College Football is back! We are just three days away from the first full Saturday of College Football and it can be a good problem to try to catch all of the action throughout the day. But sometimes, when one game ends and another starts, it can be easy to miss or overlook another game going on at the same time.
Typically, there are four recognized TV windows during the day: 12:00 PM ET, 3:30 PM ET, 7:00 PM ET, and 10:30 PM ET. Here is each game from each window that everyone who is a common fan of the game should watch.
For this list, if a game is 30 win before/after it will also be considered.
Morning College Football Game (12:00 PM ET) – Clemson vs Georgia
This is the game of the day. Two powerhouse teams meeting in the first week of the season isn’t something we get every year, and this game will have a lot of implications for the rest of the season. While the playoff has expanded to twelve teams, getting off on the right foot can go a long way in setting a tone for the rest of the season, not just with the team, but with the general public, which includes the voters.
The loser of this game will still have a very clear path to the playoff. However, they will be one or two upset losses away from being in real danger. Conversely, a win would give more room for a mess-up later in the season.
This game will also be a great opportunity for Carson Beck to send a strong message early that he should be the Heisman Trophy favorite.
Afternoon Game (3:30 PM ET) Miami at Florida
By the time Miami kicks off against Florida, the ACC may have already seen Florida State and Clemson lose their opening game. For a conference that is desperately trying to show they are the third-best conference in the country, the top three projected teams going 0-3 in opening games would not be good luck.
Florida has to face Ole Miss, Texas, Georgia, LSU, Florida State, Tennessee and Texas A&M this season, making No. 19 Miami one of the more winnable games. In many ways, Florida’s path to a bowl game depends on the result of this game.
Either way, this game is huge for both programs and the loser is going to have a serious uphill battle to reach their ultimate (realistic) goals this year.
Primetime Game (7:00 PM ET) Notre Dame vs Texas A&M
This game doesn’t carry as much weight as the two games featured above, but this is still a ranked matchup on primetime ABC. Texas A&M has a lot of questions about its program as it enters a new era under Head Coach Mike Elko. The last few years they have fallen well short of the expectations surrounding the program, and getting a huge win against the Irish would be a great first step to rise to expectations.
Notre Dame has a very easy schedule that could haunt them if they don’t win their big games. Their schedule only faces three currently ranked teams (one of which is FSU). No opponent will move the needle for the Irish outside of these three ranked games.
Could Notre Dame go 1-2 in their tough games and still make the Playoff with a 10-2 record? Their brand may carry them far enough to do so, but they certainly would be sweating it out at the end. If Notre Dame wins this game, they can go for the rest of the season, almost guaranteed a playoff spot (they aren’t losing to Miami, Ohio, Army, Navy, N Illinois, or any other unranked team).
Late Night Game – NONE
Because of the number of games on Thursday and Friday, there really aren’t any great late-night games.Of course, anything can happen in college football, so a game could get interesting, but from a preview standpoint, there isn’t anything worth watching past midnight. My personal recommendation would be to record other games going on throughout the day and watch one of those.
Some good games to go back and watch include Penn State vs West Virginia, Fresno State vs Michigan, or UNLV vs Houston.
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