Week 2 Football: What to watch

Here’s what’s on the schedule this week around the ACC and the immediate region, plus keeping an eye on the Wolfpack’s 2018 opponents and other potentially intriguing national games.

There are surprisingly no D1-A/FBS games on Thursday night, but your significant other probably doesn’t know that, so here’s a great opportunity to say, “No, babe, let’s watch what you want to watch tonight. I’ll have plenty more games to watch later in the year.” Earn some brownie points, folks. I’m just here to help. (If that doesn’t suit you, then there is the NFL season opener.)

There’s only one game on Friday, and it probably won’t be a good one, so if you want to double down on the brownie point earning, go right ahead... but your S.O. might get suspicious, so pull out the big guns here. Turn on the game so they know there’s one on, then switch to their choice of show. Best of luck to you all. Godspeed.

As for ACC games this week, we won’t really learn a whole heck of a lot with half of the league playing games against D1-AA/FCS teams. /yawn

Also, I’m sure we’ll all be rooting for the Pirates this weekend.

Enough yapping... on to the schedule:

(Note: F/+ (a combination of FEI and S&P+ rankings) and Sagarin rankings listed for each team. For D1-AA/FCS teams, only the Sagarin ranking is listed.)

Thursday

[NFL] Falcons @ Eagles - 8:20pm - NBC

Friday

17/20 TCU @ 103/107 SMU - 8:00pm - ESPN2

Saturday

FCS/175 Towson @ 48/53 Wake Forest - 12:00pm - ACCNE

31/35 Duke @ 40/34 Northwestern - 12:00pm - ESPNU

45/37 Georgia Tech @ 58/60 South Florida - 12:00pm - ABC/ESPN2

117/121 Georgia State @ 47/31 NC State - 12:30pm - ACCNE

FCS/208 Holy Cross @ 28/25 Boston College - 1:00pm - ACCNE

FCS/185 William & Mary @ 25/8 Virginia Tech - 2:00pm - ACCNE

4/10 Georgia @ 33/38 South Carolina - 3:30pm - CBS

95/126 Ball State @ 7/15 Notre Dame - 3:30pm - NBC

65/52 North Carolina @ 126/134 East Carolina - 3:30pm - ESPNU

FCS/223 Wagner @ 72/66 Syracuse - 3:30pm - ACCNE

FCS/132 Youngstown State @ 36/22 West Virginia - 6:00pm - [no TV]

FCS/245 Savannah State @ 26/27 Miami - 6:00pm - ACCNE

59/59 Appalachian State @ 113/161 Charlotte - 6:00pm - ESPN+

FCS/196 Eastern Kentucky @ 57/80 Marshall - 6:30pm - ESPN+

2/4 Clemson @ 22/21 Texas A&M - 7:00pm - ESPN

83/98 UAB @ 119/148 Coastal Carolina - 7:00pm - ESPN+

FCS/192 Indiana State @ 55/42 Louisville - 7:00pm - ACCNE

FCS/102 Samford @ 29/30 Florida State - 7:20pm - ACCNE

61/67 Virginia @ 66/68 Indiana - 7:30pm - BTN

13/16 Penn State @ 49/51 Pittsburgh - 8:00pm - ABC

20/19 Southern Cal @ 11/12 Stanford - 8:30pm - FOX

Just as a side note: In the Sagarin rankings, James Madison is currently 78th, the third highest ranked D1-AA/FCS team (33 North Dakota State, 63 South Dakota State).