The college football season is back. While it officially began last week with a light Week 0 slate — one that included Florida State being hilariously upset by Georgia Tech in Ireland — the season begins in earnest this week with a full menu of games.
Each week, we’ll bring you a watchability rankings of sort, telling you which games deserve your attention and where you can watch them by way of some arbitrary and silly categories.
To set the stage, Georgia is the preseason favorite ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press preseason Top 25 Poll, and the Bulldogs open the season with No. 14 Clemson in Atlanta at the spaceship-like Mercedes-Benz Stadium. But the Dawgs are a double-digit favorite, and there’s little reason to believe that this game is going to be close or good.
Remember, the Tigers were the only non-service academy team in FBS this offseason to not add a player via the transfer portal (and the only reason Army, Navy and Air Force joined Clemson in this are because they aren’t allowed to accept transfers). While Dabo Swinney was busy changing the format of his radio show and not doing a whole lot to improve a roster that went 9-4 last year, Kirby Smart added running back Trevor Etienne from Florida, tight end Benjamin Yurosek from Stanford, safety Jake Pope from Alabama, and three wide receivers from Power 4 programs. So, yeah, good luck, Clemson.
With the so-called big Clemson-Georgia matchup out of the way, here’s your watch guide this week:
Best Game of the Week: No. 7 Notre Dame vs. N0. 20 Texas A&M
Saturday, 7:30 p.m. – ABC
This is a game with narrative and stakes. On the Aggies’ sideline is former Duke coach Mike Elko, and under-center for the Irish is former Duke quarterback Riley Leonard. Together in Durham over the past two seasons, they made a lot of history and magic. Now apart, which one will have the most success at their new schools? Can Leonard carve up an Elko defense that he practiced against a whole lot while wearing royal blue, or can Elko pinpoint Leonard’s weaknesses and stifle the Irish’s offensive gameplan?
Further, in this expanded College Football Playoff world where Notre Dame — still an independent, in case you forgot amidst all the realignment — has to earn an at-large bid to get into the dance, it needs to stack as many good wins as it can to build a resume that impresses the committee. Getting a win against an SEC team on the road would be a good start. On the other side, a victory over Notre Dame would make the A&M brass feel better about taking a swing on a Capital-F Football Coach like Elko.
Game that might have an impact on the College Football Playoff: No. 8 Penn State at West Virginia
Saturday, Noon – FOX
In six of the past eight seasons, Penn State has had at least two losses but still finished in the top 12 of the final College Football Playoff rankings. Mostly, the Nittany Lions have had trouble beating Michigan and Ohio State, but theoretically, even with those two defeats always penciled in, Penn State would’ve been in the playoff had it been expanded to 12 teams often in the past decade.
Luckily for Penn State, it doesn’t play the reigning national champions in the regular season, but it does host Ohio State and has to travel to a few opponents that could be tough, like USC and Wisconsin while also hosting Washington. So, for the sake of this exercise, let’s assume that Penn State has two regular season losses in Big Ten play this season.
If the Nittany Lions want to make the playoff, they probably can’t afford a third defeat on that resume. And suddenly, this season-opener in a hostile environment like Morgantown – whose fans cherish old regional rivalries like the Good Lord intended and will treat this game like their Super Bowl — seems dangerous. The line has already moved from 10 points to 8.5 — still in Penn State’s favor — and the Nittany Lions are facing a Mountaineers’ squad coming off a season where they proved a lot of people wrong, finishing 9-4 with a bowl win as Neal Brown jumped off the hot seat.
If Penn State loses to WVU, James Franklin could feel his chair getting warm too.
Weird Weeknight Game of the Week: North Dakota State at Colorado
Thursday, 8 p.m. – ESPN
This is perhaps the most must-watch FBS-FCS matchup in recent memory. On one side, you have a supremely talented quarterback with NFL aspirations in Shedeur Sanders, coached by his loud-mouth and flamboyant father who blew up his roster by bringing in 43 transfers after the Buffaloes went 4-8 in his debut season.
On the other side are the Bison, a team that has won nine FCS national titles since 2011 and is 6-1 against FBS opponents since 2010.
This is flash against smash, and it should be a lot of fun to watch.
Awesome Group of Five matchup worth watching: Boise State at Georgia Southern
Saturday, 4 p.m. – ESPNU
The Group of Five is going to get a team into the College Football Playoff. If Boise State wants to claim that spot, it has to begin with a win over Georgia Southern. By the way, the forecast for Saturday in Statesboro, Georgia is a high of 92 degrees with 58 percent humidity.
For Southern, a win here would bode well for Year Three of the Clay Helton era, who — despite getting some big wins early, like at Nebraska and over a ranked James Madison team — is just 12-14 in the past two seasons.
Sickos Guilty Pleasure Game of the Week: Sacramento State at San Jose State
Thursday, 10 p.m. – truTV/Max
Yes, college football is on truTV this year. So, if you’ve already forgotten where it is on your cable package since March Madness, it’s time to find it again — or you can watch it on HBO’s streaming service, Max, if you subscribe to that.
This is another FCS-FBS matchup that should be competitive and has some interesting storylines. On one side is Sacramento State, a very good FCS program that has been to the playoffs in each of the past four seasons. On the other is a San Jose State team turning the page. After Brent Brennan left to take the head job at Arizona, the Spartans hired former Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo, who was most recently the tight ends coach at UCLA. Niumatalolo had a ton of success at Navy, winning six bowl games and seven Commander-in-Chief trophies, but was unceremoniously fired after three consecutive losing seasons.
Niumatalolo’s offenses at Navy excelled at running the triple option, but he’s expected to run something more modern with San Jose State. It’s worth seeing what kind of schemes and play designs Niumatalolo draws up in this new gig.
Also watch…
- Coastal Carolina at Jacksonville State: Thursday, 8 p.m. – CBS Sports Network
- South Dakota State at No. 17 Oklahoma State: Saturday, 2 p.m. – ESPN+
- No. 19 Miami at Florida: Saturday, 3:30 p.m. – ABC
- No. 23 USC vs. No. 13 LSU (in Las Vegas): Sunday, 7:30 p.m. – ABC
