7 Regular Season Matchups We Want to See in 2026

When teams release schedules for the upcoming season, one of the first things fans look at is the non-conference opponents. Every year there are the same conference matchups, so it is especially fun to see what unique matchups fans will be treated to in a few months. Sometimes these meets involve the matchups of old rivalries, or siblings on opposing teams, but other times the teams just rarely compete against each other, which is just as exciting.

Schedules have started to be released, and there are already some intriguing meets on the calendar, including West Virginia going to Florida for a quad meet that will feature siblings Karleigh and Kayla DiCello. The teams competed against each other last season, but Kayla was recovering from an injury that made her unable to compete. Another meet that will fly under the radar for most is Brockport at Eastern Michigan. Brockport is one of the top Division III teams, but it is still rare to see it compete against a Division I squad that has scholarship athletes. While these are two matchups to watch this season, here are seven more that we would like to see:

Minnesota vs. California

The dynamic of a head coach going against their former team is an interesting one. The obvious matchup in that vein is Clemson against California, but that is an in-conference matchup that we will already get to enjoy. The Minnesota side likely won’t happen, as California will try to limit travel outside of its conference, but it would still be fun to see. Geralen Stack-Eaton is going into her first season coaching the Golden Bears, who will have a very different roster from last season. That roster turnover will likely make the two teams have similar scoring potential, which would make a hypothetical matchup a close one. 

Oklahoma vs. Iowa

Oklahoma and Iowa have not competed together in a regular season meet since 2003, but that may need to change in the coming years. While these two teams are relatively far apart in the standings and have been for years, this matchup would be intriguing for a different reason. Long time Oklahoma head coach KJ Kindler will have vested interest in Iowa, as her daughter, Maggie Ball, is entering her freshman season with the Hawkeyes. Ball is a former four-star recruit and will be contending for several lineups, including beam. This mother-daughter connection would make for a great matchup over the next few seasons.

Air Force at UW-Whitewater 

Maggie Slife holds the Air Force all-around program record, and finished the regular season ranked 40th in the all-around. With Slife going into her third season, it would be a great opportunity for Air Force to go to Slife’s home state for a “homecoming” meet. She is from Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, and UW-Whitewater is the closest school with a gymnastics program. Whitewater has been one of the best DIII teams the last few years and already tries to have some meets against DI schools, so Air Force coming to town would be a great opportunity for Slife and the Whitewater team. 

Michigan State vs. Missouri

Missouri already released its schedule, but that doesn’t mean we can’t suggest another matchup. Michigan State and Missouri are both coming off of historic seasons. Michigan State made its second national championships, and Missouri made its first Four on the Floor and finished in third. The two teams do not normally compete against each other in the regular season, but this would be a close matchup that we would like to see! These two teams are also relatively close enough together that the travel day should not be prohibitive with an already grueling travel schedule. 

All-Tigers meet (Clemson, LSU, Towson, Missouri, Auburn)

Again, we already know that this is not happening, but it should! A tiger is one of the more common mascots in college gymnastics, especially in the SEC. Planning out meets that group together school mascots would be a fun way to get different matchups. While most of these teams compete against each other annually, a team like Towson does not get to compete against SEC schools in the regular season very often. With all of these teams being in the eastern and central time zones, the travel shouldn’t be too prohibitive. 

Arkansas vs. Fisk

In what is Fisk’s last season as a program, having Morgan Price return to compete against Fisk just feels right. Price transferred to Arkansas this season to join her sister at the school she was initially committed to before the announcement of the Fisk gymnastics program. She holds the Fisk record on every individual event and the all-around, and it would be a great story for the best gymnast to compete for Fisk to compete in a meet against it in its last season. We already have the Arkansas schedule, so we know this is not happening, but it should.

Michigan State vs. Stanford

While it may be better to save this matchup for 2027, why not make it an annual dual for the next few years? Romania now has representation in NCAA gymnastics with Lilia Cosman (Michigan State) and Ana Bărbosu (Stanford) starting their NCAA careers this season. Cosman and Bărbosu were part of the world championships team that helped qualify Romania to the Olympics as a team for the first time since 2012, and they helped qualify Romania to the team final in Paris. This would be a matchup of Olympic team members and is a meet that elite gymnastics fans deserve. 

With the SEC starting to release 2026 schedules, we already know several of these matchups won’t happen, but that won’t stop us from brainstorming ideas. What non-conference meets would you like to see in the coming seasons?

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Article by Alyssa Van Auker