College football kicks off in earnest tonight. Hallelujah! The Pants wants to know: who are you making sure to watch this weekend, and what will you be drinking?
Things get kicked off tonight with a slew of games (16 in total), most of which fall in the “nobody cares” department. There are a few decent match-ups though so keep your remotes handy. In true SEC fashion, South Carolina and Vandy will kick things off this year with a conference opponent (each other) so they can fit in another grueling matchup later in the season when nobody is paying attention (like Western Carolina or Tennessee St in November). You can find them on ESPN at 7pm CT tonight. In other SEC action, 9th ranked Tennessee will kick off their brutal schedule with Appalachian St at 6:30pm CT on the SEC Network (not ESPN, the other SEC Network). The only other Top 25 matchup tonight is Louisville hosting Charlotte at 6pm CT, but don’t bother looking for it unless you are chilling on ESPN3.
The Big Ten season gets underway tonight with Indiana visiting (you read that right) Florida International at 6:30pm CT on ESPNU. You can catch Minnesota hosting Oregon St at 8pm CT over on BTN.
The ball keeps rolling, or bouncing, or whatever footballs do, on Friday with 11 more FBS match-ups. In the Big Ten, MSU plays host to Furman over on BTN at 6pm CT. Other notables include Colorado hosting Colorado State at 7pm CT on ESPN and Stanford hosting K-State at 8pm CT on Fox Sports 1.
As for the long weekend, it’s being talked about as the greatest opening slate of games in college football history. I guess we will know more after the weekend, but here’s a quick look at what’s on the docket (that we’ll be paying attention to).
SATURDAY
OKlahoma-Houston 11 ABC
Bowling Green-OSU 11 BTN
Hawaii-UM 11 ESPN
Iowa- Miami (OH) 2:30 ESPNU
UCLA-A&M 2:30 CBS
LSU-Wiscy 2:30 ABC
Georgia-UNC 4:30 ESPN
USC-Bama 7 ABC
UNI-ISU 7
Clemson-Auburn 8 ESPN
BYU-Zona 9:30 FS1
SUNDAY
ND-Texas 6:30 ABC
MONDAY
Ole Miss-FSU 7 ESPN
This week’s recommended drink: Natural Light. Simple reasoning here - this is going to be a long weekend with games spanning 5, count them, FIVE, days. You’re going to be drinking for a long time. Natty Light is basically water so you should have no problems chugging sipping on some Natty for a few days. If you’re not the “slow and steady wins the race type”, you can always pound them much like we expect Iowa to pound Miami (game day drinking game rules to follow). Added bonus, it’s so terrible efficiently produced you can stock up and it won’t hurt your wallet. And finally, you can pour some out for our friends over at Wide Right & Natty Lite when their beloved Cyclones inevitably lose to UNI this weekend. Cheers.
Who will you be watching? What will you be drinking? Let us know!
For your viewing pleasure, below is the full listing of games on the docket this weekend, including times and stations. Enjoy.
Thursday, Sept. 1, 2016 | ||
---|---|---|
Matchup | Time (ET) | TV / Streaming |
Charlotte at (19) Louisville | 7:00 p.m. | FSN / WatchESPN |
UT Martin at Cincinnati | 7:00 p.m. | ESPN3 |
Tulane at Wake Forest | 7:00 p.m. | WatchESPN |
Maine at UConn | 7:00 p.m. | ASN / ESPN3 |
Presbyterian at Central Michigan | 7:00 p.m. | ESPN3 |
Appalachian State at (9) Tennessee | 7:30 p.m. | SECN / WatchESPN |
Indiana at FIU | 7:30 p.m. | ESPNU / WatchESPN |
William & Mary at NC State | 7:30 p.m. | WatchESPN |
South Carolina at Vanderbilt | 8:00 p.m. | ESPN / WatchESPN |
Southern Utah at Utah | 8:00 p.m. | Pac-12N / Pac-12.com |
Jackson State at UNLV | 8:00 p.m. | MWN |
Rice at WKU | 8:00 p.m. | CBSSN |
Oregon State at Minnesota | 9:00 p.m. | BTN / BTN2Go |
South Dakota at New Mexico | 9:00 p.m. | ROOT Sports |
Montana State at Idaho | 9:00 p.m. | ALT / ESPN3 |
Weber State at Utah State | 10:00 p.m. | MWN |
Friday, Sept. 2, 2016 | ||
---|---|---|
Matchup | Time (ET) | TV / Streaming |
MVSU at Eastern Michigan | 6:00 p.m. | ESPN3 |
Furman at (12) Michigan State | 7:00 p.m. | BTN / BTN2Go |
Ball State at Georgia State | 7:00 p.m. | ASN / ESPN3 |
Colgate at Syracuse | 7:00 p.m. | WatchESPN |
Army at Temple | 7:00 p.m. | CBSSN |
Albany at Buffalo | 7:00 p.m. | ESPN3 |
Northwestern State at (23) Baylor | 7:30 p.m. | FSN / FS Go |
Colorado vs. Colorado State (at Denver, CO) | 8:00 p.m. | ESPN / WatchESPN |
Kansas State at (8) Stanford | 9:00 p.m. | FS1 / FS Go |
Toledo at Arkansas State | 9:00 p.m. | ESPNU / WatchESPN |
Cal Poly at Nevada | 9:30 p.m. | MWN |
Saturday, Sept. 3, 2016 | ||
---|---|---|
Matchup | Time (ET) | TV / Streaming |
Georgia Tech vs. Boston College (in Ireland) | 7:30 a.m. | ESPN2 / WatchESPN |
(3) Oklahoma vs. (15) Houston (at NRG Stadium) | Noon | ABC / WatchESPN |
Bowling Green at (6) Ohio State | Noon | BTN / BTN2Go |
Hawaii at (7) Michigan | Noon | ESPN / WatchESPN |
Boise State at UL Lafayette | Noon | ASN / ESPN3 |
EKU at Purdue | Noon | ESPNNEWS / WatchESPN |
Fordham at Navy | Noon | CBSSN |
Howard at Maryland | Noon | BTN / BTN2Go |
Missouri at West Virginia | Noon | FS1 / FS Go |
South Alabama at Mississippi State | Noon | SECN / WatchESPN |
Western Michigan at Northwestern | Noon | ESPNU / WatchESPN |
Liberty at Virginia Tech | 12:30 p.m. | ACCN / WatchESPN |
Villanova at Pittsburgh | 1:30 p.m. | WatchESPN |
Abilene Christian at Air Force | 2:00 p.m. | MWN |
Rutgers at (14) Washington | 2:00 p.m. | Pac-12N / Pac-12.com |
(5) LSU vs. Wisconsin (at Green Bay, WI) | 3:30 p.m. | ABC / WatchESPN |
(16) UCLA at Texas A&M | 3:30 p.m. | CBS / cbssports.com |
Miami, OH at (17) Iowa | 3:30 p.m. | ESPNU / WatchESPN |
SE Louisiana at (21) Oklahoma State | 3:30 p.m. | FSN / FS Go |
Kent State at Penn State | 3:30 p.m. | BTN / BTN2Go |
Murray State at Illinois | 3:30 p.m. | BTN / BTN2Go |
Richmond at Virginia | 3:30 p.m. | WatchESPN |
Texas State at Ohio | 3:30 p.m. | CBSSN |
Louisiana Tech at Arkansas | 4:00 p.m. | SECN / WatchESPN |
UC Davis at (24) Oregon | 5:00 p.m. | Pac-12N / Pac-12.com |
(18) Georgia vs. (22) North Carolina (at Atlanta, GA) | 5:30 p.m. | ESPN / WatchESPN |
Austin Peay at Troy | 6:00 p.m. | ESPN3 |
Florida A&M at Miami (FL) | 6:00 p.m. | WatchESPN |
Hampton at Old Dominion | 6:00 p.m. | CUSA.TV |
NC Central at Duke | 6:00 p.m. | WatchESPN |
Savannah State at Georgia Southern | 6:00 p.m. | ESPN3 |
Southern Illinois at Florida Atlantic | 6:00 p.m. | CUSA.TV ($) |
Western Carolina at East Carolina | 6:00 p.m. | ESPN3 |
VMI at Akron | 6:30 p.m. | ESPN3 |
Alabama A&M at Middle Tennessee | 7:00 p.m. | CUSA.TV ($) |
Alabama State at UTSA | 7:00 p.m. | KMYS-CW 35 |
Rhode Island at Kansas | 7:00 p.m. | ESPN3 |
San Jose State at Tulsa | 7:00 p.m. | CBSSN |
SE Missouri State at Memphis | 7:00 p.m. | ESPN3 |
SMU at North Texas | 7:00 p.m. | ASN |
South Carolina State at UCF | 7:00 p.m. | ESPN3 |
Southern at ULM | 7:00 p.m. | ESPN3 |
Towson at USF | 7:00 p.m. | ESPN3 |
UMass at (25) Florida | 7:30 p.m. | SECN / WatchESPN |
Southern Miss at Kentucky | 7:30 p.m. | ESPNU / WatchESPN |
(20) USC vs. (1) Alabama (at Arlington, TX) | 8:00 p.m. | ABC / WatchESPN |
South Dakota State at (13) TCU | 8:00 p.m. | FSN / FS Go |
EWU at Washington State | 8:00 p.m. | Pac-12N / Pac-12.com |
Fresno State at Nebraska | 8:00 p.m. | BTN / BTN2Go |
New Mexico State at UTEP | 8:00 p.m. | beIN SPORTS |
Northern Iowa at Iowa State | 8:00 p.m. | Cyclones.tv ($) |
Stephen F. Austin at Texas Tech | 8:00 p.m. | FSN / FS Go |
New Hampshire at San Diego State | 8:30 p.m. | TBA |
(2) Clemson at Auburn | 9:00 p.m. | ESPN / WatchESPN |
Arizona vs. BYU (at Glendale, AZ) | 10:30 p.m. | FS1 / FS Go |
Northern Illinois at Wyoming | 10:30 p.m. | CBSSN |
Northern Arizona at Arizona State | 10:45 p.m. | Pac-12N / Pac-12.com |
Sunday, Sept. 4, 2016 | ||
---|---|---|
Matchup | Time (ET) | TV / Streaming |
(10) Notre Dame at Texas | 7:30 p.m. | ABC / WatchESPN |
Monday, Sept. 5, 2016 | ||
---|---|---|
Matchup | Time (ET) | TV / Streaming |
(11) Ole Miss vs. Florida State (at Orlando, FL) | 8:00 p.m. | ESPN / WatchESPN |
[Editor’s Note: Shouts out to our overlords at SB Nation for creating this sexy table because we sure as hell don’t know how to code]