As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Arizona State @ Texas A&M (ABC): SELECTED LIGHTNING ROUND. TAMU!
• Oklahoma @ Michigan (FOX): Remember when Michigan couldn’t block Western Michigan last week? Brent Venables is licking his chops. OU by a reasonable amount, but this may not be as close as the score.
• Oregon @ Oklahoma State (ESPN): Oregon is going to work some stuff out here.
• Pennsylvania State @ Temple (ESPN2): Penn State by a lot.
• Wake Forest @ Purdue (FS1): Wake looked decent last week, and also, maybe some signs of life in West Lafayette? Still like Wake here.
• Old Dominion @ Virginia Tech (The CW): ODU has beat Virginia Tech more than once, but probably not this time.
• Washington State @ Kansas State (TNT): K-STATE!
• Howard @ Indiana (BTN)
• Appalachian State @ East Carolina (ESPNU): ECU!
• East Tennessee State @ North Carolina (ACCN)
• South Florida @ Army (CBSS): ARMY!
• Wofford @ Kent State (ESPN+)

12:45: Western Kentucky @ Georgia (SEC): Georgia!

1:00:

• Holy Cross @ Miami (ESPN+)
• Colgate @ Central Michigan (ESPN+)
• Tennessee-Martin @ West Virginia (ESPN+)

2:00: Stony Brook @ Ball State (ESPN+)

3:30:

• Arizona @ Brigham Young (FOX): BYU?
• Alabama @ Kentucky (ABC): Bama!
• Mississippi State @ Minnesota (CBS): This is a fun inter-sectional game that features two teams with a fair number of question marks. I’ll still give a slight edge to the Bulldogs.
• Rice @ Notre Dame (NBC): Irish!
• Central Florida @ Pittsburgh (ESPN2): Pitt!
• Duke @ Illinois (FS1): Illinois!
• Texas-San Antonio @ Texas State (“I-35 Rivalry”; The CW): UTSA?
• Eastern Michigan @ Michigan State (BTN): Sparty!
• Utah State @ Washington (BTN): UDub!
• California @ Syracuse (ACCN): Cal?
• Maryland @ Connecticut (CBSS): Terps!
• Weber State @ Colorado (ESPN+)
• Louisiana-Monroe @ Alabama-Birmingham (ESPN+)
• Robert Morris @ Akron (ESPN+)
• Central Connecticut @ Toledo (ESPN+)
• Sacred Heart @ Massachusetts (ESPN+)
• Wagner @ James Madison (ESPN+)

3:45: Nevada-Las Vegas @ North Texas (ESPNU): UNLV?

4:00:

• California-Davis @ Southern Methodist (ACCNX)
• Alabama State @ Troy (ESPN+)
• Northern Colorado @ Wyoming (MWN)

4:15: Delaware @ Vanderbilt (SEC): Vandy!

5:30: Campbell @ Florida (SEC+)

6:00:

• Memphis @ Boise State (USA): This is a play-off eliminator, most likely. I still like Boise.
• Buffalo @ Florida International (ESPN+)
• Garnder-Webb @ Liberty (ESPN+)
• Jacksonville State @ Ohio (ESPN+)

6:30: Monmouth @ Western Michigan (ESPN+)

7:00:

• Tennessee @ Georgia Tech (ESPN): Unfortunately, I’m extremely short on time to put my full thoughts to the screen here. Suffice it to say, an offensive line performance like last week’s (where they effectively disappeared after the first drive) will not get it done here. I hope we can figure something out, or embarrassment looms.
• Bowling Green @ Nebraska (FS1): Huskers!
• Southern Utah @ Colorado (CBSS)
• Towson @ South Carolina (SEC+)
• Lindenwood @ Missouri State (ESPN+)
• Western Carolina @ Cincinnati (ESPN+)
• Middle Tennessee State @ Marshall (ESPN+)
• Tulsa @ Sam Houston State (ESPN+)
• Southern @ Houston (ESPN+)
• Georgia State @ Kennesaw State (ESPN+)
• South Alabama @ Tulane (ESPN+)
• West Georgia @ Arkansas State (ESPN+)
• Illinois State @ Northern Illinois (MWN)

7:15:

• San Diego State @ California-Los Angeles (BTN): This shouldn’t be close, but it might be? UCLA just leaned against Cal until they broke, but SDSU’s defense will definitely be more resolute.
• Western Illinois @ Wisconsin (BTN)

7:30:

• Iowa State @ Iowa (“¡El Assico!”; NBC): As usual, throw out anything you think you know about these teams because this is the rare rivalry where anything actually could happen. I still like Iowa at home, but… it’s worth keeping an eye on.
• Texas Tech @ Oregon State (CBS): Red Raiders!
• Ohio State @ Texas (ABC): I just don’t believe in Arch yet. I have the Buckeyes here.
• Navy @ Florida Atlantic (ESPNU): Navy!
• Georgia Southern @ Clemson (ACCN): Clemson?
• Louisiana Tech @ Louisiana State (SEC+)
• Fordham @ Coastal Carolina (ESPN+)

7:45:

• Charlotte @ Mississippi (ESPN2): Mississippi!
• Southern Mississippi @ Auburn (SEC): Auburn!

8:00:

• Grambling State @ Texas Christian (ESPN+)
• Prairie View A&M @ Baylor (ESPN+)

9:00:

• California Polytechnic @ San Jose State (NBCBA/MWN)
• Texas Southern @ Texas-El Paso (MWN)

10:00: North Dakota State @ Air Force (FS1): Life comes at you fast, Bison. That said, I think they’ll be fine here?

10:15: Arkansas @ Utah (ESPN): Utes!

10:30:

• Montana State @ Nevada (The CW)
• Sacramento State @ Fresno State (CBSS): Fresno!

11:00: Louisiana @ Southern California (BTN): USC!

11:59: New Mexico State @ Hawaii (MWN)

 

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Saturday

Noon:

• East Carolina @ Alabama (ABC): As has been noted in many other spaces, this isn’t the most action-packed Week 1. There’s a lot of games like this with huge point spreads and not much to talk about. I guess it’s a good weekend for me to be at PAX. Also, Bama by a lot.
• North Texas @ Indiana (FOX): Indiana is still the reigning, undefeated national champion. And they’ll still be undefeated after this one.
• Oregon State @ Houston (ESPN): This might be the best game in this timeslot? Houston always has expectations, but Oregon State might be able to quash them. I still like the Cougs, but if there’s a single-score game here, it’ll be this one, or…
• Ohio @ Nebraska (FS1): Well, not this one. (Corn by a lot.)
• Coastal Carolina @ West Virginia (TNT): Or this one. (Neers by a lot.)
• Liberty @ James Madison (ESPNU): … but this one! It pains me to recommend watching a Liberty game, but as one of the richest teams on the low end of the “group of” they certainly should have the resources to hang with JMU. I still like the Monarchs, though.
• New Hampshire @ Syracuse (ACCN)
• Bryant @ Army (CBSS)
• Lafayette @ Connecticut (Stream)
• Tarleton @ Bowling Green (ESPN+)

12:30:

• Miami @ Pittsburgh (The CW): No, that Miami will be flying back from Palo Alto during this game. Speaking of unusually well resourced G6 teams, the Redhawks are actually not doing bad by any standard, much less for the MAC. Still hard seeing them beat Pitt, but they could certainly make things uncomfortable.
• Ball State @ Ohio State (BTN): Buckeyes by a lot.

12:45: Kent State @ South Carolina (SEC): Shane Beamer is a coach that has near-universal agreement as being on the proverbial hot seat entering the season. This game will not get him fired.

1:00:

• Youngstown State @ Kentucky (SEC+)
• Duquesne @ Air Force (MWN)

2:00:

• Southeast Missouri State @ Iowa State (ESPN+)
• Rhode Island @ Temple (ESPN+)

3:00: Tennessee State @ Georgia (SEC+)

3:30:

• Boston College @ Cincinnati (FOX): BC is in the running to be one of the worse P4 teams this season, and while Cincy probably won’t be very good, they can knock off BC at home.
• Baylor vs. Auburn (Aflac Kickoff Game @ Atlanta, GA; ABC): It’s a cliche at this point in the season, but these teams have a lot more questions than answers right now. This is a coin flip for me, and I’m going with Auburn.
• Boise State @ Oregon (CBS): I want to believe that there’s still a reality where Boise can take one of the big boys of the sport to the wire, but… this Oregon team is loaded. Like, one of the 3-5 teams that can plausibly win the national title loaded. But I still believe…
• Texas State @ Texas (ESPN): This will be a “Good Arch” game.
• Marshall @ Pennsylvania State (FS1): I really don’t want to talk about Penn State right now, so I won’t. They’ll win this one.
• Tulane @ Duke (ACCN): This is a game where it’s very plausible that a well resourced G6 team can knock off a P4, and I think it’s actually kind of likely
• Towson @ Navy (CBSS)
• Fordham @ North Dakota State (MWN)
• Furman @ Tennessee (SEC+)
• Texas-Rio Grande Valley @ Texas-San Antonio (ESPN+)
• Maine @ Appalachian State (ESPN+)
• The Citadel @ Charlotte (ESPN+)

3:45: Oklahoma State @ Tulsa (ESPNU): Oklahoma State essentially did a wholesale import of last season’s best offense from Texas State up to Stillwater, and this early (but short) road trip will be the first proof of concept for them.

4:15:

• Northern Illinois @ Iowa (BTN): Northern Illinois never really fit in the MAC, so they left for… the Mountain West. Sure. It’ll be interesting to see if Iowa does the offense thing again this year, but they’ll win this game regardless.
• North Alabama @ Arkansas (SEC)

5:00: Alcorn State @ Southern Mississippi (ESPN+)

6:00:

• Wyoming @ Colorado State (“Border War”; USA): The rules for whether or not I talk about a particular game are this: 1) It has to be between two FBS opponents and 2) it has to be available on a traditional television network. So there’s going to be some Mountain West games on USA this season, so take note. As for this game, I… didn’t realize or forgot it’s a rivalry game. There’s a trophy (the Bronze Boot) and everything! So this should be fun, but I’m slightly leaning toward the Pokes.
• Norfolk State @ Old Dominion (ESPN+)

7:00:

• Missouri State @ Texas A&M (ESPN): Aggies by a lot.
• Abilene Christian @ Texas State (FS1)
• Idaho State @ Utah State (CBSS)
• Austin Peay @ Vanderbilt (SEC+)
• Sam Houston State @ Troy (ESPN+)
• Arkansas State @ Memphis (ESPN+)
• Florida International @ South Florida (ESPN+)
• Nicholls State @ Kansas State (ESPN+)
• Southeastern Louisiana @ South Alabama (ESPN+)
• Houston Christian @ Rice (ESPN+)
• Eastern Kentucky @ Jacksonville State (ESPN+)
• Murray State @ Middle Tennessee State (ESPN+)
• Charleston Southern @ Georgia Southern (ESPN+)

7:30:

• Clemson @ Louisiana State (ABC): The game of the day! LSU, of course, has been in the news for all the wrong reasons as of late. Clemson has mostly flown under the radar after not quite meeting their elevated expectations the past couple of years. The chances of a “lil ole Clemson” type game feel very high. It’s fair that LSU is favored for a home night game, but I just can’t shake Clemson just cutting through all the hype and putting a wet blanket on Lane Kiffin’s debut.
• Western Michigan @ Michigan (NBC): Michigan by a lot.
• Louisiana-Monroe @ Mississippi State (ESPNU): Miss State, by a medium amount.
• Virginia Military @ Virginia Tech (ACCN)
• Northwestern State @ Louisiana Tech (ESPN+)

7:45: Florida Atlantic @ Florida (SEC): Don’t let the Florida fans fool you, they’ll be fine here.

8:00:

• South Dakota State @ Northwestern (BTN)
• Hampton @ Maryland (BTN)
• Utah Tech @ Brigham Young (ESPN+)
• Lamar @ Louisiana (ESPN+)

9:00: Mercyhurst @ New Mexico State (ESPN+)

9:30:

• Portland State @ San Diego State (USA)
• Northern Arizona @ Arizona (ESPN+)

10:00:

• Central Michigan @ New Mexico (FS1): Hey, here’s a fun cross-sectional game! I like the Lobos at home, but definitely keep on eye on this one.
• Nevada-Las Vegas @ Hawaii (The CW): Hawaii probably should’ve beat Stanford last week. They had a late lead and everything, but couldn’t hold on. UNLV comes in with some pretty hefty expectations and should win, but it’s not a given.
• Mississippi Valley State @ Sacramento State (ESPN+)
• Morgan State @ Arizona State (ESPN+)

10:30:

• California-Los Angeles @ California (ESPN): It’s good to see this game back on the schedule, and with a whole new operation in Westwood, I like JKS and company to open with a win in Berkeley.
• Western Kentucky @ Nevada (CBSS): Probably not as much fun as Western Michigan-New Mexico, but this could still be fun. Unfortunately, I don’t think Nevada is very good, so this should be sorta straightforward for the Hilltoppers.

Sunday

4:00: Washington State @ Washington (“Apple Cup”; NBC): The Apple Cup is back, once again! Unfortunately, I’m not sure I have much hope for Wazzu.

7:30:

• Louisville vs. Mississippi (Music City Kickoff @ Nashville, TN; ABC): The easy assumption for this game is that Lane took most of the good players to Baton Rouge. But that’s for a reason, and Louisville has the talent to hang with the Rebels for sure. I’ll even pick them here.
• Wisconsin vs. Notre Dame (@Green Bay, WI; NBC): Luke Fickell is another coach on the preseason hot seat, and I’m not sure this game is going to do much to get him off of it.

Monday

7:30: Southern Methodist @ Florida State (ESPN): Speaking of coaches on the hot seat and bad vibes, Mike Norvell could really use a win here. And similarly to Fickell, I don’t think he’s going to get it. (Though at least the Noles, on paper, stand a chance in this game.)

 

Welcome back.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon: North Carolina vs. Texas Christian (Aer Lingus Classic @ Dublin, Ireland; ESPN): Year 2 of the Bill Bellichick era at Carolina is here, and I’m sure Tar Heel fans are more than ready to talk about actual football. The problem is that there’s not a lot to indicate that this won’t be much different than last season’s opening debacle in Chapel Hill, even if this is an ocean away.

3:00: San Jose State @ Southern California (NBC): Hey, so you’ve probably at least heard that there’s a movie called The Odyssey out, right? (I saw it, it’s great.) And you’re probably aware that it’s based on a 2,000 year old epic poem? So you probably have had multiple opportunities to learn the broad strokes of the Trojan War, yeah?

So if you aren’t face palming yet, here’s why you should. The Trojans, somewhat famously, are the losers of the Trojan War, the framing conflict of the story. And they lose to the Greeks, who trick them using a giant wooden horse filled with their dudes. And one of the major Greek factions? The Spartans! As in, the San Jose State Spartans! Now, look, USC are going to be massive favorites here, but if they field another vintage Lincoln Riley defense and let SJSU hang around too long in this one, some serious questions are going to be asked.

3:30: North Carolina State @ Virginia (ESPN): Yes, this one does count as an ACC game (though if I recall correctly his was originally scheduled as a non-conference game but with the ACC (mostly) going to a 9 game conference schedule they just rolled it in). All that said, both teams have massive questions, but I like NC State here. Mostly. Probably.

5:30: Jacksonville State @ North Dakota State (CBSS): The Fargodome gets its first FBS game early, and the thing is, they’re probably going to win! The usual issue for the FCS to FBS transition is depth, but NDSU has been so good for so long that if there were a team that felt like it was going to make the transition with verve, it’d be them.

7:00:

• New Mexico State @ Florida State (The CW): Surely, Mike Norvell can handle this one.
• Hawaii @ Stanford (ACCN): Stanford is going to be bad this year, as in bad enough that I think Hawaii has a fairly good shot to win this one.

10:00: Memphis @ Nevada-Las Vegas (FOX): This could well be the G6 vs. G6 game of the year. Both of these schools see themselves as playoff contenders, but I think UNLV is better. We’ll find out tomorrow(!) night.