Lebanon, TN – During our 2026 schedule, Collegefootballfan.com’s webmaster Steve Koreivo will be featured on the nationally syndicated podcast, “Spadora on Sports.” During previous seasons, Pete Spadora featured Collegefootballfan.com interviews on his radio program based out of Syracuse, NY, “Spadora on Sports,” during Steve Koreivo’s travels to numerous games over several years. Pete seeks to broaden his audience with national podcasting with the same name, “Spadora on Sports.” He has 35 years of in-depth interview history with sports personalities and administrators from the sports and entertainment world.
During 2026, we look forward to doing some preseason and in season podcasts with Pete to discuss some of the major topics and issues pertaining to college football. We’ll also report on our travels and perspectives to different games we will be attending in the upcoming season. We look forward to sharing our insights and experiences with Pete over the course of the upcoming season. Look for upcoming announcements when Collegefootballfan.com interviews will be schedule on Spadora on Sports.
Our 2026 schedule updates
Television scheduling dictates changes prior to the start of college football to be sure to cover dates and time slots effectively for effective media and advertising exposure. Early in every season, we announce our “Tentative Schedule” knowing that changes will likely occur. Basically, our Tentative schedule release confirms our most desirable “Wish List.” That’s ok by us, and often these changes enhance our original plans. We realize college schedules aren’t really final until the broadcast network, specific date and time slot for each individual game appears on each team’s schedule.
We’ve learned we can depend on the initial date or at least the weekend of an ideal announcement. Then, we’ll pen those games into our schedule if they offer us primary interest(s) at that time. Example: a Thursday or a Friday game combined with a convenient Saturday contest; or a Tuesday/Wednesday, back-to-back games opportunity. The time slots announced can make things tricky due to travel schedules. Especially if and when the possibility exists of trying to see two games on the same day.
Nothing drastic; we’re flexible.
Perusing 2026 schedules regularly in the preseason, we catch some changes impacting our initial plans. For instance, we had Ohio U. at Akron slated Tuesday, November 3, and Central Michigan at Eastern Michigan the next evening in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Not great teams, but pretty good matchups of teams with comparable talent and quality. Our primary interest here derived to attend two college stadiums for the first time – one of our various goals to attend all 138 FBS venues. The second game relocated from EMU’s Rynearson Stadium to Detroit’s Ford Field. No interest here to attend that venue. What else to do? Nothing else of interest to us that night. Cancelled both games. Save MAC opportunities for future seasons.
Calling out our audibles!
Well with another target to try to finish 2026 at 770 games, we came up with two new plans. The week prior to this, we already plan to attend a good, local, Tuesday night CUSA game, Delaware at Western Kentucky. The following night, we originally planned to skip Kennesaw State at Middle Tennessee in nearby Murfreesboro. MTSU just lacks in atmosphere when it comes to football games at Floyd Stadium. We see HC Derek Mason on his last leg there after two 3-9 seasons and not much optimism for 2026. With a new president to take over MTSU for Sidney A. McPhee at the end of the year, we figure his replacement will be looking to make his mark to upgrade the downtrodden Blue Raider football program. We also save on two nights of hotels and extra travel time and money.
We kept our 2026 schedule options open
On the other hand, we admire what HC Jerry Mack has done in one season for KSU. We’re interested in seeing how well his squad adapts to key losses. In the transfer portal after last season’s CUSA, 10-4, championship season, they fell hard at key positions. We’ll attend this one now. In addition, we cancelled out on two MACTION games. We’ll make a run to another Mid-American Conference (MAC) game of interest. On Tuesday, November 17, pending any major snowstorms on the way, we will venture up to Kalamazoo, Michigan.
There, the Western Michigan Broncos, a favorite to win the Mid-American Conference this season, hosts cross-state rival Eastern Michigan at Waldo Stadium. It’s our first-time there; a potential G6 member for the CFP; and a rivalry meeting – three things that interest us. Also, we admire EMU Eagle HC Chris Creighton. He’s achieved a career record of 200-129 and has improved this doormat of a program in recent years. In addition, WMU’s HC Lance Taylor has taken the Broncos to a 10-4 record in three years. He may find himself targeted to upgrade to a Power Four program.
Second times around
As a matter of fact, we’ve seen both of these teams each play only once. Both games resulted in very ugly losses for these two. At a night game in September 2003, we watched the lifeless Eagles get stomped by Maryland, 45-3. Two years later in September at Blacksburg, Virginia, the Broncos fell in the largest margin of victory in our history, 63-0, against Virginia Tech. I say both teams owe us a very competitive game in Kalamazoo!
Timing for us is everything
Patience pays off for us in another “wish list” opportunity. We just didn’t expect clarification so early. In one of our potential two-games on one-day dates on our initial 2026 schedule, we penciled in Saturday, November 14. Washington State in Pullman, Washington and the University of Idaho (Big Sky FCS) in Moscow, Idaho lie only 10 miles apart. To our delight, the Big Sky just announced all conference game time kick-offs. We sat back knowing that Colorado State would visit the WSU Cougars that evening in Martin Stadium at 7:30 PT in a new PAC-12 contest. The Big Sky just slated UC Davis, a top FCS contender, to play the Idaho Vandals in the Kibbie Dome at 1 pm that afternoon!
We’re in for both games now with time to spare plenty of travel time between the two campuses. Both schools offer us first-time venues. Idaho, who completed our initial goal to “see ‘em all” when they played in the FBS which consisted 119 teams at the time. They and Nevada became our No. 118 and No. 119 teams to accomplish that goal. The FBS totals 138 teams today. Idaho, now back in the FCS, made the playoffs three years prior to 2025. Weather will not be an issue game-time in November, as the Vandals host the Aggies indoors.
Balancing our goals this season
Regarding another goal of ours to see a game played in every state (not Alaska – no teams), we will be adding the state of Washington to our list. Should record our 44th state in Pullman. It will be our second game in Idaho not just ever, but for this year as well. We will be attending a game at FBS Boise State for the first time on October 31. The Broncos of “Blue field fame” will host Texas State in another new PAC-12 game this season. Looking forward now to two games on November 14 now and two trips to Idaho on our 2026 schedule!
Read our Great History of Games among our First 42 Seasons!
If you haven’t already, please click on the title about this life-long adventure: Fifty Years of Tailgate Tales: The Good, the Fun, and the Ugly on Amazon.com. Among 740 college games attended to date now, we’ve seen all 136 Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams play in person at least once. By the way, in case you aren’t aware, North Dakota State and Sacramento State join the FBS this season. “Fifty Years” tells our story of how we got to attend our first 652 games!
Please buy my book and submit a Review!
Read the reviews on the book page and get your copy today. If you’re trying to follow NILs and transfer portals, read what we predicted in 2023 and more. Hopefully, you’ll understand how much we love this sport and what we propose for it to survive successfully. In addition, we offered solutions to issues occurring that we anticipated when we wrote this book. Please buy your copy today, enjoy it, and read about the many great memories captured. Maybe these will bring back some of the same memories you encountered when we did!
Edited and written by Stephen J. Koreivo, member of Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) and Author of “Fifty Years of Tailgate Tales: The Good, the Fun and the Ugly.”
