:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/photo_images/4653465/131585124.jpg)
It's pretty much a given that on Saturdays, you're going to be watching Ohio State, even when they're playing the Sisters of the Poor At Alabama Birmingham. If you're anything like me though, you're going to want to watch several other games each weekend too. Not all of us have the luxury of being able to check out completely every single Saturday though, so I've helpfully gone through the entire schedule. Now you'll know what weekends are going to be must-see TV, and what weekends you can finally go with your significant other to the Short North Gallery Hop, because they've been bugging you about it, and c'mon, you aren't seriously going to watch Purdue or Iowa State again this week.
Weekend of Saturday, Sept 1st (All times Eastern)
Boise State at Michigan State (Friday August 30th, 8:00 PM), Miami(OH) at Ohio State (12:00 PM), Clemson vs Auburn (7:00 PM) , Michigan vs Alabama (8:00 PM)
Obviously, you dedicate the first weekend of the season to college football, and thankfully, the Scheduling Gods didn't disappoint. Boise and Michigan State is a great undercard (does Michigan State actually have an offense besides "punt and hope the defense scores a touchdown?), and we get a great afternoon of football before we settle into an identity crisis with Michigan facing Alabama.
Weekend of Saturday, Sept 8thUCF at Ohio State (12:00 PM) , Florida at Texas A&M (3:30 PM) Washington at LSU (7:00 PM) , Georgia at Missouri (7:45 PM)
Much weaker slate in Week 2, as lots of big name teams make this their cupcake week. If the SEC interests you, the debut of their two new teams will make interesting television, but other than that, intriguing match ups are few and far between (unless Wisconsin's road trip to Oregon State is your thing). If you have somewhere you have to be on a Saturday night in the early fall, week 2 isn't a bad time to do it.
Weekend of Saturday, Sept 15th
Cal at Ohio State (12:00 PM) , Alabama at Arkansas (3:30 PM), Florida at Tennessee (6:00 PM) , USC at Stanford (7:30 PM), Notre Dame at Michigan State (8:00 PM) , BYU at Utah (10:00 PM)
This is a great football weekend. Watching Cal on the road at noon will always be interesting, and there are A+ matchups all throughout the day. Bama and Arkansas should feature two Top 10 teams, we can see if Tennessee is ready to finally make a step forward (if not, this year is probably the end of the Shower Discipline Era), USC getting one of their stiffer conference tests, and the rematch of last year's heart attack game with MSU. Also, BYU and Utah is an underrated rivalry. Both teams should be pretty decent this year, and they HATE each other.
Weekend of Saturday, Sept 22nd
UAB At Ohio State (12:00 PM) , BYU at Boise (Thursday, 9 PM), Kansas State at Oklahoma, (7:30 PM) , Michigan at Notre Dame (7:30 PM) , Cal at USC (TBA) Clemson at Florida State (TBA), LSU at Auburn (TBA)
OSU has a total snoozer this weekend, but thankfully, there are other great games to keep our attention. Cal typically wins one game for absolutely no reason, and why can't that big win be at USC this season? Clemson and Florida State matches up the two best squads in the ACC. Somebody will keep themselves from blowing this game, but will the winner be able to beat Wake Forest two weeks later?
Weekend of Saturday, Sept 29th,
Ohio State at Michigan State (TBA) , Oregon at Washington State (TBA) , Texas at Oklahoma State (TBA) , Wisconsin at Nebraska (8:00 PM)
This is the Big Ten week, as OSU/MSU and Wisky/Neb should capture national attention. We owe it to ourselves to check in on Mike Leach at some point, and Oregon and WSU final score may resemble the finest of Thursday MACtion. Texas has picked up some dark horse national title buzz if they can get anything out of their QB. A road trip to Stillwater will be a good chance to see what they are made of.
Weekend of Saturday, October 6th
Nebraska at Ohio State (8 PM), USC at Utah (Thursday, 9 PM), LSU at Florida (TBA) , Georgia at South Carolina (TBA) , WVU at Texas, (TBA) Georgia Tech at Clemson (TBA)
You ought to start your week off right with USC and Utah, which should be a traptastic game for the Trojans if Utah is still healthy at this point. We get two great SEC matchups (even if I have a sneaking suspicion that South Carolina is not going to be THAT good this year), WVU's Big 12 Big Game debut, AND Paul Johnson's "don't give a shit" option against Clemson's speed. Oh yeah, and Nebraska at night. This is going to be an awesome Saturday.
Weekend of Saturday, October 13th
Ohio State at Indiana (8 PM), Wisconsin at Purdue (Noon), Texas vs Oklahoma (TBA) , South Carolina at LSU (TBA)
Not a lot of heavyweight action this weekend, so this could be another candidate for "do other stuff and then watch OSU". The Red River Shootout is always a pretty big game, and Wisky and Purdue is close to a De Facto Leaders Division championship game. There are a lot of traptastic games here (Iowa and Michigan State, Michigan and Illinois), but not much in the way of Must See TV. Also, the OSU game this week sucks.
Weekend of Saturday, October 20th
Purdue at Ohio State (TBA) , BYU at Notre Dame (3:30 PM), Michigan State at Michigan (TBA), Virgina Tech at Clemson (TBA) , Alabama at Tennessee (TBA), Kansas State at West Virgina (TBA).
Ohio State gets a shot at slaying their Purdue Demons, MSU and Michigan play for the de facto Legends division title, the ACC beats up on each other again, WVU gets a Big 12 big shot at home, Alabama plays a tough road game, and the Mormons play the Catholics (which may not be an excellent football game, but will lead to lots of great jokes on Twitter). It's not an elite weekend, but there is some fun stuff going on there, right?
Weekend of Saturday, October 27th
Ohio State at Penn State (6:00 PM) , Florida at Georgia (3:30 PM) , Michigan State at Wisconsin (3:30 PM), Michigan at Nebraska (8:00 PM) Washington State at Stanford (TBA)
Not a great week elsewhere in the country, but this will be a great week of Big Ten action. MSU/Wisky could be a Big Ten title game preview, and Nebraska will be a tough road test for Michigan. We also need to check back in with Mike Leach's quest for bowl eligibility.
Weekend of Saturday, November 3rd
Illinois at Ohio State (TBA) , Alabama at LSU (8:00 PM), Oregon at USC (TBA) , TCU at West Virgina (TBA) , Nebraska at Michigan State (TBA)
Decent Ohio State game? Check. Big Ten heavyweights game? check. TWO matchups between likely top 6 football teams? Check. Circle this weekend early. You're watching football all day.
Weekend of Saturday, November 10th
Florida State at Virgina Tech (Thursday, TBA), Texas A&M at Alabama (TBA) , Georgia at Auburn (TBA) , WVU at Oklahoma State (TBA)
Ohio State doesn't play this week. There are a handful of good SEC games, and Holgo vs. Holgo's old school should be fun, but you could probably get away and maybe do other stuff over this week. We also start to get glorious, sweet MACtion this week (Toledo and Northern Illinois woooooo!).
Weekend of Saturday, November 17th
Ohio State at Wisconsin (TBA) , Oklahoma at West Virgina (TBA), Stanford at Oregon (TBA) , USC at UCLA (TBA) , Purdue at Illinois (TBA), Tennessee at Vandy (TBA)
Three outstanding games that have conference title implications, then a few rivalry games or ones that appear "interesting". If Wisconsin stumbled earlier in the season, that Purdue/Illinois game is suddenly a big deal.
Weekend of Saturday, November 24th
THE GAME (12:00 PM), LSU at Arkansas (2:30 PM Friday), Washington at Washington State (3:30 PM Friday), Auburn at Alabama (TBA), Ok State at Oklahoma (TBA), Florida at Florida State (TBA), South Carolina at Clemson (TBA), Georgia Tech at Georgia (TBA), TCU at Texas (TBA).
Whoa. What a weekend.
Weekend of Saturday, December 1
Oklahoma at TCU (TBA) , Texas at Kansas State (TBA)
At this point, you have some great Big 12 games, and a few Big East games that I am refusing to tell you about out of principle.
Weekend of Saturday, Dec 8th
Army v. Navy (3:00)
So there you go. The graceful College Football Gods have had mercy, and given us a few outs should we need to undertake human being responsibilities during the fall, with plenty of Saturdays for us to gather together, eat, drink, and bask in the glory of the season. Plan accordingly.