College football is back! There are no shortage of compelling matchups in Week Zero – from a top-flight international showdown to intriguing G6 matchups and blue bloods opening at home, here are the five games we’ll be watching this weekend… and some things we’ve seen in games that may have flown below your radar.
- North Carolina vs. TCU
11 a.m. CT | Saturday, Aug. 29 | Aviva Stadium | Dublin, Ireland | ESPN
TCU Game Notes | UNC Game Notes | Live Stats
The first kickoff of the FBS season will take place across the pond, as Bill Belichick leads North Carolina into a matchup against Sonny Dykes and TCU in the Aer Lingus College Football Classic.
For the second consecutive season, TCU and UNC face one another in a season opener. TCU is coming off a 9-4 campaign, while UNC finished 4-8. In last season’s opener, TCU fell behind early but scored 41 straight points to roll to a 48-14 victory in Chapel Hill, spoiling Belichick’s first game as a collegiate head coach. However, this season, the Tar Heels enter the season with the nation’s twelfth-ranked recruiting class and a fresh offensive plan under new offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino. On the other sideline, TCU also has a new offensive coordinator in Gordon Sammis, who served at UConn previously, helping the Huskies post back-to-back nine-win campaigns.
- San José State at No. 14 USC
2 p.m. CT | Saturday, Aug. 29 | Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum | NBC
SJSU Game Notes | USC Game Notes | Live Stats
Lincoln Riley and USC opens the 2026 campaign against Ken Niumatololo in a matchup where USC enters the game as the clear favorite on paper. The Spartans have not beaten a Big Ten team since 2002, when SJSU topped Illinois in Champaign; and have not won a road game against a ranked team since Nov. 1, 1980, when the Spartans knocked off Baylor 30-22, while the Trojans are 9-0 in season openers under Riley.
One interesting storyline from this game is the return to the sideline of 2014 Paul “Bear” Bryant National Coach of the Year Gary Patterson, now serving as USC’s defensive coordinator. Patterson’s 4-2-5 defense has long been his calling card, and Riley believes that the addition of Patterson to his staff puts his defense in a position where they can truly be great – especially after having competed against Patterson-led defenses for so many years.
- Jacksonville State at North Dakota State
4:30 p.m. CT | Saturday, Aug. 29 | Fargodome | CBSSN
Jax State Game Notes | NDSU Game Notes | Live Stats
Tim Polasek leads North Dakota State into a matchup with Charles Kelly and Jacksonville State in the first game of the FBS era for the Bison.
For real football fans, no introduction to North Dakota State is necessary. 18 national championships, 39 conference championships, and the second-highest winning percentage of any football program established after 1894 ensure that. And now – just over 20 years removed from competing in Division II as a member of the North Central Conference, NDSU competes at the highest level of college football.
Jacksonville State’s tenure in Division II ended in the 1994 season, and after capturing ten Gulf South Conference championships, it was on to FCS where the Gamecocks captured ten conference titles between the Ohio Valley and Atlantic Sun conferences. It was on to FBS in 2023, and one year later, the Gamecocks won their first FBS conference title, capturing the Conference USA crown.
In a matchup of similarly-pedigreed programs, will NDSU ride its 27-game winning streak in home openers to a 28th straight?
- New Mexico State at Florida State
6 p.m. CT | Saturday, Aug. 29 | Doak Campbell Stadium | CW
NM State Game Notes | FSU Game Notes | Live Stats
Mike Norvell and Florida State look to rebound after a 5-7 campaign in 2025, opening the season against Tony Sanchez and New Mexico State. This is the first meeting for the two schools since the 1964 season – a game which the Seminoles won 36-0, and was the third consecutive shutout for then-coach Bill Peterson – whose defensive coordinator at the time, Hall of Famer Don James, later became the 1991 Paul “Bear” Bryant National Coach of the Year while head coach at Washington.
The Seminoles are 60-19 all-time in home openers, but with 62 newcomers and six new assistant coaches, the question for FSU will be how well things have come together during fall camp. Florida State’s 23 NCAA transfers have played a combined 592 games, with 263 starts.
Meanwhile, New Mexico State brings 49 newcomers to the program this year – 33 transfers, with 11 coming from FBS schools. Which program will be more in sync when these teams take to the gridiron Saturday?
- Memphis at UNLV
9 p.m. | Saturday, Aug. 29 | Allegiant Stadium | Las Vegas | FOX
Memphis Game Notes | UNLV Game Notes | Live Stats
Viva Las Vegas! In the late game of the weekend, Charles Huff leads Memphis into hostile territory for a matchup with Dan Mullen and UNLV in the first-ever matchup between the two schools. Both teams are receiving votes in top-25 polls in what may be the closest game of the week on paper.
Huff, who authored a stunning turnaround as the interim coach at Southern Miss last year, brings 81 newcomers to Memphis (61 transfers and 20 true freshmen) – including 18 transfers from his Southern Miss squad – six of whom also played for Huff at Marshall. Meanwhile, Mullen has made his mark in Las Vegas, returning to the sidelines after three years in the broadcast booth and going 10-4 in his first season after successful tenures at both Mississippi State and Florida. That ten-win mark was the best first-year total in school history.
While UNLV and Memphis have never faced one another, Mullen has faced Memphis twice during his MSU tenure, winning both meetings.
Most impressively for UNLV – last year, the Rebels defeated every non-conference opponent on their schedule for the first time since 1962. Since the start of the 2023 season, UNLV is 11-2 overall against non-conference opponents, turning around a trend that saw UNLV go 19-45 during the previous 17 years.
Other Things To Watch… And Some Things We’ve Seen
- In a light Week Zero slate, there are only eight FBS games being played this weekend. NC State/Virginia, Sacramento State/Eastern Michigan, and Hawai’i/Stanford also take to the gridiron.
- FCS, NAIA, and Division II programs opened their seasons this past Thursday night – with several notable upsets. From the DII world, Ohio Dominican won a 3OT game 42-40 over Northwestern State, South Dakota Mines held off a furious fourth-quarter rally to beat Drake 38-35, and Concord beat Davidson 41-35.
- The upset of the week came when NAIA’s Louisiana Christian – a school with an enrollment of just over 1,000 students, became the first NAIA program to ever defeat a scholarship-offering Division I opponent – outscoring Northwestern State 28-10 in the second half to pull off a 42-37 win. Keep your eyes on LC coach Ben McLaughlin, who after going 4-7 in his first year at his alma mater went 8-3 last year en route to being named Sooner Athletic Conference Coach of the Year. Now, with a win over DI opposition under his belt, what’s next for the third-year Wildcat coach?
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