If Alabama and Notre Dame are doing it, why can’t everyone do it?

The “it” in this scenario, is schedule a headliner home-and-home series. A lot of B1G teams already do that. A lot of them don’t. That got me thinking about which B1G fantasy matchups would we love to see in non-conference play.

To qualify as a “fantasy” matchup, they cannot already be on the future schedule (that’s a reality matchup) and they can’t have played in the regular season in the last 5 years.

So here are the matchups that I came up with:

Ohio State vs. Alabama

Let’s start with an obvious one. Nick Saban vs. Urban Meyer speaks for itself. Crazy it is that the last time they met was in the 2014 College Football Playoff semifinal matchup. I’m all for doing whatever we can to match up two of the four active coaches with a ring. Having them face off in recruiting battles isn’t good enough.

Once upon a time, it seemed like a given that Saban and Meyer would meet in the SEC Championship. Now, the only real chance they would face off would be in a Playoff game.

Then again, Alabama did just schedule that aforementioned Notre Dame home-and-home, so….

Nebraska vs. Missouri

There’s a section of Nebraska fans who still DESPISE Mizzou going back to those days in the Big Eight and Big 12. Chase Daniel wouldn’t be there anymore, but Scott Frost would be. Oh, and Matt Davison would be there calling the game on radio.

How many dozens of times would we see this clip (via Cornhuskers Football)?

Nebraska has done a good job of getting some of those old Big 8/Big 12 rivals back on the schedule. The Huskers have two home-and-homes apiece with Colorado (beginning this year) and Oklahoma (beginning in 2019). Adding Mizzou would bring back a whole bunch of Husker nostalgia.

Penn State vs. Mississippi State

You bet I want to see Joe Moorhead vs. Penn State. Not that there’s any bad blood there, but it would be fantastic to see what Moorhead could do against his former team. That would be an especially intriguing lineup this year, with Mississippi State looking like a 10-win team in Moorhead’s first year in Starkville.

The two teams have never played, and with Pitt apparently not good enough to be considered a real rivalry (according to some Penn State fans), why not start a new rivalry with an old friend?

Wisconsin vs. Oklahoma

Some of these rivalries are on here because of history, and some are on here because I just think they’d be great matchups between elite programs. Wisconsin-Oklahoma would be the latter. The contrast of styles would make for a must-see matchup.

Even without Baker Mayfield, this is still a Lincoln Riley offense that’s going to throw the ball all over the place and put up big numbers for years to come. Until further notice, Wisconsin will be cranking out top-10 defenses and running the ball extremely well. Why not get Oklahoma to make a trip up to Camp Randall for a night game in September?

Outside of that Notre Dame series in 2020 and 2021, the Badgers’ future non-conference schedule is lacking some juice. A matchup with Oklahoma would be all sorts of juicy.

Indiana vs. Kentucky

Yeah, I know. It’d be a better basketball matchup. It always has been and always will be.

But not too long ago, to two schools played regularly on the gridiron. From 1987-2005, the teams battled annually for The Bourbon Barrel (they stopped using that name in 1999)

Still, they could easily come up with a new trophy that would get both fanbases fired up. Maybe they play for a golden basketball and call it “The Battle for Basketball Fans’ Attention.” That would definitely bring out the fans on both sides who consider fall “preseason hoops season.”

And on the Big Ten Network broadcast, they can just show this instead of commercials at every timeout (via Indiana Athletics):

Make it happen.

Michigan State vs. Georgia

I feel like this has potential to be a New Year’s Six matchup this year. A rematch of the overtime thriller that was the 2011 Outback Bowl would be fantastic, though obviously Georgia is a much different team now than it was then under Mark Richt.

Getting to watch two of the best defensive minds in the sport in Kirby Smart and Mark Dantonio would be plenty entertaining. It would also be a good strength vs. strength matchup with Georgia’s run game against MSU’s run defense.

Would Georgia ever be open to it? The Dawgs did just travel north of the Mason-Dixon Line for a game for the first time since 1965 (excluding that Colorado game that was barely north of the extended line). Georgia fans also went crazy for the trip to the Midwest. I bet they would travel extremely well to East Lansing, too.

Michigan vs. Stanford

Jim Harbaugh returning to the Bay Area? Sign me up for that. It’d also be a great master vs. apprentice matchup between Harbaugh and David Shaw. How easy it is to forget that Shaw was Harbaugh’s offensive coordinator when they were at Stanford.

It’d be interesting to know if Stanford fans would rather have Shaw or Harbaugh as the program’s coach right now. It was Harbaugh who completely rebuild the program and led it to 12 wins just 4 years removed from a 1-11 season. And it was Shaw who did what Harbaugh couldn’t do, which was win a division title (Shaw has 5 of those in 7 years at Stanford).

Some would suggest that it’d be a battle of college football’s most overrated coach vs. college football’s most underrated coach. In my opinion, that wouldn’t be a fair comparison, but it’d happen nonetheless.

The two programs haven’t met since 1976, and given all of the unnecessary headlines that would ensue, I wouldn’t bank on Harbaugh signing up to end that drought.

But hey, crazier things — like Harbaugh going back to Michigan — have happened.