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There is a common bond that ties Boise State, LSU and Notre Dame as college football draws near to its full-scale season-opening weekend. Follow along, "Six Degrees of College Football Bacon" style.
Boise State is the nation's No. 17 team in the AP's Preseason Top 25. The Broncs, darlings last year in the sport with their conference championship and College Football Playoff berth, open their season Thursday night at Alex Golesh's South Florida program.
Brian Kelly guides No. 9 LSU on the road at No. 4 Clemson in a battle for Tigers mascot supremacy (sorry, Auburn; not this year) and 'Death Valley' bragging rights.
Notre Dame, national runner-up a year ago and 14-game winners in Marcus Freeman's third full season at the helm, takes its No. 6 ranking on the road to Mario Cristobal's No. 10 Miami Hurricanes.
Big deal, right?
Forget the obvious commonalities of Kelly being the former Notre Dame coach who certainly could use the type of Playoff success that Freeman just enjoyed, or simply the plucky Playoff appearance that Boise State engineered with Heisman Trophy runner-up running back Ashton Jeanty a year ago.
And wait till October to dwell on Boise State's first-ever visit to hallowed Notre Dame Stadium.
Those are three glaringly obvious elements in this exercise.
Consider this, 48 hours before the opening weekend unleashes with a flurry of Thursday night games: Boise State, LSU and Notre Dame all are playing their season can-openers away from home FOR THE FIFTH CONSECUTIVE SEASON.
Yes, this is quite the high-five gauntlet.
Boise State has opened its past five seasons with the following games: 2021 at UCF in Orlando, 2022 at then-Pac-12 member Oregon State, 2023 at Washington, 2024 at Georgia Southern and now Thursday's game in Tampa against the Bulls.
LSU's fiver looks like this: 2021 at UCLA, a loss that accelerated the firing of Ed Orgeron; 2022 vs. Florida State in New Orleans; 2023 vs. Florida State in Orlando; 2024 vs. USC in Las Vegas and now Saturday night's game that marks the Bayou Bengals's first-ever trip to Clemson. LSU is the only team in this grouping that hasn't won a game during this streak, suffering a season-opening loss every year hence its 2019 undefeated CFP title-team.
Before this year, Clemson had played five-straight games away from home to open its seasons -- ranging from nearby neutral-site tilts in Atlanta and Charlotte to ACC road games against the likes of Duke and Georgia Tech.
Then, there is Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish's five-year run is the most daunting minefield of any of the three: 2021 at Florida State, 2022 at Ohio State, 2023 vs. Navy in Dublin, Ireland, 2024 at Texas A&M and, finally, Sunday night under the Hard Rock Stadium lights against the top-10 Hurricanes with their prized NCAA Transfer Portal quarterback, Carson Beck formerly of Georgia.
"I embrace it. I embrace it," said Freeman, who was Kelly's defensive coordinator in that '21 game at FSU and Irish head coach the past three openers. "If you’re asking would I rather start at home, I think you would always rather play at home no matter when you get the opportunity."
Still, Freeman, laughing a bit at being asked if there was anything he relished or embraced about all these away-from-home openers, does find some comfort on the road.
"You know, there’s something about going on the road, man," said Freeman, 3-1 as an Irish coach in those four openers and 18-5 in games away from home since taking over at Notre Dame as a first-time head coach. "It’s you against the world. Your group. There’s no distractions. It’s just you guys and you’re taking the show on the road versus a great opponent. At night. What a way to start college football season. It’s something we enjoy. We embrace.
"But that’s what you go to Notre Dame for, it’s why you coach at Notre Dame, to play in games like this throughout the year but especially in Week 1. Night game, primetime, everybody’s watching you versus a heck of an opponent. That’s what anybody wants."
What those three programs are continuing this year, and Clemson the five seasons prior, is unambiguously unheard of among major college football programs.
A quick glance at Power Conference and Top 25 residents of note:
— Alabama plays at FSU this weekend, the Tide's first true road game to open a season during this five-year window and only its second away from home after a neutral-site game in Atlanta versus Miami.
— Georgia has played zero true road games in this stretch and one "neutral site" game an hour from campus in Atlanta to open 2024
— Penn State has twice, at West Virginia last year and at Purdue in 2022
— Ohio State has twice, at Minnesota in 2021 and Indiana in 2023
— No. 1 Texas's upcoming trip to Ohio State on Saturday marks the Longhorns' first trip to open a season away from home this decade
— Oregon opened cross-country with a neutral-site game against Georgia in 2022
— Miami played Alabama in Atlanta in 2021 and whipped Florida in the Swamp last season
— Michigan has not opened a season away from home since the Big Ten mandated the Wolverines open the COVID-shortened 2020 season at Minnesota. (Not counting wherever Connor Stalions was for his first appearances on sidelines to start college football seasons on behalf of Jim Harbaugh's program)
— Florida opened 2023 at Utah
— Tennessee opened 2023 in Nashville against Virginia and faces Syracuse Saturday in Atlanta
— Arizona State, Oklahoma, Illinois and Texas A&M all have not played a true road game to open a season from 2021-25
— South Carolina has played a pair of neutral site games, including this weekend's contest in Atlanta against Virginia Tech and two years ago against North Carolina in Charlotte
— USC opened 2024 against LSU in Las Vegas
— SMU has opened at North Texas (bus ride) and at Nevada last year, where the Mustangs nearly saw their dream season derailed from the outset before rallying to win in the fourth quarter.
— Texas Tech has opened at Houston and Wyoming plus hosted three openers
— Indiana opened 2021 at Iowa; it does not leave home this season until its fifth game.