you're already staring down a gauntlet of nine high-stakes games against top-tier competition, why add another heavyweight bout outside the league that could do more harm than good in the College Football Playoff race?
That’s the thinking that’s starting to take hold-and it’s already having ripple effects. Take the USC-Notre Dame rivalry, one of the sport’s most iconic annual matchups.
It’s now on pause, in part because USC didn’t want to face another tough opponent late in the year. Notre Dame pushed for a later date; USC, with its own conference grind in mind, wasn’t interested.
Result? A historic rivalry shelved, at least for now.
And it’s not just the West Coast feeling the squeeze. In Tuscaloosa, Alabama’s future non-conference schedule is suddenly in flux-and the biggest domino that could fall is a blockbuster home-and-home series with Ohio State.
That’s right: Alabama vs. Ohio State, two of the sport’s true bluebloods, might not happen after all.
Mark Ingram, speaking on the Triple Option Podcast, put it plainly. “Alabama has a home and away with Ohio State.
Why would you even do that?” he said.
“They're talking about trying to not do that anymore. I don't know if it's going to get done or it’s not, but it’s definitely on the radar to get that off the schedule.
What benefit does it do you if you play that game close and they’re going to hold it against you?”
And he’s not wrong-at least from a strategic standpoint. Alabama still made the College Football Playoff this season despite dropping its marquee non-conference game on the road at Florida State.
But imagine if the Tide had swapped that game out for a softer opponent. An 11-1 regular season followed by an SEC Championship Game appearance would’ve locked them in without a whisper of debate.
Texas can relate. The Longhorns went 9-3 in the regular season, one of those losses coming in Week 1 on the road against Ohio State.
Had they opened the season against, say, Ohio University instead of the Buckeyes, we might be talking about a playoff-bound Texas squad right now. In this era, strength of schedule is a double-edged sword-and more programs are choosing to dull the blade.
But while it may make sense on paper, there’s no denying who loses the most in this equation: the fans.
Alabama and Ohio State have only met five times in their storied histories-and never in a true home-and-home. Every matchup has been at a neutral site: four in bowl games, one in a season-opener in New Jersey.
A chance to see the Crimson Tide walk into The Horseshoe, or the Buckeyes take the field at Bryant-Denny Stadium, isn’t just rare-it’s a bucket list moment for college football fans. And now, it might not happen at all.
This is the kind of tradition that gives college football its unique flavor. It’s not just about wins and losses-it’s about the pageantry, the history, the travel, the clash of styles and fanbases.
When these matchups disappear, something more than a game gets lost. It’s the soul of the sport that takes a hit.
As conferences grow, schedules tighten, and playoff implications loom larger than ever, college football is becoming more calculated. But the more it leans into strategy and away from spectacle, the more it risks losing what made it special in the first place.