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Welcome back, sports fans. We made it through the off-season, and now it's time for some good ol' college football. Our Ohio State Buckeyes—the defending national champions and unanimous AP No. 1 team in the preseason—don't play until Monday night in a rematch against Virginia Tech, but that doesn't mean you don't have anything to look forward to today. After all, this is college football. It's the best.
Let's take a look at what we've got going on today.
If Ohio State isn't playing, what's the rest of the Big Ten up to?
The B1G season is actually already well underway. Michigan and Minnesota got things started for the conference on Thursday, though not exactly how we would have liked. Minnesota lost to No. 2 TCU 23-17, and Coach Harbaugh lost his season opener against Utah 24-17 (though Michigan losing is never really a bad thing). No. 5 Michigan State got the first W for the B1G on Friday night, beating Western Michigan 37-24.
Today, the action starts at noon ET, with Illinois State at Iowa, Richmond at Maryland, Norfolk State at Rutgers, and No. 21 Stanford at Northwestern. Kent State will play at Illinois at 2 p.m, a game that got delayed from last night due to the weather. At 3:30 p.m., Penn State plays at Temple, and Nebraska hosts BYU, and at 4 p.m., Indiana kicks off against Southern Illinois. Nothing too exciting, really, until tonight.
At 8 p.m., No. 20 Wisconsin takes on No. 3 Alabama in what Ohio State fans can refer to as "the Battle of the Broken." That game will be played in AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX, home of the Dallas Cowboys. Both teams are coming off pretty intense losses to Ohio State at the end of last season, though Wisconsin did get a bit of redemption with their OT win over Auburn in the Outback Bowl. Alabama, on the other hand, is yet to take to the gridiron after their semifinal round upset. It's safe to say that they aren't pleased with the Big Ten right now.
Where will the first GameDay of the season be?
As you probably guessed, ESPN will be setting up camp in Arlington for the 'Bama-Wisky game. You won't find a bigger match-up today. The show will be the first to feature new host Rece Davis, who will be filling the seat formerly occupied by Chris Fowler. Fowler will continue providing play-by-play for ABC's Saturday Night Football and College Football Playoff games, as well as hosting the Heisman Trophy presentation.
So...what about Ohio State?
The Buckeyes will be playing on Monday in Blacksburg. For complete details and coverage, tune in Monday morning. For now, block off your schedule starting at 8 p.m. ET. You have plans.
For those of you who are visual learners, the graph below has everything you need to make this Saturday a great Saturday.
CBSS
Colgate
Navy
ESPNN
Rutgers
ESPNU
Maryland
BTN
Iowa
FSN
Kansas
SECN
(17) Mississippi
(9) Georgia
ESPN
(21) Stanford
Northwestern
ESPN3
(12) Clemson
Pittsburgh
Boston College
PAC12
Washington State
Miami (OH)
Buffalo
Penn State
ABC
BYU
Nebraska
Air Force
FOX
Virginia
(13) UCLA
Texas Tech
CBS
Louisville
(6) Auburn
UTEP
(18) Arkansas
Indiana
(25) Tennessee
(24) Missouri
Cal
NC State
Miami (FL)
Cincinnati
(19) Oklahoma
(15) Arizona State
Texas A&M
Kentucky
Kansas State
West Virginia
NBC
Texas
(11) Notre Dame
(14) LSU
Florida
(10) Florida State
Iowa State
Wisconsin
(3) Alabama
(7) Oregon
FS1
Mississippi State
(8) USC
Purdue
(1) Ohio State
Virginia Tech