College Football: Games I’m Watching: Week One

Every Thursday, I’ll post this guide to the weekend with all the games I’ll be closely watching. All game times are eastern and on Saturday, unless otherwise specified.

Guys, we’ve made it. I know it was hard. It always is. But I am so happy to officially say that there are ZERO days until college football! (In fact, there’s already been an FBS game played if you count last night’s thrilling Georgia State victory over Abilene Christian.) On with the show.

#21 Texas A&M at #9 South Carolina, 6 pm Thursday, SEC Network

If you can stomach sitting through a game on the obnoxious SEC Network, this should be fun. Jonathan Football is gone, but we get our first look at his replacement Kenny Hill, who enters 2014 with mountains of hype. On the other side of the ball, we get the most fun coach in the country looking to finally break through into the SEC championship game at South Carolina. I can’t stand the SEC, but if there’s any team in it that I’ll root for, it’s the Gamecocks.

Boise State at #18 Ole Miss (in Atlanta), 8 pm Thursday, ESPN

Yeah, Mississippi is overrated and at least a year away from really making some noise, but this should be a fun game. Boise State always comes to play against solid major conference opponents and while they’re not as talented as they were for many years under Chris Petersen, the Broncos should provide a relatively stiff test early in the season for the Rebels.

Rutgers at Washington State, 10 pm Thursday, Fox Sports 1

Nah, I don’t really care about either of these teams in the slightest, but FOOTBALL IS BACK. If you think I won’t be watching football until the wee hours of the morning tonight, you just don’t know me very well. Which probably makes sense because all you know me from is like seven articles over the past couple months here on Canes Warning. But I digress.

BYU at UConn, 7 pm Friday, ESPN

BYU is always a good watch and a relatively quick one as well because they utilize a power running-oriented spread offense. This is also the only game really worth watching on Friday, unless Colorado and Colorado State floats your boat.

Penn State at UCF (in Dublin, Ireland), 8:30 am, ESPN2

Football straight from 8:30 AM Saturday until 2:30 AM Sunday? You better believe I’m getting up early for this intriguing game. UCF should be solid once again despite losing Blake Bortles to the NFL and Penn State is looking to rebound from last year’s home loss to the Knights under new head coach James Franklin. But mostly, come on, there are no other games on at 8:30 in the morning, what else are you going to be doing? Sleeping? Do you even like sports?

#5 Ohio State at Navy (in Baltimore), Noon, CBS Sports Network

I really think Ohio State will be just fine this season with capable replacement JT Barrett stepping in for the fallen Braxton Miller. If you look at their absurdly easy schedule, I really see their floor at 10-2, maybe 9-3 if a lot of things go wrong. That said, I’m intrigued to see Barrett in action for the first time and to see Ohio State’s solid defense go up against a unique Navy triple option attack. Think about how hard it is each year for Miami’s defense to prepare against Georgia Tech. (Yeah, yeah, I see the “or prepare against anyone” joke I so nicely set up there, but I’m making a point here.) This could get interesting if the Buckeyes’ offense sputters a little with a new signal caller. Also, check out Navy’s helmets for the game. Sick, man.

Cal at Northwestern, 3:30 pm, ABC/ESPN2

Sorry, I really don’t care in the slightest who Clint Trickett kissed when he was six years old; Alabama is going to slaughter West Virginia anyway. In this time slot, my eyes are on Evanston to watch two teams desperate for redemption from dreary 2013 seasons. Cal went 1-11 under a new coach but should be improved this year with sophomore quarterback Jared Goff poised to make the freshman-to-sophomore leap. Meanwhile, the Wildcats finished 5-7, but a ghastly 1-7 in Big Ten play. Northwestern beat Cal in Berkeley 44-30 last year, but the game was much closer than the score indicated. Both teams have fun spread offenses and this should be a good one to watch.

#16 Clemson at #12 Georgia, 5:30 pm, ESPN

This game was unreal last year and should be just as good in 2014. Both teams need it if they want any chance to make a case for the playoff and both will need to do so under senior quarterbacks who sat behind established stars the past few years. Throw in that fantastic Georgia atmosphere that always looks great and this is must-watch television.

#1 Florida State at Oklahoma State (in Dallas), 8 pm, ABC

Check in on the first hour before the defending champs put it out of reach and then head over to…

#14 Wisconsin at #13 LSU (in Houston), 9 pm, ESPN

…my most anticipated game of the Saturday slate. Many are assuming LSU will win this one and they’re up to a five-point favorite in Vegas. I really think the Badgers can take them down though, with an underrated defense and the best ground game in the Big Ten. For the Tigers, they lose nearly all of their offensive production from a year ago and have a complete mess on their hands at quarterback. This should be a tight, low-scoring affair and hopefully Wisconsin can pull it out and knock the SEC manifest destiny dream down a peg.

Miami at Louisville, 8 pm Monday, ESPN

Duh.