The 2024 college football appetizer begins with Week 0, when an ACC conference game between Florida State and Georgia Tech will be played on Aug. 24 in Dublin, Ireland.
Just five days later, the 2024 season will begin in earnest with several big-time matchups in Week 1.
Clemson vs. Georgia
Location: Atlanta
Date: Saturday, Aug. 31
Both teams are probably feeling a little disappointed after their 2023 campaigns, which makes this showdown an interesting kickoff to the 2024 season.
Watch for the beginnings of Carson Beck’s Heisman campaign.
North Dakota State at Colorado
Location: Boulder, CO
Date: Saturday, Aug. 31
This might be the most fascinating game on the entire Week 1 schedule. North Dakota State is a falling dynasty trying to get back on top with new head coach Tim Polasek. (Former coach Matt Entz is now an assistant at USC.)
Colorado wants to be a new dynasty that shows in Year 2 it can be worthy of all the Deion hype.
This is a major clash of styles, as Colorado wants to play fast and NDSU wants to play slow, power football. It’s also a clash of players, as the Bison will pitch their home-grown North Dakota talents against Deion’s 5-star playmakers.
Many people will be picking Colorado, but I’m sure I don’t have to tell you about North Dakota State’s long history of FCS vs. FBS upsets.
Notre Dame at Texas A&M
Location: College Station, TX
Date: Saturday, Aug. 31
The Mike Elko era begins. Fresh of paying Jimbo Fisher tens of millions of dollars to go away, Texas A&M will host a (probably) ranked Notre Dame team at Kyle Field.
The winner is guaranteed a spot in the AP Poll through mid-October. The loser gets an early start on being a perennially disappointing team.
Penn State at West Virginia
Location: Morgantown, W.Va.
Date: Saturday, Aug. 31
West Virginia exceeded a lot of expectations in 2023, winning nine games and reversing several seasons of bad momentum and decline. And you wouldn’t know it if you only caught the box score, but even in Week 1, WVU was strangely competitive in Happy Valley, playing a closer-than-the-score-looked kind of game.
In 2024, Penn State returns to Morgantown for the first time since 1992, where Neal Brown can earn what would undoubtedly be the biggest win of his coaching career.
Miami (FL) at Florida
Location: Gainesville, FL
Date: Saturday, Aug. 31
Billy Napier will be looking for a win against the rival Hurricanes to open the 2024 season. If Miami gets this one, Napier will be a no-doubt member of the college football hot seat clubhouse.
South Dakota State at Oklahoma State
Location: Stillwater, OK
Date: Saturday, Sept. 2
Every once in a while, college football fans get a great FCS measuring stick game. We haven’t had one in a little while, but here’s a no-doubter: South Dakota State, the two-time reigning national champion, plays a consistent Big 12 team that will likely compete for the conference championship.
What is FCS at its best? Where would a top team fit in an FBS power conference? Here’s the next data point. There’s no doubt that Jimmy Rogers’ SDSU squad is the best thing going in FCS right now.
LSU vs. USC
Location: Las Vegas
Date: Sunday, Sept. 1
What a cap to the Week 1 schedule this will be. Lincoln Riley vs. Brian Kelly. The two programs that have produced the last two Heisman Trophy winners. National championship aspirations with the backdrop of Las Vegas.
Does it get any better than that?
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