OK I'm not going to lie to you about this; Thursday and Friday are going to take a little imagination to love, but Saturday will be the real deal!

Matchup, Time (ET), TV

Thursday, August 30
CCSU Blue Devils at Ball State Cardinals @ 7:00 PM - ESPN+
Kennesaw State Owls at Georgia State Panthers @ 7:00 PM - ESPN+
New Mexico State Aggies at Minnesota Golden Gophers @ 7:00 PM - BTN
UCF Knights at UConn Huskies @ 7:00 PM - ESPNU
I bet they feel relieved to going back to having a "hands team" and otherwise not dancing on eggshells all the time. Pretty sure they have some sort of win streak going. And UConn.

Missouri State Bears at Oklahoma State Cowboys @ 8:00 PM - FS1
Northwestern Wildcats at Purdue Boilermakers @ 8:00 PM - ESPN
This kinda looks like the marquee matchup of the day.

Savannah State Tigers at UAB Blazers @ 8:00 PM - ESPN+
Southeastern La. Lions at ULM Warhawks @ 8:00 PM - ESPN+
Wake Forest Demon Deacons at Tulane Green Wave @ 8:00 PM - CBSSN
Want to see what that Tulane looks like against an actual team before they play Ohio State in a month? Well it turns out Wake Forest is as close as they are going to come!

Weber State Wildcats at Utah Utes @ 8:00 PM - Pac-12N
Northwestern State Demons at Texas A&M Aggies @ 8:30 PM - SECN
UC Davis Aggies at San Jose State Spartans @ 10:00 PM - TV TBA

Friday, August 31
Syracuse Orange at Western Michigan Broncos @ 6:00 PM - CBSSN
Monmouth Hawks at Eastern Michigan Eagles @ 6:30 PM - ESPN+
Utah State Aggies at Michigan State Spartans @ 7:00 PM - BTN
Army Black Knights at Duke Blue Devils @ 7:00 PM - ESPNU
"Duke looks for revenge after Army beat them in November"? Seems like Duke would be exhausted trying to remember all the revenges they want.

Portland State Vikings at Nevada Wolf Pack @ 9:00 PM - MWN
San Diego State Aztecs at Stanford Cardinal @ 9:00 PM - FS1
A legit good game last year and as good a time as any to speculate if David Shaw is a brilliant coach or a long-running 'Weekend at Bernie's' routine.

WKU Hilltoppers at Wisconsin Badgers @ 9:00 PM - ESPN
Only highlighting for a PSA; Western Kentucky is supposed to suck this year.

Colorado Buffaloes at Colorado State Rams @ 9:30 PM - CBSSN
Logic would dictate this would be some sort of rivalry. Would be a very close line if they were playing at Colorado State!

Saturday, September 1
Coastal Carolina Chanticleers at South Carolina Gamecocks @ 12:00 PM - SECN
What this game needs is some cockfighting side action. Like during the timeouts.

Florida Atlantic Owls at Oklahoma Sooners @ 12:00 PM - FOX
Finally Lane Kiffin gets his chance! I actually have nothing against Oklahoma, but it'd be great if their former QB torched them in this game. The spread is only 21 points!

Houston Cougars at Rice Owls @ 12:00 PM - CBSSN
James Madison Dukes at NC State Wolfpack @ 12:00 PM - ESPNU
Kent State Golden Flashes at Illinois Fighting Illini @ 12:00 PM - BTN
Ole Miss Rebels at Texas Tech Red Raiders @ 12:00 PM - ESPN
Oregon State Beavers at Ohio State Buckeyes @ 12:00 PM - ABC
Well it is 2 teams from power 5 conferences and no Urb in sight...

Southern Jaguars at TCU Horned Frogs @ 12:00 PM - FSN
Texas Longhorns at Maryland Terrapins @ 12:00 PM - FS1
Not gonna lie; I'm having a hard time rooting for the murderers in this one.

Texas State Bobcats at Rutgers Scarlet Knights @ 12:00 PM - BTN
Villanova Wildcats at Temple Owls @ 12:00 PM - ESPNews
Furman Paladins at Clemson Tigers @ 12:20 PM - ACCN
Just reminds me that new Voltron on Netflix isn't half bad, though it still has the notable difficulty of involving giant mechanical lions for some reason.

Alcorn State Braves at Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets @ 12:30 PM - RSN
UMass Minutemen at Boston College Eagles @ 1:00 PM - ACCNExtra
Howard Bison at Ohio Bobcats @ 2:00 PM - ESPN+
Stony Brook Seawolves at Air Force Falcons @ 2:00 PM - Facebook
Appalachian State Mountaineers at Penn State Nittany Lions @ 3:30 PM - BTN
Appalachian State is a contender...for the championship...game...for the Sunbelt Conference. They young, but they fiesty!

Austin Peay Governors at Georgia Bulldogs @ 3:30 PM - ESPN
Central Michigan Chippewas at Kentucky Wildcats @ 3:30 PM - ESPNU
Marshall Thundering Herd at Miami (Ohio) RedHawks @ 3:30 PM - ESPN+
NIU Huskies at Iowa Hawkeyes @ 3:30 PM - BTN
Is this some sort of rivalry game? Only a ten point spread.

UAlbany Great Danes at Pitt Panthers @ 3:30 PM - ACCNExtra
Washington Huskies at Auburn Tigers @ 3:30 PM - ABC
OK; NOW WE'RE TALKING!!! Somehow Washington still has Jake Browning for like the 3rd year now, and Auburn also has a returning starter. My list says "at Auburn" but actually it's a neutral site game in Atlanta that's like a 90 minute drive, so pretty much at Auburn.

Washington State Cougars at Wyoming Cowboys @ 3:30 PM - CBSSN
West Virginia Mountaineers at Tennessee Volunteers @ 3:30 PM - CBS
This here is the perfect side dish to your Auburn-Washington entree! Another new era begins in Tennessee.

Eastern Illinois Panthers at Arkansas Razorbacks @ 4:00 PM - SECN
North Carolina Tar Heels at California Golden Bears @ 4:00 PM - FOX
Erm, well now this is the other perfect second side dish to your Auburn-Washington entree--the one you can watch during half time! I have a feeling this is going to be Cal's breakout year!

UNLV Rebels at USC Trojans @ 4:00 PM - Pac-12N
UT Martin Skyhawks at Missouri Tigers @ 4:00 PM - SECNA
Boise State Broncos at Troy Trojans @ 6:00 PM - ESPNews
The other Sunbelt East contender hilariously HOSTING Boise in the opener. Could get interesting fast.

Delaware State Hornets at Buffalo Bulls @ 6:00 PM - ESPN3
Elon Phoenix at USF Bulls @ 6:00 PM - ESPN3
Fordham Rams at Charlotte 49ers @ 6:00 PM - ESPN+
North Carolina A&T Aggies at East Carolina Pirates @ 6:00 PM - ESPN3
Old Dominion Monarchs at Liberty Flames @ 6:00 PM - ESPN3/WDBJ
Richmond Spiders at Virginia Cavaliers @ 6:00 PM - ACCNExtra
SC State Bulldogs at Georgia Southern Eagles @ 6:00 PM - ESPN+
Central Arkansas Bears at Tulsa Golden Hurricane @ 7:00 PM - ESPN3
Cincinnati Bearcats at UCLA Bruins @ 7:00 PM - ESPN
Maybe not a marquee matchup but that's a fine live body to open up with there, UCLA.

Grambling State Tigers at Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns @ 7:00 PM - ESPN3
Indiana Hoosiers at FIU Golden Panthers @ 7:00 PM - CBSSN
Jackson State Tigers at Southern Miss Golden Eagles @ 7:00 PM - ESPN+
LA Tech Bulldogs at South Alabama Jaguars @ 7:00 PM - ESPN+
Mercer Bears at Memphis Tigers @ 7:00 PM - ESPN3
Nicholls Colonels at Kansas Jayhawks @ 7:00 PM - JTV
Southeast Missouri RedHawks at Arkansas State Red Wolves @ 7:00 PM - ESPN+
VMI Keydets at Toledo Rockets @ 7:00 PM - ESPN3
South Dakota Coyotes at Kansas State Wildcats @ 7:10 PM - ESPN3
Charleston Southern Buccaneers at Florida Gators @ 7:30 PM - SECN
Michigan Wolverines at Notre Dame Fighting Irish @ 7:30 PM - NBC
I realize I'm supposed to downplay it, but it would really be great if this game was awesome. Also, and this is true, I'm legitimately uncertain if I'd prefer my coach negligently get someone killed or emphatically implores athletes not to eat chicken because it is a "nervous bird".

Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders at Vanderbilt Commodores @ 7:30 PM - SECNA
This is a pretty good shot for an SEC upset. MTSU will next have a virtual bye week before playing at Georgia then an actual bye week before hosting the Florida Atlantikiffins. I like it; giving themselves some room to take their shots. And Vanderbilt.

Northern Arizona Lumberjacks at UTEP Miners @ 7:30 PM - ESPN3
SMU Mustangs at North Texas Mean Green @ 7:30 PM - Stadium
Stephen F. Austin Jacks at Mississippi State Bulldogs @ 7:30 PM - ESPNU
Abilene Christian Wildcats at Baylor Bears @ 8:00 PM - FSN
Akron Zips at Nebraska Cornhuskers @ 8:00 PM - FOX
Bowling Green Falcons at Oregon Ducks @ 8:00 PM - Pac-12N
Incarnate Word Cardinals at New Mexico Lobos @ 8:00 PM - ESPN3
Louisville Cardinals at Alabama Crimson Tide @ 8:00 PM - ABC
You may find this hard to believe but I don't know anything about these teams. I know Louisville doesn't have Lamar Jackson. I know Alabama is another collection of players who were highly rated coming out of high school. Two quarterbacks. One of them good. Like probably a dozen running backs? I was hoping we were going to see a Hugh Freeze offense this year, but I suppose not.

South Dakota State Jackrabbits at Iowa State Cyclones @ 8:00 PM - Cyclones.TV
Idaho Vandals at Fresno State Bulldogs @ 10:00 PM - Facebook
UTSA Roadrunners at Arizona State Sun Devils @ 10:30 PM - FS1
BYU Cougars at Arizona Wildcats @ 10:45 PM - ESPN
Navy Midshipmen at Hawaii Rainbow Warriors @ 11:00 PM - CBSSN

Sunday, September 2
Miami (FL) Hurricanes at LSU Tigers @ 7:30 PM - ABC
I suspect the Orgeron show will be fantastic while it lasts.

Monday, September 3
Virginia Tech Hokies at Florida State Seminoles @ 8:00 PM - ESPN
What a strange kickoff game. But, it's there. Some guy other than Jimbo.

Western Michigan is free money.

Syracuse can't win on the road.

Western Michigan has a ball control offense which will keep it away from Cuse's high tempo O.

Western Michigan is coached by former Syracuse coaches. Middle Tennessee State had the old Syracuse head coach and beat them last year.

All of this and last I knew Cuse was favored by 6.

Having said that, Eric Dungey is the best player in college football and will win the Heisman.

let's do this, about time the season started

go cu buffs

unlv probably makes the usc frosh QB look like sam darnold or whoever

urbz suspension cut to one game after tosu loses to osu

Lot of good games Week 1.

I think UNLV puts a scare into USC Week 1, call it "revenge" for blowing their season last year in Week 1 losing to lolHoward. Also Appy St can be feisty indeed. And don't be surprised if South Dakota is tied or has the lead at half against Kansas State.

If the Canes get past LSU, there's no reason for them not to come verrrry close to running the table. I could see them getting tripped up after their bye week in Boston College on a Friday night. If not then, I think they go undefeated.

BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY, WELCOME BACK COLLEGE FOOTBALL!!!

IN

Awwww yeah

I wanted to say "1st time ever" but I think GB throws these knuckle balls a lot.

Purdue Northwestern is legit worth watching. Purdue, if nothing else, because Brohm is probably LSU's coach next year if he wins 6 games with this collection. Their DC is also a screaming bald so that's fun. They lost a ton on defense but Brohm himself is worth two TDs with just about any roster.

Northwestern won ten last year and has the B1G's returning sack leader(!) Joe Graziano and Paddy Fisher(MLB) who is 100% who you think he is. N'Western also has Clayton Thorson returning at QB for his 12th season under center. Let's see how long it takes Pat Fitzgerald to bench him for Hunter Johnson, the Clemson xfr who is probably better.

This opening game vs Washington scares the **** outta me. Auburn typically doesn’t get rolling (if we’re actually good) til like mid season most years it seems so this is a huge first test. The new ga dome hasn’t been kind to us recently. This will be our third straight game in this frickin stadium. We are favored but I’m seeing an awful lot of people picking Washington to win so a lot of voodoo is seemingly going against us here. I think if our front 7 can dominate (which they can and probably will) then I think that’ll be the deciding factor in this game. They are a beast of a line and will hopefully give browning a headache all game. I can’t wait to watch.

Rondale Moore will be the name to remember tomorrow night. Purdue will feature him and use him everywhere and hes an explosive playmaker.

Hunter Johnson has to sit out this season.

Should be a great game. Go dawgs!

Also, who's ready for football??? I've begun my annual tradition of tweeting out dashboards for every game, leading up to kickoff tomorrow. Follow along - @actuarygambler

All set for Saturday night

Why is that game in Orlando? Da fuq? God I hate these stupid neutral site games

Not sure why they picked Orlando but the stadium has been renovated so it's pretty nice now, and I don't have to drive 10 hours to see them play live for a change so I'll take it.

This is a truly great line, I hope to steal it one day

Auburn / U dubb at the same time as WV and Cal playing meaningful games against P5 opponents that they're supposed to beat is going to be a pretty lit time slot for me

Well, have fun. Hope you like watching massacres. Louisville has no shot unless they borrow some NFL o linemen. They are gonna get so ****ed up it’s not even funny. What’s the spread? Like -28? I would smash that

Michigan plays Notre Dame on Saturday evening.

To remind the audience, the only reason these two teams stopped playing each other was Dave Brandon. I could spend the next 2,000 words on Dave Brandon, but to make a point that should not need to be made after November, 2016, idiots very often end up in charge of things. After finally getting s***canned by Michigan, Dave Brandon was hired as the CEO of Toys R Us. That company is in bankruptcy, costing tens of thousands of people their jobs. Dave Brandon walked away with millions of dollars in bonuses. This, sadly, is how the world works in America, 2018.

Another sad fact of life is that college football is infested with some of the absolute worst people walking the planet. Hell, just in the Big 10 East the current coaching lineup includes Mark Dantonio, Urban Meyer and, for now, DJ Durkin. Another completely separate school covered up child rape for decades and still thinks they’re the victim of the whole thing. Even Rutgers had a massive academic scandal. If you have to cheat to pass at Rutgers…oh never mind. The “grown ups” involved all make millions of dollars. The players make zero dollars. This system is insane. Terrelle Pryor got a longer suspension for free tattoos than Urban Meyer got for covering for a serial wife beater and being a lying sack of s***. Mark Emmert. Jim Delany. Whatever piece of s*** people are in charge at Michigan State. Horrible humans everywhere.

By no means am I under the illusion Michigan doesn’t have kids getting paid, or “tutors” writing papers, or whatever. But call me naïve, I still think Jim Harbaugh would fire a serial domestic abuser and the athletic director would do something other than whatever Michigan State’s AD did for 18 months while Larry Nassar kept molesting kids. Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t think so.

Anyway, on to the game. If I were a better person I’d do something other than complain on the internet and watch. Alas. I ****ing love college football and, frankly, I don’t have enough stuff in my life that I look forward to this much to just not watch.

As for Michigan, every indication is that this is going to be an elite defensive unit. Every player returns from the #1 secondary in the country. Rashan Gary has a legitimate shot at being the #1 overall pick. Winovich, Bush, the roster is loaded. And Don Brown.

The question mark is the offense. Last year, Michigan had what was likely the worst pass blocking offensive line in school history. It will require a massive upgrade to get to “below average.” There are few if any indications this is possible. Grant Newsome is apparently permanently dead and so is Michigan’s only shot at a functional tackle. It is going to be a complete and total s*** show, possibly mitigated by quick releases, RPOs, a good running game and competent coaching. We’ll see.

Regarding the Irish, I know only three things: 1. Their QB sucks, 2. Their entire offensive line got drafted and 3. Brian Kelly has anger issues. Also Rudy was a loser.

Go Blue.

Actually it makes sense that they want a game in ORL they spent half a billion on renovations so playing 3 games there instead of the usual 2 is smartthinking

Thanks, Holliday. Finally some real live football action. Good luck to fans of teams playing real, attention-worthy games this weekend!

I've read that Utah State might be able to give Sparty a bit of a game.

Not buying it, but I've read it.

VEGAS BABY

(en route)

Sparty was the luckboxiest team in the nation last year. Due for a major regression.

I think technically it was UCF or South Carolina. Great records in 1 score games plus huge turnover margins...