College Football Watch Guide, Week 1

The day has finally arrived. After months and months of waiting, after dabbling our toes in the water last weekend, we are ready to finally jump in with our clothes on tonight as college football is officially back, baby!

And I’m not talking about your typical one or two games on a Thursday evening, I’m talking a full lineup of games tonight, followed by another nearly full lineup tomorrow, the big day on Saturday and then two rounds of desert football on Sunday and Monday. So put the kids to bed early, fire up all the TVs in the house, grab your beverage of choice and let’s football!

Thursday, August

OK, so it is a full lineup tonight. Unfortunately, it’s not exactly a thrilling lineup of games. There are four ranked teams playing tonight, but none of them are facing off against another ranked opponent.

Things get started off at 6pm CT (for those new to this, we operate on God’s time so if we slip up and don’t give you a time zone, it’s central). with UCLA at Cincinnati. That’s not perfect, but it’s two P5 teams and it’s on ESPN. I’m in.

Other games of note tonight include:

#1 Clemson is hosting Georgia Tech. Clemson should roll, but it is an ACC opponent. Unfortunately, it’s on the ACC Network. If your provider doesn’t offer ACCN (time for a shameless plug of the Armchair QB’s Guide to TV for the college football season), you can stream on Watch ESPN via the link below.

At 8pm, Minnesota is hosting South Dakota State. That doesn’t sound super compelling, but SDSU is a damn good football team and the hype on Minnesota has gone too far. Tune in to FS1 for the schadenfreude.

And finally, the night cap is #14 Utah at BYU. That kicks off at 9:15 on ESPN.

Here’s the full slate tonight.

Friday, August 30th

Friday night lights baby! And since it’s week one, let’s go ahead and just get weird with it. This week, we get four (count em, 4!!) Big Ten teams playing on Friday night. Having one team on a Friday night might be an opportunity to showcase the conference an extra day and get some more TV money. Four seems like a way to be forgotten.

Anywho....

#18 Michigan State is hosting Tulsa on FS1 at 6pm. At the same time, #19 Wisconsin is AT USF on ESPN. At 6:15, rutger hosts UMASS on BTN in a game that will surely set football back 50 years. And at 8:30, Purdue travels to Nevada on the CBS Sports Network.

Elsewhere, there isn’t much exciting until the late games. At 9pm Colorado and Colorado State face off on ESPN. And at 9:30, Oklahoma State heads out to Oregon State. Do your best to keep track of which team is which after a couple of beverages on Friday night.

Here’s the full listing for Friday.

Saturday, August 31st

Alright, this is it. The first full slate of games on college football Saturday of the year. Annnnnd, it’s not great, Bob. Not great at all. By and large, Saturday features power five teams paying money to FCS and low-major programs to beat them handily. There are a few matchups with some mid-level FBS programs here and there and the occasional P5 matchup, but it’s not ideal.

So not ideal that there’s nothing worth mentioning on the TV front until the 2:30 slot. That’s when we get #2 Alabama hosting Duke on ABC. The fact that that’s the one I’m calling out should tell you everything you need to know.

In the same time slot, you also get South Carolina at North Carolina on ESPN (shouts to the state of North Carolina for scheduling P5 opponents week 1).

At 3pm, we get the best Big 10 matchup of the week as Northwestern travels to #25 Stanford. That’s on FOX. You’ve also got Virginia Tech at Boston College on ACCN.

Things kick off in the evening with Boise State at Florida state. That’s a 6pm kick on ESPN.

At 6:30, #3 Georgia is at Vanderbilt in an SEC matchup. That’s on the SEC Network. You’ve also got Virginia at Pittsburgh on the ACC Network.

And of course, you can catch the Hawkeyes’ beatdown of Miami (OH) on FS1 beginning at 6:30.

That will be completely overshadowed everywhere but Iowa City by the game of the week. Also kicking at 6:30, #11 Oregon takes on #16 Auburn from AT&T Stadium in Dallas on ABC. That’s what I’m talking about!

The night cap is largely forgettable. The most compelling game is probably Fresno State at USC. That’s a 9:30 kick on ESPN.

Here’s the full slate.

Sunday, September 1st

Hey look, there’s more football! There isn’t much on this first day of desert, but Houston at #4 Oklahoma is compelling enough to tune in. It’s at 6:30 kick on ABC.

Monday, September 2nd

MOOOOAAAARRRRR FOOOOOOOOTBAAAALLLLLLL!

Week one wraps up with #9 Notre Dame at Louisville Monday evening. It’s a 7pm kick and you can catch the action on ESPN.

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And that’s it for week one. You can view the full slate of games below.

What are you drinking this weekend?