Which FBS Team has played the most FBS Opponents?

The Game Room
1

In the recent thread College football match-ups, started 09-24-2010, 05:21 PM, etv78 asked

Later in the thread I asked in this post

The cited thread has yet to get into my question, so I thought I’d start this thread to focus on the issue of Which FBS Team has played the most FBS Opponents?

The preliminary searching that I have done has been to focus on the “Big 6” BCS Conferences and their “Top Half” teams for the period 1970-2009.

The sample pages I have used for Conferences are those for the SEC:

For the individual teams in the Top Half of each Conference I have used these sample pages (Alabama’s):

I have manually counted the opponents and appended the “Total Wins” taken from the team’s page at the bottom where

is shown.

I didn’t exclude In-Conference teams, nor Non-FBS teams, so the totals will include more than the FBS OOC teams. But since the source data for such fine-tuning is one I have yet to locate, I have gone with the College Football Data Warehouse data at http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com as a best shot.

The results of my search for the teams in the Top Half of the Big Six BCS Conferences are:



http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_ia/acc/team_rankings.php
1 Miami (FL) 
2 Georgia Tech
3 Florida St.
4 Clemson (SC)
5 North Carolina
6 Duke (NC)

ACC-1 Miami (FL)     -- 88 -- Totals 325 
ACC-2 Georgia Tech   -- 61 -- Totals 251 
ACC-3 Florida St.    -- 75 -- Totals 330 
ACC-4 Clemson (SC)   -- 62 -- Totals 291 
ACC-5 North Carolina -- 70 -- Totals 264 
ACC-6 Duke (NC)      -- 48 -- Totals 144 

http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_ia/bigten/team_rankings.php
1 Michigan
2 Ohio St.
3 Penn St.
4 Minnesota
5 Michigan St.
6 Illinois

B10-1 Michigan      -- 69 -- Totals 360 
B10-2 Ohio St.      -- 72 -- Totals 366 
B10-3 Penn St.      -- 79 -- Totals 359
B10-4 Minnesota     -- 74 -- Totals 198
B10-5 Michigan St.  -- 56 -- Totals 231 
B10-6 Illinois      -- 63 -- Totals 196 

http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_ia/big12/team_rankings.php
1 Oklahoma
2 Texas
3 Nebraska
4 Texas A&M
5 Missouri
6 Colorado
 
B12-1 Oklahoma     -- 74 -- Totals 361 
B12-2 Texas        -- 65 -- Totals 345 
B12-3 Nebraska     -- 82 -- Totals 393
B12-4 Texas A&M    -- 68 -- Totals 293 
B12-5 Missouri     -- 81 -- Totals 217 
B12-6 Colorado     -- 66 -- Totals 262 

http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_ia/bigeast/team_rankings.php
1 Pittsburgh (PA)
2 Syracuse (NY)
3 West Virginia
4 Rutgers (NJ)
 
BE--1 Pittsburgh (PA) -- 75 -- Totals 256 
BE--2 Syracuse (NY)   -- 75 -- Totals 237 
BE--3 West Virginia   -- 72 -- Totals 287 
BE--4 Rutgers (NJ)    -- 68 -- Totals 218 

http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_ia/pac10/team_rankings.php
1 Southern California 
2 Washington
3 UCLA
4 Stanford (CA)
5 California

P10-1 Southern California -- 61 -- Totals 328 
P10-2 Washington          -- 66 -- Totals 282 
P10-3 UCLA                -- 52 -- Totals 281 
P10-4 Stanford (CA)       -- 46 -- Totals 221 
P10-5 California          -- 63 -- Totals 219 

http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_ia/sec/team_rankings.php
1 Alabama
2 Louisiana St.
3 Tennessee
4 Georgia
5 Florida
6 Auburn (AL)
 
SEC-1 Alabama              -- 73 -- Totals 329
SEC-2 Louisiana St.        -- 75 -- Totals 299 
SEC-3 Tennessee            -- 83 -- Totals 334 
SEC-4 Georgia              -- 77 -- Totals 334 
SEC-5 Florida              -- 89 -- Totals 336 
SEC-6 Auburn (AL)          -- 85 -- Totals 318 
======================================================

I have produced these two sorts:



Sorted by Total Opponents 1970-2009

SEC-5 Florida              -- 89 -- Totals 336 
ACC-1 Miami (FL)           -- 88 -- Totals 325 
SEC-6 Auburn (AL)          -- 85 -- Totals 318 
SEC-3 Tennessee            -- 83 -- Totals 334 
B12-3 Nebraska             -- 82 -- Totals 393
B12-5 Missouri             -- 81 -- Totals 217 
B10-3 Penn St.             -- 79 -- Totals 359
SEC-4 Georgia              -- 77 -- Totals 334 
ACC-3 Florida St.          -- 75 -- Totals 330 
SEC-2 Louisiana St.        -- 75 -- Totals 299 
BE--1 Pittsburgh (PA)      -- 75 -- Totals 256 
BE--2 Syracuse (NY)        -- 75 -- Totals 237 
B12-1 Oklahoma             -- 74 -- Totals 361 
B10-4 Minnesota            -- 74 -- Totals 198
SEC-1 Alabama              -- 73 -- Totals 329
B10-2 Ohio St.             -- 72 -- Totals 366 
BE--3 West Virginia        -- 72 -- Totals 287 
ACC-5 North Carolina       -- 70 -- Totals 264 
B10-1 Michigan             -- 69 -- Totals 360 
B12-4 Texas A&M            -- 68 -- Totals 293 
BE--4 Rutgers (NJ)         -- 68 -- Totals 218 
P10-2 Washington           -- 66 -- Totals 282 
B12-6 Colorado             -- 66 -- Totals 262 
B12-2 Texas                -- 65 -- Totals 345 
P10-5 California           -- 63 -- Totals 219 
B10-6 Illinois             -- 63 -- Totals 196 
ACC-4 Clemson (SC)         -- 62 -- Totals 291 
P10-1 Southern California  -- 61 -- Totals 328 
ACC-2 Georgia Tech         -- 61 -- Totals 251 
B10-5 Michigan St.         -- 56 -- Totals 231 
P10-3 UCLA                 -- 52 -- Totals 281 
ACC-6 Duke (NC)            -- 48 -- Totals 144 
P10-4 Stanford (CA)        -- 46 -- Totals 221 

======================================================
 
Sorted by Total Wins 1970-2009

B12-3 Nebraska             -- 82 -- Totals 393
B10-2 Ohio St.             -- 72 -- Totals 366 
B12-1 Oklahoma             -- 74 -- Totals 361 
B10-1 Michigan             -- 69 -- Totals 360 
B10-3 Penn St.             -- 79 -- Totals 359
B12-2 Texas                -- 65 -- Totals 345 
SEC-5 Florida              -- 89 -- Totals 336 
SEC-3 Tennessee            -- 83 -- Totals 334 
SEC-4 Georgia              -- 77 -- Totals 334 
ACC-3 Florida St.          -- 75 -- Totals 330 
SEC-1 Alabama              -- 73 -- Totals 329
P10-1 Southern California  -- 61 -- Totals 328 
ACC-1 Miami (FL)           -- 88 -- Totals 325 
SEC-6 Auburn (AL)          -- 85 -- Totals 318 
SEC-2 Louisiana St.        -- 75 -- Totals 299 
B12-4 Texas A&M            -- 68 -- Totals 293 
ACC-4 Clemson (SC)         -- 62 -- Totals 291 
BE--3 West Virginia        -- 72 -- Totals 287 
P10-2 Washington           -- 66 -- Totals 282 
P10-3 UCLA                 -- 52 -- Totals 281 
ACC-5 North Carolina       -- 70 -- Totals 264 
B12-6 Colorado             -- 66 -- Totals 262 
BE--1 Pittsburgh (PA)      -- 75 -- Totals 256 
ACC-2 Georgia Tech         -- 61 -- Totals 251 
BE--2 Syracuse (NY)        -- 75 -- Totals 237 
B10-5 Michigan St.         -- 56 -- Totals 231 
P10-4 Stanford (CA)        -- 46 -- Totals 221 
P10-5 California           -- 63 -- Totals 219 
BE--4 Rutgers (NJ)         -- 68 -- Totals 218 
B12-5 Missouri             -- 81 -- Totals 217 
B10-4 Minnesota            -- 74 -- Totals 198
B10-6 Illinois             -- 63 -- Totals 196 
ACC-6 Duke (NC)            -- 48 -- Totals 144

If there’s a better source to help answer the question, then by all means use it.

If there’s an FBS team with a better Number of Opponents record than those I’ve found, please show its data.

If there are other issues relating to the title question, please share them.

2

These counts were done manually for Opponents, therefore there may be errors.

The 33 teams in the All-Time Top Half of the Big Six BCS Conferences are labeled like this:
SEC-5 Florida – 89 Total Wins 336

Not included:

Alabama-Birmingham Blazers
First Year of Football: 1991

Central Florida Knights
First Year of Football: 1979

Florida Atlantic Owls
First Year of Football: 2001

Florida International Golden Panthers
First Year of Football: 2002

South Florida Bulls
First Year of Football: 1997


 
--------  Sorted by Total Opponents 1970-2009 ------- 
 
Hawaii                 Total Opponents 107 Total Wins 263  
Arkansas State         Total Opponents 104 Total Wins 204  
Nevada                 Total Opponents  97 Total Wins 284  
Louisville             Total Opponents  96 Total Wins 241  
Troy State             Total Opponents  95 Total Wins 289  
 
Louisiana Tech         Total Opponents  93 Total Wins 249  
Marshall               Total Opponents  93 Total Wins 261  
Nevada-Las Vegas       Total Opponents  93 Total Wins 205  
North Texas            Total Opponents  93 Total Wins 184  
Louisiana-Monroe       Total Opponents  91 Total Wins 200  
 
Cincinnati             Total Opponents  90 Total Wins 213  
Kansas State           Total Opponents  90 Total Wins 215  
SEC-5 Florida                        -- 89 Total Wins 336  
Louisiana-Lafayette    Total Opponents  89 Total Wins 182  
ACC-1 Miami (FL)                     -- 88 Total Wins 325  
 
Buffalo                Total Opponents  88 Total Wins 121   
Northern Illinois      Total Opponents  88 Total Wins 198  
Akron                  Total Opponents  86 Total Wins 211  
Houston                Total Opponents  86 Total Wins 239  
Middle Tennessee State Total Opponents  86 Total Wins 240  
 
Tulsa                  Total Opponents  86 Total Wins 226   
SEC-6 Auburn (AL)                    -- 85 Total Wins 318  
Boise State            Total Opponents  85 Total Wins 337  
Kansas                 Total Opponents  85 Total Wins 197  
Western Kentucky       Total Opponents  85 Total Wins 249  
 
Army                   Total Opponents  84 Total Wins 166  
SEC-3 Tennessee                      -- 83 Total Wins 334  
Idaho                  Total Opponents  83 Total Wins 228   
B12-3 Nebraska                       -- 82 Total Wins 393 
B12-5 Missouri                       -- 81 Total Wins 217  
 
Texas Christian        Total Opponents  80 Total Wins 206  
B10-3 Penn St.                       -- 79 Total Wins 359 
Navy                   Total Opponents  79 Total Wins 199  
Wyoming                Total Opponents  79 Total Wins 218   
Bowling Green          Total Opponents  78 Total Wins 245  
 
SEC-4 Georgia                        -- 77 Total Wins 334  
Fresno State           Total Opponents  77 Total Wins 281  
Southern Mississippi   Total Opponents  77 Total Wins 267  
East Carolina          Total Opponents  76 Total Wins 244  
ACC-3 Florida St.                    -- 75 Total Wins 330  
 
SEC-2 Louisiana St.                  -- 75 Total Wins 299  
BE--1 Pittsburgh (PA)                -- 75 Total Wins 256  
BE--2 Syracuse (NY)                  -- 75 Total Wins 237  
B12-1 Oklahoma                       -- 74 Total Wins 361  
B10-4 Minnesota                      -- 74 Total Wins 198 
 
Ball State             Total Opponents  74 Total Wins 224  
Baylor                 Total Opponents  74 Total Wins 193  
New Mexico State       Total Opponents  74 Total Wins 133  
Texas-El Paso          Total Opponents  74 Total Wins 131  
Utah State             Total Opponents  74 Total Wins 185  
 
SEC-1 Alabama                        -- 73 Total Wins 329 
B10-2 Ohio St.                       -- 72 Total Wins 366  
BE--3 West Virginia                  -- 72 Total Wins 287  
Arizona State          Total Opponents  72 Total Wins 287  
Brigham Young          Total Opponents  72 Total Wins 340  
 
Connecticut            Total Opponents  72 Total Wins 216  
Eastern Michigan       Total Opponents  72 Total Wins 149  
Texas Tech             Total Opponents  72 Total Wins 265  
Wisconsin              Total Opponents  72 Total Wins 248  
Air Force              Total Opponents  71 Total Wins 260  
 
Boston College         Total Opponents  71 Total Wins 269  
Rice                   Total Opponents  71 Total Wins 150  
South Carolina         Total Opponents  71 Total Wins 229  
Tulane                 Total Opponents  71 Total Wins 175  
ACC-5 North Carolina                 -- 70 Total Wins 264  
 
Colorado State         Total Opponents  70 Total Wins 218  
North Carolina State   Total Opponents  70 Total Wins 249  
Oklahoma State         Total Opponents  70 Total Wins 235  
Southern Methodist     Total Opponents  70 Total Wins 176  
Virginia Tech          Total Opponents  70 Total Wins 289  
 
B10-1 Michigan                       -- 69 Total Wins 360  
Ohio                   Total Opponents  69 Total Wins 163  
Temple                 Total Opponents  69 Total Wins 158  
B12-4 Texas A&M                      -- 68 Total Wins 293  
BE--4 Rutgers (NJ)                   -- 68 Total Wins 218  
 
Central Michigan       Total Opponents  68 Total Wins 261  
San Diego State        Total Opponents  68 Total Wins 232  
San Jose State         Total Opponents  68 Total Wins 214  
Arkansas               Total Opponents  67 Total Wins 290 
P10-2 Washington                     -- 66 Total Wins 282  
 
B12-6 Colorado                       -- 66 Total Wins 262  
Oregon State           Total Opponents  66 Total Wins 160  
Toledo                 Total Opponents  66 Total Wins 266   
B12-2 Texas                          -- 65 Total Wins 345  
Arizona                Total Opponents  65 Total Wins 247  
  
Iowa State             Total Opponents  65 Total Wins 185  
Mississippi State      Total Opponents  64 Total Wins 192  
P10-5 California                     -- 63 Total Wins 219  
B10-6 Illinois                       -- 63 Total Wins 196  
Utah                   Total Opponents  63 Total Wins 255  
 
Western Michigan       Total Opponents  63 Total Wins 236  
ACC-4 Clemson (SC)                   -- 62 Total Wins 291  
P10-1 Southern California            -- 61 Total Wins 328  
ACC-2 Georgia Tech                   -- 61 Total Wins 251  
Vanderbilt             Total Opponents  61 Total Wins 138  
 
Virginia               Total Opponents  61 Total Wins 230  
Kent State             Total Opponents  60 Total Wins 137  
Maryland               Total Opponents  60 Total Wins 241  
Indiana                Total Opponents  59 Total Wins 171  
Memphis                Total Opponents  59 Total Wins 190  
 
Notre Dame             Total Opponents  59 Total Wins 321  
Iowa                   Total Opponents  58 Total Wins 249  
Oregon                 Total Opponents  58 Total Wins 241  
Wake Forest            Total Opponents  58 Total Wins 179   
B10-5 Michigan St.                   -- 56 Total Wins 231  
 
Kentucky               Total Opponents  56 Total Wins 190  
Mississippi            Total Opponents  56 Total Wins 238  
Purdue                 Total Opponents  56 Total Wins 215  
New Mexico             Total Opponents  54 Total Wins 194 
Northwestern           Total Opponents  54 Total Wins 151  
 
Miami (OH)             Total Opponents  53 Total Wins 256  
P10-3 UCLA                           -- 52 Total Wins 281  
Washington State       Total Opponents  52 Total Wins 204  
ACC-6 Duke (NC)                      -- 48 Total Wins 144  
P10-4 Stanford (CA)                  -- 46 Total Wins 221
3

This is a difficult question. First of all, let me state, that you’re not going to get the answer by using the pages you’ve linked to. The information you’re looking divides the teams into the division they are currently in. If the team was in a different division prior to this year, then they will be calculated in the wrong division. For instance, Ivy League schools were I-A teams, but any team that played them as I-A schools would be credited with playing a I-AA school. That’s not accurate.

Plus, there’s some leway in exactly what year a team joins a new division. If you are changing divisions, there’s a 4 year transition period (minimum), in which you are really in both divisions and neither at the same time. Transfering from FCS to FBS sub-divisions takes 2 years minimum. When exactly a team is counted as FBS can vary by source.

Aside from that, back to 1973, you can figure out which teams were in which divisions. The subdivsions of I-A and I-AA began in 1978. Prior to 73 and back to 37, teams were either University Class or College Division, University being the equivalent of I-A, and college being the equivalent of division II. On top of this, a lot of major schools were still getting their qualifications in line and weren’t considered majors for a few years after that, and during the war, almost every major team was not considered major. Prior to 37, there’s only the NCAA guideline that if a team plays half their games against “major” teams, they are considered I-A. There’s a good deal of leway in that process as well.

Further, teams that are I-A today, were not always I-A, and therefore had a schedule of teams that were I-A. This inflates the numbers of teams that spent a good deal of time in a lower division, for instance Ohio State, who spent a lot of early years in the Ohio Athletic Conference.

You can get a “best guess” sort of answer of current I-A teams vs non-IA at game time here:

A less opininated answer comes by using 1937, the modern era of the NCAA, as the start date:

4

Thanks a bunch, boxedlunch, for that information and the links. What you’ve pointed out has bothered me as well in the effort to answer the title’s question.

I tried to dream up queries at CfbTrivia.com is for sale | HugeDomains that would give more-or-less direct answers (without having to do a bunch of additional number crunching or research) and just gave up on the project because it didn’t seem to puzzle other people much.

At least it’s comforting to know that at least one other person thinks it’s a reasonable question! :slight_smile:

5

Why are you limiting yourself to teams in the top half of the conferences? Bottom half teams are just as likely to play the same number of FBS opponents, or more. Of course they will have more losses, most likely.

6

I was more curious about them and didn’t start out with the plan I eventually came down to. If I had to do it all again, I would be using pages like Welcome cfbdatawarehouse.com - BlueHost.com and go through all 120 FBS teams that way.

I welcome any and all improvements for finding the real answer to the title question.

The development of this idea took many paths before getting even this far. (See the OP for more details.)

7

If you want a factual answer to the question, we have to qualify the categories.

The current FBS team that has played the most teams that would have been considered the equivelant of FBS at game time would be Georgia with 1071. If you want to know which team has played the most games against teams that are currently in FBS, that would be Nebraska with 1069.

8

Outstanding! Can you point to a single source for this or did you have to do some manual counting? If the latter is there a set of source data you can identify?

9

Set to count games of “FBS” at the time of game:

Set to count current “FBS” programs (worthless numbers, really):

These numbers come with the limitations I mentioned earlier.

10

Thanks for the links again, boxedlunch. The number of games, however, is not the issue. It’s the number of unique FBS opponents.

11

Current FBS oppponents? That one takes longer.

Florida has played 91 of the current FBS programs:

12

Bingo! That’s what I was trying to get some other source to tell me/us/anybody who cares.

Excellent!

And if I’m reading those results correctly, down at 109, Rutgers, who played Princeton in The First American Football game ( http://www.scarletknights.com/football/history/first-game.asp ), have only played 48 opponents in the current FBS division?

And how far down the list do you go before running into a Big Ten/Eleven/Twelve team? Looks like #10 Penn State with 83. Right?

And even though Hawaii was at the top of the “all opponents” list I made up, they’ve only played 77 teams currently in the FBS division?

Is this right?

13

You’re “all opponents” seems to have been from 1970 on. Hawaii has had 108 unique opponents since 1970. Central Florida, who has split time between FBS and FCS have played 131. Rutgers is indeed at 109, Penn State is indeed at #10. You are reading it correctly.

14

Yes. I deliberately stopped the “look back” at 1970. Even then the data were incomplete for five FBS teams that started football since 1970. I mentioned them upthread.

Thanks for this detailed list. Good work!

15

There is somewhat of an explanation for that (and the fact that Big Ten teams are also a little bit lower on the list of total games played) especially when you notice the clustering of Big Ten teams in the 20s and 30s.

With the exception of Michigan in the first Rose Bowl game, Big Ten teams weren’t allowed to play in bowl games until 1947, and from then until 1975 the only bowl game that Big Ten teams were allowed to play was the Rose Bowl. Also, until the early 1970s, the Big Ten didn’t allow the same team to represent the conference in the Rose Bowl in successive years (with, I believe, only one exception). That means for the first 75 years that bowl games existed, Big Ten teams were only allowed to play in a maximum of approximately 15 bowl games, and those were all against teams from what is now the Pac 10 (and that only if a team finished first or second repeatedly). For many teams, bowl games were about the only chance to play teams from outside their region, and there were very few opportunities for the Big 10 to do even that.

16

President Gentle: The Big 8 had a similiar “no repeat” rule with the Orange Bowl.

17

Has this thread done anything to answer your question that I quoted in the OP?

18

FWIW, Ohio State went to the Rose Bowl in 1921.

Reasons why The Big Ten has fewer “opponents”:

  1. Fewer teams in the North/Midwest than the south.

  2. More conference games, fewer non-conference games.

How does Penn State get above the other Big Ten teams? Obviously, they were independent for years and had flexibility of schedule. Florida tops the list thanks in part to playing half of their games against non-conference teams since the SEC formed.

19

Also, SEC teams have played more of the lesser name teams.

20

I don’t know if anyone mentioned it, but I like this website. You can choose your team and see who that team has played against (including bowls) and the record of each opponent. You can narrow the search down to a particular era or see how your team has faired in the past 10 years.