Do you feel that? Do you smell that? Do you hear that? It’s crisp (ish) fall (ish) mornings. It’s fresh (ish) fall (ish) air. It’s fans gathering, bags flying and pads popping. It’s football season, baby!

And it’s back in a big way. Week 1 has already officially kicked off. Like a week ago. Did you miss it? Don’t worry, you didn’t miss much. Last Saturday, while Connor McGregor was surpassing most people’s expectations in the boxing ring before finally being knocked out by Floyd Mayweather, #14 Stanford was knocking out Rice down under 62-7.

In the only other game featuring a ranked team, #19 USF took down San Jose State 42-22. Former Wisconsin coach Gary Anderson and the Oregon State Beavers fell on the road at Colorado State 58-27. BYU, in their first game of week one (they travel to LSU this Saturday), beat Portland State 20-6. And in the Frequent Flyer Bowl, Hawaii took down UMass 38-35. Hope that made the 12 hour flight home more enjoyable.

On to the games to come. And games there are. Week 1, which started last weekend, actually extends beyond this Saturday. In total I count 92 games spanning 10 days included in this week. Let’s go.

Thursday

The real week one gets kicked off at 5pm CT (all times in this post are in Central Time) on CBSN with FIU at UCF. If you aren’t taking the afternoon off from work, perhaps you’ll make it home in time to catch the PJ Fleck experience make its debut against Buffalo on BTN at 6pm. That’s the first of 2 Big Ten games on Thursday and 4 before we get into the Saturday slate. What is this world coming to?

In terms of ranked teams on the tube, Tulsa is at #10 Okie State at 6:30 on FS1. And that second Big Ten game of the night is #2 Ohio State at Indiana at 7 on ESPN. It’s strange enough having the Big Ten play on Thursday, but a conference matchup on a Thursday night to start the season just seems weird. I guess we are now the SEC. Good luck against Grambling in November, I guess.

Greg Bartram-USA TODAY Sports

I’m a little disappointed the Mothership didn’t grab anything to follow the Big Ten showdown in that Prime Time slot, but you can still get your fix of #Pac12AfterDark if you get the Pac 12 Network. Arizona State and REDACTED 2.0 will be hosting New Mexico State at 9:30 CT.

Friday

Friday action gets kicked off promptly at 5 again with Fordham heading to Army. That one’s on CBSN. The real fun starts at 7 CT when #8 Washington goes to Rutgers. You can find that on FS1. The other Big Ten matchup on Friday features Utah State at #9 Wisconsin. That one starts at 8 on ESPN.

Not to be outdone by BYU and their 2 games in week one, Colorado State managed to schedule 2 games AHEAD of the Saturday slate in week one. After taking down Oregon State, they face off with another Pac 12 foe when they go to Colorado Friday night. That one starts at 7pm CT on the Pac 12 Network.

The “late” game for Friday is Boston College at Kelton Copeland’s former home, Northern Illinois. That one kicks off at 8:30 CT and is on CBSN.

Saturday

At last, we find ourselves at the feast of opening weekend college football: Saturday.

You should all be aware that our very own Iowa Hawkeyes kick off at 11 against the Wyoming Cowboys on BTN. We’ll have you covered with full details on how to watch, listen and follow along as we get closer to the game.

Other action in that early time slot includes #6 Penn State hosting Akron on ABC. ESPN has #5 Clemson taking on Kent State. Maryland is at #23 Texas on FS1 and Michigan State is hosting Bowling Green on ESPNU. If you really want to torture yourself, Illinois has Ball State over on BTN. Hard pass from me.

The afternoon includes a staggered start. At 2pm CT on ESPN you’ve got NC State at South Carolina. That’s followed up by the 2:30 kickoffs, including UTEP at #7 Oklahoma at FOX, Temple at Notre Dame on NBC and Nevada at Northwestern on BTN.

Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

But the real gem of the afternoon is #11 Michigan taking on #17 Florida on ABC. That’s a 2:30 kick from Jerry-world down in Dallas. Excuse me, Arlington.

In the early afternoon, you can catch Western Michigan at #4 USC at 4:15 if you happen to have the Pac 12 Network. If not, you’ll be waiting until 5:15 to catch App State at #15 Georgia on ESPN.

At 6:30 you can catch Georgia Southern at #12 Auburn on the SEC Network (SEC teams playing Sun Belt opponents in week one, Big Ten teams starting conference play on a Thursday in week one - what has the world come to?) or you can watch #16 Louisville and Purdue race to a million points on FOX.

Nebraska is hosting Arkansas State at 7 on BTN. Iowa State is also playing host to UNI at 7. You can catch that one on.... LOL you didn’t really think they were on TV did you?

The game of the week, and potentially the year (it’s already been billed as the greatest game of all time for the first week of the year.... OK) is #3 FSU and #1 Alabama from the new Mercedez-Benz Stadium in Atlanta that will be home to the Atlanta Falcons. This (and the Tennessee-GaTech game later in the week) may be the only time all year the stadium’s Chic-Fil-A will actually be open for service. That is the primetime matchup at 7 on ABC. Get your popcorn (or chikin) ready.

After-Hours

The Saturday slate continues late into the evening for those of us east of the Rockies. At 8:30 CT, BYU goes to the Super Dome to take on #13 LSU on ESPN to round out their games for week one (as a reminder, BYU already took down Portland State last week).

#Pac12AfterDark includes Washington State hosting Montana State at 9:30 on FS1 and Arizona hosting Northern Arizona at 10pm on Pac 12 Network. Unfortunately, there’s no TV for the Western Carolina at Hawaii game that kicks off at 10:59pm CT. Maybe there’ll be a live stream somewhere for the insomniacs among us?

Sunday

But that’s not all! As I said above, much like the Energizer Bunny (shouts), this week keeps going and going. With no NFL action yet this week, we get treated to a pair of college football matchups on Sunday. Unfortunately, they both kickoff at 6:30 CT. Texas A&M takes on UCLA from the stadium in Pasadena where Christian McCaffrey did unspeakable things Rose Bowl on FOX. Meanwhile, #22 West Virginia and #20 Virginia Tech face off from FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland. That ones over on ABC.

Monday

But wait, there’s still more! As with Sunday, there’s no Monday Night Football in the NFL this week, so the Football Gods have smiled upon us with a college matchup to wet your beak. ESPN will have #25 Tennessee and Georgia Tech from the aforementioned Mercendez-Benz Stadium. Kickoff is set for 7pm.

---

Those are the big (ish) matchups of week one. As far as the drinking goes, it’s a loooooong week one. I’ve been all over the map so far and I doubt that changes over the next 5 days. The beer fridge is running relatively low and certainly needs restocked. Until then, it’s probably Bell’s Two Hearteds and Bud Lights.

Image via liquormore.com

But come game day, I’ll try to keep things on the lighter end. Something refreshing and not super filling. As much as it’s felt like fall of late, Saturday is looking like late summer in Iowa City (sunshine and highs around 80 - giggity). So I’m going to grab some Landshark Lager. Like Wyoming, it’s light and cheap. It evokes what I expect out of Iowa this weekend - landsharks named Wadley and Butler chomping up Cowboy ankles and ones named Hesse and Nelson (and Epenesa!) taking a bite out of Josh Allen.

Also, I have no takes on Wyoming beers. Hit me up below!

---

Here’s a look at the full slate of games. All time CENTRAL.