College Football - Week 1 (Aug. 31)

[Andy]

Finally it's time, with the release of the preseason AP poll, for the Week 1 thread.

 

Everything's the same as last year with these threads. Houston's playing all their home games in other stadiums (Reliant, the Dynamo's field and Rice Stadium) in prep for their new stadium next year, so keep that in mind.

 

And with that, begin!

 

Top 25 games

------------------------

(1) Alabama vs Virginia Tech – in Atlanta (5:30 pm, ESPN)

Buffalo at (2) Ohio State (12 pm, ESPN2)

Nicholls State at (3) Oregon (4 pm, Fox Sports 1)

(5) Georgia at (8) Clemson (8 pm, ABC)

North Carolina at (6) South Carolina (6 pm Thursday, ESPN)

Rice at (7) Texas A&M (1 pm, ESPN)

Ohio at (9) Louisville (3:30 pm Sunday, ESPN)

Toledo at (10) Florida (12:20 pm, SEC Network/ESPN3)

(11) Florida State at Pittsburgh (8 pm Monday, ESPN)

(12) LSU vs (20) TCU – in Arlington, TX (9 pm, ESPN)

Mississippi State vs (13) Oklahoma State – in Houston (3:30 pm, ABC/ESPN2)

Temple at (14) Notre Dame (3:30 pm, NBC)

New Mexico State at (15) Texas (8 pm, Longhorn Network)

UL Monroe at (16) Oklahoma (7 pm)

Central Michigan at (17) Michigan (3:30 pm, BTN – Regional)

Wyoming at (18) Nebraska (8 pm, BTN – Regional)

(19) Boise State at Washington (10 pm, Fox Sports 1)

Nevada at (21) UCLA (10 pm, Pac-12 Network)

(22) Northwestern at California (10:30 pm, ESPN2)

UMass at (23) Wisconsin (12 pm, BTN – Regional)

(24) USC at Hawaii (11 pm Thursday, CBS Sports)

Eastern Washington at (25) Oregon State (6 pm, Pac-12 Network)

 

Other nationally available games

---------------------------------------

Liberty at Kent State (6 pm Thursday, ESPN3)

Presbyterian at Wake Forest (6:30 pm Thursday, ESPN3)

Indiana State at Indiana (7 pm Thursday, BTN – Regional)

UNLV at Minnesota (7 pm Thursday, BTN – Regional)

Illinois State at Ball State (7 pm Thursday, ESPN3)

Akron at Central Florida (7 pm Thursday, ESPN3)

Southern Utah at South Alabama (7:30 pm Thursday, ESPN3)

Utah State at Utah (8 pm Thursday, Fox Sports 1)

Ole Miss at Vanderbilt (9:15 pm Thursday, ESPN)

Rutgers at Fresno State (10:30 pm Thursday, ESPNU)

 

Morgan State at Army (7 pm Friday, CBS Sports)

Samford at Georgia State (7 pm Friday, ESPN3)

Florida Atlantic at Miami (8 pm Friday, ESPNU)

Texas Tech at SMU (8 pm Friday, ESPN)

Western Michigan at Michigan State (8 pm Friday, BTN)

North Dakota State at Kansas State (8:30 pm Friday, Fox Sports 1)

Southern at Houston (8:30 pm Friday, ESPN3)

Northern Arizona at Arizona (10 pm Friday, Pac-12 Network)

 

Southern Illinois at Illinois (12 pm, BTN – Regional)

Purdue at Cincinnati (12 pm, ESPNU)

William & Mary at West Virginia (12 pm, Fox Sports 1)

Villanova at Boston College (12 pm, ESPNEWS)

Elon at Georgia Tech (12 pm, ESPN3)

Florida International at Maryland (12:30 pm, FSN South/ESPN3)

Louisiana Tech at NC State (12:30 pm, ACC Network/ESPN3)

BYU at Virginia (3:30 pm, ESPNU)

Syracuse vs Penn State – in East Rutherford, NJ (3:30 pm, ABC/ESPN2)

Northern Illinois at Iowa (3:30 pm, BTN – Regional)

UL Lafayette at Arkansas (4 pm, FSN South/ESPN3)

NC Central at Duke (4 pm, ESPN3)

Howard at Eastern Michigan (6 pm, ESPN3)

Austin Peay at Tennessee (6 pm, ESPN3)

Miami (OH) at Marshall (7 pm, CBS Sports)

Kentucky vs Western Kentucky – in Nashville (7 pm, ESPNEWS)

Washington State at Auburn (7 pm, ESPNU)

McNeese State at South Florida (7 pm, ESPN3)

UAB at Troy (7 pm, ESPN3)

Arkansas-Pine Bluff at Arkansas State (7 pm, ESPN3)

Murray State at Missouri (7 pm, ESPN3)

Wofford at Baylor (7:30 pm, FSN)

 

Colorado vs Colorado State – in Denver (6 pm Sunday, CBS Sports)

Edited August 28, 2013 by Andy

[OleMissCub]

Ole Miss v. Vandy is the first game of the whole season I believe. Huge, huge game for both teams. Lots of intrigue in that game as far as the whole Vandy/Rape storyline is concerned and with Ole Miss' stud freshmen who will be playing in the game like Nkemdiche and Treadwell.

[Guest]

Ole Miss v. Vandy is the first game of the whole season I believe. Huge, huge game for both teams. Lots of intrigue in that game as far as the whole Vandy/Rape storyline is concerned and with Ole Miss' stud freshmen who will be playing in the game like Nkemdiche and Treadwell.

 

Liberty at Kent State and North Carolina at South Carolina are the first games of the season, per Andy's post.

[Tracer Bullet]

ND returning starting OLB Danny Spond retired due to head injuries. Sucks for that kid, but hope he stopped early enough that he won't be fucked for life.

 

Have to assume we'll start seeing more and more of these types of retirements.

[SouthSideRyan]

ND returning starting OLB Danny Spond retired due to head injuries. Sucks for that kid, but hope he stopped early enough that he won't be [expletive] for life.

 

Have to assume we'll start seeing more and more of these types of retirements.

 

I feel like most football players are too stupid to do that

[Old Style]

Looking forward to several games opening weekend.

 

UNC-South Carolina

Vandy-Ole Miss

Alabama-Virginia Tech

LSU-TCU

Georgia-Clemson

[Andy]

Looking forward to several games opening weekend.

 

UNC-South Carolina

Vandy-Ole Miss

Alabama-Virginia Tech

LSU-TCU

Georgia-Clemson

I'm very excited for Georgia-Clemson. That should be a really great game, and the Death Valley crowd will presumably be insane.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

I have tickets to the LSU-TCU game in Arlington. Looking forward to that one.

[rawaction]

Georgia could probably beat anyone in the country, but will probably also lose 4 games this year. That schedule is nuts!

[Guest]

Georgia could probably beat anyone in the country, but will probably also lose 4 games this year. That schedule is nuts!

 

Disagree on the first part - they basically have to replace their whole defense. No matter how talented the new guys might be, there will be growing pains and they start the season with Clemson and South Carolina.

[Butterscup1679666578]

gonna be interesting to see how mizzou loses to murray state, but it should be a fun science experiment

[Guest]

I've suddenly become a big ACC fan.

 

Of course, it has something to do with writing out an obscene check for my daughter's freshman year tuition.

[Guest]

I've suddenly become a Texas A&M fan, at least for most of this year.

 

Started talking about the SEC with my boss (a Georgia fan) at work and he said that the SEC should probably have 8 of the top 10 ranked teams in the country. This lead to a discussion where he said that Oregon wouldn't win more than 6 games in the SEC and that Stanford wouldn't win more than four. He and another guy even went so far as to call Stanford soft. I then pointed to Texas A&M as an example of a team that went from another conference and had success in the SEC. He said he didn't think A&M would win more than seven games this year and was willing to bet on it, and I was more than happy to take that bet (this assumes Manziel doesn't get suspended this year).

 

So I'll be rooting for A&M to win eight games. After looking at A&M's schedule (I only knew they played Bama and LSU), the only way I lose this bet is if Manziel gets hurt, right?

[Derwood]

I just realized that I have no idea who Penn State's starting QB is.

 

On a side note, Matt McGloin is battling Terrell Pryor for a roster spot in Oakland (lol)

[rawaction]

IU has a legit shot at a bowl game this year. While their road schedule is absolutely ridiculous (@ Michigan, Mich. St, Ohio St, and Wisconsin), the home schedule is highlighted by Mizzou being the only team it would take a mild upset to beat. IU returns 18 of 22 starters, including 10 on offense, and 3 experienced QBs from the #1 passing O in the conference, including 2 that have started over 9 games in their careers. If defense takes a step forward, can be a 7-win team.

 

Oh and my nephew is an FCS All American TE that will be facing the Illini in Week 1. Watch out for #85.

[CubInOK]

I expect the Big XII winner to have at least 2 conference losses.

[Tracer Bullet]

I expect the Big XII winner to have at least 2 conference losses.

 

You and imb road tripping to football mecca for the OU/ND game?

[Guest]

It'll take more than Manziel getting hurt for aTm to lose 5+ games. Sumlin is too good a coach for that to happen unless other things went very wrong. Missing Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina certainly doesn't hurt either.

[imb]

I expect the Big XII winner to have at least 2 conference losses.

 

You and imb road tripping to football mecca for the OU/ND game?

 

just because andy went there for his honeymoon does not make it a mecca

[Tracer Bullet]

I expect the Big XII winner to have at least 2 conference losses.

 

You and imb road tripping to football mecca for the OU/ND game?

 

just because andy went there for his honeymoon does not make it a mecca

 

No really you should go. They have these great scissor lifts that give you a great view of the game. Go up as high as possible for the best view.

[Old Style]

It'll take more than Manziel getting hurt for aTm to lose 5+ games. Sumlin is too good a coach for that to happen unless other things went very wrong. Missing Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina certainly doesn't hurt either.

This. Even if we have to go with our backup (most likely a true freshman) I can't see us losing 5 games.

[Guest]

Weird bit of trivia from Matt Hinton's column this morning: http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2013/8/17/4630548/college-football-rankings-2013-top-25-associated-press

 

Preseason AP #1s have finished ranked 10th or worse 4 of the last 5 years, with just one BCS appearance in that time. Meanwhile, preseason AP #2s have made the BCS every year of the BCS era, finishing 10th or worse just once. So, congratulations to Ohio State, and sorry about your luck, Bama.

[Tracer Bullet]

OSU is all but a lock to make the BCS title game. What a shitshow for a schedule.

[Smack]

OSU is all but a lock to make the BCS title game. What a [expletive] for a schedule.

 

Hey Purdue has beat them the last two times in West Lafayette and should've beat them last year!

 

Of course Vegas has our over/under for wins set at 3 this year.

 

*gulp*

[treebird]

OSU is all but a lock to make the BCS title game. What a [expletive] for a schedule.

 

fth is that [expletive]?