The 2025 college football season features a compelling slate of games where Power Four programs will hit the road for true away contests against Group of Five opponents. These matchups, often overlooked on paper, carry significant weight for both sides. For the Power Four teams—those in the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC, and the two remaining Pac-12 teams—it’s a chance to test depth and discipline in unfamiliar environments. For the Group of Five hosts, it’s a rare opportunity to knock off a national brand on home turf.
One of the first marquee games comes in Week Zero when Stanford makes the long journey to Hawai’i. It’s a unique opener for the Cardinal and an early litmus test for Frank Reich’s new regime as Stanford looks to rebuild. Week 1 brings another intriguing clash as Mississippi State travels to Hattiesburg to take on Southern Miss in what promises to be a heated in-state matchup. On the same weekend, Northwestern ventures south to face Tulane, a program that’s proven capable of pulling off big wins under Jon Sumrall.
Week 2 is loaded with action. North Carolina and new head coach Bill Belichick face a potential trap game at Charlotte, while West Virginia visits Ohio in a matchup that could have early-season upset potential. UCLA heads to Allegiant Stadium to take on UNLV, a rising Mountain West program that’s been competitive against power programs in recent years and now has the creative mind of Dan Mullen at the helm. That same week, Houston will make the short trip across town to play Rice in a battle of Houston-based teams with plenty of pride on the line.
Week 3 features a large cluster of Power Four road tests, including Oklahoma visiting Temple, Duke taking the aforementioned Tulane squad, and Utah heading to Wyoming. Each of these contests could offer fireworks and close finishes, especially in high-altitude or hostile environments. Later in the season, Arkansas plays Memphis at the Liberty Bowl in Week 4.
While not technically a current Power conference program, Pac-12 member Oregon State travels across the country to face Appalachian State in Week 6, a team known for ambushing ranked opponents at home.
As the season winds down, Duke will take the risk of a non-conference road test in November when it visits UConn. These games aren’t just scheduling quirks, they can influence bowl eligibility, playoff resumes, and morale of the Power Four programs while giving Group of Five teams a chance to define their seasons.
2025 Power Four True Road Games at Group of Five Stadiums
Aug. 23 (Week 0)
Stanford at Hawai’i
Aug. 30 (Week 1)
Northwestern at Tulane
California at Oregon State
Mississippi State at Southern Miss
Sept. 6 (Week 2)
West Virginia at Ohio
North Carolina at Charlotte
Houston at Rice
UCLA at UNLV
Sept. 13 (Week 3)
Oklahoma at Temple
SMU at Missouri State
Iowa State at Arkansas State
Duke at Tulane
Utah at Wyoming
Sept. 20 (Week 4)
Arkansas at Memphis
California at San Diego State
Washington at Washington State
BYU at East Carolina
Sept. 26 (Week 5)
Houston at Oregon State
Oct. 11 (Week 7)
Wake Forest at Oregon State
Nov. 8 (Week 11)
Duke at UConn
BONUS: Oregon State and Washington State were formerly part of the Power Five as members of the Pac-12 Conference. With only two teams currently, the Pac-12 no longer holds autonomy status within the NCAA and is not part of the new power structure that governs the College Football Playoff.
With that being said, below are their road games against Group of Five opponents in 2025:
Sept. 13 (Week 3)
Washington State at North Texas
Sept. 27 (Week 5)
Washington State at Colorado State
Oct. 11 (Week 6)
Oregon State at Appalachian State
Nov. 15 (Week 12)
Oregon State at Tulsa
Nov. 22 (Week 13)
Washington State at James Madison
SEE ALSO: 10 Power 4 teams without a non-conference Power 4 foe in 2025
Oklahoma at Temple reminds me of when Missouri traveled to UMass last season.
At least Temple plays in an NFL stadium
That is strange. Can you Imagine for example, Georgia playing at Northern Illinois?
TU-OU signed a 3 game series back in 2015 when Matt Rhule was the HC
LyleTuttle Georgia at Northern Illinois would make fantastic neutral site game.
Nothing about Georgia and Northern Illinois suggests it would be a good game, much less a “fantastic” neutral site game. The two schools have zero history, they aren’t remotely close to each other, and competitively, Georgia is far-and-away the better team.
What next, we’re going to get excited about Texas and Troy? What an amazing matchup! Let’s have them play it in Denver!
My goodness.
HeyArnold! DeKalb Huskey Stadium is definitely not suitable for Georgia-Northern Illinois.
Have yourself a safe & happy day.
Dan where would your fantastic neutral site game take place, Cleveland? Why would Georgia give up a home game for a neutral site game against a school like Northern? Maybe your northwestern wildcats can play northern at soldier field for a neutral site.
Georgia would never play Northern Illinois anywhere other than Athens.
Excellent for you Kevin pardon for jinxing you.
I think we are past the point of holding Washington State and Oregon State as power, so the bonus has no gain. They have proven by their acceptance of playing more than one G5 road game that they are now more MWC than they are PAC12. You don’t see Northwestern, Vanderbilt and Wake Forest playing more than one of these and while it is due to their lack of options playing out west, playing that many opponents at that level does not raise sympathy from me.
If we didn’t add them, others would have complained.
Vanderbilt and Wake Forest don’t need to fill a schedule of 12 games (or 10 games when the head-to-head matchups with each other are exempted) from every corner of the country. They don’t exactly have much leverage given the lack of available opponents and open dates.
This is for @KevinKelleyFB.
‘If we didn’t add them, others would have complained.’
Would U name Who “Others” are who have this clout on your website?
“If u choose to accept this mission”, I’ll take your answer in private.
Sure, just check the comments on this article:
https://fbschedules.com/10-power-4-teams-without-a-non-conference-power-4-foe-in-2025/
this is pretty cool, idk why the P5 ADs need money this bad to agree to it but its cool to see
Perhaps the most notable are
Mississippi St @ S Miss
W Virginia @ Ohio
N Carolina @ Charlotte
UCLA @ UNLV
SMU @ Missouri St
Utah @ Wyoming
Arkansas @ Memphis
BYU @ E Carolina
Duke @ U Conn
SMU is probably the most What in Tarnation!!!!!!!!
Some additional series tidbits to add to the list of matchups:
Before last year’s matchup, Temple and Oklahoma actually played 2 prior games, with Temple having won the only prior matchup hosted in Philadelphia, back in 1942.
ECU leads the series against BYU 2-1, having last one in Provo back in 2022.
Tulane and Northwestern reboot their rivalry after a near 70 year hiatus, which Tulane also leads the series 3-1.
Despite 4 prior matchups, including as recent as 2023, Stanford has never hosted Hawaii.
Wake Forest and Oregon St will play their first regular season matchup, having played 2 bowl games previously (Wake is 2-0).
Memphis leads the series against Arkansas 3-2, for which no games were previously played in Fayetteville.
And lastly, Ohio-WVU rivalry dates back all the way to 1897, having had a near 25 year hiatus. Sadly for Bobcats fans, since the last time Ohio beat WVU, Ohio has been outscored 136-9 in the total span of 4 games.
I ‘m not sure what is more surprising, that Northwestern and Tulane, two elite private schools separated by only 900 miles, have not played in 70 years, or that Oregon State and Wake Forest, two of the losingest major conference teams in the country somehow matched up not once, but twice in bowl games.
Solid info. Thanks for the insight.
I am still in shock that Bama went to USF a couple years ago.
It was a 2 for 1 deal and they play in an NFL stadium. I went and would say more than 60% of the people there were Alabama fans as they travel really well. You will see less deals like this but hopefully we will still see this happen. People like road tripping to places like Tampa and also for recruiting purposes.
Sunshine State Florida have always been fantastic for recruiting CFB players.
Take this for granted, because this list will be non-existant in a few years.
Arkansas vs Memphis I hope is a good one and should be played more often
Kudos to Mississippi State and Arkansas for playing local (and potential rivalry games) against USM and Memphis. Credit Oklahoma for playing away against Temple although Tulsa would be a much better opponent for them. That’s 3 SEC teams playing true non P4 road games. I wish the other 13 SEC teams would follow suit, yet no doubt (as Joseph Rodriquez mentioned), this list will be non-existent for SEC teams in the near future.
Wish this would happen more often. As a fan, often far cheaper to travel to a G5 opponent. And it’s good for the sport. It’s one factor in why I favor 8 game conference schedules and 13 game overall schedules.. to give more opportunity for this. I’d add in a value system where the committee rewarded P4 schools for playing at a G5 school.
There is part of me that wants the college football schedule to be partially made up like the English FA Cup. It really doesnt work, but the random draws could be crazy, Alabama at Akron, Notre Dame at UL Monroe, USC at UTEP. Of course you’ll still get Rice at Georgia, but seeing the big boys go play in a stadium that will draw less in attendance for an entire season then the visiting team might have for one home gane would be fascinating.
I would love to see Michigan travel down the road to Ypsilanti and play a game at Eastern Michigan. That would be hilarious.
Ford Field would be fair for Eastern Michigan to be home team when they host Michigan plus it would also be fair for both Wolverines & Eagles Fans.