Column: College football contenders will have to prove themselves on the road

Coaches would rather read the NCAA rule book by candlelight than play games on the road — they are to be avoided at all cost.

The smart programs, when possible, work it to where they don’t have to leave the state. Florida hasn’t left Florida for a nonconference game since 1991.

Sometimes a killer schedule gets handed down by the (obviously demented) previous athletic director, which forces a coach to spend his first three months trying to replace “at Oregon” in 2019 with “home against Elon.”

Other times a coach feels he has no choice.

Bobby Bowden adopted his play-anyone-anywhere philosophy when he arrived at Florida State because it was the only way to put a former women’s college on the map.

In a 1981 stretch from Sept. 19 to Oct. 24, Florida State played at Nebraska, at Ohio State, at Notre Dame, at Pittsburgh and at Louisiana State. The Seminoles won three of the five and people began to take notice.

Florida State doesn’t do that anymore. The Seminoles’ nonconference schedule this season is built on the bedrock of home games against Texas State, South Florida and Chattanooga, plus the mandated rivalry game at Florida on Nov. 28.

Brigham Young, which doesn’t have conference affiliation in football, is taking the Bowden approach this season. It has already played at Nebraska and UCLA, with a trip Saturday to Michigan.

Scheduling tough games is BYU’s best chance to compete for a seat at the big-boy table. Under the new College Football Playoff rules, the top team from each “Group of Five” conference is guaranteed a major bowl bid. BYU, as an independent, is on its own.

“This is what it’s going to be like,” BYU Coach Bronco Mendenhall conceded after last week’s one-point loss to UCLA.

Baylor, which thinks it is now a big-time program, wants us to believe out-of-league games against Southern Methodist, Lamar and Rice will be sufficient for playoff consideration.

You can even get lucky in league, some years, with random misses. Alabama and Georgia, in opposite divisions of the Southeastern Conference, play each other next week for the first time during the regular season since 2008.

But it’s around this point in the season during which most teams can no longer hide. The term for this is “conference play.” So now we’ll start finding out where the so-called contenders really stand in the standings.

This weekend’s show-me games include:

•UCLA at Arizona: The Bruins are ranked in the top 10 but are 9-11 all time in Tucson. They did win two years ago, 31-26, thanks to the inspired play of a freshman linebacker and running back named Myles Jack, who carried six times for 120 yards. Jack, who underwent knee surgery this week, isn’t playing this time.

When UCLA visited Tucson in 2005, the Bruins did an all-time face plant. They entered the game ranked No. 8 and left on the short end of 52-14.

•USC at Arizona State: The Trojans, despite last week’s loss to Stanford, can still achieve all goals they set for this season. But, oh, the horror: It was two years ago in Tempe that a 62-41 defeat got Coach Lane Kiffin fired.

USC’s last win at Arizona State came in 2009.

•Utah at Oregon: The Utes are undefeated, with a nice home win over Michigan. A win at Oregon would put them in a much higher tax bracket. Utah is 1-3 against ranked Oregon teams and 4-11 in games at Eugene.

•Tennessee at Florida: The Volunteers would like to be known as a resurgent power in the SEC East. OK, prove it. Tennessee has lost 10 straight to Florida and is 5-12 all time in games at Gainesville.

•Texas Christian at Texas Tech: Is this where title hopes come to die? TCU is 26-7 on the road since 2009, but has not won in Lubbock since 1991.

•Mississippi State at Auburn: The Bulldogs may never catch Auburn at a more vulnerable time. Mississippi State’s disadvantage is being 6-28 all time in games played at Auburn.

chris.dufresne@latimes.com