As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Thursday

6:00: Massachusetts @ Rutgers (BTN): Rutgers would like to remind you that they are, in fact, still in the Big Ten, and that as such they will absolutely grind UMass into a fine powder.

7:00:

• Akron @ Wake Forest (ACCN): The gap between the “group of” conferences and the Power 4 is greater than ever, but there are still some teams from the lower rungs of FBS that can still threaten mid-to-bad ACC schools. Akron is not one of them.
• Merrimack @ Delaware (ESPN+)
• Albany @ Buffalo (ESPN+)
• Bethune-Cookman @ Central Florida (ESPN+)
• West Georgia @ Kennesaw State (ESPN+)

8:00:

• Colorado @ Georgia Tech (ESPN): Believe it or not, it’s Year 4 of the Deion Sanders experience in Boulder. Brent Key is back as well, but uncertainty reigns over this game. At least on the Tech side, there’s a wholesale change on the offense. Gone is the offensive coordinator and several players to Florida, as well as some other starters. In at running back, the “Haynes” moniker is preserved as Justice Haynes is in from Michigan, where he was pretty good. Another famous name is now also in at quarterback: Mendoza, as in Alberto Mendoza, Fernando’s younger brother. There are a slew of questions around whether or not Alberto is actually any good, presumably he would’ve stayed at Indiana if he were that guy. (Oh, and Chris Weinke is the new coordinator.) It’s presumably going to look different unless Key and Weinke believe that only battering rams can play quarterback at Tech. (Speaking of which, Haynes King made the Panther’s roster as a 3rd-string QB due, at least in part, to the play of the preseason. Nearly brought a tear to my eye seeing that run along with the team storming the field in otherwise meaningless exhibition.)
  Either way, I expect a great atmosphere in Midtown Atlanta for this one with a season where I think we’ll win anywhere from 4 to 10 games.
• Arkansas-Pine Bluff @ Missouri (SEC)
• Eastern Illinois @ Minnesota (Peacock)

9:00:

• Alabama-Birmingham @ Illinois (BTN): The Illini may be good this year, but we probably won’t derive a lot of information from this one.
• Idaho @ Utah (ESPNU)

Friday

6:30: San Jose State @ Eastern Michigan (ESPN+)

7:00:

• Indiana State @ Purdue (BTN)
• North Carolina A&T @ Georgia State (ESPN+)

8:00:

• Toledo @ Michigan State (FS1): This is the rare “group of” game that might actually tell us something about both teams. Toledo, of course, is always the class of the MAC, though Jason Candle finally got another job (and not for lack of trying). That said, it’s really more about the new coach on Sparty’s sideline: Pat Fitzgerald, most recently of Northwestern. While one of the best coaches Northwestern has ever had, he did exit amid a cloud of scandal (that he was nominally cleared of, for what it’s worth) and an apparent reluctance to adapt to modern college football (he was the coach when the Northwestern players attempted to unionize, and almost certainly doesn’t care for NIL). Michigan State should still win but there’s still no reason for a B1G team to be threatened by a MAC team. Keep an eye on this, though.
• Long Island @ Kansas (ESPNU)
• Texas-El Paso @ Oklahoma (SEC+)

9:00:

• Fresno State @ Southern California (FOX): USC played last week of course, and took care of business against San Jose State. Fresno State will be a step up in competition, but they’ll be fine. Though I wonder if more folks will show up at the Coliseum this time.
• Miami @ Stanford (ESPN): Stanford needed a furious comeback to top Hawaii down on the farm. I don’t think there’s going to much in the way of a comeback in this one for the Cardinal.