Okay, a quick note about how the weekend previews work. For starters, we started this as a watch guide. So the idea is to relay when games are on and give you (the reader) an idea of what’s good and what’s maybe worth doing the dishes during. Here’s the basic format:

• The time
• The matchup, with FCS teams in italics (and note that usually FCS vs. FCS games are omitted, and previews will not be provided for almost all FCS games)
• The title of the game, if it has one
• The location of the game, if it’s not a home game
• The network or streaming service the game is available on (note that streaming games will not have previews)
• And the preview, subject to the conditions above

Hopefully that made sense!

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

2:30: Navy vs. Notre Dame (@Dublin, Ireland; NBC): Once again, the Irish champion will be decided. Last year, Northwestern defeated Nebraska, resulting in the somewhat hilarious stat that Northwestern was 1-0 in Ireland and 0-11 everywhere else. While great things aren’t projected for the Midshipmen this year, it’s safe to say they probably won’t go 0-for-North America.

3:30: Mercer vs. North Alabama (FCS Kickoff @ Montgomery, AL; ESPN)

5:30: Texas-El Paso @ Jacksonville State (CBSS): Welcome to FBS, Jacksonvile State! It will often bear repeating the next few years that they are a school in Jacksonville, AL and not the much larger city to the southeast of them. Either way, while UTEP’s fate is uncertain this year, the Miners are favorites here.

7:00:

• Massachusetts @ New Mexico State (ESPN): UMass is still independent, but the Aggies are back in the new look CUSA (officially without the dash this year, by the way). While neither of these teams is exactly good, things look good for the home team here.
• Ohio @ San Diego State (FS1): Hopefully the Bobcats enjoy the weather down in San Diego, because they’re not especially likely to enjoy this matchup.

7:30:

• Hawaii @ Vanderbilt (SEC): Speaking of home teams, Vanderbilt’s finally revamping their home field, which is one the few places other than Bobby Dodd Stadium I’ve ever seen a college football game. And, well, by any conference’s standard, much less the SEC’s, it was sorely needed. At any rate, we’re talking about the stadium here because the action on the field… not so much. The Dores should roll.
• South Carolina State vs. Jackson State (MEAC/SWAC Challenge @ Atlanta, GA; ABC)

8:00: San Jose State @ Southern California (Pac12): Naturally, USC’s last season in the Pac-12 sees them kick off on the Pac-12 Network, which basically no one (other than me, apparently) gets. At any rate, this Spartan-on-Trojan violence will likely have a fairly predictable outcome.

9:00: Florida International @ Louisiana Tech (CBSS): Finally, we have… no idea how to project this one. This starts at 6PM Pacific, so this might be the only one of these games I actually get to watch live, so it’ll be on. Going with the Techies out of Ruston, LA just out of solidarity, I suppose.