The Sun Devils have truly stepped up their out-of-conference schedules for the next ten years. Every year between now and 2019, we play a game against a BCS-conference foe (Notre Dame, for all intents and purposes is a BCS-conference team, despite its independent status).
2008: vs. Georgia
2009: vs. Brigham Young, at Georgia
2010: at Wisconsin
2011: at Brigham Young, vs. Illinois
2012: vs. Wisconsin, at Illinois
2013: vs. Notre Dame (in Dallas)
2014: vs. Notre Dame
2015: at LSU
2016: vs. LSU
2017: at Notre Dame
2018: vs. Colorado
2019: at Colorado
These are all legitimate teams, with track records of quality programs and coaches. 2012, with two games against Big Ten foes will be an indicator of conference strength early on.
With these games in mind, I imagined teams I wish ASU would schedule home-and-homes with. National exposure and bragging rights on the line, these are the teams I dream of seeing on Frank Kush Field.
Michigan Wolverines. Michigan is one of the most storied football programs in all of college football, and playing against them would be a landmark game. Oregon has already traveled to The Big House in 2007 (and won, mind you) but it still has its allure. A victory against Michigan in the early season would catapult any Sun Devils team into the BCS picture immediately.
Boston College Eagles. ASU doesn’t have a big presence in Massachusetts, so it only makes sense to travel into the Eagles den donning maroon and taking care of business in Chestnut Hill. A game in Boston would give media exposure from ESPN (Bristol is a short drive away) and would have implications on the legitimacy of the ACC as a football conference.
Florida State Seminoles. In the same ACC vein, FSU was once a great football school. What happened to them? Might as well schedule them and beat them before everyone else catches on to their mediocrity. On the other hand, you never know when they will field a great team again. With that said, I fully expect Colorado to be a powerhouse by 2018.
Boise State Broncos. I love that blue field. If we play like we are capable of, we should be able to beat Boise State every time. Of course, they would also be an upset special we would need to watch out for. Playing a team that won the Fiesta bowl in the recent past cannot possibly be a bad thing, right?