Big Ten powers start season on Friday Night

With the first day of Week 1 officially in the books, it’s time to turn our attention to a not uninteresting slate of games on Friday night. While Northwestern and Minnesota got their first wins of the season (and Purdue took its first L) on Thursday night, two of the Big Ten’s big dogs will be opening up their seasons tonight as the No. 11 Michigan State Spartans will welcome the Utah State Aggies, and the No. 4 Wisconsin Badgers will host the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers.

Both Sparty and Wisconsin are not only trendy picks to with their respective B1G divisions, but many pundits are picking them to make the College Football Playoff. MSU will host Utah State tonight at 7 p.m. ET, and you can catch that on the Big Ten Network. The Badgers will host WKU at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN.

There a few other games of note, especially the Centennial State Slobberknocker between Colorado and Colorado State. The CSU Rams fell to Hawaii, 43-34, in Week 0, but will try to get into the win column against their in-state rival, who is picked to be around the bottom of the Pac-12 South this season.

Finally, throw out the record books when Army and Duke meet on the football field, as they will tonight at 7 p.m. ET on ESPNU. Neither team is likely to contend for a CFP berth, but this is a great opportunity to remind you that earlier this week, SB Nation launched Against All Enemies our new blogging cover Army, Navy, Air Force, and the intersection of the military and college athletics.