The Big Ten is back! But not yet. Despite an agonizing five week wait until we get Iowa and Big Ten football back on our TVs, there is indeed college football on display again this weekend. As with a week ago, we have the Big 12 and ACC in action, as well as several mid-major programs.

There was no Thursday night action this week, but we do get our first real dose of Friday games in week 3 of the season. Here’s a look at what to watch and where this week.

Friday, September 18th Games

Friday’s slate was originally supposed to feature an interesting matchup pitting the #16 Memphis Tigers against the Houston Cougars in prime time. Unfortunately, Memphis has had more than 20 people test positive for COVID-19 with another 20 people in quarantine after their week one win over Arkansas State (who proceeded to upset Kansas State in week two, but is also postponing this week’s game due to an outbreak).

So, instead of a top-25 matchup, we get an FBS-FCS showdown as Coastal Carolina hosts Campbell. It’s a 6:30pm CT start and you can catch that on ESPN.

Saturday, September 19th Games

The good news about being short on Thursday and Friday matchups is Saturday is a full slate of games. For once, it appears ESPN is making use of their full channel lineup to allow football fans some normalcy with their remotes.

At 11am, #11 Oklahoma State is hosting Tulsa on ESPN. ESPN2 has everyone’s new favorite team, the #19 Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns at Georgia State. Over on the ACC Network, you can catch #25 Pitt hosting Syracuse. FOX has Baylor hosting that same Houston Cougars team that had their matchup with Memphis postponed on Friday night. And then ABC has 0-1 Navy at 1-0 Tulane while #13 Cincinnati vs. THEE Austin Peay Governors and Boston College Duke are relegated to streaming-only options because 2020.

We could all use a little more turnover top hat in our lives.

At 1:30pm CT we have a staggered start with #7 Notre Dame hosting South Florida. That one is on NBC USA Network.

** checks notes **

Yeah, sure, USA, why not?

In the 2:30 time slot ABC has #14 UCF at Georgia Tech while CBS gets into the action with #23 Appalachian State at Marshall.

Then at 3pm CT, #1 Citadel is hosting a public massacre of The Citadel on the ACC Network. ESPN2 is airing Troy at Middle Tennessee.

The evening slate gets kicked off at 5pm with SMU at North Texas. That’s on CBS Sports Network.

In the 6:30pm slot, there’s a trio of games, including Texas State at Louisiana-Monroe (aka NOT the Louisiana that beat Iowa State) on ESPNU and Louisiana Tech at Southern Miss on ESPN2. The game of the week is #17 Miami at #18 Louisville. That one’s on ABC.

At 7pm, ACC Network has Wake Forest at North Carolina State.

Things close out a bit early this week with an 8pm kick for Abilene Christian at UTEP. That’s only available on ESPN3.

And that’s it for week three. Still not a ton of compelling matchups, but football nonetheless. Here’s a look at the full slate for week 3: