Why haven't these teams played yet?? - Part 1 of ???

June 12, 2023

This is another off-season installment exploring the history of college football and the Commish wish-casting some more weirdness into college football. After all, this is what we do here at the Sickos Committee.

Throughout the history of the nearly or over 150 years of college football, we’d like to think nearly every Power 5 team has played each other at least once in their history. Well, we know that is not the case. The reasons all of these teams have never played vary on a case by case basis.

We want to highlight some match-ups that have never happened and then break down why we want the game to happen. None of this makes sense or is intended to make sense but let’s explore this in a however many part journey. Also, we want these games to be a home and home series, none of that neutral site nonsense but we will explore a potential bowl match-up.

Washington State vs West Virginia

  • Distance between Schools: Just a mere 2,365 miles separate these schools, which is likely the reason they’ve never played. Only a short 23 hour drive.

  • Possible Bowl Tie-ins: CFP, NY6, Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl, Valero Alamo Bowl, Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl, SERVPRO First Responder Bowl, Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl.

  • Fan Base Clash or Match: I’d personally like to think both fan bases would get along quite well. West Virginia and Wazzu fans would likely drink any bowl hosting city dry but both of their respective homes would handle it quite well. It’d be an amazing game I’d love to attend.

  • Sickos Potential Rating: 15 out of 5. Can you imagine this game in PAC-12 After Dark? Can you imagine this one at night in Morgantown?? Sign us up immediately.

  • Sickos Urgency Rating: 17 out of 5. Let’s go Wazzu and WVU, schedule this game immediately. We need it.

LSU VS Michigan

  • Distance between Schools: 1,109 miles apart. Just a measly 16 hour drive compared to the game above this one.

  • Possible Bowl Tie-ins: CFP, NY6, ReliaQuest Bowl, TransPerfect Music City Bowl, Cheez-It Citrus Bowl

  • Fan Base Clash or Match: I feel like this is a fan base clash for the most part and I want to see it. LSU fans are tailgating masters and experts. I feel (I don’t know for sure) Michigan is a little underrated in tailgating too but you’d likely have to be a little bit further from the stadium. Also, LSU and Michigan both tailgate near their respective golf courses. I’d love to see Michigan in the September heat in Baton Rouge. Also, I love to see LSU in Michigan in November.

  • Sickos Potential Rating: 3 out of 5. LSU tends to have wild games. Michigan tends to have some chaos every now and then, as exemplified by the Fiesta Bowl last year. We’d have it as a Sickos Watch or Advisory.

  • Sickos Urgency Rating: 4 out of 5. I know this is a mainstream game with two huge mainstream brands in college football. However, the NY6 folks robbed us of this LSU vs Michigan game and a potential NY6 with Florida vs UCF. How could they do that to us?? Damn you selection committee!!

Iowa State vs Mississippi State

  • Distance between Schools: 792 miles apart, about a 12 1/2 hour drive.

  • Possible Bowl Tie-ins: CFP, NY6, ReliaQuest Bowl, TransPerfect Music City Bowl, Cheez-It Citrus Bowl.

  • Fan Base Clash or Match: I’d have to lean match here. Both are the state school, compared to the slightly bigger hated rival university in the state. Both are historically below .500, both have been in conferences with historic powers and both don’t have many huge successful seasons. Also, a tornado siren for Iowa State touchdowns and we get a Mississippi State cowbell all game? Let’s do this.

  • Sickos Potential Rating: 10 out of 5. These schools could put on a Sickos show. However, I will have to downgrade it a little bit due to the untimely passing of Mike Leach. RIP Pirate.

  • Sickos Urgency Rating: 14 out of 5. This game feels like a weird first or third weekend in September as hell game and we want it to happen immediately.

Syracuse vs Texas Tech

  • Distance between Schools: 1,730 miles, a lovely scenic 25 hour drive.

  • Possible Bowl Tie-ins: CFP, NY6, Pop Tart Bowl

  • Fan Base Clash or Match: Upstate NY vs West Texas. I think this would be a fan base clash. It feels like a huge fish out of water movie from the 1980s or 1990s. An attractive young man or woman finds themselves in a completely different environment due to some strange circumstance or inheritance from a long lost relative. They will have to adapt to the different climate compared to what they are accustomed. Cut to a scene of someone trying to shovel their car out of snow for the first time or someone dealing with their first 100+ degree heat wave, fanning themselves to no avail.

  • Sickos Potential Rating: 5 out of 5. Texas Tech is known for close and wild overtime games on occasion. Also, Syracuse is known for some fireworks and the dome is always a crazy place to play.

  • Sickos Urgency Rating: 5 out of 5. Look, it’s a weird match-up and we want it. I want to see Tech fans throw tortillas in the Carrier Dome (I know that is has a new name) and I want to see Cuse fans out in West Texas because they’d likely never go to Lubbock ever… well except for that movie script from the 1980s and 1990s.

Auburn vs Iowa

  • Distance between Schools: 869 miles (nice) and a little over 13 hours of driving.

  • Possible Bowl Tie-ins: CFP, NY6, ReliaQuest Bowl, TransPerfect Music City Bowl, Cheez-It Citrus Bowl.

  • Fan Base Clash or Match: I feel like this is a fan base clash that somehow turns into a match by the end of the game. War Eagles and Hawkeyes fans seem made for each other but I could be wrong.

  • Sickos Potential Rating: 20 out of 5. Auburn Jesus vs the 2022 Defending Sickos National Champions? This would likely be the Sickos Game of the Week if it were to happen.

  • Sickos Urgency Rating: 20 out of 5. HOW THE HELL HAS THIS GAME NOT BEEN AN OUTBACK BOWL ALREADY??? WE NEED THIS GAME NOW!! SCHEDULE IT PLEASE!!!

If you’d like to let me know any other match ups between teams that have never played before, drop me a line in the comments or just mention us on Twitter. We will rate it some point in the future in our however many part series.