My Top Games of College Football's Week One

I feel like we got a little taste of college football returning last weekend. “Farmageddon” lived up to some hype. It’s still wild to me college football would send two Big-12 teams to battle it out for a conference game in early August in Ireland, but here we are.

The day wasn’t full of good games, but college football was on the TV. It ended with some mild excitement as Stanford lost to Hawaii in the Islands.

It was college football just the same and I was happy to have it.

Oregon should have an easy game this weekend. If not, we have a bigger problem on our hands.

Beyond Eugene are some amazing week one games for you to complete your Saturday’s. Whether you are at home, at the bar, tailgating or streaming from your phone, you’ll have some other fun games to enjoy.

Here are my top five games for this weekend with predictions.

(All times in PST)

(1) Texas @ (3) Ohio State

Sat. 9 AM, FOX

The game of the week will kick off things Saturday morning. You should have the chance to enjoy this one before the Ducks kick off at 1:00. This will be a test for both schools bringing in new quarterbacks. Ohio State does not lose often at the Shoe. However they are breaking in new coordinators along with a ton of talent that left for the NFL.

I’ll take Texas here to win this one. But I do think these two teams will be in different spots come December when it matters.

(6) Notre Dame @ (10) Miami

Sun. 4:30 PM, ABC

This will be a real test for both of these schools. And Mario Cristobal is going to have a lot to prove without the best QB in college football there to help him win. I think Notre Dame wins here. They are just better on both sides of the ball and will be better disciplined. It will be close, but I’ve got the Irish winning.

Auburn @ Baylor

Fri. 5:00 PM, FOX

With those top two out of the way, I think this has a chance to be a sneaky game on Friday night. Baylor is a popular pick as a sleeper. Auburn desperately wants to prove they are back. With this being a home game on a Friday night, I’m taking Baylor to win. But I think it will be a close one.

(8) Alabama @ FSU

Sat. 12:30 PM, ABC

I really don’t think this will be much of a game. I know FSU wants it to be. I think FSU needs it to be. But Bama is becoming a hot pick for a natty contender and I think Kalen DeBoer will be out to prove they are in week one. Give me Bama by double digits.

(9) LSU @ (4) Clemson

Sat. 4:30, ABC

The last few years both of these teams have been overrated to start the season. But Clemson might have steadied the ship. LSU has never been short on talent even under Brian Kelly. So something else is the issue. Give me Clemson in a comfortable win at home.

Cal @ Oregon State

Sat. 7:30 PM, ESPN

Come on, you know you want to watch parts of this game. JKS leading Cal, Oregon State fighting to stay relevant. A nice little game in Corvallis you can catch after the Oregon game on your way home to Portland or just because you’re a college football sicko.

Utah @ UCLA

Sat. 8:00 PM, FOX

If you couldn’t tell, yeah I’m still a Pac-12 enthusiast at heart. I’m not ready for it to be dead even though it is. Really tough test for UCLA and the Nico Iamaleava debut. Is Utah a contender in the Big-12? This is kind of a sneaky game this weekend no one is talking about that could relive some old Pac-12 after dark magic.

Va. Tech @ (13) South Carolina

Sun. Noon, ESPN

Is LaNorris Sellers the real deal? We will find out on Sunday afternoon. With this being the only game in this slot there will be a ton of eyeballs on it. I think South Carolina knows that and will come out guns hot to prove they belong among college football’s top schools this season.

TCU @ North Carolina

Mon. 5:00 PM, ESPN

If you’ve made it this far then the weekend has hit like crack for you too. What a lineup of opening weekend games. We all want to see the Bill Belichick experiment. Will it work? I have my doubts but fortunately for him TCU is relatively gutted. My prediction is Bill starts out 0-1 in college football.

If you’ve read this far you’ll see very few of the games overlap with one another making this a pretty manageable list to navigate.