College Football - "Week Zero" and Week 1 (Aug. 24-Sept. 2)

[Andy]

Game week is pretty much here, believe it or not, so my weekly threads are back.

You pretty much know about all the insane conference changes and playoff changes for this year, but in addition, worth noting that two schools have different home-game situations this year. Kansas will play all their home games in Kansas City this year as their stadium is being remodeled - their first two home games, against Lindenwood and UNLV, will be at the Sporting KC soccer stadium, and the remaining four will be at Arrowhead. Northwestern, meanwhile, is playing in a temporary on-campus venue (named Northwestern Medicine Field, if you are curious) for this year and next while Ryan Field is replaced with a much snazzier stadium (that will still be called Ryan Field when it opens in 2026).

 

"Week Zero" (Aug. 24)
(10) Florida State vs Georgia Tech - in Dublin, Ireland (12 pm, ESPN)
Montana State at New Mexico (4 pm, FS1)
SMU at Nevada (8 pm, CBSSN)

Top 25 games
(14) Clemson vs (1) Georgia - in Atlanta (12 pm, ABC)
Akron at (2) Ohio State (3:30 pm, CBS)
Idaho at (3) Oregon (7:30 pm, BTN)
Colorado State at (4) Texas (3:30 pm, ESPN)
Western Kentucky at (5) Alabama (7 pm, ESPN)
Furman at (6) Ole Miss (7 pm, ESPN+)
(7) Notre Dame at (20) Texas A&M (7:30 pm, ABC)
(8) Penn State at West Virginia (12 pm, FOX)
Fresno State at (9) Michigan (7:30 pm, NBC)
Boston College at (10) Florida State (7:30 pm Monday, ESPN)
Murray State at (11) Missouri (8 pm Thursday, SEC Network)
Southern Utah at (12) Utah (9 pm Thursday, ESPN+)
(13) LSU vs (23) USC - in Las Vegas (7:30 pm Sunday, ABC)
Chattanooga at (15) Tennessee (12:45 pm, SEC Network)
Temple at (16) Oklahoma (7 pm Friday, ESPN)
South Dakota State at (17) Oklahoma State (2 pm, ESPN+)
UT Martin at (18) Kansas State (7 pm, ESPN+)
(19) Miami at Florida (3:30 pm, ABC)
New Mexico at (21) Arizona (9:30 pm, ESPN)
Lindenwood at (22) Kansas - in Kansas City, KS (8 pm Thursday, ESPN+)
Western Carolina at (24) NC State (7 pm Thursday, ACC Network)
Illinois State at (25) Iowa (12 pm, BTN - Regional)

Other nationally available games
Thursday
Howard at Rutgers (6 pm, BTN)
Central Connecticut at Central Michigan (7 pm, ESPN+)
Fordham at Bowling Green (7 pm, ESPN+)
Jackson State at UL Monroe (7 pm, ESPN+)
Lafayette at Buffalo (7 pm, ESPN+)
New Hampshire at UCF (7 pm, ESPN+)
North Carolina A&T at Wake Forest (7 pm, ESPN+)
Arkansas-Pine Bluff at Arkansas (7:30 pm, ESPNU)
Duquesne at Toledo (7:30 pm, ESPN+)
North Carolina at Minnesota (8 pm, FOX)
North Dakota State at Colorado (8 pm, ESPN)
Coastal Carolina at Jacksonville State (8 pm, CBSSN)
Alcorn State at UAB (8 pm, ESPN+)
SE Louisiana at Tulane (8 pm, ESPN+)
Northwestern State at Tulsa (8 pm, ESPN+)
Eastern Illinois at Illinois (9 pm, BTN)
Sacramento State at San Jose State (10 pm, TruTV)

Friday
Lehigh at Army (6 pm, CBSSN)
Florida Atlantic at Michigan State (7 pm, BTN)
Elon at Duke (7:30 pm, ACC Network)
Western Michigan at Wisconsin (9 pm, FS1)
TCU at Stanford (10:30 pm, ESPN)

Saturday TV
Virginia Tech at Vanderbilt (12 pm, ESPN)
UConn at Maryland (12 pm, FS1)
Indiana State at Purdue (12 pm, BTN - Regional)
Kent State at Pittsburgh (12 pm, ESPNU)
Austin Peay at Louisville (12 pm, ACC Network)
Bucknell at Navy (12 pm, CBSSN)
Portland State at Washington State (3 pm, CW)
UTEP at Nebraska (3:30 pm, FOX)
North Dakota at Iowa State (3:30 pm, FS1)
FIU at Indiana (3:30 pm, BTN - Regional)
Miami (OH) at Northwestern (3:30 pm, BTN - Regional)
Ohio at Syracuse (3:30 pm, ACC Network)
Merrimack at Air Force (3:30 pm, CBSSN)
Boise State at Georgia Southern (4 pm, ESPNU)
Old Dominion at South Carolina (4:15 pm, SEC Network)
Idaho State at Oregon State (6:30 pm, CW)
UNLV at Houston (7 pm, FS1)
UCLA at Hawaii (7:30 pm, CBS)
Southern Miss at Kentucky (7:45 pm, SEC Network)
James Madison at Charlotte (8 pm, ESPNU)
Georgia State at Georgia Tech (8 pm, ACC Network)
Texas A&M-Commerce at San Diego State (8 pm, TruTV)
Wyoming at Arizona State (9:30 pm, FS1)
Weber State at Washington (11 pm, BTN)

Saturday Streaming (all ESPN+)
Towson at Cincinnati (2:30 pm)
East Tennessee State at Appalachian State (3:30 pm)
Eastern Michigan at UMass (3:30 pm)
Kennesaw State at UTSA (3:30 pm)
Western Illinois at Northern Illinois (3:30 pm)
UC Davis at California (5 pm)
North Texas at South Alabama (5 pm)
Stony Brook at Marshall (5 pm)
Campbell at Liberty (6 pm)
Eastern Kentucky at Mississippi State (6 pm)
Norfolk State at East Carolina (6 pm)
Richmond at Virginia (6 pm)
Bethune-Cookman at South Florida (7 pm)
Central Arkansas at Arkansas State (7 pm)
Nevada at Troy (7 pm)
North Alabama at Memphis (7 pm)
Sam Houston at Rice (7 pm)
Tarleton State at Baylor (7 pm)
Tennessee Tech at Middle Tennessee (7 pm)
Abilene Christian at Texas Tech (7:30 pm)
Alabama A&M at Auburn (7:30 pm)
Grambling at UL Lafayette (8 pm)
Houston Christian at SMU (8 pm)
Lamar at Texas State (8 pm)
Nicholls at Louisiana Tech (8 pm)
Southern Illinois at BYU (8 pm)
SE Missouri State at New Mexico State (9 pm)

Edited August 16, 2024 by Andy

[Old Style]

horsefeathers Notre Dame

[Andy]

3 hours ago, Old Style said:

horsefeathers Notre Dame

I would say just for that I'm not giving you guys any money for Jimbo's buyout but I got gas today so I guess I already did

[Tank]

Kansas seems like way too big a step up in competition for Lindenwood. 

[Derwood]

On the one hand, Penn State can't have another "beats everyone but OSU and Michigan" season (because they aren't playing Michigan).

On the other, they'll probably have a "beats everyone but OSU, Oregon and USC" season instead

[Andy]

Real live football today. As much as the changes of the last couple years have turned me off, I still find myself looking forward to it.

[Old Style]

 

[Old Style]

“I’m not a lawyer but I have been sued by Brett Favre.” Pat McAfee on ESPN just now. 

[Old Style]

One game in, one top 10 team goes down. College football is back, baby!

[CubinNY]

Suck it FSU. 

[Tank]

FAMU/Norfolk St. turned out to be a pretty good game. 

[Derwood]

Today I learned that the PAC 12 still exists, even though it's only two teams. How is that a thing?

[Old Style]

Wait what?

[CubinNY]

Call me a traditionalist or whatever but I don't like the new playoff system at all. College football doesn't need it and its dumb. I would like it better if the money were used to support academic scholarships at regional state universities, but that's not what will happen. Every year for as long as this lasts there will be the same 15 teams fighting for 12 spots with the same 10 in every year. The Auburns, PSUs, UCLAs, etc will be in on a rotating basis and ND will get in by losing two games to the top 10 teams and beating up the service academies (exaggeration for effect). 

[Andy]

4 hours ago, Derwood said:

Today I learned that the PAC 12 still exists, even though it's only two teams. How is that a thing?

It exists in the most technical sense. The CFP mandates at least 8 to be considered a conference for selection purposes. The NCAA mandates 6 for its tournaments. However, conferences have a two-year grace period if they fall below 6 to get back to 6. That is where the Pac-2 currently sits.

Oregon State and Washington State have a 6-game scheduling agreement with the MWC for this year, and general consensus is there will be some sort of merger at some point between the parties - but it hasn't happened yet and doesn't have to happen until 2026.

[Andy]

4 hours ago, CubinNY said:

Call me a traditionalist or whatever but I don't like the new playoff system at all. College football doesn't need it and its dumb. I would like it better if the money were used to support academic scholarships at regional state universities, but that's not what will happen. Every year for as long as this lasts there will be the same 15 teams fighting for 12 spots with the same 10 in every year. The Auburns, PSUs, UCLAs, etc will be in on a rotating basis and ND will get in by losing two games to the top 10 teams and beating up the service academies (exaggeration for effect). 

ND snark aside, I agree. The only reason this playoff got bigger was for TV money, and the CFP didn't even really get that much of that compared to the numbers being thrown around when the topic was first broached.

Like I saw a Tweet earlier about 'now Ole Miss has hope,' and I thought 'to do what exactly?' In the 4-team world, it was at least theoretically possible for Ole Miss (and they're just an example) to take out their top SEC competition and set themselves up for a title because they wouldn't have to face a bunch of those teams again in the playoff. Now they will.

ETA - I should add that I know darn well some of the games will be fun and social media will clown on people like me when they are. Football being fun has never been at issue for me.

Edited August 26, 2024 by Andy

[Andy]

On that topic, my least favorite subplot of this offseason, and there have been a lot of bad ones, was "can (fill in team here) follow the Michigan blueprint?" No, they cannot. Forgetting all the off-field nonsense, the 2023 playoff contained either 0 or 1 top-5 teams besides UM (by most advanced metrics) because Georgia, Oregon and Ohio State, who all graded out as better than anyone besides Michigan that was in the playoff, all missed the playoff. Good luck to any relative upstart hoping to replicate that sequence of events.

Edited August 26, 2024 by Andy

[Derwood]

A 12 team playoff is fun in theory, but there will never be a Cinderella run from a #12 seed to the title. A Boise State or Cincinnati or whoever can get in and pat themselves on the back, but they aren't winning 3 straight to take the title

[Brian707]

18 minutes ago, Derwood said:

A 12 team playoff is fun in theory, but there will never be a Cinderella run from a #12 seed to the title. A Boise State or Cincinnati or whoever can get in and pat themselves on the back, but they aren't winning 3 straight to take the title

4

[Derwood]

10 minutes ago, Brian707 said:

4

Even worse. There will be no Valparaiso-esque run for anyone. The early rounds will be fun but the top 4 are the only ones with an actual shot at winning

[UMFan83]

I love the 12 team playoff.  Why not give added teams more reasons to feel like a season is successful? For one basically every team in the FBS can technically say they have a shot to win the championship.  Even Liberty, who schedules absolutely no one, is many people's picks for the G5 team in the CFP.  That alone should make the expanded playoff worth it.  Then you have cases like last year with Florida State.  Yes it took 10 years for this to be an issue but we had an undefeated Power 5 champion not given a chance to play for a championship.  This could have been settled on the field last year not in a committee room. Georgia hasn't lost a regular season game since 2020 but since they lost to Bama last year in the title game, the team everyone said was probably the best last year was left out (thanks Bama!). 

I know the traditionalists argument that this makes the regular season more meaningful and if Georgia wanted to win a title they should have beaten Alabama.  I get it, but I'd rather see the best teams in a playoff format decide who wins.  I know I won't be able to change the mind of a traditionalist there but that's how I feel.

Before the 4 team playoff it felt like once you lost your first game of the season you were just playing out the string,  Maybe this gave added value to rivalry games and conference titles but for me watching a 8-2 Michigan team was no different than watching a 65-66 Cubs team...just playing out the string.  Now the entire season will be exciting for a much bigger group of fanbases.  And I don't get the argument that the top 4 teams will still advance to the semi-finals.  Look at the projected playoff brackets...you don't think a 6 seed Oregon has a chance to knock off Texas or whoever to get into the semifinals?  Or even make it to the championship game?  There will be blowouts and teams that are exposed against superior opponents but its worth it for the upsets that do happen and will happen.   Ideally this helps with parity in general when it comes to recruiting, especially with the portal and all the other changes to college athletics. 

We'll see how it plays out, but I'm so insanely excited for this season and the eventual playoffs even if Michigan takes a step back this year.

[soccer10k]

I always liked the uniqueness of college football where you had to be perfect to be assured of a shot. I know FSU got left out last year but that was fluky in that not only did their QB get hurt but the backups looked like hot garbage. If the QB doesn’t get hurt, they’re in. In the backups at least look competent, they get in.

I’m not a fan of an FBS team so I don’t have to worry about my team’s season being over after 1 or 2 losses. I also don’t care if maybe the best team doesn't make the playoff, like Georgia last year, because they lost 1 game at the wrong time. And yes my counter is that they shouldn’t have lost that game. If these teams actually played a tough schedule that featured more than 3-4 games they could conceivably lose each year (I.e. don’t play an FCS team and 2 crappy FBS teams each year in your non-conference) I’d be on board with a 12 team playoff. But if you can’t win the 3-4 tough games on your schedule, oh well.

[squally1313]

15 hours ago, soccer10k said:

I know FSU got left out last year but that was fluky in that not only did their QB get hurt but the backups looked like hot garbage. If the QB doesn’t get hurt, they’re in. In the backups at least look competent, they get in.

This is separate from the 4 v 12 debate (would have preferred 6 but happier with 12), but I've always thought this argument was unique to college football and honestly bad. If Jokic and Jamal Murray (or Aaron Jude and Juan Soto) bang knees and they both explode in the last game of the regular season there's no committee to yank them out of the playoffs. If we're just going to go by the standard that it should be the teams playing the best going into the playoffs, A. that's just an argument to continue throwing it to the blue bloods, and B. stop trying to tell me anything that happens in September actually matters. Not only was Florida State perfect and didn't get in, but another team wasn't perfect and did get in.

[Derwood]

EDIT: Nevermind, trolled

 

Edited August 27, 2024 by Derwood

[soccer10k]

1 hour ago, squally1313 said:

This is separate from the 4 v 12 debate (would have preferred 6 but happier with 12), but I've always thought this argument was unique to college football and honestly bad. If Jokic and Jamal Murray (or Aaron Jude and Juan Soto) bang knees and they both explode in the last game of the regular season there's no committee to yank them out of the playoffs. If we're just going to go by the standard that it should be the teams playing the best going into the playoffs, A. that's just an argument to continue throwing it to the blue bloods, and B. stop trying to tell me anything that happens in September actually matters. Not only was Florida State perfect and didn't get in, but another team wasn't perfect and did get in.

I was just saying why they got left out last year, not that I agreed with it. I thought FSU should have gotten the spot over Bama because they went undefeated.

So yes, what happens in September usually does matter. Most years a QB doesn’t suffer a season ending injury (and when he does, sometimes the backup or third stringer are actually good like that OSU team with Cardale Jones or even Mac Jones when Tua got hurt).