Only 10 Of 136 FBS Teams Will Not Play An FCS Team In 2025
LOS ANGELES - USC defense and UCLA offense at the line of scrimmage before during a game at United ... More Airlines Field at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on November 11, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by)
Since Division-1 college football split into 1-A (FBS) and 1-AA (FCS) beginning with the 1978 season only one team within the higher subdivision has not played a game against a program from the lower subdivision.
While USC is the answer to a trivia question, the Trojans were actually scheduled to play an FCS team four years ago. It was summer 2019 when USC and UC-Davis agreed to kick off the 2021 season at the Coliseum. That did not sit well with many of the Trojans' faithful and the matchup was cancelled several months later and at a cost of $725,000.
USC is one of only 10 FBS teams that do not have a game scheduled against an FCS program in 2025. The tally last season was 15 of 134. (Delaware and Missouri State elevate to the FBS this year.) Four of the 10 teams are Big Ten members with Michigan, UCLA and Wisconsin joining Southern Cal in a rather exclusive list, which is presented below by conference affiliation.
Stanford
Interim coach Frank Reich and the Cardinal have a challenging schedule in that there are only three home games before November. One of them is their third and final non-conference date against San Jose State on September 27. The first two are on the road at the beginning of the season: at Hawaii on August 23 and, following an open week, at BYU on September 6.
Tulane
The first four Saturdays of the season are stacked with non-conference opponents, and a very good lineup at that for coach Jon Sumrall's Green Wave. The season kicks off August 30 at Yulman Stadium against Northwestern, which last visited Tulane in 1955. The first road trip will be all of roughly 150 miles east in Mobile at South Alabama. It is back home for a Week 3 clash with Duke followed by a flight up to Oxford for the 72nd meeting against Ole Miss, which has won 11 straight in the series that dates to 1893.
Colorado
The Buffaloes host Delaware on September 6 in what will be the Blue Hens' first game against an FBS opponent as an FBS program. While that serves as history on the UD side of the divide, the game will be the second of three non-conference affairs for Deion Sanders' squad with all three at Folsom Field. The season opens Friday night August 29 versus Georgia Tech in the first meeting between the teams. The final non-league game will be against Wyoming on September 20, the 28th meeting between the schools and first this century.
Michigan
The Wolverines last played an FBS program in 2010 when Rich Rodriguez was in his third and final season as coach in Ann Arbor. UM hung on for a 42-37 win over UMass, which was playing its final season in the FCS. Sherrone Moore's second season begins against New Mexico on August 30 before traveling to Oklahoma for the first regular season meeting between the schools. The only previous game between two of college football's titans saw the Sooners prevail, 14-6, New Year's Day 1976 in the Orange Bowl. Michigan's final non-conference game is against visiting Central Michigan on September 13.
UCLA
The Bruins never played an FCS program until lining pair of HBCUs – Alabama State in 2022 and North Carolina Central in 2023 – to visit the Rose Bowl. This season's schedule commences August 30 with a visit from former Pac-12 foe Utah. The Bruins travel to UNLV the following week for their third meeting against the Rebels before concluding non-conference play against visiting New Mexico on September 13, the second meeting between the schools.
USC
As noted above, Southern Cal is the only FBS team to have never played one from the FCS. On first glance, when the Trojans' schedule was released earlier this year, one might have thought such a run came to an end. Indeed, seeing Missouri State as the season-opening foe August 30 may have resulted in a double take. Alas, the Bears are making their FBS debut this season as a member of Conference-USA. Georgia Southern, another first-time opponent, visits the Coliseum the following week. The annual clash with Notre Dame is October 18 in South Bend.
Wisconsin
The Badgers open 2025 on August 28 for a Thursday night encounter with Miami (Ohio) in the second meeting between the teams. Middle Tennessee visits Camp Randall the following week for the first-ever meeting between the programs. The non-conference slate wraps up in Tuscaloosa in the back end of a home-and-home that saw the Crimson Tide win in Madison last season, 42-10. It will be the fourth meeting between the schools.
Sam Houston State
The 2025 season will be the Bearkats' third season at the FBS level and second straight not having scheduled an FCS team. This year's non-league slate begins August 30 – the Bearkats open August 23 at conference foe Western Kentucky – against visiting UNLV in the first meeting between the teams. A trip to Hawaii will complete a home-and-home that saw SHSU win in Huntsville last season, 31-13. Following an open week, first-year coach Phil Longo's team will take the roughly 160-mile trip west to Austin to meet the Longhorns, who won (56-3) the only previous meeting in 2006.
SOUTH BEND, INDIANA - The Notre Dame Fighting Irish cheerleaders celebrate a touchdown against the ... More Tennessee State Tigers during the first half at Notre Dame Stadium on September 2, 2023 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by)
Notre Dame
The Fighting Irish played their first and only FCS opponent to date in 2023 when they hosted and defeated (59-3) Eddie George's Tennessee State Tigers, a game that came with a $1 million guarantee. It also assured Notre Dame would have a Labor Day weekend opponent following a Week 0 rescheduled date with Navy in Dublin. The 2020 game in Ireland between the rivals was cancelled due to the pandemic, which led to some schedule maneuvering. The Irish will have two first-time opponents in 2025: Arkansas (Sept. 27, Fayetteville) and Boise State (Oct. 4, South Bend).
Texas
The Longhorns have played an FCS team once in the last 32 years, the 56-3 win against Sam Houston State in 2006 noted above. Their four non-conference games are stacked up in the beginning of the season: at Ohio State and at home against San Jose State, UTEP and Sam Houston. The Longhorns lost to the Buckeyes, 28-14, in a CFP seminal last season and have split four all-time meetings with Ohio State. UT has played SJSU, UTEP and SHSU a combined eight times and have won each by an aggregate 368-39.
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