Week 1 Football: What to Watch

We got a taste of college football this past weekend, including one decent game (Nebraska @ Illinois), but this weekend is the true kickoff to the college season! We have some seriously good matchups coming up, so let’s take a look at what’s on tap this week...

Because ESPN knows you can’t get enough football (heck, they’re even willing to show high school games with made up schools just to get you your fix!), you can tune in to watch the UAB-Jacksonville State game on Wednesday night.

We all know what we’ll be watching Thursday night, but there are also a few other games that should be worth keeping an eye on.

Both Thursday and Friday feature a lot of teams from the State of North Carolina, so that should at least be interesting, although Duke @ Charlotte and ODU @ Wake Forest don’t exactly move the needle much. Go Hokies!

Saturday is just a great day of college football, starting off with the Penn State @ Wisconsin game at noon. That Stanford vs K-State game should also be a decent one in the noon slot, leading up to the Alabama-Miami mid-day game. Indiana vs Iowa should also be good... you know, just in case Miami gets boat raced by Bama.

In case you’re interested in seeing what NC State has coming up ahead, La Tech and Mississippi State square off at 4:00pm on ESPNU.

Syracuse is on the road to open the season at Ohio. The Orange are 1.5 point favorites, but if you believe in the advanced metrics, then you hammer that line and/or pick Ohio to win.

Speaking of lines, I’m also taking Texas to cover the 8-point spread in their game. I like Louisiana-Lafayette, and Billy Napier has turned into a great coach, but I just can’t imagine them keeping it going this year after losing a pair of RBs who rushed for over 3,200 yards and 3,500 yards in their careers.

Everybody and their mom is tuning into that Georgia vs Clemson game at 7:30pm Saturday night. It’ll be interesting to see how sloppy the game is, though, given that ECU and App State play on the same field just two nights prior.

Keep your eye on that Texas Tech vs Houston game in the primetime slot, too. That should be fun and high scoring.

We keep the good time college football - and ACC - vibes going on Sunday and Monday night. Sunday night we get to see how Notre Dame fares without Ian Book, while also seeing how the the rebuild at Florida State is coming along in Year 2 of Mike Norvell.

Monday night we get to see how much trouble Scott Satterfield really is in up in Louisville as he squares off with Lane Kiffin’s Ole Miss team.

It’s football, baby! And I’m here for all of it!

Rankings for SP+ Ratings and Sagarin Ratings listed, respectively, ahead of each team’s name.

Wednesday

68/88 UAB vs FBS/148 Jacksonville State - 7:30pm - ESPN

Thursday

39/27 Boise State @ 34/34 Central Florida - 7:00pm - ESPN

99/116 South Florida @ 46/31 NC State - 7:30pm - ACCN

93/103 East Carolina vs 36/49 Appalachian State - 7:30pm - ESPNU

4/3 Ohio State @ 24/41 Minnesota - 8:00pm - FOX

Friday

11/25 North Carolina @ 33/42 Virginia Tech - 6:00pm - ESPN

108/91 Duke @ 117/130 Charlotte - 7:00pm - CBSSN

128/152 Old Dominion @ 74/44 Wake Forest - 7:00pm - ACCN

51/99 Michigan State @ 76/33 Northwestern - 9:00pm - ESPN

Saturday

10/14 Penn State @ 6/9 Wisconsin - 12:00pm - FOX

FBS/242 Colgate @ 60/38 Boston College - 12:00pm - ACCN

64/30 Stanford vs 61/37 Kansas State - 12:00pm - FS1

1/1 Alabama vs 8/28 Miami - 3:30pm - ABC

28/24 Indiana @ 16/17 Iowa - 3:30pm - BTN

43/26 West Virginia @ 38/78 Maryland - 3:30pm - ESPN

115/109 Louisiana Tech @ 44/46 Mississippi State - 4:00pm - ESPNU

129/204 UMass @ 40/50 Pittsburgh - 4:00pm - ACCN

30/55 Louisiana-Lafayette @ 20/10 Texas - 4:30pm - FOX

102/101 Syracuse @ 85/53 Ohio - 7:00pm - CBSSN

78/57 Oregon State @ 52/75 Purdue - 7:00pm - FS1

70/54 Texas Tech vs 63/65 Houston - 7:00pm - ESPN

5/5 Georgia vs 2/4 Clemson - 7:30pm - ABC

116/79 Northern Illinois @ 62/82 Georgia Tech - 7:30pm - ACCN

FCS/206 William & Mary @ 56/58 Virginia - 7:30pm - ESPN3

26/8 LSU @ 29/43 UCLA - 8:30pm - FOX

31/95 BYU vs 96/81 Arizona - 10:30pm - ESPN

Sunday

18/29 Notre Dame @ 50/59 Florida State - 7:30pm - ABC

Monday

42/72 Louisville vs 25/22 Ole Miss - 8:00pm - ESPN