Taking the Big East out of the equation is bigger than some may think. Even if Notre Dame is included (which it will be).
Here are some interesting things that emerged from taking a look at how teams schedule out of conference:
Texas A&M has yet to play a Power 5 team since joining the SEC, but are 20-6 in that span. Probably too small a sample size.
But of the other 14 schools that have faced a Power 5 opponent three times in the last five seasons or fewer, they have one thing in common -- they're not all that good.
Six of the 14 teams are above .500 in the last five seasons combined, and the best winning percentage belongs to North Carolina (.594), which had to vacate eight of its wins in that span (in 2009, but they were counted for these purposes).
Two of the Big Ten's worst teams -- Indiana and Minnesota -- are the only two league teams to avoid a Power 5 team more than once since 2009. Indiana is 19-41 in that span and Minnesota is 26-37.
The ACC caused quite a stir when commissioner John Swofford said that BYU wouldn't be a team considered in the supposed Power 5 scheduling requirement.
The year before, Army played three power conference teams while Navy played four (plus Notre Dame).
In the Pac-12, Oregon State, Arizona and Colorado aren't playing a Power 5 team while in the SEC, there are four teams out of its 12 members not doing it -- Vanderbilt, Mississippi State, Ole Miss and Texas A&M.
If there's good news, it's that fewer teams (slightly) are playing FCS opponents. Just 52 of the 64 Power 5 schools are playing an FCS team, and no one is playing more than one.
Some of the out-of-conference matchups are regional rivalries and some are new and exciting ones, but either way you look at it any time a Power 5 team plays another, it's not a bad thing.
There aren't a lot of supposed easy games in college football nowadays, and whether the fans want to see their team take on an outmatched opponent or not, those wins are too valuable to give up.
