Breaking down the 2022 college football schedule, league-by-league

Who you play (and sometimes where) plays a significant role in a team’s success. To that end, we took a quick look at the 2022 college football schedule. (Team schedules weren’t finalized until last Wednesday, when Conference USA acknowledged that the three teams departing for the Sun Belt indeed already had departed.)

We looked at the schedule for each of the 131 FBS teams (James Madison is new to the FBS ranks this season) and tallied the number of games against FCS opponents and non-conference games against Power 5 opponents; Notre Dame counts as a Power 5 school. We looked at how many non-conference road games teams in the Power 5 leagues have scheduled. Finally, we looked at how many home games each team has because, hey, it generally is easier to win at home than on the road.

A few quick takeaways before we go more in-depth below:

+ Seven Power 5 teams are playing zero non-conference games against other Power 5 foes. The seven: Arkansas, Baylor (no surprise at all, as we explain below), Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Oregon State and UCLA. (Arkansas and Indiana are playing Cincinnati, though.)

+ The SEC and Sun Belt are playing the most games against FCS foes, with 14 each.

+ The Big 12 is playing the fewest games against FCS opponents, with eight. Alas, among the Power 5 conferences, the Big 12 is playing the fewest non-conference games against other Power 5s (10).

+ The ACC has 10 road games against non-Power 5 opponents, by far the most of any Power 5 league (North Carolina and Virginia Tech have two each). The other four Power 5 leagues have 13 of those types of games combined.

+ A tip of the cap to Colorado, which is playing the most Power 5 opponents (11) of any school in the nation.

Here are all the results. (This is Part 1 of a four-part schedule series. Wednesday, we’ll look at the teams with the easiest and toughest starts to the 2022 season. Thursday will be a breakdown of the top non-conference games this fall. Friday, we’ll spotlight the most egregiously bad non-conference matchups.)

FCS and non-conference Power 5 opponents

AAC (11 members)
Games vs. FCS opponents: 9. Every league team except Houston and USF has one such opponent.
Non-conference games vs. Power 5 opponents: 17. Every league team plays at least one Power 5 foe; Cincinnati, Houston, SMU, Temple, UCF and USF have two each.

ACC (14)
Games vs. FCS opponents: 13. Every league team has one except Louisville (the Cardinals are playing James Madison, which is moving from FCS to FBS this season).
Non-conference games vs. Power 5 opponents: 20, second-most for any league and by far the most among the Power 5. Every conference team has at least one, and Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech and Pitt have two each. (Eight of the 20 are against SEC teams.)

BIG TEN (14)
Games vs. FCS opponents: 9. Every league team has one except Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State and Penn State (interestingly, all are in the East Division – the tougher of the two in the league).
Non-conference games vs. Power 5 opponents: 11. Every league team has one except Indiana, Maryland and Michigan. (Ohio State is the only league team playing Notre Dame, and five of the 11 are against ACC opponents.)

BIG 12 (10)
Games vs. FCS opponents: 8. Every league team has one except Oklahoma and Texas. (Not to be snarky, but will that change when they move to the SEC?)
Non-conference games vs. Power 5 opponents: 10. Every league team has one except Baylor, and West Virginia has two (both against ACC opponents). Of note: Since 2010, Baylor has played just two Power 5 non-conference opponents (Duke, in 2017 and ’18). That’s two in 13 seasons. Two. In 13 seasons.

CONFERENCE USA (11)
Games vs. FCS opponents: 10. Every league team plays one except UTEP.
Non-conference games vs. Power 5 opponents: 11. Every league team has at least one except FIU and North Texas; Charlotte and Louisiana Tech have two each.

MID-AMERICAN (12)
Games vs. FCS opponents: 12. Every league team has one such game.
Non-conference games vs. Power 5 opponents: 21, the most of any league. Every league team plays at least one; Akron, Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Miami, Northern Illinois, Ohio and Western Michigan have two each, and Kent State plays three (including Georgia and Oklahoma). MAC teams have seven games each against teams from the Big Ten and SEC.

MOUNTAIN WEST (12)
Games vs. FCS opponents: 12. Every league team has one such opponent.
Non-conference games vs. Power 5 opponents: 17. Every league team plays at least one Power 5 foe; Colorado State, Fresno State, Hawaii, San Diego State and UNLV play two each. Two league teams (Colorado State and Hawaii) play at Michigan, and eight of the other Power 5 foes are in the Pac-12.

PAC-12 (12)
Games vs. FCS opponents: 10. Every league team has one except Colorado and USC.
Non-conference games vs. Power 5 opponents: 11. Every league team has one except Oregon State and UCLA, and Colorado has two (Colorado has just one non-Power 5 opponent, and that is Air Force).

SEC (14)
Games vs. FCS opponents: 14. Every league team plays one such opponent.
Non-conference games vs. Power 5 opponents: 15. Every league team has at least one except Arkansas, and Florida and Georgia are playing two each (interestingly, the Gators and Bulldogs both are playing an in-state foe from the ACC as well as a Pac-12 opponent – Florida with Utah and Georgia with Oregon).

SUN BELT (14)
Games vs. FCS opponents: 14. Every league team plays one such opponent except Georgia State and Old Dominion. Appalachian State and Marshall play two each.
Non-conference games vs. Power 5 opponents: 18. Every league team plays at least one such opponent. Appalachian State, Georgia State, Old Dominion and ULM play two each. (Eight of the Power 5 opponents are ACC schools.)

INDEPENDENTS (7)
Games vs. FCS opponents: 7. Every team has at least one except Notre Dame, which has none. Army has two.
Games vs. Power 5 opponents: 26. Army and UMass have one each, New Mexico State has three, Liberty and UConn have four each, BYU has five and Notre Dame has eight. (BYU plays Notre Dame; that counts as a Power 5 foe for BYU but not the Irish.)

Power 5 teams on the road

We also looked at how many Power 5 teams are playing non-conference road games. Here’s a breakdown by league.

ACC
Nine non-conference road games against Power 5 opponents: Boston College at Notre Dame, Clemson at Notre Dame, Duke at Northwestern, Duke at Kansas, Georgia Tech at Georgia, Louisville at Kentucky, Miami at Texas A&M, Virginia at Illinois, and Wake Forest at Vanderbilt.
Ten non-conference road games against non-Power 5 opponents: Boston College at UConn, Georgia Tech at UCF, Louisville at UCF, North Carolina at Appalachian State, North Carolina at Georgia State, NC State at East Carolina, Pitt at Western Michigan, Syracuse at UConn, Virginia Tech at Old Dominion, and Virginia Tech at Liberty.
There is one neutral-site game against a Power 5 opponent: Florida State vs. LSU in New Orleans.

BIG TEN
Four non-conference road games against Power 5 opponents: Michigan State at Washington, Penn State at Auburn, Purdue at Syracuse, and Rutgers at Boston College.
Three non-conference road games against non-Power 5 opponents: Indiana at Cincinnati, Maryland at Charlotte, and Rutgers at Temple.

BIG 12
Six non-conference road games against Power 5 opponents: Iowa State at Iowa, Oklahoma at Nebraska, TCU at Colorado, Texas Tech at NC State, West Virginia at Pitt, and West Virginia at Virginia Tech.
Three non-conference road games against non-Power 5 opponents: Baylor at BYU, Kansas at Houston, and TCU at SMU

PAC-12
Six non-conference road games against Power 5 opponents: Arizona State at Oklahoma State, California at Notre Dame, Colorado at Minnesota, Stanford at Notre Dame, Utah at Florida, and Washington State at Wisconsin.
Three non-conference road games against non-Power 5 opponents: Arizona at San Diego State, Colorado at Air Force, and Oregon State at Fresno State.
There is one neutral-site game against a Power 5 opponent: Oregon vs. Georgia in Atlanta

SEC

Seven non-conference road games against Power 5 opponents: Alabama at Texas, Florida at Florida State, Mississippi State at Arizona, Missouri at Kansas State, Ole Miss at Georgia Tech, South Carolina at Clemson, and Tennessee at Pitt.
Three non-conference road games against non-Power 5 opponents: Arkansas at BYU, Vanderbilt at Hawaii, and Vanderbilt at Northern Illinois
There are two neutral-site games against Power 5 opponents: Georgia vs. Oregon in Atlanta, and LSU vs. Florida State in New Orleans.

Home game breakdown

Finally, we looked at the number of home games for each team. Here is a breakdown by conference.

AAC
East Carolina, Memphis, Temple, Tulane and UCF have seven home games, and everybody else has six. Navy also has one neutral-site game.

ACC
Eight have seven home games, while Boston College, Duke, Georgia Tech, Louisville, North Carolina and Virginia Tech have six. In addition to seven home games, Clemson and Florida State also have one neutral-site game each.

BIG TEN
Nine have seven home games, while Northwestern, Purdue and Rutgers have six. Michigan and Ohio State each have eight; they are among just five teams nationally with eight home games (one is in the Pac-12, two are in the SEC). In addition, Nebraska and Northwestern play each other at a neutral site.

BIG 12
Five have seven home games, with Baylor, Kansas, Oklahoma, TCU and West Virginia having six. In addition, Oklahoma and Texas play each other at a neutral site.

CONFERENCE USA
Eight league teams have six home games; Louisiana Tech, Middle Tennessee State and Western Kentucky have five each.

MID-AMERICAN
Nine conference teams have six home games, while Akron, Buffalo and Kent State have five each.

MOUNTAIN WEST
Each league school has six home games except for Air Force, Hawaii and San Diego State, which have seven each.

PAC-12
UCLA is one of just five teams nationally with eight home games (and remember that the Bruins don’t play a Power 5 non-conference opponent, either). Five other league teams have seven home games, while the other six (Arizona State, Colorado, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford and Utah) have six each. Oregon and Oregon State also have neutral-site games, though the Beavers’ is against Montana State in Portland.

SEC
Auburn and Kentucky are among the five teams nationally with eight home games. Every other SEC school has seven except for Georgia and Vanderbilt, with six each. Georgia also has two neutral-site games, including one against Florida. Arkansas and Texas A&M play each other in a neutral-site matchup. And LSU also has a neutral-site game.

SUN BELT
Each team has six home games except for Appalachian State and Coastal Carolina, which have seven each, and ULM, which has five.

INDEPENDENTS
All seven have six home games except for UConn (seven) and UMass (five). In addition to six home games, Army and Notre Dame have two neutral-site games each (both play Navy in those contests); Notre Dame’s other neutral-site matchup is against fellow independent BYU.