From the Apple Cup to the Iron Bowl: The AP's annual dream college football Top 25 road trip

Audio By Carbonatix

College football's offseason of discontent is almost over.

If you're tired of court cases, legislative haggling and uncertainty over who can even be a college athlete, you can look forward to some actual games soon. And with that, it's time for the AP’s annual attempt to map out college football’s hypothetical dream road trip.

Reviewing the rules:

— We must see every team in the AP’s preseason Top 25 at least once.

— Travel between games must be reasonable in the time available. Long drives and even flights are OK, but if you’re at a night game in Los Angeles, you’re not getting to Penn State for an early afternoon kickoff the next day.

This season’s 17-game journey looks like this:

Now that these two rivals are no longer in the same conference, the Apple Cup is played early in the season. This year it's the opener for both teams. Talk about a tone setter.

Already we're racking up travel miles. The Apple Cup is in the afternoon, and after hopping a red-eye out of the Pacific Northwest, we arrive in the Florida panhandle with plenty of time for an afternoon nap before the evening kickoff between the Seminoles and Mustangs. An early test for Mike Norvell, who is likely running out of chances at Florida State.

The Border War rivalry between these two resumed last year after a hiatus of over a decade. Presumably there will be at least some unity on the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Again, this a quick turnaround, but doable since the Volunteers and Yellow Jackets kick off at night. Fernando Mendoza's brother Alberto takes over the quarterbacking at Georgia Tech this season.

The single easiest game to include on this entire journey: Lane Kiffin's return to Oxford. Nobody does the fan base-as-scorned-lover routine quite like the SEC.

Between the hedges for the first major test of the season for the Bulldogs. Georgia entered the season in the top five for the eighth straight year.

If the top-ranked Buckeyes lose at Texas in September, the pressure will be on to avoid any further slip-ups before Indiana and Oregon pop up on their schedule. That means taking care of business at Iowa.

This is a good candidate to be Penn State's annual White Out game — and it's the first major home test for new Nittany Lions coach Matt Campbell.

The Hoosiers rolled to an undefeated season in 2025, but their biggest wins were on the road or at neutral sites. Now the defending champs get a shot at Ohio State in Bloomington. Indiana has certainly earned this stage.

With Conner Weigman back at quarterback, Houston is expected to be one of the top teams in the Big 12. The Cougars travel to Utah in late October. By then we'll have a sense of how the Utes are holding up after the end of the Kyle Whittingham era.

After checking out the sights, a second straight weekend in Utah and a chance to watch rushing star LJ Martin and BYU in an intriguing Big 12 matchup.

A pair of top-10 teams, neither of which has that many monster games on its schedule. That means this clash is a must-see, although we'll have to skip Ohio State-Oregon that same day. (We'll regret this if the Buckeyes and Ducks are still ranked 1-2, but there's a decent chance that changes before then.)

The Wolverines and quarterback Bryce Underwood have a wide range of possible outcomes this season, but if they're in the playoff hunt in mid-November then this game out west becomes a huge one.

Pat Narduzzi's defense against Jeff Brohm's offense. There could be about eight teams tied for first in the ACC by this point, so this game may have significant implications.

Our journey concludes with a busy final week, starting with a Texas two-step that includes this Thanksgiving showdown.

The drive from Lubbock to College Station is over 400 miles, but we'll make it to Kyle Field for this evening kickoff and a potentially massive rivalry game.

Alabama is the last Top 25 team we haven't seen yet, and an early flight out of Texas helps us reach Bryant-Denny Stadium in time for the Iron Bowl. It's the first shot at the Crimson Tide for Alex Golesh after taking over as Auburn coach.

___

Sign up for Top 25 poll alerts here, visit the Top 25 here and see AP’s full college football coverage here