When TideSports.com reported that Alabama was in talks with Notre Dame to schedule a home-and-home series, it got me thinking.

What nonconference matchups would be great to see right now? You know, not 5 years from now when the entire landscape of the sport can be different than it is today. Current coaches, current players, current rivalries. It would make for some must-see TV.

These are the 5 SEC nonconference matchups that I wish we could see in 2018 (to be clear, I’m picturing all of these as home-and-home series):

1. Georgia vs. Miami

I mean, this one speaks for itself, right? The thought of getting to see Mark Richt against his former team would be awesome. The ever-classy Richt would get a massive ovation if he returned to Athens. That alone would be one of the moments of the year in college football.

And if Georgia went down to Miami, can you imagine how electric Hard Rock Stadium would be? Think Miami-Notre Dame and then some. With the Dawgs likely ranked as a preseason top-3 team, an early season-meeting between these two would have huge Playoff implications, much like Georgia-Notre Dame did last year.

It’d be fun to watch both of those defenses battle for 60 minutes. I don’t know if it would be a banner day for either Malik Rosier or Jake Fromm, but I can imagine how physical of a game it would be.

Miami does open 2018 with LSU, which should be plenty exciting. I just would love to see the Richt reunion, especially after both teams took such big steps in 2017.

2. Texas A&M vs. Texas

I was tempted to go with Texas A&M vs. Florida State here, but I didn’t want to make this all about coaches who were fired or left one big-time program for another. Besides, I think A&M and Texas would be a bigger deal not only in the state of Texas but across college football.

The early stages of this Tom Herman vs. Jimbo Fisher rivalry have been all sorts of entertaining so far. We’ve already got assistant coaches chirping about owning the state, and two elite coaches bringing in tons of elite Texas talent.

Side note: Would we get over or under 20 Tim Brewster tweets about A&M owning the state of Texas before the game?

I’d probably take the over. Either way, the bragging rights at stake in a game like this would be off the charts.

On paper, this matchup would involve a pair of back-on-the-rise teams who have sky-high expectations to become national powers again. I’m not sure that it would be a Texas shootout yet with the transitions both offenses are going through, but I know that it would make for some great back-and-forth before and during the massive Lone Star State battle.

3. West Virginia vs. Florida

I’ve already got this planned out in my head. The ESPN promo would start as a montage of Will Grier lighting up defenses at Florida in 2015. Then we’d get shots of Treon Harris, Austin Appleby, Feleipe Franks and Malik Zaire struggling with Beyoncé’s “Irreplaceable” playing in the background and more shots of Grier lighting up defenses … at West Virginia.

Sound good?

OK, that was a little mean. Was it wrong, though? Seeing Grier come back to Gainesville — I can’t even picture Florida leaving the state for a home-and-home so let’s rule that out — would be fantastic. As much as Dan Mullen would probably look across the field and wish that Grier was his quarterback, I don’t think Florida would have had to fire Jim McElwain had he kept Grier around after the suspension. That’s in the past, though.

Credit: Ben Queen-USA TODAY Sports

Not only is the obvious storyline there, but I actually think it’d be entertaining to watch Grier against Todd Grantham’s defense in The Swamp. Cece Jefferson and the Gators would have plenty of motivation to ruin Grier’s Heisman Trophy campaign and pick up their first non-conference win vs. a Power 5 team since 2012.

But given how good the post-Florida version Grier looked so far, that might be easier said than done.

4. Auburn vs. Michigan

Not all of these matchups need to have some bad blood. Some of them would just be good matchups. I’d love to see Gus Malzahn’s offense against Don Brown’s defense. Don’t forget that Michigan, despite its struggles last year, was third in FBS in total defense. Jarrett Stidham against Rashan Gary would be one of the best individual battles we’d see in all of college football.

Whether they played at the Big House or at Jordan-Hare, the atmosphere would be second to none. Surely Jim Harbaugh would get a nice, hearty chorus of boos if Michigan made the trip down. And if Auburn went up to Ann Arbor, you know that Stidham would be public enemy No. 1 given his Heisman hype.

I get that Auburn and Washington will be a phenomenal matchup this year. Seeing a pair of possible Playoff contenders is about all we can ask for on opening weekend. Still, the thought of watching Malzahn’s offense vs. Brown’s defense would be plenty intriguing.

And oh yeah, who wouldn’t want to see Shea Patterson vs. the SEC one more time?

5. UCF vs. Alabama

You knew it was coming. And if you didn’t, for shame.

The national champs* vs. the national champs would be billed as the ultimate David vs. Goliath nonconference showdown. We can ask Auburn how close UCF was to David in 2017, but we’ll save that discussion for another time. The discussion that folks in Alabama still seem set on arguing is UCF’s national champions claim. Obviously a nonconference showdown wouldn’t “decide” that, but that’s how it would be perceived in Orlando.

There would be so much motivation on both sides. You could probably even convince UCF to go to Tuscaloosa and play tomorrow. Shoot, allow Scott Frost to come back and coach one more game for the Knights. Who wouldn’t want to watch that?

It’s about time some billboard marketing yielded some huge net returns.

It’s too bad that this will likely never happen. But just like UCF, I can dream big too.