THINK TANK: Central Scheduling

College football is competing itself out of existence.

Conference/school control of scheduling is tearing the game away from the fans as the power brokers continue to seek more money and power.

But what if everyone comes together to think outside of the box for creative and innovative solutions to the problems facing college athletics?

A while back, the gang at CaneReports put their heads together to come up with ways to repair the damage done by decades of in-fighting and the chase of the almighty dollar.

After research, study and debate, we feel the solution comes down to one main factor… fail points in the system, specifically scheduling.

Currently conferences and schools independently control the scheduling of football across the country. With the realignment of conferences, continuing independent scheduling has created chaos and instability for all concerned.

We present to you, the fans, a potential quantum change that will substantially reduce the chaos being experienced today…

Central Scheduling:

It calls for a Central Scheduling. How would it work?

The NCAA would take over all Division I scheduling from the conferences and Notre Dame. Yep, I hear it now. NO WAY! That’s when we knew we hit pay dirt.

First, we knew we needed to address the big elephant in the tent. The Notre Dame quandary needed to first be addressed. The Irish have been steadfast in their independence. OK, that’s fair. But if you want schools to play, there has to be a WIN-WIN scenario. Or you will be home watching the playoffs every year.

We believe we found a way for all to profit while bringing order back to the game of football.

Let’s examine the Notre Dame conundrum. The Irish want to have a clear path to a national championship. So does every school but for decades the Irish have been living in the past and continued to milk it to their advantage.

However, the rest of college football has grown tired of the preferential treatment Notre Dame receives from the rest of college football. College football conferences and schools are growing tired of giving the Irish preferential treatment. There has even been talk among ACC athletic directors about ending their scheduling agreement with Notre Dame. In recent years, Notre Dame has struggled to schedule schools. In 2025, the Irish were left out of the national playoffs despite their continued brand strength. With each passing year, Notre Dame’s position of power erodes.

After much debate, we decided to not kill the goose that laid the golden egg. Instead, we decided to make a few course corrections to leverage the luck of the Irish. Central scheduling is the key.

STEP ONE: Get the commissioner’s of the Power Four Conferences and the Notre Dame AD together to implement a new centralized scheduling system.

STEP TWO: Each Power Four conference would get two games with the Irish each season (one at home and one away.) on a rotational basis. The AAC, Pac-12 and Mountain West would get one game with the Irish, all on the road. Notre Dame gets to choose its 12th game.

Let’s look at a hypothetical Notre Dame schedule. We went alphabetical.

Notre Dame Schedules:

2026:

ACC: Boston College, California

SEC: Alabama, Arkansas

BigTen: Indiana, Iowa

Big12: Arizona, Arizona State

AAC: Army

PAC12: Boise State

MWC: Air Force

ND: TBD (Irish choice)

2027:

ACC: Clemson, Duke

SEC: Auburn, Florida

BigTen: Illinois, Maryland

Big12: Baylor, BYU

AAC: UAB

PAC12: Fresno State

MWC: Colorado State

ND: TBD (Irish choice)

2028:

ACC: Florida State, Georgia Tech

SEC: Georgia, Kentucky

BigTen: Michigan Michigan State

Big12: Central Florida (UCF), Cincinnati

AAC: Charlotte

PAC12: Houston

MWC: Hawaii

ND: TBD (Irish choice)

2029:

ACC: Louisville, Miami

SEC: LSU, Mississippi

BigTen: Northwestern. Nebraska

Big12: Houston, Iowa State

AAC: Florida Atlantic (FAU)

PAC12: San Diego State

MWC: Utah State

ND: TBD (Irish choice)

2030:

ACC: North Carolina, NC State

SEC: Mississippi State, Missouri

BigTen: Ohio State, Oregon

Big12: Kansas, Kansas State

AAC: Memphis

PAC12: Texas State

MWC: UNLV

ND: TBD (Irish choice)

After the 2030 season, media rights agreements will be renegotiated and subsequent conference realignment will occur .We will be back to the drawing board. However, central scheduling would continue in some form going into the future.

BOTTOM LINE:

Central Scheduling will bring stability to college football until the next round of realignment. It will also relieve the CFP selection process and move the game back closer to the fans (literally.)

Notre Dame remains independent, with a national footprint and receive eight games every year against Power Four schools. Let the Irish earn a playoff spot on the field, not automatically because of their reputation.

GO CANES!