Early look at the College football schedule through the first 3 weeks of next year

[BoiseStateFan27]

Give us an idea of what we have to look forward to in several months. This post is only week 1 as there's a lot of interesting games.


Saturday, August 26th
Portland State @ BYU

USF @ San Jose State - looks like we're doing the whole week ahead of time thing again with some of these games, normally we wouldn't care about these but seeing that it's college football finally being back we will watch.

Thursday, August 31st

Ohio State @ Indiana - some more games might move to this day, so far it's a lot of teams playing scrub openers, but then there's this game. Ohio State playing on a Saturday is weird and they have Indiana's old coach as offensive coordinator.

Friday, September 1st

Colorado vs Colorado State (Denver) - The annual meeting between these two should be fun, Colorado had a really good year this year and Colorado State should be strong next year.

Washington @ Rutgers - Seeing Washington play at Rutgers is weird, but it's an early look at Washington as they look to return to the playoff, meanwhile will Rutgers suck less?

Saturday, September 2nd

Alabama vs Florida State (Atlanta) - Easily the biggest game of the weekend, both teams will likely be in the top 5, should be fun.

Appalachian State @ Georgia - Appalachian State almost upset Tennessee this year, perhaps next year they can finish the job?

BYU vs LSU (Houston) - This could be an underrated fun one, LSU finally lost a season opener last year, and BYU has the hail mary king in Tanner Mangum back.

Cal @ North Carolina - should be a lot of points in this one.

Florida vs Michigan (Jerryworld) - Florida is finally leaving the state for a non-conference game!! First time since 1991!! Man a lot of things have happened since then. The wife and I had a kid, he grew up, went to college, graduated college and then became an adult with a job like the rest of us. Wow.

Kentucky @ Southern Miss - This one is mostly interesting because Kentucky gave up 35 unanswered points to lose to Southern Miss last year, they both ended up with the same record...but Southern Miss plays in Conference USA

Louisville vs Purdue ( Indy) - Lamar Jackson had a disappointing end of the year, wouldn't be surprised if he takes it out on the Purdue defense. Purdue's offense could be fun though.

Maryland @ Texas - Herman's opener, didn't even know Maryland was going to play Texas, what an odd meeting.

Navy @ Florida Atlantic - Watch Lane Kiffin get steamrolled in his first game back as a head coach.

NC State vs South Carolina (Charlotte) - I would be stunned if this doesn't move to Thursday.

Texas A&M @ UCLA - Will UCLA be the first Texas A&M opening opponent in years to actually be good?

Tulsa @ Oklahoma State- In-state battles are fun, and so are these high flying offenses.

Virginia Tech vs West Virginia (Landover, MD) - This is an underrated game for the weekend, seeing this two play again will be a lot of fun.

Western Michigan @ USC - mostly interesting because Western Michigan made the cotton bowl this year. USC should be really good.

Wyoming @ Iowa - Under the radar game. Wyoming loses their running back and receiver but other than that will have an even better defense and QB Josh Allen could really prove to be a huge playmaker.

Monday, September 4th

Georgia Tech vs Tennessee (Atlanta) - Ahh yes the Labor day game, always nice to have. Both these teams could be decent or disappointments.

 

[BoiseStateFan27]

Alright I'll finish this now, took longer than expected.


Week 2:

Saturday, Sept 9th

Auburn @ Clemson - Week 2 might actually be the bigger week this year and you'll see why. This matchup is between the defending national champs and Auburn who made the Sugar bowl.

Boise State @ Washington State - This was an interesting game last year and should be again this year. Washington State could be one of the better teams in the Pac-12 again.

Florida Atlantic @ Wisconsin - Watch Lane Kiffin get steamrolled in his second game back as head coach.

Georgia @ Notre Dame - Now this is a cool game against some big time programs. Neither team was any good last year, but it is just exciting to see these two play in a home and home series like this.

Houston @ Arizona - This game will provide the first indication as to how Applewhite can continue what Tom Herman built at Houston, and if Arizona will be improved after some injury filled and terrible seasons the past two years.

Iowa @ Iowa State - Most of the time this game ends up being interesting.

Miami Fl @ Arkansas State - I'm mostly noting this because it's extremely odd that Miami is playing Arkansas State on the road.

Minnesota @ Oregon State - Minnesota could be around the same level they were last year while Oregon State might finally show some strides in Gary Andersen's 3rd year.

Nebraska @ Oregon - This series is fun overall but on SportsHoopla it's more interesting to see what kind of avy trouble can OD or a Nebraska fan get themselves into this year.

Northwestern @ Duke - Battle of the plucky nerdy teams who tend to have decent seasons and are well coached.

Oklahoma @ Ohio State - This one is obvious, yet another cool home and home series.

Oklahoma State @ South Alabama - Ok Oklahoma State playing South Alabama on the road is extremely odd.

Pitt @ Penn State - a renewed rivalry here, it's fun seeing these two play. Last year Pitt won in what turned out to be a surprise. Both teams should be solid again so this could be a good game.

San Diego State @ Arizona State - San Diego State has been one of the better programs outside the power 5 the past few seasons and last year they finally didn't choke in against a power 5 team when they beat Cal, Arizona State is looking to reverse the downward trend they're on under Graham.

Stanford @ USC - This loaded slate just keeps going, this game comes at an awful time for Stanford as it's tough to tell if their QB will be ready to play in this after he tore his ACL in the bowl game.

TCU @ Arkansas - This game was fun to watch last year although both teams turned out to be the epitome of mediocrity. This year we will see if either team will be improved. Will Kenny Hill play better for TCU or will they finally find a better QB? Or could this be the beginning of the end for the Bielema era at Arkansas?

Utah @ BYU - the mormon battle is always a great game to watch.

 

[BoiseStateFan27]

Week 3

Saturday, September 16th

Air Force @ Michigan - This is Michigan's biggest non-conference game this year, mostly just to see how they handle the triple option, this might turn out to not be interesting at all.

Arizona State @ Texas Tech - The final score of the meeting between these two last year was 68-55

Baylor @ Duke - Yes Baylor is actually playing an opponent with a pulse OOC

Georgia Tech @ UCF - We'll see if Frost can pull off the upset here in his 2nd season.

Kansas State @ Vanderbilt - Kansas State should be really good this year, Vandy could improve or suck again.

LSU @ Mississippi State - LSU's conference opener, we'll see if Mississippi State is better because they were awful last year.

North Carolina @ Old Dominion - nice to see these odd road games, Old Dominion won 10 games last year so an upset isn't out of the question.

Notre Dame @ Boston College - Boston College always gives Notre Dame a tough time when they face off.

Oklahoma State @ Pitt - These two played in a very fun game last year that most didn't see the ending of because of a lightning delay but both should be good again so this likely will be just as fun this year.

Ole Miss @ Cal - neither team was any good last year but both had good offenses. Both lost their QBs so this game has a lot of mystery to it mostly because it's early in the year, it's entirely possible that neither of these teams makes a bowl again.

Oregon @ Wyoming - yes Oregon plays a road game against Wyoming, maybe this is why OD is pushing for Wyoming to be added to the Big 12. With Wyoming having a talent like Josh Allen at QB don't rule them out to pull off the upset here in one of the biggest home games in their history.

Oregon State @ Washington State - early conference game for these two teams who both could be improved next year.

SMU @ TCU - The progress Chad Morris has made at SMU will really start to show this year, it's definitely possible that SMU could upset TCU in this game.

Stanford @ San Diego State - yet another big game for San Diego State, one of the biggest home games they have had in a while. Pulling an upset here would be huge for them.

Tennessee @ Florida - Since Tennessee finally beat Florida last year this is now a rivalry again.

Texas @ USC - First meeting between these two since the classic national championship game. USC looks to be the best they've been since that meeting and Texas could very well have their best team for the first time in a while.

Tulsa @ Toledo - both these teams should be good on the group of 5 level so this will be intriguing.

Virginia Tech @ East Carolina - The games between these two had usually been interesting, last year was the first time in a while that it wasn't. Was that East Carolina in a rebuilding year? Or do they no longer punch above their weight?

Wisconsin @ BYU - This one will be interesting, Wisconsin hasn't played many true road OOC games in a while, I think Arizona State a few years ago was the last one. BYU has a very difficult opening schedule other than Portland State of course.

 

[BoiseStateFan27]

Next year's early slate definitely has a lot to look forward to. It's more spread out than it was last year where week 1 had a ton of great games but then week 2's slate was a little lacking.

This year week 2 actually seems to have the most exciting games.