New Challenge...

I previously posted the 2026 Football Season Road Trip...
https://csnbbs.com/thread-1028472.html

The rules were you picked one game a week but you can only see any one team once the entire season.

New Challenge:

Pick any FBS conference. Pick one game from that conference each week hosted by a team from that conference or a neutral site conference game (ex. Texas vs. Oklahoma in Dallas). A non conference neutral site game is not permitted. You may use Week 0 but it is not required.

The new rules:

You can only visit any one school/stadium once.
You can only see any one school twice. If you do not see that school at home you can pick two of their road games but if you pick a school's home game then you are limited to one of their road games.

I decided to do each of the Power 4 conferences...

Big Ten:

Sept. 5: Boise State at Oregon, Eugene, OR
Sept. 12: Oklahoma at Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Sept. 19: Virginia Tech at Maryland, College Park, MD
Sept. 26: Oregon at USC, Los Angeles, CA
Oct. 2: Penn State at Northwestern, Evanston, IL
Oct. 10: USC at Penn State, State College, PA
Oct. 17: Ohio State at Indiana, Bloomington, IN
Oct. 24: Iowa at Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
Oct. 31: Washington at Nebraska, Lincoln, NE
Nov. 7: Rutgers at Wisconsin, Madison, WI
Nov. 13: Illinois at UCLA, Pasadena, CA
Nov. 21: Iowa at Illinois, Champaign, IL
Nov. 28: Michigan at Ohio State, Columbus, OH

SEC:
Sept. 5: Clemson at LSU, Baton Rouge, LA
Sept. 12: Ohio State at Texas, Austin, TX
Sept. 19: LSU at Mississippi, Oxford, MS
Sept. 26: Oklahoma at Georgia, Athens, GA
Oct. 3: Florida at Missouri, Columbia, MO
Oct. 10: Georgia at Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL
Oct. 17: Alabama at Tennessee, Knoxville, TN
Oct. 24: Tennessee at South Carolina, Columbia, SC
Oct. 31: Missouri at Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR
Nov. 7: Arkansas at Auburn, Auburn, AL
Nov. 14: Mississippi at Oklahoma, Norman, OK
Nov. 21: Vanderbilt at Florida, Gainesville, FL
Nov. 27: Texas at Texas A&M, College Station, TX

ACC:
Aug. 29: Hawaii at Stanford, Palo Alto, CA
Sept. 5: Tulane at Duke, Durham, NC
Sept. 12: Tennessee at Georgia Tech, Atlanta, GA
Sept. 19: SMU at Louisville, Louisville, KY
Sept. 26: Virginia Tech at Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA
Oct. 3: Miami at Clemson, Clemson, SC
Oct. 10: Wake Forest at NC State, Raleigh, NC
Oct. 17: Florida State at Miami, Miami, FL
Oct. 23: Duke at Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
Oct. 31: Georgia Tech at Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
Nov. 7: Clemson at Syracuse, Syracuse, NY
Nov. 14: Louisville at North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC
Nov. 21: Stanford at California, Berkeley, CA
Nov. 28: Florida at Florida State, Tallahassee, FL

Big 12 (Corrected: Had KSU 3 times)
Sept. 5: Boston College at Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH
Sept. 11: Missouri at Kansas, Lawrence, KS
Sept. 18: Houston at Texas Tech, Lubbock, TX
Sept. 26: TCU at UCF, Orlando, FL
Oct. 3: UCF at Houston, Houston, TX
Oct. 10: Hawaii at Arizona State, Tempe, AZ
Oct. 17: Notre Dame at BYU, Provo, UT
Oct. 24: West Virginia at TCU, Fort Worth, TX
Oct. 31: Kansas State at Colorado, Boulder, CO
Nov. 7: BYU at Utah, Salt Lake City, UT
Nov. 14: Cincinnati at Iowa State, Ames, IA
Nov. 21: Texas Tech at Baylor, Waco, TX
Nov. 28: Arizona State at Arizona, Tucson, AZ

Feel free to post your own (Power, G6, FCS, Wilkes University conference , etc)

My Big Ten logic:

So the obvious first choice was UM/OSU with OSU/IU the next on the list. Ore/OSU was blocked out with UM/OSU.

I went with PSU's biggest game vs. USC and went with USC's biggest game vs. Oregon (it prevented me from using USC's Week 0 game but in my mind who cares?)

I definitely wanted to see a game at the Rose Bowl and having my Illini there was a bonus. It's probably the best Illinois road game with a big stadium and a decent chance there won't be too many UCLA fans there.

I went with two Iowa road games instead of a home game (Iowa is one of Illinois's biggest home games and Minnesota-Iowa is one of the Big Ten's biggest non Rivalry week rivalry games).

My Penn State road game is Northwestern's first game at the new Ryan Field, it gives me a chance to see Chicago, and I'm not sure if Northwestern has that many fans (although their first home game at the new stadium likely will bring them out).

Rounding out I have Wisconsin and Maryland, two schools I had cousins graduate from, Washington at Nebraska, a good game involving two strong schools in a great environment in Lincoln, and Boise State at Oregon, probably the best opening week I can get and a chance to go up to another great environment in Eugene.

I will not be traveling to Iowa, Washington, Michigan State, Purdue, Rutgers. I won't be seeing Purdue or Michigan State at all. I was tempted to see Notre Dame at Purdue but it's the same week as Oregon-USC. As for MSU, I don't know which game I could add and which game to leave off.

My SEC logic:

First choice was Georgia at Alabama. Ohio State at Texas was an easy choice as was the Kiffin Bowl. Texas at Texas A&M was also pretty easy with the Iron Bowl blocked out being at Alabama.

Here's the biggest decisions that shaped the rest of the schedule: choosing between this set of games: Alabama at Tennessee, Alabama at LSU, and LSU at Tennessee. Kiffin returning to Knoxville is a fairly big story in itself but going to two LSU road games means I can't go to Baton Rouge so that seems out. Alabama-Tennessee and Alabama-LSU are huge. I chose Alabama-Tennessee figuring Clemson-LSU is a fairly big alternative (and is Kiffin's first game at LSU). Tennessee has Arch Manning coming to Knoxville but since I had already chosen OSU and A&M I was blocked out of Texas's games.

Oklahoma at Georgia seemed to be the next biggest game on the schedule so I took that one, blocking out Georgia for the season. Now I'm blocked out of Alabama, Georgia, Texas, and LSU.

I originally had Texas A&M at Oklahoma picked but then I found out I had no room for a game at Florida and IMO Florida is a state I want to visit in an SEC road trip series so I found Mississippi at Oklahoma for OU's home game instead and was able to squeeze in Vanderbilt at Florida for my trip to Gainesville (every other UF home game was on a date I had already scheduled for a big game).

Auburn's still on the board and the only open date that they play an opponent that's not already scheduled for two games is Nov. 7 vs. Arkansas.

That leaves Oct. 3, Oct. 24, and Oct. 31 with Florida, Tennessee, and Auburn and Texas A&M only available as road teams. The only game that fits Oct. 31 is Missouri at Arkansas and that blocks Arkansas out now. There are two valid games for Oct. 3 (Florida at Missouri and Kentucky at South Carolina and two for Oct. 24 (Tennessee at South Carolina and Vanderbilt at Kentucky) and I can't take both South Carolina home teams. For both, I took the blue blood visiting team (Florida at Missouri and Tennessee at South Carolina).

Kentucky and Mississippi State are left out completely and I won't be visiting Vanderbilt/Nashville (I would have loved to go there in place of some of the other sites I have listed).

ACC logic:

First things first, Notre Dame home games are forbidden!

My first priorities were Florida State at Miami and Miami at Clemson. I went for Florida at Florida State for Rivalry Week over others (I'm big on the state of Florida). I also love Stanford-California, especially this year being at Berkeley where I have plenty of family graduate from.

I then saw Duke at Virginia as last year's ACC Championship Game rematch. I then looked for top non conference games and found Tennessee at Georgia Tech so I locked that one up. I then looked for UNC-Duke but that game was the same week as FSU/Miami.

The ACC actually had a Week 0 hosted game that was "available" meaning the host didn't have a "better" game (FSU hosted UF and UVa hosted the championship game rematch) so I was able to squeeze an extra game in.

That meant I only miss three schools: Virginia Tech, SMU, and Wake Forest and I was able to get all three of them as road opponents. I wanted to get SMU on the schedule because I have family in Dallas but there were other priorities to me.

Big 12 logic:

I had to go and correct this one!

My first priorities were Missouri-Kansas, Notre Dame-BYU, BYU-Utah. This took BYU off the board both ways. I looked at Rivalry Week and then locked up Arizona State-Arizona. I was looking for Kansas-Kansas State but it was the same week as Notre Dame-BYU.

I was then looking for in state Texas rivalries and found Texas Tech-Baylor and Houston-Texas Tech (TCU-Baylor was also the same week as Notre Dame-BYU).

I then looked for trying to get the next best "destinations" being TCU (Dallas/Ft. Worth), UCF (Orlando), Arizona State (Phoenix) with Houston (Houston), Cincinnati (Cincinnati), and Colorado (Boulder) next. Iowa State got the last home game. West Virginia and Kansas State got a road game. Oklahoma State got no games at all.

Week 1: Toledo at Michigan State - potential MAC vs. Big Ten upset
Week 2: Oklahoma at Michigan - once in a generation game
Week 3: Colorado at Northwestern - last chance to see the lakefront stadium
Week 4: Notre Dame at Purdue - at this point it's probably an ND home game
Week 5: Michigan State at Wisconsin - must win game for both schools to have a successful season
Week 6: USC at Penn State - biggest home game in 2026 for Penn State
Week 7: Ohio State at Indiana - lets hope that IU doesn't have 2+ losses by this game
Week 8: Iowa at Minnesota - first to 20 wins
Week 9: Wisconsin at Iowa - first to 20 wins
Week 10: Oregon at Ohio State - potential Big Ten title preview
Week 11: Michigan at Oregon - potential CFP play-in game
Week 12: Indiana at Washington - potential CFP play-in game
Week 13: USC at UCLA - rivalry game, end the year with a trip to Pasadena

(06-28-2026 12:28 PM)thrill_house Wrote:  Week 1: Toledo at Michigan State - potential MAC vs. Big Ten upset
Week 2: Oklahoma at Michigan - once in a generation game
Week 3: Colorado at Northwestern - last chance to see the lakefront stadium
Week 4: Notre Dame at Purdue - at this point it's probably an ND home game
Week 5: Michigan State at Wisconsin - must win game for both schools to have a successful season
Week 6: USC at Penn State - biggest home game in 2026 for Penn State
Week 7: Ohio State at Indiana - lets hope that IU doesn't have 2+ losses by this game
Week 8: Iowa at Minnesota - first to 20 wins
Week 9: Wisconsin at Iowa - first to 20 wins
Week 10: Oregon at Ohio State - potential Big Ten title preview
Week 11: Michigan at Oregon - potential CFP play-in game
Week 12: Indiana at Washington - potential CFP play-in game
Week 13: USC at UCLA - rivalry game, end the year with a trip to Pasadena

I appreciate you leaving Illinois off LOL.

I guess a Michigan fan isn't comfortable going to the Shoe for the Game LOL. Michigan at Oregon is a good alternative as is Oregon at Ohio State.

I'm not a Michigan fan.

I just threw the schedule into ChatGPT, listed the current prices of all games featuring Big Ten teams on the second hand market, and ran a program which spit out the most expensive schedule possible with the parameters.

THE AMERICAN

15. Navy@Army

13. Tulsa@UTSA
12. Memphis@Navy
11. Tulane@Rice
10. Rice@UNT
9. Army@Memphis
8. UTSA@Tulane
7. KentState@USF
6. UConn@Temple
5. UNT@Tulsa
4. NCCentral@ECU
3. FIU@FAU
2. Monroe@UAB
1. Citadel@CLT


For a 14 team conference playing 14 weeks… yes everyone gets a home game. But there were a lot of tough choices and reshuffling to meet those constraints(!)

(06-28-2026 07:29 PM)owl at the moon Wrote:  THE AMERICAN

15. Navy@Army

13. Tulsa@UTSA
12. Memphis@Navy
11. Tulane@Rice
10. Rice@UNT
9. Army@Memphis
8. UTSA@Tulane
7. KentState@USF
6. UConn@Temple
5. UNT@Tulsa
4. NCCentral@ECU
3. FIU@FAU
2. Monroe@UAB
1. Citadel@CLT


For a 14 team conference playing 14 weeks… yes everyone gets a home game. But there were a lot of tough choices and reshuffling to meet those constraints(!)

AAC:
Sept. 5: Oklahoma State at Tulsa, Tulsa, OK
Sept. 12: Penn State at Temple, Philadelphia, PA
Sept. 19: Tennessee Martin at Memphis, Memphis, TN
Sept. 26: Colorado State at Texas San Antonio, San Antonio, TX
Oct. 3: Texas San Antonio at Rice, Houston, TX
Oct. 10: Tulsa at Navy, Annapolis, MD
Oct. 17: Kent State at South Florida, Tampa, FL
Oct. 24: Rice at Florida Atlantic, Boca Raton, FL
Oct. 31: Temple at East Carolina, Greenville, NC
Nov. 7: Air Force at Army, West Point, NY
Nov. 14: East Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC
Nov. 21: North Texas at Tulane, New Orleans, LA
Nov. 28: UAB at North Texas, Denton, TX
Dec. 12: Army vs. Navy, East Rutherford, NJ

Since Army-Navy is a neutral game it doesn't count towards Army or Navy.

Obviously I had to take Penn State-Temple and the only other AAC I could find that hosted a P4 was Tulsa hosting Oklahoma State. Army hosted Air Force (Air Force hosts Navy). The rematch of the AAC Championship was North Texas-Tulane so I chose it. I tried to get a few in state matchups but a few of them were the same date as Army-Air Force or North Texas-Tulane. UAB was the only home site I don't visit.

I will bend the rules for any conference with less than 13 members that you may travel to a team twice but you must visit each school once to be fair. For a conference of eight we'd have to bend the maximum of two games per school as well (obviously if it's not mathematically possible to limit it to two games total for any one team you can bend that too but make it fair so you're not choosing all of one school's games).

An FCS Conference challenge: The Pioneer League
Week 0: Lawrence Tech-Valparaiso
Week 1: Elon-Davidson
Week 2: Thomas More-Dayton
Week 3: Chicago State-Butler
Week 4: San Diego-St. Thomas
Week 5: Valparaiso-Morehead State
Week 6: Davidson-Presbyterian
Week 7: Presbyterian-Stetson
Week 8: Butler-Drake
Week 9: Marist-San Diego
Week 10: Morehead State-Marist