College Football - "Week Zero" and Week 1 (Sept. 5)

[Andy]

Catch-all thread for the last couple weeks of the preseason as well if you're into that.

 

"Week Zero" (Aug. 29)

San Jose State at (14) USC (3 pm, NBC)

North Carolina vs TCU - in Dublin (12 pm, ESPN)

NC State at Virginia (3:30 pm, ESPN)

Jacksonville State at North Dakota State (5:30 pm, CBSSN)

Sacramento State at Eastern Michigan (6:30 pm, ESPN+)

New Mexico State at Florida State (7 pm, CW)

Memphis at UNLV (10 pm, FOX)

 

Top 25 games

Ball State at (1) Ohio State (12:30 pm, BTN)

Boise State at (2) Oregon (3:30 pm, CBS)

Tennessee State at (3) Georgia (3 pm, ESPN+)

Wisconsin vs (4) Notre Dame - in Green Bay (7:30 pm Sunday, NBC)

Texas State at (5) Texas (3:30 pm, ESPN)

North Texas at (6) Indiana (12 pm, FOX)

(7) Miami at Stanford (9 pm Friday, ESPN)

Missouri State at (8) Texas A&M (7 pm, ESPN)

(24) Louisville vs (9) Ole Miss - in Nashville (7:30 pm Sunday, ABC)

UTEP at (10) Oklahoma (8 pm Friday, ESPN+) 

Clemson at (11) LSU (7:30 pm, ABC)

Abilene Christian at (12) Texas Tech (7 pm, FS1)

East Carolina at (13) Alabama (12 pm, ABC)

Fresno State at (14) USC (9 pm Friday, FOX)

Utah Tech at (14) BYU (8 pm, ESPN+)

Western Michigan at (16) Michigan (7:30 pm, NBC)

Washington State at (17) Washington (4 pm Sunday, NBC)

Marshall at (18) Penn State (3:30 pm, FS1)

(19) SMU at Florida State (7:30 pm Monday, ESPN) 

Furman at (20) Tennessee (3:30 pm, ESPN+)

Idaho at (21) Utah (9 pm Thursday, ESPNU)

Northern Illinois at (22) Iowa (4:15 pm, BTN)

Oregon State at (23) Houston (12 pm, ESPN)

Arkansas-Pine Bluff at (25) Missouri (8 pm Thursday, SEC Network)

 

Other nationally available games

Thursday

UMass at Rutgers (6 pm, BTN)

Akron at Wake Forest (7 pm, ACC Network)

Bethune-Cookman at UCF (7 pm, ESPN+)

Merrimack at Delaware (7 pm, ESPN+)

West Georgia at Kennesaw State (7 pm, ESPN+) 

Albany at Buffalo (7 pm, ESPN+)

Colorado at Georgia Tech (8 pm, ESPN)

Eastern Illinois at Minnesota (8 pm, Peacock)

UAB at Illinois (9 pm, BTN)

 

Friday

San Jose State at Eastern Michigan (6:30 pm, ESPN+)

Indiana State at Purdue (7 pm, BTN)

North Carolina A&T at Georgia State (7 pm, ESPN+)

Toledo at Michigan State (8 pm, FS1)

Long Island at Kansas (8 pm, ESPNU)

 

Saturday TV

Ohio at Nebraska (12 pm, FS1)

Coastal Carolina at West Virginia (12 pm, TNT)

Liberty at James Madison (12 pm, ESPNU)

New Hampshire at Syracuse (12 pm, ACC Network)

Bryant at Army (12 pm, CBSSN)

Miami (OH) at Pittsburgh (12:30 pm, CW)

Kent State at South Carolina (12:45 pm, SEC Network)

Baylor vs Auburn - in Atlanta (3:30 pm, ABC)

Boston College at Cincinnati (3:30 pm, FOX)

Tulane at Duke (3:30 pm, ACC Network)

Towson at Navy (3:30 pm, CBSSN)

Oklahoma State at Tulsa (3:45 pm, ESPNU)

Wyoming at Colorado State (6 pm, USA)

Idaho State at Utah State (7 pm, CBSSN)

UL Monroe at Mississippi State (7:30 pm, ESPNU)

VMI at Virginia Tech (7:30 pm, ACC Network)

Florida Atlantic at Florida (7:45 pm, SEC Network)

Hampton at Maryland (8 pm, BTN)

South Dakota State at Northwestern (8 pm, BTN)

UNLV at Hawaii (9 pm, CW)

Portland State at San Diego State (9:30 pm, USA)

Central Michigan at New Mexico (10 pm, FS1)

UCLA at California (10:30 pm, ESPN)

Western Kentucky at Nevada (10:30 pm, CBSSN)

 

Saturday Streaming (all ESPN+)

Tarleton State at Bowling Green (12 pm)

SE Missouri State at Iowa State (1 pm)

Youngstown State at Kentucky (1 pm)

Rhode Island at Temple (2 pm)

Maine at Appalachian State (3:30 pm)

The Citadel at Charlotte (3:30 pm)

UT Rio Grande Valley at UTSA (3:30 pm)

North Alabama at Arkansas (4:15 pm)

Alcorn State at Southern Miss (5 pm)

Norfolk State at Old Dominion (6 pm)

Austin Peay at Vanderbilt (7 pm)

Nicholls at Kansas State (7 pm)

Arkansas State at Memphis (7 pm)

Charleston Southern at Georgia Southern (7 pm)

Houston Christian at Rice (7 pm)

FIU at South Florida (7 pm)

Eastern Kentucky at Jacksonville State (7 pm)

Murray State at Middle Tennessee (7 pm)

Sam Houston at Troy (7 pm)

SE Louisiana at South Alabama (7 pm)

Northwestern State at Louisiana Tech (7:30 pm)

Lamar at UL Lafayette (8 pm)

Mercyhurst at New Mexico State (9 pm)

Northern Arizona at Arizona (9:30 pm)

Morgan State at Arizona State (10 pm)

Mississippi Valley State at Sacramento State (10 pm)

[Derwood]

[Andy]

I have no idea if this is a harbinger of anything, but apparently three Division II teams beat FCS teams last night in the first night of games. No such wins occurred all of last season.

[bukie]

 

[bukie]

Just now, bukie said:

 

Referencing this, there is exactly one (1!) team in the top 21 that is not in the B1G, SEC, or Notre Dame, so the relevance of teams not in the big 2 is not doing great going into the season. I'm sure someone will make a run though that will make them relevant.

[soccer10k]

9 minutes ago, bukie said:

Referencing this, there is exactly one (1!) team in the top 21 that is not in the B1G, SEC, or Notre Dame, so the relevance of teams not in the big 2 is not doing great going into the season. I'm sure someone will make a run though that will make them relevant.

Not that it changes your point at all but it’s 2 teams: Texas Tech and Miami.

[bukie]

9 minutes ago, soccer10k said:

Not that it changes your point at all but it’s 2 teams: Texas Tech and Miami.

Ah, I didn't see Tech there.

Also, the top G6 team right now is 50th in Boise State, which...yikes.

[raw]

Just posting here to say that I can't believe my school is reigning National Champions. Still gotta pinch myself.

Also, back-to-back coming, bitches

[Derwood]

[Andy]

15 minutes ago, Derwood said:

No editorial comment to be added here, but this is the game SC elected to replace Notre Dame with on the schedule

[Andy]

This is such a nothing issue by comparison to everything else in this sport but I wonder if we're going to start calling "Week Zero" Week One next year. It's officially a rule now that everyone can start their season this weekend starting next year, no waivers necessary

[jumbo]

On 8/28/2026 at 11:41 AM, raw said:

Just posting here to say that I can't believe my school is reigning National Champions. Still gotta pinch myself.

Also, back-to-back coming, bitches

If IU can do it maybe Purdue can inside of the next 30 years?? 

[SeldomSeen]

On 8/28/2026 at 11:41 AM, raw said:

Just posting here to say that I can't believe my school is reigning National Champions. Still gotta pinch myself.

Also, back-to-back coming, bitches

It’s like being a kid on Christmas morning. Noon can’t get here soon enough. 

[cwood218]

Wow, Michigan with the steal.

[Rex Buckingham]

I do not care what the record books say. Michigan lost to WMU. 

[Andy]

8 minutes ago, cwood218 said:

Wow, Michigan with the steal.

Conferences paying officials has resulted in many many hilariously obvious (to me) examples of calls that have no real explanation besides corruption, but that was about as egregious an example as I've ever seen.

There's just no acceptable explanation for that replay decision that doesn't start with the fact that the official's paycheck came from a body that had an obvious financial incentive for one side to win. 

Edited yesterday at 03:07 AM by Andy

[gflore34]

Don't really know how the Big Ten' "internal" clock and Hawk Eye System comes up with a second - 

[PackLandVA]

The Big Ten/officiating body has about 10-12 hours to “damage control” the situation. They’ll come up with some alibi/excuse that nobody will buy except 75-80% of Michigan fans.

The sad part is not that Michigan was gifted a win, but that Western Michigan is tagged with a bogus loss. 

[Brian707]

This will go down in history like the US loss to USSR in 1972 in Olympics basketball or 5th down with Colorado in college football. 

Is this anything other than corruption?

I hope the voters treat this as a loss in the AP poll. Not that the poll matters much. 

horsefeathers Michigan 

[Derwood]

1-0*

[BigSlick]

It’s really funny to storm the field when you barely survived Western Michigan and needed extremely curious refereeing and a Hail Mary to not start 0-1. 
 

I wouldn’t do that, personally 

[Andy]

8 hours ago, PackLandVA said:

The Big Ten/officiating body has about 10-12 hours to “damage control” the situation. They’ll come up with some alibi/excuse that nobody will buy except 75-80% of Michigan fans.

The sad part is not that Michigan was gifted a win, but that Western Michigan is tagged with a bogus loss. 

The official explanation is apparently that there's a double secret clock not synced to what everyone else sees that said there was time left.

https://x.com/bigten/status/2096460445213217097

[Andy]

https://x.com/FauxPelini/status/2096442410188280060

[I owned a Suzuki]

1 hour ago, BigSlick said:

It’s really funny to storm the field when you barely survived Western Michigan and needed extremely curious refereeing and a Hail Mary to not start 0-1. 
 

I wouldn’t do that, personally 

Personally surprised the place didnt empty out after Underwood fumbled

[I owned a Suzuki]

9 hours ago, PackLandVA said:

The Big Ten/officiating body has about 10-12 hours to “damage control” the situation. They’ll come up with some alibi/excuse that nobody will buy except 75-80% of Michigan fans.

The sad part is not that Michigan was gifted a win, but that Western Michigan is tagged with a bogus loss. 

WMU would have put themselves in great position to make the playoffs if they won this game....it is too bad for them. I hope they win out and make the playoffs while Michigan is struggling to get bowl eligible.