College Football Preview: Week 1 Match-Ups

College football starts on Friday, people!  It’s time to get hot.

Here’s my look at the first week’s games, with notes on the ones I’ll be watching and why.  Mine is an Army-centric view of the world, so your list may vary.  If I missed a key game, let me know in the comments.  

Thanks!

Friday, Aug. 26, 2016

Matchup	Time (ET)	TV / Online
Cal vs. Hawaii (at Sydney, Australia)	10:00 pm	ESPN / WatchESPN

For reasons that I do not understand, the first game of the season being played in Sydney, Australia.  I’d love to watch it, but since it starts at 10 pm, it’s liable to run until three in the morning.  Besides, it’s been a good, long time since Hawaii has had a decent football team.  I don’t know what the line on this one is, but I’d probably take Cal to cover.

Thursday, Sept. 1, 2016

Matchup	Time (ET)	TV / Online
Maine at UConn	7:00 pm	ASN / ESPN3
Tulane at Wake Forest	7:00 pm	ESPN3
Appalachian State at Tennessee	7:30 pm	SECN / WatchESPN
Rice at WKU	8:00 pm	CBSSN
South Carolina at Vanderbilt	8:00 pm	ESPN / WatchESPN

We live in the great state of Connecticut, and I have by default become a fan of UConn.  Their team is not great, and their opener against FCS Maine may be nigh unwatchable, but I may still watch it—or at least flip to it between series in another game.  My daughter Emma has expressed repeated interest in attending U. Maine, so we might actually have a fan in the house.

Tulane at Wake Forest is interesting for Army fans because both teams are perennial Black Knights’ opponents.  Army takes on the Demon Deacons on the road on October 29th, and they play the Green Wave in September 2017.  Neither team has been particularly strong of late, but Wake at least has an experienced quarterback.  If Tulane can’t get pressure, I expect the Deacons will roll big-time.  If Wake can’t protect it quarterback--and they often struggle with protection--this may be an entertaining contest even though it lacks entirely in national level hype.

I put the Volunteers on here expressly to appease the ghosts of my father and grandfather.  My family were all Tennessee alumni and diehard Vols fans.  I broke a half-century’s tradition to attend West Point, and my mother never really forgave me.

Rice and West Kentucky are another pair of perennial Army opponents.  I expect WKU to roll in this one, but Army plays Rice in its Week 2 home opener, so I’d like to at least get a feel for what the Owls look like before we see them live.

USC at Vanderbilt is perhaps the best national-level game of the night.  Technically, I suppose the Commodores ought to be favored (the line is -4.5), but it seems weird to say it.  This will be a good game.

Friday, Sept. 2, 2016

Matchup	Time (ET)	TV / Online
Albany at Buffalo	7:00 pm	ESPN3
Army at Temple	7:00 pm	CBSSN
Kansas State at Stanford	9:00 pm	FS1 / FS Go

Army at Temple or K-State at Stanford are your obvious picks for Friday night.  It’s a toss-up as to which will be a better game.  Yeah, yeah, I know what you’re thinking.  But really, it’s true.  Temple ought to be about a 12-point favorite.  Stanford ought to be favored by about 13.  Choose the harder right over the easier wrong and watch the Black Knights.

The other game worth mentioning in Albany at Buffalo.  Army is at Buffalo in Week 4.  This will be our only chance to scout the Bulls in advance of that game.

Saturday, Sept. 3, 2016

Matchup	Time (ET)	TV / Online
Georgia Tech vs. Boston College (at Ireland)	7:30 am	ESPN2 / WatchESPN
Fordham at Navy	Noon	CBSSN
Missouri at West Virginia	Noon	FS1 / FS Go
UCLA at Texas A&M	3:30 pm	CBS / CBSSports.com
New Mexico State at UTEP	8:00 pm	beIN SPORTS
Clemson at Auburn	9:00 pm	ESPN / WatchESPN

Georgia Tech vs. Boston College in Ireland at 7:30 in the morning?  Yes, please.  I worked with a lot of folks out of Georgia Tech right after I got out of the Army, and they were all good folks.  The Yellowjackets get extra credit for running the triple-option as well.  I didn’t much consider Tech in my own college search, but I probably should have.  No idea how good their swim team is or was, however^[1].  

Fordham at Navy features my other alma mater vs. the squids.  I would love to see the Rams hang an early loss on Navy.  It’s unlikely, sure, but Fordham is a perennial FCS powerhouse, and Navy without Keenan Reynolds may not be the Navy we’ve gotten used to seeing these past few years.  The Mids lost a lot of seniors to graduation, and Reynolds isn’t the kind of guy you can replace by saying, “Next man up.”  He’s going to make the Ravens’ squad this season by all accounts.

Missouri vs. West Virginia is a heck of an intriguing early season match-up.  Both schools would seem to have a lot to lose here.  I’m surprised that this was scheduled so early.  The same could be said of UCLA at Texas A&M and Clemson at Auburn.

New Mexico State at UTEP is interesting solely because Army plays at UTEP in Week 3.  UTEP has just moved to the spread offense.  I’m curious to see how successfully they’ve made the transition.

Sunday, Sept. 4, 2016

Matchup	Time (ET)		TV / Online
Notre Dame at Texas		7:30 pm		ABC / WatchESPN

Monday, Sept. 5, 2016

Matchup	Time (ET)	TV / Online
Ole Miss vs. Florida State (at Orlando)	8:00 pm	ESPN / WatchESPN

I doubt I’ll have a chance to watch either of these, but they’re both marquee matchups early in the season.

Sources

2016 College Football Schedule

ESPN’s FPI 2016

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[1] It looks like Georgia Tech is a little faster than Army at the upper end of their squad, but nowhere near as deep.  I’m going to guess that I would have been their #2 butterflier back in 1991 based on what they did last season.