Mississippi State has been active recently in lining up future home-and-home series’ against power five conference opponents.
In June, the Bulldogs announced a 2022-23 football series against the Arizona Wildcats. Then earlier this month, MSU scheduled a series with the NC State Wolfpack for 2020 and 2021.
In what could be a first, Mississippi State director of athletics Scott Stricklin and Kansas State director of athletics John Currie agreed today, on Twitter, to a home-and-home football series to be played in 2018 and 2019.
Here are how the tweets played out:
In his #Chillin4Charity video @John_Currie invites @HailStateFB to play at K-State. ‘16 in Manhattan, ’17 in Starkville? #HailState
— Scott Stricklin (@ScottStricklin) July 11, 2014
@stricklinMSU @HailStateFB Already got some stuff working then – how about '18 MHK, '19 Starkvegas? #KState #Family
— John Currie (@John_Currie) July 11, 2014
So, @HailStateFB vs @KState_Football: ‘18 in Manhattan; ’19 in Starkville. Pleasure doing business with you, @John_Currie. #HailState
— Scott Stricklin (@ScottStricklin) July 11, 2014
The Chillin’ 4 Charity video that Stricklin references is available to view on Youtube. Scott Stricklin had earlier tweeted John Currie and challenged him to have a bucket of ice water dumped on him, which is the crux of #Chillin4Charity.
After having three buckets of ice water dumped on him by K-State football players, John Currie offers a challenge to Scott Stricklin at Mississippi State.
“Now, we’ve got one more thing here for Scott Stricklin and Mississippi State. We think that Mississippi State ought to come here to Bill Snyder Family Stadium and play a little football sometime.”
That sometime looks like it will be 2018 in Manahattan, with K-State returning the trip to Starkville in 2019.
Should the two athletic directors put pen to paper, the 2018 game will be the first meeting between the two since a home-and-home series back in 1974 and 1977. The Bulldogs won both contests, but later forfeited the 1977 result.
The series would also satisfy Mississippi State’s power five non-conference scheduling mandate for 2018 and 2019. MSU still needs opponents for 2016 and 2017, however, and those were the two dates that Stricklin initially requested.
Kansas State now has, tentatively, two non-conference opponents set for both the 2018 and 2019 seasons. The Wildcats are scheduled to host UTSA in 2018 and Bowling Green in 2019.
Football Schedules
K-State vs. Mississippi State? I like it. Nice two game series for both schools (and die-hard college football fans).
Glad to see K-State scheduling a “power 5” conference team. I think there was a bit of a fear that, now that Snyder is back, the improvements he brings to their team would be coupled with the return to cupcake-only OOC schedules. Mississippi State isn’t a world beater year in and out, but it’s not a bad sign. Hope they come up with a good series for 2016-2017 too. Baylor, come on. Everyone else is doing something in OOC games. That Duke series isn’t nearly enough.
Wonder what K-State has ‘workin’ in 16 & 17? It wouldn’t be against Oregon as Snyder cancelled that series.
At least, I assume KSU is ‘workin’ on a home-and-home with a power conference program. Arizona, Washington, BC, WF, Syracuse and NC St appear to have openings.
But Snyder has a problem playing across time zones.
I was wondering the same thing. The first thing I thought of was renewing some Big 8 Rivalries.. but Nebraska and Colorado are booked for 16/17, Mizzou is open….THAT would be interesting. Texas A&M is open for 16/17 as well.
Actually he didn’t cancel the Oregon series, they tried to get out of coming to Manhattan (they still wanted KSU to play there), Snyder said No dice, so the series was cancelled all together
@Jeff
Right on about Baylor. How can anyone appreciate such scheduling? With a schedule like that they will be playing for a spot in the Texas Bowl or Cactus bowl. Nothing more.
One has to wonder if there has to be some athletic office in-breeding going on with those annual TCU/SMU and Baylor/SMU matchups. That big game between Baylor and Incarnate Word is coming up in 2019. I wonder of the Bears AD has give any thought to turning that into a big annual rivalry.
You also gotta not love future Kansas schedules. The Jayhawks have a game at Duke this coming season, and a home-and-home with the Big Ten juggernaut Rutgers.
I wonder of the KU and KSU AD’s wished they were in different conferences so they could too have the luxury of one those annual in-state cross-conference games, Same with Purdue/Indiana, Missi/MissiSt, Duke/WF and NC/NC St.
Makes scheduling much easier, just as it does for the Iowa, Kentucky, Colorado and schools.
Hope to see Pitt-Penn St reestablished as a permanent rivalry (2020 and thereafter).
FlaSt-Fla, Clemson-SoCar, and Geo-GT are pretty good non-conference rivalries. Texas is foolish for not wanting to play TAM in an annual game. And same for Notre Dame for dropping the annual Michigan game.
I have no problem with TCU/SMU or even Baylor/SMU. The former is a long-term rivalry that is coming up on its 100th meeting. And it just makes sense that there be some DFW area rivalries (even if SMU/UNT feels more even these days). There are a few less games with Baylor and SMU but they’re dead even where record goes, and there’s still over 70 games played between the two. Really though, I mean, Texas teams want to play other Texas teams in their OOC schedules and that makes sense. Keep SMU, just don’t let that be the biggest game on the OOC slate. It’s just about ideal for a second or third game. For TCU, I’d make more a point that they should drop the FCS teams and keep the schedule, at least, a power-5 team (with occasional BIG NAME team), SMU, and someone from the MWC or C-USA. I wouldn’t complain if there were 2 power-5 and SMU, but that may be a bit too optimistic of me. Baylor I look at similarly. I’d love a bigger jump in opponents than this, but if you took the 2 FCS teams for 2014 and 2015 and replaced them with… I don’t care… BC? NC State? Illinois? Vandy? WSU? That would help a ton. And if you made it someone more like Tennessee, Arizona, Miami, or Minnesota, that’d be great.
I’ll chime on on the “Texas is foolish…” thing and say, at the time that A&M walked out the door, there simply wasn’t a hole in the schedule. As a die-hard UT fan, if you were to ask me if I’d prefer that Texas drop a big game for each season in order to play A&M… or keep games against UCLA, Cal, Notre Dame, USC, or Arkansas… I’d laugh in your face. Maryland isn’t as big a deal, but still a decent game matched up with USC… and Ohio State is a series that fits the mold of the others that I listed, I just would prefer to have played someone else after the experience our fans had in Columbus. Should be exciting, but come on, if it had to be Big 10, give us Wisconsin or Michigan or someone else. And, the way college football works, there’s no way that they’d keep those games and put A&M on instead of the C-USA or AAC team. Notre Dame, Cal, and A&M, or USC, Maryland, A&M as a OOC slate just isn’t realistic in the current college football climate.
I have no problem with A&M eventually popping up on our schedule, but I’ll be honest… we play 3 Texas teams every year in conference already (and OU and OSU might as well count with how many Texas people go there or follow them). We should definitely keep scheduling Rice, UTEP, UNT, etc, as our “lite” third game, but if you want to set us up for an annual game against A&M or rotate through where we play one HUGE name football school (Clemson, Florida State, Virginia Tech, Mighigan, Penn State, Wisconsin, Oregon, Stanford, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Auburn, LSU) and one other decent power-5 opponent (virtually anyone else in the power-5 conferences)… I’m sorry, A&M made sense as a conference game, but i feel like UT fans and UT football would get more out of playing the programs that I listed.
To help illustrate my point… while Texas is a big state, and A&M is closer than a lot of the opponents to Austin, Texas plays 9 games within the state of Texas this year, 9 games within the state next year, 8 games the year after, 9 again the following year, and so on. While there would certainly be some buzz around Texas playing A&M right now (because of the recent history between the two schools and the conference shift) and while it’s pretty silly that the rivalry ended (just like it’s silly that A&M’s rivalry with Tech, OU, Baylor, OSU, etc, ended) a game against LSU or Florida… Notre Dame or USC… Oregon or Ohio State… is going to get more national buzz in general. A win against those teams, in any given year, would start the national title buzz and a loss would, honestly, have less of a direct effect than the same thing against A&M where the positive focus from a win would mostly be for in-state fans and the negative effects of a loss could influence recruiting more directly. Just speaking logically…
As a fan, playing other high-level programs with great history… seeing them come to Austin and getting to check out their home turf… is just more exciting overall.
texas a&m has passed texas so quickly that you others longhorns fans don’t realize or refuse to accept it. the aggies are destroying ut in recruiting and has become the top program in the state. the move to the SEC was so big that ut fans will regret it for decades. have you seen the new stadium under construction that will seat 106,000 this season. as for as out of conference opponents ut has 3 name home games the next 6 years, one every other year. playing ou in dallas every year leaves the longhorns with pathetic home schedules year after year. meanwhile the aggies play lsu, Alabama, auburn, Arkansas, south Carolina and ole miss every year guaranteeing better home schedules year after year. never underestimate the power of the SEC.
and btw i’m not an aggie fan or I would be calling yall tu or teasips. what I am is a college football fanatic and have studied the history of this great sport for all of my 55 years. I like the texas program and its history but yall made a massive history-altering move by chasing Nebraska, a&m and mizzou away thinking you could go it alone. recruiting alone since the aggies came over is amazing. have you seen this years commits? ut has no one in the texas top 20 while the aggies have 11 and ou 4. and i’ll add coach strong is unproven having won 11 games last year by playing only one p5 team ( uk ) while at Louisville.
And then there is Baylor and Art Briles…Do we need to say more about OOC scheduling.
The big question is it reasonable to question if the 74 year old Bill Snyder will still be coaching when he is 78? How is it looking for some P5 OOC games in 2015 2016 2017? Bill, get back to me when that happens.
I do think a KSU-MSU game is appropriate level scheduling for both teams at this time.
Baylot: Where can I get my tickets for Incarnate World in 2019?
MSU is getting closer to meeting their 9 P5 games per year the SEC requires. And as I expected it started further out in time and is working back toward the present. I suspect they already have a 2016-17 opponent lined up, but are working out the details – these announcements seem planned. Wonder who it is?
Frankly I think its a good thing the SEC and ACC are requiring 9 P5 games, as we get more quality match ups. For their fans it means a good OOC home game every other year, not just a couple of G5 schools and an FCS opponent, which is a bit of a rip off for the ticket prices.
Actually I don’t think MSU has someone in mind for 16-17 yet. If you’ll note in the story, MSU asked K-State to play in 16-17 but the Wildcats countered with 18-19.
In an interesting story on this site there was a story about the teams which have the longest streak of not playing P5 opponents that list had number 1 Texas Texas and Number 2 Baylor.. TT has not played a P5 opponent OOC since 2007. Baylor since 2009. Rounding out the list were Utah, TAMU Kansas and Colorado Outside of Utah(Which was not in a P5 conference until recently) all of the others were or had been in the Big 12. Seems like it was a common practice for some Big 12 teams.
At this time TT Kansas and TAMU each end that streak. Baylor will proudly carry on their streak.
https://fbschedules.com/2014/06/longest-non-conference-power-five-scheduling-droughts/
After going through all of the P5 OOC Schedules for 2016 here is a list of those who do not have a P5 OOC game scheduled. (Didn’t look at the Big 12 becasue I’m looking for interesting OOC possibilities for K State.
Alabama
Arizona
Arkansas
Auburn
BC
Clemson
FSU
Miami
Miss St
Mizzou
NC State
Syracuse
Utah
Washington St
I think the most realistic possibilities are
1. home and home vs Mizzou
2. home and home vs Arkansas
3. 16 Arizona at K State, 17, K State vs Arizona at University of Phoenix Stadium (in 16 Arizona is hosting BYU at University of Phoenix Stadium)
*I think you’re spot on with Mizzou. KU still has isssssues with Mizzou having left. Mizzou playing KSU for a home and away, really exposes KU for NOT having been the victim. Plus, it sets up Mizzou getting a home’n’away with KU set up after. People will say to KU, if KSU can make a home’n’away work, why can’t you? Why do you insist on playing in Kansas City, when Columbia’s on the same interstate?
*Arkansas’s already set those years, although it would be an interesting game. (And I-49 won’t be done around Bella Vista for five or more years, so it really isn’t much different from its I-540+US 71 days. A few interchanges between Joplin and KC didn’t really speed it up much.)
*Your list is interesting and suggests an article for FBSchedules… what schools that now have the P5 OOC requirement (SEC and ACC) are unscheduled in future years?? I’d leave off the PAC guys, and just focus on these:
SEC: UA, Ark, AU, MSU, Mizzou
ACC: BC, Clem, FSU, Miami, NCSU, Syracuse
It sure would be fascinating to encourage the return of an AU-FSU series (AU’s played Clemson plenty lately, and this past title game was awesome), and a UA-Miami series.
MSU should sign up fellow land-grants NCSU or Clemson for a series. Ark could take whichever MSU doesn’t sign… and Mizzou should aim for Syracuse or BC, since they like to be connected to northern schools….
I will start with the obvious mistakes on your list….FSU plays Florida every year, Clemson plays South Carolina every year. Beyond those mistakes for traditional rivals in 2016 NC State plays ND Syracuse plays ND Miami plays ND,
In most years FSU and Clemson have two OOC games with opponents from P5 opponents or what was BCS opponents. And before you say in 2012 and 2013 FSU only played the one P5 opponent (Florida) you need to keep in mind before the start of the 2012 season, WVU cancelled the series for 2012 and 2013 with FSU, when WVU became a member of the Big 12.
*Darn it, I knew I should have taken a moment and checked your list for errors.
*Still, your list was interesting and suggests a 2016 article for FBSchedules… what schools that now have the P5 OOC requirement (SEC and ACC) are unscheduled in year 2016?? With the corrections, and removing UA since they’re playing USC that pulls UA off. I had left off the PAC guys, but now putting them back:
SEC: Ark, AU, MSU, Mizzou
ACC: BC, Clem
PAC: Arizona, Utah, Wazzu
So, AU playing Clemson again is boring. AU has a lot of alumni in the Northeast (like me), and a game with BC in Boston for a home’n’away series would really be good.
Arkansas v. Arizona sounds like a good intersectional game.
MSU should sign up fellow land-grant Clemson.
Wazzu v. Mizzou is just fun.
That satisfies everyone. Utah, should play BYU.
Tully – Your are correct and (once again) I was wrong on FSU (Florida) and Clemson (South Carolina).
Notre Dame is a bit of a different story. Notre Dame is now an Associate Member of the ACC in Football so Notre Dame is an “ACC Conference Game” for North Carolina State, Syracuse and Miami.
Final thought on K State 2016, 2017
After thinking it over for a while I have come to the conclusion it will have to be Arkansas. (unless of course as usual I am wrong)
(1) When K State won its first Big 12 Championship, Brett Bielema was Bill Snyder’s Defensive Coordinator. I don’t know if they have any sort of bond but it stands to reason, they would.
(2) With the completion of I-49 north out of Fayetteville to Kansas City, Arkansas and K State are separated by a mere 4 1/2 to 5/12 hr drive. (depending upon how fast you drive).
(3) As an OOC home and home opportunity only Mizzou is within the same driving distance, making it one of only 2 real options for 2016 and 2017 that allow fans to drive to the away game
(4) It seems that Mizzou fans would like to rekindle the rivalry with Kansas (and who wouldn’t want an easy P5 OOC win) So Mizzou may not be available to K State
(5) Nebraska, K States closest natural rival, probably won’t be available in the forseeable future due to the Big 10 – PAC 12 scheduling alliance.
(6) Miss State is the next closest and the fact that K State put them off for something already “in the works” must be either Mizzou or Arkansas.
(7) There are no other names on the P5 (open) Dance Card for 1017 – 2017 that make a whole lot of sense, Auburn and Miami? (been there) Alabama, FSU, Clemson probably not available to K State, Arizona would probably require a renting out University of Phoenix Stadium, (no one want to play Arizona or Arizona State in Arizona in September. BC, NC State, Syracuse, Utah, Washington State are all over 1,000 miles away.
Arkansas actually has TCU for a home-and-home in 2016 and 2017 so they’re unlikely to schedule Kansas State then, although they might in the 2020’s which would be great.
Are we 19 not 20 in foot ball ranking