Tracking Odd-Front Defenses: Week 1 Schedule

As we begin our season-long project of tracking odd-front defenses in Division I-A college football, we take a look at the schedule these 19 teams will be playing in their opening game. Of the 19 teams we will be tracking, 16 of them open their season next Saturday, while two open it during the course of the holiday weekend, and one (Louisiana-Monroe) opens its season on September 11.

Here is the opening schedule for the teams running a 3-4 defense:

• Alabama vs San Jose State
• Air Force vs Northwestern State
• Army @ Eastern Michigan
• Brigham Young vs Washington
• California vs UC-Davis
• Georgia vs Louisiana-Lafayette
• Georgia Tech vs South Carolina State
• Houston vs (Southwest) Texas State
• Navy vs Maryland
• Notre Dame vs Purdue
• SMU @ Texas Tech
• Stanford vs Sacramento State
• Texas A&M vs Stephen F. Austin

The most high-profile and intriguing match-ups among these teams are BYU vs. Washington, Navy vs Maryland, Notre Dame vs Purdue, and SMU at Texas Tech. (Texas A&M vs SFA will be a game I will be watching closely, but there is an obvious personal bias there.)  The BYU, Navy, Notre Dame, and SMU games will all be televised, so we'll be able to observe their defenses in action. The Navy game will be on ESPN on Monday, September 6.

SMU at Texas Tech should be especially interesting, because it will feature Tech's Air Raid offense against SMU's 3-4 defense, and SMU's Run-N-Shoot offense against Tech's 3-4 defense. After practicing against a 3-4 scheme all Fall Camp, these two teams are now squaring off against that very scheme in their season opener.

Here is the opening schedule for teams running the 33 Stack defense:

• Lousiana-Monroe @ Arkansas
• Michigan vs Connecticut
• San Diego State vs Nicholls State
• Tulsa @ East Carolina
• West Virginia vs Coastal Carolina

Louisiana-Monroe at Arkansas will take place in Little Rock on September 11, as ULM opens their season one week late. Since Arkansas opens their season next Saturday against Tennessee Tech, I expect ULM to struggle against a Razorback team with one game already under their belts. Of these five games, Michigan vs Connecticut is the most high-profile, while Tulsa @ East Carolina is the conference and season opener for both teams, as they start the year facing off with a Conference USA rival. The Michigan and Tulsa games will both be televised, although Tulsa-ECU is on Sunday, September 5.

As the season goes on, I'm hoping we can have some fun watching these defenses, maybe even having an Odd-Front Player of the Week award as we track these 19 teams. We certainly have enough intriguing match-ups in opening weekend to keep us occupied.