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Ohio State headlines schedule of first full college football Saturday

In addition to the Buckeyes, there are some legitimately compelling matchups during the opening weekend of the season!

NCAA Football: Cotton Bowl-Ohio State vs Southern California Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

We have suffered through Week 0; Thursday night got us ready; Michigan State’s near loss on Friday focused us; and finally, the glorious first Saturday of the 2018 college football season is upon us. Of the course, the game that is first and foremost in all of our minds will kick at noon ET on ABC, and it will feature the No. 5 Ohio State Buckeyes and the Oregon State Beavers.

As I am sure you know, we have a boatload of coverage about that game, which you can find in one nice, neat location below:

Read all of that, digest all of that, enjoy all of that, because we are going to focus on the rest of today’s slate in this article.

Throughout this vast smörgåsbord of a Saturday, 17 ranked teams will take to the field, including a pair of games in which top-25 squads will face off. The first will pit the No. 9 Auburn Tigers against the No. 6 Washington Huskies. The Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game will be the first ever meeting between the two programs and will kick off at 3:30 p.m. ET from the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in downtown Atlanta. The game will air on ABC. Despite their lofty rankings, both teams have flown under the radar this preseason, but will look to make a massive state in the weekend’s marquee matchup.

The other contest between ranked teams is the return of a storied rivalry; a rivalry of two of the most venerated programs in college football history. That’s right, it’s the No. 14 Michigan Wolverines visiting the No. 12 Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The game, which will air on NBC at 4:30 p.m. ET, is the formerly annual meeting of two of the top-four teams (hi, Texas and Miami) that every year the college football intelligentsia tries to convince us is back. I’ll believe it when I see it.

This is at the top of hate-watch list every time it’s played, so enjoy it along with me for the inevitable schadenfreude of busted plays, beat-red Brian Kelly, and apoplectic Jim Harbaugh throwing a headset in a profanity-laced tirade that will makes his khakis bunch up in an uncomfortable (for him and us) way.

Anyway, moving on, Ohio State’s Week 3 opponent, the No. 16 TCU Horned Frogs, will start its season at the same time as the Buckeyes, as TCU hosts Southern at noon ET on FSN. Once our OSU pulls far enough away from the other OSU, it might not be a bad idea to flip over and see how Gary Patterson’s crew looks this season.

Other Big Ten teams playing on Saturday include Rutgers (Ohio State’s next opponent) vs. Texas State at 12:00 p.m. ET on BTN, Illinois facing off with Kent State and Maryland hosting No. 23 Texas both at noon on BTN, No. 10 Penn State against Appalachian State at 3:30 p.m. ET on the same network, Iowa welcoming Northern Illinois to Kinnick Stadium at 3:30 p.m. ET (also on BTN), Indiana visiting Florida International at 7 p.m. ET on CBSSN, and finally Nebraska hosting Akron at 8 p.m. ET on FOX.

For me, the spicy upset pick of the day is Lane Kiffin’s Florida Atlantic squad visiting the No. 7 Oklahoma Sooners at noon ET. OU will be breaking in new outfielder quarterback Kyler Murray, who takes over for Heisman Trophy winner Baker Mayfield. The Fighting Kiffin’s are a sneaky good team, and the first game of the season is the perfect time to be sneaky.

No matter what games you choose to watch today, enjoy them, appreciate them, revel in them, because a) there’s no Larry Culpepper, and b) COLLEGE FOOTBALL IS BACK, BABY!

Week 1 Saturday Schedule

Matchup Time (ET) TV Streaming
Matchup Time (ET) TV Streaming
Oregon State at #5 Ohio State 12:00 PM ABC WatchESPN.com
Florida Atlantic at #7 Oklahoma 12:00 PM FOX FoxSportsGo.com
Southern at #16 TCU 12:00 PM FSN FoxSportsGo.com
#23 Texas vs Maryland 12:00 PM FS1 FoxSportsGo.com
Kent State at Illinois 12:00 PM BTN FoxSportsGo.com
Texas State at Rutgers 12:00 PM BTN FoxSportsGo.com
Coastal Carolina at South Carolina 12:00 PM SEC Network WatchESPN.com
Ole Miss vs Texas Tech 12:00 PM ESPN WatchESPN.com
James Madison at NC State 12:00 PM ESPNU WatchESPN.com
Villanova at Temple 12:00 PM ESPNews WatchESPN.com
Houston at Rice 12:00 PM CBSSN CBSSports.com
Furman at #2 Clemson 12:20 PM ACC Network WatchESPN.com
Alcorn State at Georgia Tech 12:30 PM ACC Network WatchESPN.com
UMass at Boston College 1:00 PM ACC Network WatchESPN.com
Stony Brook at Air Force 2:00 PM None Facebook
Howard at Ohio 2:00 PM ESPN+ ESPN+
Austin Peay at #3 Georgia 3:30 PM ESPN WatchESPN.com
#6 Washington vs #9 Auburn 3:30 PM ABC WatchESPN.com
Appalachian State at #10 Penn State 3:30 PM BTN FoxSportsGo.com
Tennessee vs #17 West Virginia 3:30 PM CBS CBSSports.com
Albany at Pittsburgh 3:30 PM ACC Network WatchESPN.com
Marshall at Miami (OH) 3:30 PM ESPN+ ESPN+
Central Michigan at Kentucky 3:30 PM ESPNU WatchESPN.com
Northern Illinois at Iowa 3:30 PM BTN FoxSportsGo.com
Washington State at Wyoming 3:30 PM CBSSN CBSSports.com
UNLV at #15 USC 4:00 PM Pac-12 Networks Pac-12.com
North Carolina at California 4:00 PM FOX FoxSportsGo.com
UT Martin at Missouri 4:00 PM SEC Network WatchESPN.com
Eastern Illinois at Arkansas 4:00 PM SEC Network WatchESPN.com
#22 Boise State at Troy 6:00 PM ESPNews WatchESPN.com
Old Dominion at Liberty 6:00 PM None WatchESPN.com
Fordham at Charlotte 6:00 PM ESPN+ ESPN+
North Carolina A&T at East Carolina 6:00 PM None WatchESPN.com
Elon at South Florida 6:00 PM None WatchESPN.com
Richmond at Virginia 6:00 PM ACC Network WatchESPN.com
Delaware State at Buffalo 6:00 PM None WatchESPN.com
South Carolina State at Georgia Southern 6:00 PM ESPN+ ESPN+
Grambling at Louisiana 7:00 PM None WatchESPN.com
VMI at Toledo 7:00 PM None WatchESPN.com
Southeast Missouri State at Arkansas State 7:00 PM ESPN+ ESPN+
Mercer at Memphis 7:00 PM None WatchESPN.com
Central Arkansas at Tulsa 7:00 PM None WatchESPN.com
Louisiana Tech at South Alabama 7:00 PM ESPN+ ESPN+
Jackson State at Southern Mississippi 7:00 PM ESPN+ ESPN+
Cincinnati at UCLA 7:00 PM ESPN WatchESPN.com
Indiana at Florida Intl 7:00 PM CBSSN CBSSports.com
Nicholls at Kansas 7:00 PM ESPN+ ESPN+
South Dakota at Kansas State 7:00 PM None WatchESPN.com
#14 Michigan at #12 Notre Dame 7:30 PM NBC NBCSports.com
Stephen F. Austin at #18 Mississippi State 7:30 PM ESPNU WatchESPN.com
Charleston Southern at Florida 7:30 PM SEC Network WatchESPN.com
Middle Tennessee at Vanderbilt 7:30 PM SEC Network WatchESPN.com
SMU at North Texas 7:30 PM Stadium TV WatchStadium.com
Northern Arizona at UTEP 7:30 PM None WatchESPN.com
Louisville at #1 Alabama 8:00 PM ABC WatchESPN.com
Bowling Green at #24 Oregon 8:00 PM Pac-12 Networks Pac-12.com
Akron at Nebraska 8:00 PM FOX FoxSportsGo.com
Abilene Christian at Baylor 8:00 PM FSN FoxSportsGo.com
South Dakota State at Iowa State 8:00 PM None Cyclones.tv
Incarnate Word at New Mexico 8:00 PM None WatchESPN.com
Idaho at Fresno State 10:00 PM None Facebook
UTSA at Arizona State 10:30 PM FS1 FoxSportsGo.com
BYU at Arizona 10:45 PM ESPN WatchESPN.com
Navy at Hawai'i 11:00 PM CBSSN CBSSports.com