This Weekend in College Football: Week 3

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

  • Alabama @ Wisconsin (FOX): I’m hardly new to to this observation, but get ready for a very front-loaded day of games. We start off early in Madison, Wisconsin, where the main issue for Alabama fans will likely be misguided attempts to out-drink the locals. Otherwise, barring something surprising from the Badger offense, I think the Tide have this.
  • Louisiana State @ South Carolina (ABC): South Carolina may not be terrible, but I have a hard time entertaining them keeping a lid on LSU.
  • Memphis @ Florida State (ESPN): Okay, so while I don’t expect Memphis to win this game, I sort of expect them to? The Tigers aren’t appreciably worse than the two teams FSU has already lost to. The main thing is just that I’m assuming maybe FSU has figured some things out, especially on defense.
  • Oklahoma State @ Tulsa (ESPN2): I think this is going to be mostly Pokes.
  • North Texas @ Texas Tech (FS1): In another plains-state game with non-traditional rivals, this figures to be a bit closer, but it’s still at home for Tech.
  • Arkansas State @ Michigan (BTN): Michigan gets-right in a game where their lack of top-tier offensive playmakers (i.e., all the guys who got them the title last season) won’t matter at all.
  • Cincinnati @ Miami (“Battle for the Bell”; ESPNU): Did you know… this is a long-standing rivalry game? And yeah, Cincy has dominated as of late, but guess what, Miami won last year, and it’s back up in their stadium. Plus, the Bearcats blew a three-touchdown lead to Pitt last week. Factor all that in, and it’s not hard to see the Redhawks doing it again.
  • Louisiana Tech @ North Carolina State (ACCN): NC State will be fine in this one.
  • Central Michigan @ Illinois (Peacock)

12:45: Boston College @ Missouri (SEC): So… this is the only ranked vs. ranked match of the day, an observation that usually is then followed by “wait, how is Missouri ranked sixth?” Who can say, really. If BC can keep it close they’ve got a chance, but while I don’t agree with Mizzou being ranked 6th, I can definitely buy they have a significantly better idea of what they’re doing on offense than say, oh, Florida State.

1:00: Massachusetts @ Buffalo (CBSS): If Buffalo doesn’t roll here there are severe problems there.

2:00: Coastal Carolina @ Temple (ESPN+)

3:30:

  • Texas A&M @ Florida (ABC): I know why this is on national broadcast television, but I’m not sure I know why. TAMU I guess?
  • Oregon @ Oregon State (“Civil War”; FOX): And so, weird Week 3 Rivalry Saturday begins in earnest. You had better believe Corvallis is going to be rocking in this one, and for good reason. The Beavers, despite a major exodus after last season, have had a good start to the year. Oregon is 2-0, but that comes with some major caveats in a pair of games the Ducks could have easily lost. And this is their biggest challenge yet. On paper, the Beavers stand no chance. But on the field with 50,000 jilted fans in the stands, it’s easy to see how it could go south quick for them. I like the Beavers here.
  • Notre Dame @ Purdue (CBS): Meanwhile, Notre Dame suffered what will likely go down as the biggest upset for the year: losing to Northern Illinois. That said, unlike the scenario I described above and even despite that, unlike Oregon, the Irish actually lost… I’m still going to pick them.
  • Tulane @ Oklahoma (ESPN): Yes, I’m aware Oklahoma isn’t in the Big 12 anymore, but for starters Tulane absolutely should have beaten Kansas State last weekend. And unlike K-State, Oklahoma has some severe issues on offense right now. Sure, the defense is good, but I can definitely see how Tulane scores early and keeps it close into the 4th quarter. After that, anything goes. I’ll take the Wave.
  • West Virginia @ Pittsburgh (“Backyard Brawl”; ESPN2): This is about as evenly matched of a Backyard Brawl as there’s maybe ever been. I want this to be a good game so bad after last year’s opening weekend banger, but something tells me Pitt just keeps the Cincy vibes rolling and just paves over the ‘Neers.
  • Prairie View A&M @ Michigan State (BTN)
  • Nevada @ Minnesota (BTN): Gophers.
  • Ball State @ Miami (ACCN): Canes.
  • Virginia Military @ Georgia Tech (ACCNX): Well, we finally got got last weekend. Think maybe there’s a few programs though that are trying to figure how Kyle McCord wound up at Syracuse instead of, say, Florida State, Michigan, Oklahoma… maybe he’ll get that NIL bag after this season. Any rate, as far the Jackets go, there were definitely some issues that cropped with the first good offense they had to play against, and boy howdy the rushing attack picked an incredibly bad time to vanish into thin air. At any rate, this is a good week to figure some things out.
  • Washington State vs. Washington (“Apple Cup” @ Seattle, WA; Peacock): I’ll join the chorus of commentators pointing out that the neutral site is good, actually. Yes, they played in Seattle last season, but that was at Husky Stadium. Playing at Lumen Field means this thing is going to be 50/50, and I can tell you from first hand experience, it’s going to be 50/50. This could be a legit cool Apple Cup. That said, though, I’m not as confident about the Cougs as I am the Beavers.
  • Morgan State @ Ohio (ESPN+)

4:00:

  • Troy @ Iowa (FS1): You’ll probably want to take the under in this one, which also means Iowa is going to win.
  • Appalachian State @ East Carolina (ESPNU): There’s probably some in-state beef here, and I’m not sure I have much of a read on this one. If ECU is actually turning a corner, this would be a great time to do it. Otherwise, I like App.

4:15: Alabama-Birmingham @ Arkansas (SEC): Yeah, so UAB got vaporized by Louisiana-Monroe last week. I don’t think they stand much of a chance here.

4:30: Utah @ Utah State (“Battle of the Brothers”; CBSS): Utah has some severe issues on offense without Cam Rising, but… the Aggies lost by like 60 to USC last week, I think the Utes will be fine.

6:00:

  • Connecticut @ Duke (ACCNX)
  • North Carolina Central @ North Carolina (ACCNX)
  • Florida International @ Florida Atlantic (“Shula Bowl”; ESPN+)
  • Gardner-Webb @ Charlotte (ESPN+)
  • Colgate @ Akron (ESPN+)
  • Texas-El Paso @ Liberty (ESPN+)
  • South Carolina State @ Georgia Southern (ESPN+)
  • Virginia Tech @ Old Dominion (ESPN+)

6:30:

  • Mississippi @ Wake Forest (CW): Lane will presumably name his own score in Winston-Salem.
  • Bethune-Cookman @ Western Michigan (ESPN+)

7:00:

  • Texas-San Antonio @ Texas (ESPN): The fallout from last week’s loss to Texas State is that I can’t really come up with a plausible way UTSA stands a chance in this game.
  • Kennesaw State @ San Jose State (truTV): This is your reminder that Kennesaw State is now FBS, and they also terrible.
  • Vanderbilt @ Georgia State (ESPN+)
  • South Florida @ Southern Mississippi (ESPN+)
  • Western Kentucky @ Middle Tennessee State (ESPN+)
  • Jacksonville State @ Eastern Michigan (ESPN+)

7:30:

  • Georgia @ Kentucky (ABC): Georgia. Next!
  • Colorado @ Colorado State (“Rocky Mountain Showdown”; CBS): Colorado has two awesome skill players. Otherwise, they absolutely cannot block or beat blocks. They are terrible, and they’re going to lose this game, and it’s going to be hilarious.
  • Central Florida @ Texas Christian (FOX): We’re going to find out a lot about these teams, provided anyone can keep their eyes off what’s going in Fort Collins. UCF has played no one, but at least blown them out, while TCU has a close win over Stanford. I’ll flip a weighted coin to account for TCU being at home and take the Frogs.
  • Indiana @ California-Los Angeles (NBC): Well, Indiana can at least play offense, so provided they aren’t distract by the sun setting over the San Gabriels around the start of the fourth quarter, I like the Hoosiers in their first (sigh) conference game.
  • New Mexico @ Auburn (ESPN2): I would love to believe that Hugh Freeze is forever destined to lose to teams from New Mexico (after losing to their cousins from Los Cruces two years in a row) but there’s nothing about the Lobos’ losses (including to a (good) FCS team) that says that it’s going to happen.
  • Air Force @ Baylor (FS1): Baylor will be fine in this one.
  • Northern Iowa @ Nebraska (BTN)
  • Eastern Illinois @ Northwestern (BTN)
  • Toledo @ Mississippi State (ESPNU): I’d love to predict another big MAC upset this week, but teams that only beat UMass by two scores don’t exactly scream “rolling into cowbell territory and winning” to me.

7:45: Kent State @ Tennessee (SEC): Kent lost to something called “St Francis PA” last week. This does not bode well for their chances in Knoxville. The Vols may put up a 100-spot.

8:00:

  • Maryland @ Virginia (ACCN): Of course Maryland is on the ACC Network, why wouldn’t they be? “Jokes” aside, we don’t have to worry about September Maryland this year, it seems. It’s probably for the best. I don’t anticipate their trip to Charlottesville changing that either.
  • Rice @ Houston (ESPN+)

9:00: Brigham Young @ Wyoming (CBSS): There are plenty of years were this game would’ve been extremely compelling. Unfortunately, this doesn’t appear to be one of them. I’ll give a slight edge to BYU.

10:30:

  • San Diego State @ California (ESPN): Cal can score. San Diego State amply demonstrated last week that they cannot. I think this one is pretty open and shut.
  • New Mexico State @ Fresno State (truTV): New Mexico State may have a pulse this year, which was not a given considering they lost their coach and quarterback. But it’s hard to see them prevailing against Fresno.

This Weekend in College Football: Week 2

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

  • Arkansas @ Oklahoma State (ABC): Let’s face it, most of the early games are going to be overshadowed by the next game, so the angle is: is there a reason to keep an eye on any of the other ones? In this case, no. I like the Pokes.
  • Texas @ Michigan (FOX): Early last season was defined by Texas and Alabama’s excellent tilt in Austin, that helped put the Horns on the to the playoff. Michigan, of course, won that playoff. This is an all-time helmet game between two programs that have met just once: in the 2004-05 Rose Bowl, where Texas won 38-37 on a walk-off field goal by Dusty Magnum. (Vince Young of course featured prominently for the Longhorns.) This time around, the game may not be that close: Michigan is replacing a lot from last year’s team and may not really have a quarterback, whereas Texas sort of has the opposite problem. The main factor will be the true road game aspect of this, but I still have to pick Texas.
  • Kansas State @ Tulane (ESPN): I don’t know that Tulane can win this game, but I think they can make it interesting.
  • Pittsburgh @ Cincinnati (ESPN2): Once again, I love the regional matchup aspect of this, but this one doesn’t figure to be anything other than a Pitt rout.
  • Bowling Green @ Pennsylvania State (BTN): Penn State rolls.
  • Akron @ Rutgers (BTN): Rutgers rolls.
  • Troy @ Memphis (ESPNU): This definitely a match up of two totally different approaches to offense and game management in general. I’ll take the Tigers here, but it may be worth keeping an eye on this one.
  • Army @ Florida Atlantic (CBS): I think there’s a way Army can win here, but if FAU can just force the issue with their speed it’ll be all but over.
  • Georgia Tech @ Syracuse (ACCN): So as Florida State was getting thrashed by Boston College last Monday, my favorite joke was “wow the Noles are really devaluing Georgia Tech’s strength of schedule”. That said, unlike FSU, Syracuse appears to have a quarterback that can throw the ball downfield, which is definitely going to be a new test for our defense.
  • Rhode Island @ Minnesota (Peacock)

12:45: McNeese State @ Texas A&M (SEC)

2:00:

  • Tennessee Tech @ Georgia (ESPN+)
  • Missouri State @ Ball State (ESPN+)

2:30: Saint Francis @ Kent State (ESPN+)

3:00: Utah Tech @ Nevada-Las Vegas (MWN)

3:30:

  • Baylor @ Utah (FOX): Talking about “styles make fights”, Utah would prefer this to be a literal rockfight. This isn’t the high-flying RGIII Baylor days of course, and overall, it figures that the Bears will struggle in this trip to Salt Lake City.
  • South Carolina @ Kentucky (ABC): South Carolina might be kind of bad? I mean, I have no idea about Kentucky, but just based on that I’ll take the Cayuts at home.
  • Northern Illinois @ Notre Dame (NBC): ND should roll.
  • Iowa State @ Iowa (“El Assico”; CBS): Ah, here’s how you know it’s really Week 2 of the season. Of course, why CBS decided the nation needed to see this oddest of rivalries is beyond me. What not to expect: offense. What to expect: ??? I think the Hawkeyes are more talented and it is in Kinnick, but there’s a reason why there’s a non-zero chance the phrase “sickos” will be used on the broadcast.
  • California @ Auburn (ESPN2): So I went to last year’s edition of the this game in Berkeley, and Cal had plenty of chances to the win the game. They basically just… didn’t. I won’t be in Alabama for this one, but there’s reasons for optimism for Cal. At a minimum, they probably have an edge at quarterback. I think they’ll get the dub this time.
  • South Dakota @ Wisconsin (FS1)
  • Idaho @ Wyoming (truTV)
  • Eastern Michigan @ Washington (BTN): UDub gets a head start on scheduling MAC opponents, like a proper Big Ten team.
  • Michigan State @ Maryland (BTN): Meanwhile in College Park, an early test for both of these teams. That said, it’s September, which means the Terps are basically unstoppable.
  • Temple @ Navy (CBSS): There’s not going to be a lot of chances for Navy to obliterate a conference opponent this year. This is very much one of them.
  • Charlotte @ North Carolina (ACCC): Heels should roll.
  • Jacksonville State @ Louisville (ACCNX)
  • Duquesne @ Boston College (ACCNX)
  • Massachusetts @ Toledo (ESPN+)

4:00: Texas-San Antonio @ Texas State (“I-35 Rivalry”; ESPNU): This is definitely the G5 game of the day, and perhaps one of the best games of any sort. UTSA is the steady hand here, while Texas State went on a major talent acquisition spree this off-season. This may well be the biggest game in the history of Texas State at this level, and it’ll be interesting to see if they can pack it in in San Marcos. That said, I still like the Roadrunners.

4:15: Middle Tennessee State @ Mississippi (SEC): Lane Kiiffin can name his score in this one.

4:30: Marshall @ Virginia Tech (CW): I don’t think Virginia Tech is good or any thing, but Marshall sure has a chance to be very, very bad.

6:00:

  • Florida A&M @ Miami (ACCNX)
  • Central Michigan @ Florida International ESPN+)
  • Albany @ West Virginia (ESPN+)
  • South Alabama @ Ohio (ESPN+)
  • Gardner-Webb @ James Madison (ESPN+)
  • East Carolina @ Old Dominion (ESPN+)

6:30: Sam Houston State @ Central Florida (ESPN+)

7:00:

  • South Florida @ Alabama (ESPN): So many will remember last year’s contest in Tampa, where Bama won but it sure wasn’t comfortable. The caveat, of course, is that they really didn’t have a quarterback. USF is actually not a bad team, but I don’t think Bama will be in much of a mood to mess around in this one. If they do, well, it’ll certainly make things challenging for DeBoer going forward.
  • Virginia @ Wake Forest (ESPN2): I have absolutely no read on this game. Ask me next week. For now, I’ll just pick Wake.
  • Kansas @ Illinois (FS1): Okay, so more “styles make fights” football here. Kansas, of course, is going to move the ball, the question is just how much will Illinois keep them out of the end zone. This feels like either a very narrow Illinois win in a low-scoring, defensive contest, or a Kansas absolute blowout. The latter feels more likely.
  • Georgia Southern @ Nevada (truTV): Southern is in a bit of disarray after last week’s loss to a Mountain West team, and going to the Reno doesn’t seem like it’ll solve any of their problems.
  • San Jose State @ Air Force (CBSS): I like Air Force here.
  • Northern Colorado @ Colorado State (MWN)
  • California Polytechnic @ Stanford (ACCNX)
  • Samford @ Florida (ESPN+)
  • Buffalo @ Missouri (ESPN+)
  • Southeastern Louisiana @ Southern Mississippi (ESPN+)
  • Tennessee-Chattanooga @ Georgia State (ESPN+)
  • Tulsa @ Arkansas State (ESPN+)
  • William & Mary @ Coastal Carolina (ESPN+)
  • Eastern Kentucky @ Western Kentucky (ESPN+)
  • Louisiana @ Kennesaw State (ESPN+)
  • Texas Southern @ Rice (ESPN+)
  • Alabama-Birmingham @ Louisiana-Monroe (ESPN+)

7:30:

  • Tennessee vs. North Carolina State (Duke’s Mayo Classic @ Charlotte, NC; ABC): I don’t think anyone thinks NC State is bad, per se, just that Tennessee might be really good. In particular, I’m not sure the Wolfpack defense is going to be able to stop the Vols.
  • Colorado @ Nebraska (NBC): Nebraska’s decent again, Colorado still has major problems in the trenches, the game is at night in Lincoln, and this is an old, old rivalry. It… might get ugly for the Buffs.
  • Western Michigan @ Ohio State (BTN):  Bucks roll.
  • Alcorn State @ Vanderbilt (ESPNU)
  • Nicholls State @ Louisiana State (ESPN+)
  • Stephen F. Austin @ North Texas (ESPN+)

7:45: Houston @ Oklahoma (SEC): The Sooners may, no joke, score 100.

8:00:

  • Appalachian State @ Clemson (ACCN): If Clemson has some things figured out, and a quarterback, then this one won’t be close. But… if things in upstate South Carolina are as bleak as they looked against Georgia, App State may be looking for yet another ACC team to upset. To be clear, I can’t pick the Mountaineers, but I’m not going to be surprised if they pull this off.
  • Long Island @ Texas Christian (ESPN+)

9:00: Southern Utah @ Texas-El Paso (ESPN+)

10:00:

  • Texas Tech @ Washington State (FOX): I think I kind of like Wazzu in this one, but it’s hard to tell where these two teams are at at the moment. Once again, as me next week.
  • Sacramento State @ Fresno State (MWN)
  • Boise State @ Oregon (Peacock)
  • Northern Arizona @ Arizona (ESPN+)

10:15: Liberty @ New Mexico State (ESPN2): Ugh, Liberty’s going to win, aren’t they.

10:30:

  • Mississippi State @ Arizona State (ESPN): This is possibly the most random game of the day. Anything could happen here and I wouldn’t be surprised. Which is partially why I love that this involves a SEC team kickoff at 9:30 their time back in Mississippi, because this could get weird for the folks back east. Also, I kind of like the Sun Devils anyway.
  • Oregon State @ San Diego State (CBSS): Beavers all the way here.

11:00: Utah State @ Southern California (BTN): Welcome to… B1G After Dark. Ugh, they’re going to co-opt that aren’t they? At any rate, I’ll be shocked if there’s a reason to actually tune in for any other reason.

This Weekend in College Football: Week 1

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Saturday

Noon:

  • Pennsylvania State @ West Virginia (FOX): And finally, welcome back to College Football Saturday! Y’all, I think this is a perfectly wonderful way to come back. Well, maybe not this particular game, which will kind of be a theme of this weekend. Penn State should have this one easy.
  • Clemson vs. Georgia (Aflac Kickoff Game @ Atlanta, GA; ABC): That said, this is a game of the day, and it’s kind of weirdly… early? Like, why isn’t this in prime time? Oh, sure, the “dawgs” are a huge favorite, and, well, I don’t have a lot of reasons to disagree. That said, this Clemson team should still be game enough to test them, and this should be worth watching.
  • Virginia Tech @ Vanderbilt (ESPN): Whereas, well, I suspect the Hokies got this…
  • Connecticut @ Maryland (FS1): … and so do the Terps.
  • Illinois State @ Iowa (BTN)
  • Indiana State @ Purdue (BTN)
  • Kent State @ Pittsburgh (ESPNU): Y’all, I promise to try to talk about every FBS vs. FBS game, but, look, I may need until we get into conference season in a week or two.
  • Bucknell @ Navy (CBSS)
  • Austin Peay @ Louisville (ACCN)

12:45: Tennessee-Chattanooga @ Tennessee (SEC)

2:00: South Dakota State @ Oklahoma State (ESPN+)

2:30: Towson @ Cincinnati (ESPN+)

3:00: Portland State @ Washington State (CW)

3:30:

  • Miami @ Florida (ABC): There’s not really a fantastic name for this rivalry, but it’s a rivalry nonetheless. I personally… do not understand any of the hype around the Canes at all, and also, it really feeds into the “ACC is imploding” memes if Florida wins, so I’m going with that.
  • Akron @ Ohio State (CBS): Yeah, we’re in season two of the “B1G on CBS”, but still, the idea of CBS showing football this early is somewhat disorienting. I suspect that the first weekend of the US Open might be slightly better content than this, but, well, I’ve never talked about tennis on here, so I’m probably wrong.
  • Texas-El Paso @ Nebraska (FOX): As usual, I want UTEP to be fun, but I’ll need some results before Is tart calling them to beat Nebraska.
  • Colorado State @ Texas (ESPN): Unlike the above, I have zero worries about the Longhorns being able to handle business here.
  • North Dakota @ Iowa State (FS1)
  • Miami @ Northwestern (BTN): The main reason to watch most Northwestern home games this season will be to see if a wayward kick goes into Lake Michigan. That said, no worries for the Cats here.
  • Florida International @ Indiana (BTN): 9Windiana has to get started somewhere, eh?
  • Merrimack @ Air Force (CBSS)
  • Ohio @ Syracuse (ACCN): I have no idea what to expect from the Orange here, so how the handle a… probably not very good MAC team will indicate a lot to me for the rest of the season.
  • Kennesaw State @ Texas-San Antonio (ESPN+)
  • Eastern Michigan @ Massachusetts (ESPN+)
  • Western Illinois @ Northern Illinois (ESPN+)
  • East Tennessee State @ Appalachian State (ESPN+)

4:00: Boise State @ Georgia Southern (ESPNU): This, low-key, may be one of the games of the day. Regional G5 teams traveling to play at home is a wonderful thing and we’d definitely like to see more of it. I definitely think that, on paper, Boise has the edge here, but y’all, we’re talking about a 4:00 PM Eastern kick below the gnat belt down in Statesboro. I think just about anything can happen in this one. I still like Boise, but this could be one of the best games of the day.

4:15: Old Dominion @ South Carolina (SEC): Whereas, well, I’m not sure what the Gamecocks have now, but it’s probably(?) enough to beat ODU.

5:00:

  • California-Davis @ California (ACCNX)
  • Stony Brook @ Marshall (ESPN+)
  • North Texas @ South Alabama (ESPN+)

6:00:

  • Richmond @ Virginia (ACCNX)
  • Norfolk State @ East Carolina (ESPN+)
  • Campbell @ Liberty (ESPN+)
  • Eastern Kentucky @ Mississippi STate (ESPN+)

6:30: Idaho State @ Oregon State (CW)

7:00:

  • Western Kentucky @ Alabama (ESPN): Well, there’s a new sheriff in town down in Tuscaloosa, but the real tests won’t start for another couple of weeks. If you’re young, though, please let me remind you: it is not manifest destiny for the Crimson Tide to be one of the major powers in this sport. Trust me.
  • Nevada-Las Vegas @ Houston (FS1): UNLV is definitely getting a bit of a glow-up this offseason, whereas no one seems to know what to do with post-Dana Houston. So I guess I like the Runnin’ Rebels here?
  • Tarleton State @ Baylor (ESPN+)
  • Tennessee-Martin @ Kansas State (ESPN+)
  • Tennessee Tech @ Middle Tennessee State (ESPN+)
  • Furman @ Mississippi (ESPN+)
  • North Alabama @ Memphis (ESPN+)
  • Sam Houston State @ Rice (ESPN+)
  • Bethune-Cookman @ South Florida (ESPN+)
  • Central Arkansas @ Arkansas State (ESPN+)
  • Nevada @ Troy (ESPN+)

7:30:

  • Fresno State @ Michigan (NBC): Michigan has no idea who their quarterback is, but that has no bearing on this game.
  • Notre Dame @ Texas A&M (ABC): Speaking of new eras, it’s A&M’s first post-Jimbo game, because, well, they actually did the thing! And, well, they’ll probably lose this one.
  • California-Los Angeles @ Hawaii (CBS): UCLA gets some exercise, fresh air, and an easy win over in the islands before heading for the Midwest.
  • Idaho @ Oregon (BTN)
  • Alabama A&M @ Auburn (ESPN+)
  • Abilene Christian @ Texas Tech (ESPN+)

7:45: Southern Mississippi @ Kentucky (SEC): In addition to being old enough to remember when Alabama was bad, I remember when Southern Miss was good, which included beating Bama. Alas, well, I don’t like their chances these days against the SEC.

8:00:

  • Texas A&M-Commerce @ San Diego State (truTV)
  • James Madison @ Charlotte (ESPNU): Charlotte weirdly has a lot of starters missing, so I’m going JMU in this one.
  • Georgia State @ Georgia Tech (ACCN): Y’all. Where do I even start? Like, we ran straight down their throats in Dublin. Is that just, like, how good we are, or more “game in Ireland” weirdness. I dunno, we lost to Bowling Green last season, so for both myself and my fellow Tech friends… stay frosty, y’all.
  • Robert Morris @ Utah State (MWN)
  • Houston Christian @ Southern Methodist (ACCNX)
  • Southern Illinois @ Brigham Young (ESPN+)
  • Nicholls State @ Louisiana Tech (ESPN+)
  • Grambling State @ Louisiana (ESPN+
  • Lamar @ Texas State (ESPN+)

9:00: Southeast Missouri State @ New Mexico State (ESPN+)

10:30:

  • New Mexico @ Arizona (ESPN): Zona has this, right?
  • Wyoming @ Arizona State (FS1): State has this, right? (Actually, I have way more doubt about State here.)

11:00: Weber State @ Washington (BTN)

Sunday

7:30: Southern California vs. Louisiana State (Vegas Kickoff Classic @ Las Vegas, NV; ABC): This may be legitimately one of the best games of the opening weekend. Obviously, we’re not much for NFL stadium neutral games this early in the season, but these teams are both playoff contenders with tons of questions. Like, can USC actually move the ball? Can LSU both replace all the talent they lost and rise to the level expected based on the talent they lost? It’s a huge conundrum that will require several weeks of this season to resolve, but we’ll likely be writing in a week that we have a read on these teams based on this one. So who knows? I tend to prefer LSU, but I won’t be surprised by any result here.

Monday

7:30: Boston College @ Florida State (ESPN): And finally… FSU will win an ACC game this season. I guarantee it.

 

This Week in College Football: Week 1

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Thursday

6:00: Howard @ Rutgers (BTN)

7:00:

  • Western Carolina @ North Carolina State (ACCN)
  • North Carolina A&T @ Wake Forest (ACCNX)
  • New Hampshire @ Central Florida (ESPN+)
  • Lafayette @ Buffalo (ESPN+)
  • Fordham @ Bowling Green (ESPN+)
  • Central Connecticut @ Central Michigan (ESPN+)
  • Jackson State @ Louisiana-Monroe (ESPN+)

7:30:

  • Arkansas-Pine Bluff @ Arkansas (ESPNU)
  • Duquense @ Toledo (ESPN+)

8:00:

  • North Carolina @ Minnesota (FOX): There’s not a ton of FBS vs. FBS competition Thursday evening, but nonetheless we start with this interesting inter-sectional game. I like the Wolfpack here, but I don’t think they should take anything for granted as they head up north.
  • North Dakota State @ Colorado (ESPN): I don’t make predictions about FCS vs. FBS games, and NDSU isn’t what they used to be, but… you may want to keep an eye on this one.
  • Murray State @ Missouri (SEC)
  • Coastal Carolina @ Jacksonville State (CBSS): I think I have to go with Jax State here? Everyone interesting for the Beach Chickens is elsewhere now.
  • Lindenwood @ Kansas (@Kansas City, KS; ESPN+)
  • Southeastern Louisiana @ Tulane (ESPN+)
  • Northwestern State @ Tulsa (ESPN+)
  • Alcorn State @ Alabama-Birmingham (ESPN+)

9:00:

  • Eastern Illinois @ Illinois (BTN)
  • Southern Utah @ Utah (ESPN+)

10:00: Sacramento State @ San Jose State (truTV)

Friday

6:00: Lehigh @ Army (CBSS):

7:00:

  • Temple @ Oklahoma (ESPN): The Sooners should be able to name their score for this one.
  • Florida Atlantic @ Michigan State (BTN): It’s not quite “name the score” territory here for Sparty, but they shouldn’t be threatened.

7:30: Elon @ Duke (ACCN)

9:00: Western Michigan @ Wisconsin (FS1): Again, as long as Wisky isn’t looking forward to Alabama in a couple of weeks…

10:30: Texas Christian @ Stanford (ESPN): I’m not sure what to make of either of these teams going into this season, but I definitely trust TCU a bit more.

Rating the 2024 Non-Conference Slate

Well, better almost late than never, right?

About the Ratings

Each offseason, my brother and I rate every Power 5 team on the basis of how excited you’d be to see that team on your non-conference schedule. The possible ratings are “no rating”, 0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, and 1. “1” is the best, as evidenced by the list of 20 teams that earned a 1 this year: Alabama, Auburn, Clemson, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, LSU, Miami, Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oregon, Penn State, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin.

How does each conference fare in terms of the ratings? Well, let’s see:

  1. SEC (0.61)
  2. Big Ten (0.43)
  3. ACC (0.41)
  4. Big 12 (0.375)

That’s mostly what you’d expect, except for maybe the ACC there. At any rate, let’s dive right into the teams.

Atlantic Coast

  1. Florida State (2 legit, 1 FCS): Memphis, @Notre Dame, Charleston Southern, Florida. FSU leads the way, though it’s through a traditional rival, a mandatory game against the Irish, and then… well, an intriguing game with Memphis. This team has gone through a lot this offseason, and that’s not even getting into any of the off-the-field stuff, so it’ll be an interesting trek for the ACC favorites.
  2. Georgia Tech (2, 1): Georgia State, Virginia Military, N-Notre Dame, @Georgia. Well, we’re competent again. But can we win more than two games against this schedule? We’ll see.
  3. Louisville (1.5, 1): Austin Peay, Jacksonville State, @Notre Dame, @Kentucky. Once again, mostly buoyed by some traditional and mandatory rivals.
  4. Clemson (1.25, 1): N-Georgia, Appalachian State, Citadel, South Carolina. Clemson-Georgia is, of course, one of the games of the year in September. A lot will ride on it, but we’ll talk about that more in our Week 1 write-up.
  5. California (1.25, 1): California-Davis, @Auburn, San Diego State, Oregon State. They’re playing at Auburn, of course this is an east coast team!
  6. North Carolina State (1, 1): Western Carolina, N-Tennessee, Louisiana Tech, Northern Illinois. NC State-Tennessee isn’t really anywhere interesting, it’s just at the NFL stadium in Charlotte.
  7. Pittsburgh (1, 1): Kent State, @Cincinnati, West Virginia, Youngstown State. The Brawl is back once again, and I also like getting Cincy in for some Ohio Valley spice. This is a solid regional schedule.
  8. Miami (1, 1): @Florida, Florida A&M, Ball State, @South Florida. The Canes get the Gators back on the schedule, which we love to see. The game at USF is a bit of an odd duck, but we suppose the Canes don’t mind going to Tampa.
  9. Virginia (1, 1): Richmond, Maryland, @Coastal Carolina, @Notre Dame. While ACC teams don’t have a lot of control with regards to playing Notre Dame, we find the game at Coastal to be a bit odd. Luckily for the Hoos, that’s not nearly as daunting of a prospect with most of the Coastal braintrust on to greener (though less teal) pastures. Also funny that Maryland is counted as an out-of-conference game, but then again NC State and UNC played a couple of years ago for the same reason, so it’s not unprecedented.
  10. Stanford (1, 1): Texas Christian, California Polytechnic, @Notre Dame, @San Jose State. It’s sort of funny that the shortest road trip in the conference is all the way out here. Also sort of funny that Stanford is going down to San Jose while that stadium is still a construction zone.
  11. Boston College (0.75, 1): Duquense, @Missouri, Michigan State, Western Kentucky. While not highly rated, this BC slate does have multiple other Big 4 teams on. Unfortunately for the Eagles, we figure that WKU may be more of a contest than the games against the Tigers and Spartans.
  12. Wake Forest (0.75, 1): North Carolina A&T, Mississippi, Louisiana, @Connecticut. Wake gets Ole Miss to head to Winston-Salem, though they also have a trip up north as well. A lot of ACC teams deciding to take the road game for their 2-for-1s this year, we guess.
  13. Southern Methodist (0.75, 1): @Nevada, Houston Christian, Brigham Young, Texas Christian. A perfectly functional OOC schedule for… oh, right. Well, at least the TCU-SMU cross-town rivalry is still on the docket, for now.
  14. North Carolina (0.25, 1): @Minnesota, Charlotte, North Carolina Central, James Madison. So this is a super-regional schedule… outside of the trip to Minneapolis. I mean, we always encourage inter-sectional matchups here, and Carolina has one on the schedule, so we’re not hating, per se. Besides, Carolina has bigger problems, like figuring out how to beat us.
  15. Virginia Tech (0, 0): @Vanderbilt, Marshall, @Old Dominion, Rutgers. This is how to get both a Big Ten and SEC teams on our schedule in the most technical way possible. And again, a G5 away game!
  16. Duke (0, 1): Elon, @Northwestern, Connecticut, @Middle Tennessee State. Obligatory note about how Duke-UConn would probably be a better basketball game.
  17. Syracuse (0, 1): Ohio, Holy Cross, @Nevada-Las Vegas, Connecticut. Okay, with the Orange’s trip out to Vegas, let’s count up how many G5 away games the ACC has as a conference. Yeah, that’s 8 different games! I guess now there won’t be a lot in the next few years? Either way, there’s some interesting scheduling here for sure.

Big Ten

  1. Southern California (2, 0): N-Louisiana State, Utah State, Notre Dame. As usual, USC plays one of the more interesting OOC schedules in the country. Given that Notre Dame is a yearly rival for them, they don’t really need to play another power-conference team, and yet, here they are.
  2. Purdue (1.25, 1): Indiana State, Notre Dame, @Oregon State. Purdue and Notre Dame don’t play a lot, so that’s cool to see. We also appreciate the trip out west for the Boilermakers.
  3. Michigan (1, 0): Fresno State, Texas, Arkansas State. Michigan also usually does a good job with OOC schedules, and this one has what should be a banger against Texas. I don’t think Fresno will have much of a chance in the Big House, but it’s certainly a more interesting pick than a MAC or FCS team.
  4. California-Los Angeles (1, 0): @Hawaii, @Louisiana State, Fresno State. It seems like in the future UCLA’s schedule will become more Big Ten-like, which is to say they’ll play all their out-of-conference games in September before conference play starts. For now, though, they’ll play LSU after playing Indiana and Fresno at the end of the season before being fully absorbed into the Borg Collective that is now the Big Ten.
  5. Wisconsin (1, 1): Western Michigan, South Dakota, Alabama. I hope Alabama goes up to Madison, has a nice time in what should be a perfectly comfortable Midwestern summer, and then forgets why they’re there.
  6. Nebraska (0.5, 1): Texas-El Paso, Colorado, Northern Iowa. Unfortunately, this is it for the Nebraska-Colorado revival, and the next time the Huskers have an interesting OOC slate will be when they play a home-and-home with Oklahoma in 2029 and 2030.
  7. Oregon (0.5, 1): Idaho, Boise State, @Oregon State. There’s some exceptions in the future, but I think it’s going to be a fairly Pacific Northwest focused OOC schedule for the Ducks going forward. Hopefully they figure how to keep the Civil War going. Right now it’s only planned for the next two seasons.
  8. Minnesota (0.5, 1): North Carolina, Rhode Island, Nevada. This is a perfectly functional OOC schedule. We disagree somewhat on UNC’s rating, but I do view them as one of the premier ACC teams. And it’s three home games! A win all around for the Gophers.
  9. Pennsylvania State (0.25, 0): @West Virginia, Bowling Green, Kent State. Love to see the regional action against the ‘Neers, other wise, er, not much to see here.
  10. Maryland (0.25, 1): Connecticut, @Virginia, Villanova. Yes, I know Maryland is not in the ACC, but on a lot of days that’s harder to remember than the other moves that just took effect this season.
  11. Rutgers (0.25, 1): Howard, Akron, @Virginia Tech. In future editions, VPI might notch a higher rating, but for now that puts Rutgers in the back half of this field.
  12. Iowa (0.25, 1): Illinois State, Iowa State, Troy. Iowa is one of the more… interesting teams this season. Last season, of course, was marked by the Drive for 25, Brian Ferentz’s quixotic venture to keep his job as Iowa’s offensive coordinator. Naturally, the funniest outcome will be if they score less than 75 points against these three.
  13. Washington (0, 1): Weber State, Eastern Michigan, N-Washington State. The prospects for the Apple Cup continuing seem better, at least.
  14. Michigan State (0, 1): Florida Atlantic, Prairie View A&M, @Boston College. I tried to imagine how to say “Sparty” in a Southie accent and decided that I maybe didn’t want to know.
  15. Illinois (0, 1): Eastern Illinois, Kansas, Central Michigan. Oh man Illinois could definitely lose to this Kansas team at home.
  16. Ohio State (0, 0): Akron, Western Michigan, Marshall. This is very much a schedule by the Buckeyes that says “yeah, if we go anywhere from 12-0 to 10-2 we’re in the college football playoff, our schedule doesn’t matter.” In fairness, I’ll note that they have Texas, Alabama, and Georgia on future schedules.
  17. Northwestern (0, 1): Miami, Duke, Eastern Illinois. The main to try to find these games at all on TV is to see the Wildcats’ temporary lake-side stadium.
  18. Indiana (0, 1): Florida International, Western Illinois, Charlotte. Well, if nothing else, this OOC schedule will probably get the Hoosiers a third of the way to 9Windiana(tm).

Big 12

  1. West Virginia (1.25, 1): Pennsylvania State, Albany, @Pittsburgh. As usual, we wholly endorse the return of the Backyard Brawl, and the general regional nature of this schedule for a school that’s increasingly an outlier in the new Big 12.
  2. Houston (1, 0): Nevada-Las Vegas, @Oklahoma, Rice. UNLV is a non-factor, and there would definitely be more interesting years for Houston to roll into Norman, but this could still be fun.
  3. Baylor (1, 1): Tarlteton State, @Utah, Air Force. This won’t be the first time we’ll see a Big 12 team’s OOC game against a Pac-12 team still show up as an OOC game.
  4. Central Florida (1, 1): New Hampshire, Sam Houston State, @Florida. I don’t think UCF will give Florida much of a game, but, well, you never know…
  5. Iowa State (0.75, 1): North Dakota, @Iowa, Arkansas State. Outside of the usual “why would you play one of the Big Sky powers on purpose?!?” not much going on here outside of the rivalry game.
  6. Utah (0.5, 1): Southern Utah, Baylor, @Utah State. And, to wit, here’s the other side of two sudden conference-mates thrown together.
  7. Arizona (0.5, 1): New Mexico, Northern Arizona, @Kansas State. And again!
  8. Colorado (0.25, 1): North Dakota State, @Nebraska, @Colorado State. Honestly, Colorado heading back to the Big 12 feels sort of spiritually correct, unfortunately, I don’t think Oklahoma, Missouri, and Nebraska are going to get the memo. Also unfortunately the Colorado State rivalry is going to take a break after this season until 2028, and the Buffs won’t get any of their wayward Big 8 rivals back on the schedule until when Mizzou rolls into Boulder in 2030.
  9. Kansas State (0.25, 1): Tennessee-Martin, @Tulane, Arizona. And again again!
  10. Cincinnati (0.25, 1): Towson, Pittsburgh, @Miami (OH). Why is Cincy heading to a MAC school? Well, that’s a rivalry that dates to a 0-0 tie in Miami back in 1888. They’ve played every year since 1909 (except 2020). Suffice it to say, the Bearcats have dominated in recent decades, but Miami did tie the series at 60-60-7 with an upset last season. This will be the first time since 2017 the Bearcats will travel to Miami. Can the Redhawks make it it two in a row? I will I just copy and paste this in a few weeks? We’ll see!
  11. Oklahoma State (0.25, 1): South Dakota State, Arkansas, @Tulsa. Again, what makes you think scheduling a Big Sky school is a good idea? We assume that going to Tulsa is a 3-for-1 thing.
  12. Texas Christian (0.25, 1): @Stanford, Long Island, @Southern Methodist. Huh, TCU is really loading up on ACC teams for some reason.
  13. Arizona State (0, 0): Wyoming, Mississippi State, @Texas State. This is about as difficult of a schedule as you can have and get 0 OOC points for it. The Cowboys are always plucky and Miss State might be the most random number generator team you can get out of the SEC. And then you go on the road to the closest thing they’ve had to a buzzy team in San Marcos since they moved to FBS? Best of luck, Sun Devils.
  14. Kansas (0, 1): Lindenwood, @Illinois, Nevada-Las Vegas. The folks in Urbana-Champaign are going to be blown away by this offense.
  15. Texas Tech (0, 1): Abilene Christian, @Washington State, North Texas. Texas Tech going to Pullman feels like a commitment by the two schools often referred to by outside commentators as being “on the moon” to play an OOC series.
  16. Brigham Young (0, 1): Southern Illinois, @Southern Methodist, @Wyoming. Perhaps the best thing about BYU’s schedule is a game that doesn’t appear here: the Holy War is finally a permanent conference rivalry game again. That’s a downright rare win for conference realignment. Otherwise, this one’s kinda weird, perhaps it’s still some artifacts of BYU’s time as an independent washing out of the schedule.

Pac-12

  1. Washington State (1, 1): Portland State, Texas Tech, N-Washington. So you might be wondering how we decided what to do with the remainder of the Pac-12. It’s a tad awkward. In essence, I counted the Mountain West teams and the games against each other as conference games. That said, there’s some difficultly here because I checked and Wazzu here originally had San Diego State and San Jose State in their non-conference schedule. Those games were moved around with the new arrangement, so I’m not sure if there’s a way to say if one of them is still “non-conference” or not. So Wazzu has three “non-conference” games and Oregon State has four. That’s just the only sane way I could do it. Also, because I actually rank the schedules by the average, which means that Wazzu’s .3333 average just beats out Oregon State’s 0.3125 average. Which is a tad unfair given Oregon State’s schedule is more difficult, but such is life.
  2. Oregon State (1.25, 1): Idaho State, Oregon, Purdue, @California. The Beavers, as noted above, definitely have a more difficult schedule, at least in the OOC framework. The main question for these teams is if they can maintain the level of relevance that we even rate their schedule. It’s one of the most unfair things I can think of in sports, especially for the Beavers. Wazzu is a truly rural ag school in far eastern Washington. Corvallis is the all of 50 minute drive up I-5 from Eugene. The only real difference between Oregon State and their brothers down the road is that the guy who founded Nike went to college there. I don’t really know what the answer is, though. I doubt the Big 12 is calling (especially since they seem to have decided to reach out to UConn first). The ACC already took the two west coast schools it perceived as valuable. I’m half convinced that if the sport survives the next decades, the mega-conferences may go the way of the mega-conferences of the first century of the sports’ history, that is, they collapse under their own weight. After all, today’s SEC and ACC can trace their own roots to the Southern Conference.

SEC

  1. Florida (2.5, 1): Miami, Samford, Central Florida, @Florida State. Somehow the Gators couldn’t find a Florida-based FCS team to play instead of Samford, but other than that, the continued commitment to the “never travels out of the state” bit is remarkable. That said, this schedule has some high sickos potential with both Miami and UCF on here. I can definitely dig it.
  2. Louisiana State (2, 1): N-Southern California, Nicholls State, California-Los Angeles, South Alabama. LSU is really trying to put the “LA” in “Louisiana”, we suppose. You’ve got the requisite Louisiana based school: check. You’ve got two of the universities most closely associated with Los Angeles: check. And… this is a bit of a stretch for sure, but if you consider South Alabama being from “Lower Alabama”, that’s four LA schools!
  3. Georgia (1.25, 1): N-Clemson, Tennessee Tech, Massachusetts, Georgia Tech. It’s incredible that when we finally don’t play Clemson for the first time since 1982 Georgia finally plays them again. Great, fantastic.
  4. Texas (1, 0): Colorado State, @Michigan, Texas-San Antonio, Louisiana-Monroe. So, this could be wrong, but we’ve been doing this OOC review thing here for a long time. Since 2007! That’s really wild for me to think about, honestly, but that’s beside the point. I just checked the archives, and yeah, this is the first time since Vanderbilt’s 2010 season that an SEC team does not have a FCS/DI-AA team on the schedule. (A look further back to 2007 indicates that Tennessee also was late to the SEC-SoCon challenge party.) And, at least as of this writing, the Longhorns don’t have one on their schedule, though they still need to fill things out in 2026 and beyond. (Unless, of course, the SEC finally goes to nine conference games.)
  5. Texas A&M (1, 1): Notre Dame, McNeese State, Bowling Green, New Mexico State. A&M welcomes the Irish to Kyle Field, but yeah, otherwise not much to see here.
  6. Alabama (1, 1): Western Kentucky, South Florida, @Wisconsin, Mercer. It’s the start of a new era in Tuscaloosa, and with that, this is a pretty manageable schedule except for the trip to the Midwest. Hopefully it goes as I described it earlier.
  7. South Carolina (1, 1): Old Dominion, Akron, Wofford, @Clemson. We’re rapidly ranging out of the “anything to see here?” portion of the SEC OOC schedule.
  8. Arkansas (0.75, 1): Arkansas-Pine Bluff, @Oklahoma State, Alabama-Birmingham, Louisiana Tech. We like Arkansas playing opponents to their west, and that may be interesting, but otherwise not much here.
  9. Oklahoma (0.75, 1): Temple, Houston, Tulane, Maine. Unlike their Red River rivals, the Sooners are sliding into a very SEC schedule (though it is funny they’ll still play Houston).
  10. Tennessee (0.5, 1): Tennessee-Chattanooga, N-North Carolina State, Kent State, Texas-El Paso. The Vols have the NC State game I’ve already talked about, and then otherwise a bunch of teams they’ll probably put up a bunch on.
  11. Vanderbilt (0.25, 1): Virginia Tech, Alcorn State, @Georgia State, Ball State. This is certainly a Vandy schedule, including the part where they’re going to Atlanta.
  12. Mississippi (0.25, 1): Furman, Middle Tennessee State, @Wake Forest, Georgia Southern. I don’t think Ole Miss has a lot to worry about with this OOC slate, at any rate, this won’t be a hindrance to their playoff ambitions.
  13. Mississippi State (0, 1): Eastern Kentucky, @Arizona State, Toledo, Massachusetts. I don’t think Miss State has any playoff ambitions, per se, but again, like their cousins this doesn’t present any obstacles.
  14. Auburn (0, 1): Alabama A&M, California, New Mexico, Louisiana-Monroe. Auburn doesn’t play New Mexico State this year, but to Hugh Freeze’s chagrin, he’s not going to be able to dodge Diego Pavia this year, either.
  15. Missouri (0, 1): Murray State, Buffalo, Boston College, @Massachusetts. See below.
  16. Kentucky (0, 1): Southern Mississippi, Ohio, Murray State, Louisville. Er, not much to see here.

So, finally, here’s the breakdown of OOC awesomeness by conference:

  1. Pac-12 (0.33)
  2. ACC (0.228)
  3. SEC (0.19)
  4. Big Ten (0.162)
  5. Big 12 (0.15)

I suspect the ACC is benefiting a bit from the ACC-SEC rivalries, and the Pac-12 is mostly benefiting from having 2 teams. Regardless, the new college football season is upon is, and without any further adieu, I’d really like to get to the Week 1 previews. Onward!