Listen up college football schedulers, Make these games happen!
Arkansas vs Arkansas State- Arkansas State has been a consistently good program for the last ten years, never having dropped below .500. Arkansas on the other hand hasn't had a winning season since a 7-6 campaign four years ago. The Red Wolves clearly have the talent to compete as they knocked off a Kansas State team that turned around to beat Oklahoma the following week. As the only two FBS programs in the state, it is tragic that Arkansas refuses to schedule their little brother (probably because they know of the embarrassment that would follow). Arkansas appears to be on the upswing though with their win over Mississippi State this week, maybe they wouldn't blow it to the Red Wolves like they did to San Jose State.
Florida vs Miami- Now that both teams have legitimate claims at being "Back", why not let them prove it on the field? Florida State is a dumpster fire as usual, but UF and UM have obviously shaken off the rust and found their way into the AP top 25. Both teams have the offensive firepower this year, but Miami's defense is a superior product. This would be a showdown capable of vaulting either Kyle Trask OR D'Eriq King to the Heisman.
Louisiana vs LSU- LSU hasn't had a worthy instate opponent since Tulane was in the SEC, and that's been a while. The Ragin' Cajuns are rolling this season and remain unbeaten while LSU is still finding its footing. What an interesting match up this would be though. Could the Sun Belt pull off another huge upset? We may never know, but it would be fun see Ed Orgeron, THE Ragin' Cajun, to face off against the ULL Ragin' Cajuns.
Memphis vs Tennessee- These two teams haven't faced off since the 2010 season when Tennessee was still good and Memphis was still terrible. Since then Tennessee has slipped dramatically while Memphis has soared. The Vols are making noise this season however, and find themselves ranked inside the top 15. Vandy and MTSU are non-competitive this year which leaves Memphis as sole challenger to Tennessee's statewide dominance. Memphis regularly thrashes Power 5 programs so its no surprise Tenn hasn't wanted to schedule them.
Rutgers vs Princeton- The 150th anniversary of America's first college football game, a 6-4 Rutgers victory over Princeton in 1869, came and went without so much as a peep out of these two institutions. Whomever was in charge of these school's scheduling deserves a 150 lashings for not making this game happen. Are you kidding me? It's the 150th anniversary of THIS GAME. The Ivy League allows such games under special circumstances, such as Yale's hosting of Army in 2014 in celebration of the Yale Bowl's 100th season. I would say the 150th year of the FIRST game EVER would pass as a special circumstance. The two teams haven't played since 1980 but their rivalry has continued in other sports. Sad part is, Princeton doesn't award scholarships but would still shellac a godawful Rutgers squad. I yearn to see it happen.
Texas vs Texas A&M- Duhhh. This is the most obvious choice of all! Two teams that can't seem to meet expectations deserve each other. A&M's decision to leave big brother behind in order to join college football's hardest division, the SEC West, was and IS a huge mistake. The two schools split their last two games in 2010 and 2011 but have no future plans to play one another. As each other's biggest rival, why prolong the fans' suffering? Tom Herman has expressed interest in renewing the rivalry but A&M couldn't be more disinterested unfortunately. We need this game to happen asap.
-Graham Smith