Week 0 gave us a few games to ease back into college football. Week 1 is when the season really starts to feel like a season — and when you need a plan if you want to catch the best of it.

The action stretches from Thursday night through Labor Day, with enough good games spread across the weekend to keep you busy without forcing you to choose too often.

Almost.

Saturday afternoon and Sunday night both put two pretty important games on at the same time, so a second screen may come in handy.

These are the games that give you a real reason to tune in: ranked matchups, rivalries, new quarterbacks, coaching debuts, and teams staring down an immediate test of their playoff hopes. All kickoff times are Eastern.

Thursday And Friday Give Us Two Early Looks

Colorado at Georgia Tech — Thursday, Sept. 3, 8 p.m. ET

Stream: ESPN

Colorado and Georgia Tech gave us a genuinely fun opener last season, with the Yellow Jackets piling up 320 rushing yards and leaving Boulder with a 27–20 win. This rematch has a pretty different feel, though. Julian Lewis takes over Colorado’s offense under new coordinator Brennan Marion, while Georgia Tech replaces Haynes King with Alberto Mendoza, the younger brother of reigning Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza.

Colorado is coming off a 3–9 season, so the pressure is back on Deion Sanders in a big way. Georgia Tech went 9–4 and is trying to show that last year was the start of something real — not just the final chapter of the Haynes King era.

No. 7 Miami at Stanford — Friday, Sept. 4, 9 p.m. ET

Stream: ESPN

The spread says Miami should win this one pretty comfortably. The fun part is getting an early look at another transfer quarterback trying to take the Hurricanes all the way. Darian Mensah threw for an ACC-best 3,973 yards and 34 touchdowns while leading Duke to the conference title last season, and his top receiver, Cooper Barkate, followed him to Miami.

Stanford at least has a game under their belt after beating Hawaii 37–27 in Week 0. Davis Warren and the Cardinal offense moved the ball well enough to make this more interesting than last year’s 42–7 blowout, but this is mostly about seeing whether the Hurricanes look like the No. 7 team in the country right from the opening snap.

Saturday Starts In Atlanta And Ends In Berkeley

Baylor vs. Auburn — Saturday, Sept. 5, 3:30 p.m. ET

Where: Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta

Stream: ABC, ESPN

Auburn ran for 307 yards in a 38–24 win over Baylor last season, then pretty much blew the whole thing up anyway. Alex Golesh is the new head coach, and he brought quarterback Byrum Brown with him from South Florida after Brown threw for 3,158 yards and 28 touchdowns in 2025.

Baylor went 5–7, but the Bears did lead the Big 12 in passing offense. So now we’ve got a neutral-site rematch between two teams that can score and two coaches who need things to look different in a hurry.

Boise State at No. 2 Oregon — Saturday, Sept. 5, 3:30 p.m. ET

Stream: CBS, Paramount+

Oregon's the obvious main-screen game here, mostly because Boise State has never exactly treated a trip to Eugene like a ceremonial loss. The Broncos are 3–1 all-time against Oregon, and the Ducks needed a late field goal to squeak out that 2024 matchup, 37–34.

Boise State gets a healthy Maddux Madsen back for their first game as a Pac-12 member, while Oregon brings back Dante Moore after he threw for 3,565 yards and 30 touchdowns and led the Ducks to the College Football Playoff semifinals. Oregon’s a legitimate national-title contender. Boise State's chasing the automatic playoff spot that goes to the highest-ranked Group of Six champion.

Clemson at No. 11 LSU — Saturday, Sept. 5, 7:30 p.m. ET

Stream: ABC, ESPN

This is the game of the day, and it’s not exactly trying to be subtle. Lane Kiffin’s LSU debut is at Tiger Stadium against Clemson, in the ABC primetime window, with College GameDay in Baton Rouge. That’s a pretty big first impression.

LSU won last year’s opener at Clemson, then hired Kiffin to fix an offense that finished last in the SEC in total offense and rushing. Now he’s handing the keys to former Arizona State quarterback Sam Leavitt.

Clemson's coming off a 7–6 season, lost nine players to the NFL Draft, and will start Christopher Vizzina after he spent three years behind Cade Klubnik. His only previous start went pretty well — 317 yards and three touchdowns against SMU — but Death Valley is a tough place to make career start No. 2. They're also expected to give true freshman Tait Reynolds a little run at some point in this one. 

By the time we all go to bed on Saturday night, we should have a pretty good idea whether LSU’s new era is ready for this stage and whether Dabo Swinney’s program even still belongs in the national conversation.

UCLA at Cal — Saturday, Sept. 5, 10:30 p.m. ET

Stream: ESPN

If you’re still awake, the 95th meeting between these former Pac-12 neighbors is a pretty good nightcap. Both teams hired new coaches after rough seasons. Bob Chesney brought a big chunk of his James Madison staff and roster-building approach to UCLA, and he gets another year with Nico Iamaleava.

Cal replaced Justin Wilcox with Tosh Lupoi, hit the portal hard, and are running it back with Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele after he threw for more than 3,400 yards as a freshman. UCLA leads the series, but the Bruins haven’t been to Berkeley since 2022.

Sunday And Monday Have The Best Games

Washington State at No. 17 Washington — Sunday, Sept. 6, 4 p.m. ET

Stream: NBC, Peacock

The 118th Apple Cup will be the first time both schools have opened their seasons against each other, which is already pretty weird. Washington comes in ranked 17th in the AP preseason poll after going 9–4. Demond Williams Jr. is probably pretty excited for this one after accounting for five touchdowns in last season’s 59–24 blowout.

No. 24 Louisville vs. No. 9 Ole Miss — Sunday, Sept. 6, 7:30 p.m. ET

Where: Nissan Stadium in Nashville

Stream: ABC, ESPN

This is the only Week 1 matchup between two AP Top 25 teams, so it gets the big Sunday night spotlight. Ole Miss made the playoff semifinals amid all the chaos around Lane Kiffin skipping town, and now Pete Golding gets his shot to run the program. He’ll have quarterback Trinidad Chambliss and running back Kewan Lacy back in the mix, which is a pretty good place to start. Lacy ran for 1,567 yards and 24 touchdowns last season.

Louisville has a dangerous back of their own in Isaac Brown, but the bigger question is Ohio State transfer Lincoln Kienholz. He’s set to become Jeff Brohm’s fourth starting quarterback in four seasons, and he’s thrown just 36 college passes. So, no pressure; his first real opportunity comes against a top-10 team on a neutral field.

Wisconsin vs. No. 4 Notre Dame — Sunday, Sept. 6, 7:30 p.m. ET

Where: Lambeau Field in Green Bay

Stream: NBC, Peacock

The second screen should be on Lambeau. Notre Dame looks like a playoff team again, and CJ Carr's back after throwing for 2,741 yards, 24 touchdowns, and just six interceptions during the regular season. Wisconsin’s the wild card here. Luke Fickell went 4–8 last year, brought in more than 40 new players, and handed the offense to Colton Joseph, who ran for 1,000 yards and 13 touchdowns at Old Dominion.

The Badgers are big underdogs, but they’ve got a mobile quarterback, a run-first offense, and what should be a pretty friendly crowd in their corner. That might be enough to make Notre Dame sweat a little.

No. 19 SMU at Florida State — Monday, Sept. 7, 7:30 p.m. ET

Stream: ESPN

Week 1 wraps up with an ACC game Florida State really needs. The Seminoles beat New Mexico State 34–17 in Week 0, but it wasn’t exactly a clean performance. Ashton Daniels put up 232 total yards and two touchdowns in his debut, but the defense gave up enough easy throws to make SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings a real problem.

Jennings threw for a career-high 3,641 yards and 26 touchdowns last season, and the Mustangs come in ranked with legitimate conference-title expectations. Florida State went 5–7 last year. Monday night should tell us whether the Seminoles actually fixed anything — or just started the season 1–0.

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