College football needs a better Week 1 schedule

America is addicted to football, so we’ll take it no matter the dosage. Everyone is eager for Week 1, with games starting on Thursday and continuing through Monday. But before you turn on the television or sweat it out at the stadium, ask yourself the following:

Is this the best we can do?

There will be 96 FBS games in Week 1. How many will be worth watching? Three matchups will feature both teams ranked in the Associated Press preseason Top 25 poll. Top-ranked Georgia plays No. 14 Clemson in Atlanta, No. 7 Notre Dame travels to No. 20 Texas A&M, and No. 13 LSU takes on No. 23 USC in Las Vegas. That’s good. However, there are only nine games where a power school plays a major-conference opponent.

That’s bad.

Let’s look at the SEC, where they routinely remind us that “ It Just Means More .” Excluding Georgia, Texas A&M, and LSU, here is the Week 1 schedule for the rest of the league:

• Arkansas-Pine Bluff at Arkansas
• Murray State at Missouri
• Temple at Oklahoma
• Virginia Tech at Vanderbilt
• Chattanooga at Tennessee
• Miami (Fla.) at Florida
• Colorado State at Texas
• Old Dominion at South Carolina
• Eastern Kentucky at Mississippi State
• Western Kentucky at Alabama
• Furman at Ole Miss
• Alabama A&M at Auburn
• Southern Miss at Kentucky

Are you sensing a pattern? Applaud Texas A&M, Florida, and Vanderbilt for playing home games against quality competition. They are the outliers. Most of these schools are taking the easier path. The SEC is certainly not alone in this practice. Most Week 1 schedules feature non-conference games, and many major colleges are reluctant to challenge themselves early. The big school gets a beatable foe. The small school gets a sizeable paycheck. For example, Alabama will pay Western Kentucky $1.9 million to play in Kalen DeBoer’s debut as the Crimson Tide’s head coach.

Sometimes upsets happen . Those are fun. However, most of these games go according to plan: blowouts that only the alumni can love. College football fans deserve better. Week 1 should be full of marquee matchups with mass appeal. In the past, teams were reluctant to take scheduling risks because of the exclusivity of the four-team College Football Playoff.  With the CFP expanding to 12 teams this season and 14 in 2026, that allows more room for error.

Football coaches who regularly preach toughness too often schedule their non-conference opponents like they’re afraid to lose. Usually, they’ll blame the system— and that argument had some merit. But not now, when the system has never been more forgiving.

Great Week 1 matchups give everyone something to look forward to. Take my own home state of Kentucky. Yes, it’s best known for college basketball. However, the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville football teams used to face each other to open the season . That was a glorious time. The series, known as the Governor’s Cup, usually took place over Labor Day weekend and was broadcast nationally.

Unfortunately, due to the ever-shifting landscape of college athletics, that game hasn’t been a season-opener since 2012. Now, it takes place at the end of the regular season in November, where it’s eclipsed by more glamorous rivalry games and college basketball. Instead, for Week 1 this weekend, Louisville will host Austin Peay, an FCS program. Kentucky will host Southern Miss, which went 3-9 last season.

We love college football. People will always watch. But when your school asks you to pony up money for season tickets, ask them what great Week 1 games they have scheduled in the future. A little more pressure might give us all more matchups worth watching.

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