Breaking down the 2023 college football schedule, league-by-league

Who you play (and sometimes where) plays a significant role in a team’s success. To that end, let’s take a quick peek at the 2023 college football schedules.

We looked at the schedule for each of the 133 FBS teams (Jacksonville State and Sam Houston State will move to the FBS from the FCS 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 of the 69 Power 5 teams are playing zero non-conference games against other Power 5 foes. The seven: Boston College, Houston, Michigan, Oklahoma, Oregon State, UCF and UCLA. Michigan, Oregon State and UCLA didn’t play any such games last season, either. Air Force and Liberty are the only Group of 5 schools not playing a Power 5 opponent.

+ The SEC and Sun Belt are playing the most games against FCS foes, with 14 each. Only 15 teams don’t play an FCS opponent. The 15: Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Liberty, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Purdue, Texas, USC, UTSA, Virginia Tech, Washington and Wisconsin.

+ The Big Ten is playing the fewest games against FCS opponents, with seven.

+ The ACC and Big 12 have six road games apiece against non-Power 5 opponents, the most of any Power 5 league. The Pac-12 has five, the SEC three (including Alabama at USF) and the Big Ten zero.

+ For the second year in a row, Colorado is playing the most Power 5 opponents, with 11 (nine league games plus non-conference contests against Nebraska and TCU). It won’t exactly be easy for Deion Sanders.

Here are all the results.

FCS and non-conference Power 5 opponents

AAC (14 members)
Games vs. FCS opponents: 13. Every league team except UTSA has one such opponent.
Non-conference games vs. Power 5 opponents: 21. Every team has at least one, and Charlotte, FAU, Rice, SMU, Temple, UTSA and Tulsa have two each. There are six games each against Big 12 and SEC opponents.

ACC (14)
Games vs. FCS opponents: 13. Every league team has one except Virginia Tech.
Non-conference games vs. Power 5 opponents: 25, the most of any league. Every league team has at least one except Boston College. Louisville and Pitt have three each, and Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest have two each. Six games are against Notre Dame, and 10 are against SEC foes.

BIG TEN (14)
Games vs. FCS opponents: 7. This is the fewest of any league. The half of the league not playing an FCS foe: Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Purdue and Wisconsin.
Non-conference games vs. Power 5 opponents: 14. Every league team has at least one except Michigan, and Purdue has two. Half of the 14 are against ACC schools.

BIG 12 (14)
Games vs. FCS opponents: 12. Every league team has one except Oklahoma and Texas.
Non-conference games vs. Power 5 opponents: 12. Every league team has at least one except Houston, Oklahoma and UCF; West Virginia has two. Of note: Baylor has a non-conference Power 5 opponent for just the third time in 14 seasons. It plays Utah; the other two games were against Duke, in 2017 and ’18.

CONFERENCE USA (9)
Games vs. FCS opponents: 8. Every league team plays one except Liberty.
Non-conference games vs. Power 5 opponents: 11. Every team has at least one except Liberty. Middle Tennessee, Sam Houston State and UTEP have two each. Five of the games are against SEC opponents.

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

MOUNTAIN WEST (12)
Games vs. FCS opponents: 12. Every league team has one such opponent.
Non-conference games vs. Power 5 opponents: 21. Every league team has at least one except Air Force. Hawaii has three, and Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Nevada, San Diego State, San Jose State, UNLV and Wyoming have two each. MWC schools have 11 games against Pac-12 foes. Interestingly, two league teams (Hawaii and UNLV) are playing Vanderbilt.

PAC-12 (12)
Games vs. FCS opponents: 9. Every league team has one except Colorado, USC and Washington.
Non-conference games vs. Power 5 opponents: 12. Every league team has ot least one except Oregon State and UCLA. Colorado and Utah both have two. Four of the 12 are against the Big 12, and those should carry a little extra spice this season.

SEC (14)
Games vs. FCS opponents: 14. Every league team plays one such opponent.
Non-conference games vs. Power 5 opponents: 16. Every league team has at least one, and Florida and South Carolina are playing two each. Ten are against ACC opponents – and three are against Pac-12 foes.

SUN BELT (14)
Games vs. FCS opponents: 14. Every league team plays one such opponent.
Non-conference games vs. Power 5 opponents: 18. Every school has at least one. Marshall, Old Dominion, Southern Miss and ULM have two each. Every Power 5 league is represented on Sun Belt schedules, with seven games against ACC foes, four each vs. the Big 12 and SEC, two against the Big Ten and one against the Pac-12 (Coastal Carolina at UCLA).

INDEPENDENTS (4)
Games vs. FCS opponents: 5. Every team has at least one, including Notre Dame’s first ever (Tennessee State), and Army has two.
Games vs. Power 5 opponents: 18. UMass has two, Army three, UConn four and Notre Dame nine. The Fighting Irish have six games against ACC schools, two against the Pac-12 and one against the Big Ten (Ohio State).

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
There are nine non-conference road games against Power 5 opponents: Clemson at South Carolina, Florida State at Florida, Georgia Tech at Ole Miss, Pitt at West Virginia, Pitt at Notre Dame, Syracuse at Purdue, Virginia at Maryland, Virginia Tech at Rutgers, Wake Forest at Notre Dame
There are six non-conference road games against non-Power 5 opponents: Boston College at Army, Duke at UConn, Miami at Temple, NC State at UConn, Virginia Tech at Marshall, Wake Forest at Old Dominion
There are four neutral-site non-conference games against Power 5 opponents: Florida State vs. LSU in Orlando; Louisville vs. Indiana in Indianapolis; North Carolina vs. South Carolina in Charlotte; Virginia vs. Tennessee in Nashville.

BIG TEN
There are eight non-conference road games against Power 5 opponents: Illinois at Kansas, Iowa at Iowa State, Minnesota at North Carolina, Nebraska at Colorado, Northwestern at Duke, Ohio State at Notre Dame, Purdue at Virginia Tech, Wisconsin at Washington State
There are zero non-conference road games against non-Power 5 opponents.
There is one neutral-site non-conference game against a Power 5 opponent: Indiana vs. Louisville in Indianapolis

BIG 12
There are six non-conference road games against Power 5 opponents: BYU at Arkansas, Cincinnati at Pitt, Kansas State at Missouri, Oklahoma State at Arizona State, Texas at Alabama, West Virginia at Penn State
There are six non-conference road games against non-Power 5 opponents: Houston at Rice, Iowa State at Ohio U., Kansas at Nevada, Oklahoma at Tulsa, Texas Tech at Wyoming, UCF at Boise State

PAC-12
There are six non-conference road games against Power 5 opponents: Arizona at Mississippi State, Colorado at TCU, Oregon at Texas Tech, USC at Notre Dame, Utah at Baylor, Washington at Michigan State
There are five non-conference road games against non-Power 5 opponents: California at North Texas, Oregon State at San Jose State, Stanford at Hawaii, UCLA at San Diego State, Washington State at Colorado State

SEC
There are six non-conference road games against Power 5 opponents: Auburn at California, Florida at Utah, Georgia at Georgia Tech, Kentucky at Louisville, Texas A&M at Miami, Vanderbilt at Wake Forest
There are two non-conference road games against non-Power 5 opponents: Alabama at USF, Ole Miss at Tulane, Vanderbilt at UNLV
There are three neutral-site non-conference games against Power 5 opponents: LSU vs. Florida State in Orlando; South Carolina vs. North Carolina in Charlotte; Tennessee vs. Virginia in Nashville
There is one neutral-site game against a non-Power 5 opponent: Missouri vs. Memphis in St. Louis
There is one neutral-site game against an FCS opponent: Arkansas vs. Western Carolina in Little Rock, Ark. The Razorbacks play a game in Little Rock every season.

Home game breakdown

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

AAC
Rice, Temple, Tulane and UAB have seven home games, and everybody else has six. Memphis has one neutral-site game, and Navy has two.

ACC
Seven have seven home games, while Florida State, Georgia Tech, Pitt, Syracuse, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest have six. Florida State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Pitt, Syracuse and Virginia have neutral-site games, with Tech-Louisville and Pitt-Syracuse conference games being played at neutral sites.

BIG TEN
Penn State is one of four teams nationally with eight home games (four of the Nittany Lions’ final five games are at home). Every other league team has seven home games except Indiana and Ohio State, which have six. Indiana is the only league team with a neutral-site game.

BIG 12
Baylor is one of four teams nationally with eight home games (the Bears are on the road once in the season’s first seven weeks). Six have seven home games, and BYU, Iowa State, Oklahoma, Texas, Texas Tech, UCF and West Virginia have six. In addition, Oklahoma-Texas is at a neutral site.

CONFERENCE USA
Liberty has seven home games, and the other eight have six each. Sam Houston State has one neutral-site game, against Air Force in Houston.

MID-AMERICAN
Half the league has six home games, and the other half has five. The six with six: Ball State, Buffalo, Eastern Michigan, Northern Illinois, Ohio and Toledo.

MOUNTAIN WEST
Hawaii, San Diego State and Wyoming have seven home games; everyone else has six except Air Force, which has five. Air Force also has two neutral-site games, against Sam Houston State in Houston and against Army in Denver.

PAC-12
Arizona State is one of four teams nationally with eight home games (the Sun Devils are on the road just once in the season’s first seven weeks). Five other league teams have seven home games, while the other six (Arizona, California, Colorado, Oregon State, UCLA and Washington State) have six each. No team in the conference plays a neutral-site game.

SEC
Mississippi State is one of four teams nationally with eight home games. The Bulldogs play five of their first six and three of their last four in Starkville. Every other SEC team has seven except Arkansas, Florida and Vanderbilt, which have six. Arkansas has two neutral-site games (one is in Little Rock), while Florida, Georgia, LSU, Missouri, South Carolina and Texas A&M have one each. Two conference games – Florida-Georgia and Arkansas-Texas A&M – are neutral-site affairs.

SUN BELT
Each team has six home games.

INDEPENDENTS
Three have six home games, and UMass has five. In addition to six home games, Army has two neutral-site games (against Air Force in Denver and against Navy in Foxborough, Mass.). Notre Dame also has a neutral-site game, against Navy in Dublin, Ireland.