Here’s a look at who’s televising and calling (where available) this week’s college football games, with some discussion of a featured game or games in each slot based on announcers, matchup, or both. All times are Eastern.
Featured/only game: Army @ Temple 7:30 p.m. ESPN Matt Barrie, Dan Mullen
Army Black Knights head coach Jeff Monken celebrates with Army Black Knights cornerback Jaydan Mayes (7) after a 37-14 win against the Rice Owls at Michie Stadium on Sept. 21, 2024. (Danny Wild/Imagn Images.)
The Black Knights are quietly 3-0 after wins over Lehigh, Florida Atlantic, and Rice to start the season. Yes, the latter two are Owls, like Temple, so this is part of an anti-Owl quest:
Interestingly enough, Army’s top offensive production has come from senior quarterback Bryson Daily. But, fittingly for their option offense, his leading contributions have come on the ground, where he has a team-leading 340 rushing yards on 58 carries. (Running back Noah Short has 266 yards on just 20 carries, while fellow RB Kanye Udoh has 169 yards on 37 carries.) The Black Knights have also occasionally taken to the air, with Daily completing 10 of 19 passes for 186 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions.
Meanwhile, the Owls have not been off to a great start, beginning the year with a 51-3 pummeling by Oklahoma and following that with losses to Navy (38-11) and Coastal Carolina (28-20). But they bounced back a bit with a 45-29 win over Utah State last week. Can QB Evan Simon (456 passing yards and seven touchdowns against one interception so far after filling in for injured starter Forrest Brock beginning in Week 2) lead them to success, or will Brock come back ?
Any aerial success for Temple could put some pressure on Army.
Friday, Sept. 27
Featured game: Virginia Tech @ No. 7 Miami (FL) 7:30 p.m. ESPN Anish Shroff, Andre Ware
Miami Hurricanes quarterback Cam Ward (1) throws a pass against the South Florida Bulls in the third quarter at Raymond James Stadium on Sept. 21, 2024. (Nathan Ray Seebeck/Imagn Images.)
Despite the Fox broadcast network being in play here, the more interesting game may be this cable contest on ESPN. The Hurricanes are 4-0 following impressive wins over Florida, Florida A&M, Ball State, and South Florida, led by star quarterback and Heisman Trophy hopeful Cam Ward and his 1,439 passing yards and 14 touchdowns (to two interceptions) to date. (And hey, there’s a former Heisman-winning QB in the booth in Ware, who might have some notable thoughts on Ward.)
Ward’s top target to date has been wide receiver Xavier Restrepo, who has 362 yards and five touchdowns on 20 catches. Meanwhile, the 2-2 Hokies have a strong ground attack led by RB Bhayshul Tuten, who has 391 yards and seven touchdowns on 67 carries so far. We’ll see what he can do against the Miami defense.
Washington @ Rutgers 8:00 p.m. Fox Tim Brando, Devin Gardner
Saturday, Sept. 28, early window
Featured game 1: Kentucky @ No. 6 Ole Miss 12:00 p.m. ABC Sean McDonough, Greg McElroy
Ole Miss Rebels quarterback Jaxson Dart (2) reacts with defensive linemen JJ Pegues (38) after a touchdown during the second half against the Georgia Southern Eagles at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on Sept. 21, 2024. (Petre Thomas/Imagn Images.)
Lane Kiffin’s Rebels came into this season with a lot of hype, following a No. 9 finish in both the coaches’ and AP polls in 2023 (their highest final AP ranking since 1969) and No. 6 rankings in both heading into this fall (their highest since 1970 ). They’ve lived up to that so far, with QB Jaxson Dart particularly shining. He’s thrown for 1,554 yards and 12 touchdowns (against two interceptions) through their 4-0 start (which set an SEC record for a +198 point differential through a team’s first four games), and the Rebels as a whole have averaged 55 points per game, best in FBS .
Dart is also averaging 13.06 yards per pass attempt while completing 79.8 percent of his passes, earning him some Heisman discussion . But the Wildcats have held opponents under 300 yards in each of their first four games (despite only going 2-2 over that stretch, but that includes a 13-12 loss to then-No. 1 Georgia two weeks ago), their longest such streak since a five-game one in 2019.
Will their defense be as strong against Dart and the Rebels?
Minnesota @ No. 12 Michigan 12:00 p.m. Fox Gus Johnson, Joel Klatt
Featured game 2: No. 20 Oklahoma State @ No. 23 Kansas State 12:00 p.m. ESPN Bob Wischusen, Louis Riddick
Oklahoma State’s Alan Bowman (7) looks to throw a pass in the second half of the college football between the Oklahoma State University Cowboys and the Utah Utes at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Okla., Saturday, Sept., 21, 2024. (Sarah Phipps/The Oklahoman, via Imagn Images.)
There’s a good ranked-on-ranked Big 12 clash here, with a pair of 3-1 teams facing off in Manhattan, Kansas. The host Wildcats hit their first loss of the season last week, falling 38-9 on the road against BYU, but they got off to a good start before that with wins over UT-Martin, Tulane, and Army. They had three bad turnovers and allowed a 90-yard punt return against the Cougars; we’ll see if they can clean that up this week.
Meanwhile, Cowboys’ senior quarterback Alan Bowman (in his seventh year of eligibility and his second at Oklahoma State after previous stops at Michigan and Texas Tech) has thrown for 1,173 yards and 10 touchdowns against four interceptions so far. Can he stay hot against the Wildcats? Given Riddick’s past in NFL personnel and his media work in NFL Draft evaluation, it may be interesting to find out what he thinks of Bowman there. At 24, Bowman’s much younger than, say, past Cowboys’ QB Brandon Weeden (drafted in the first round at 28 in 2012), but he’s still much older than most senior QBs.
Navy @ UAB 12:00 p.m. ESPN2 Roy Philpott, Sam Acho
No. 22 BYU @ Baylor 12:00 p.m. FS1 Alex Faust, Robert Smith
South Florida @ Tulane 12:00 p.m. ESPNU Matt Schumacker, Dustin Fox
Northern Illinois @ N.C. State 12:00 p.m. CW Thom Brennaman, Max Browne
Maryland @ Indiana 12:00 p.m. BTN Jeff Levering, Jake Butt
Western Kentucky @ Boston College 12:00 p.m. ACCN Jorge Sedano, Orlando Franklin
Jac Collinsworth, Michael Robinson Ball State @ James Madison 1:30 p.m. ESPN+
Saturday, Sept. 14 (afternoon-evening window)
Texas State vs Sam Houston 3:00 p.m. ESPN+
No. 21 Oklahoma @ Auburn 3:30 p.m. ABC Joe Tessitore, Jordan Rodgers
Featured game 1: Wisconsin @ No. 13 USC 3:30 p.m. CBS Brad Nessler, Gary Danielson
Wisconsin Badgers quarterback Braedyn Locke (18) throws a pass during the second quarter against the Alabama Crimson Tide at Camp Randall Stadium on Sept. 14, 2024. (Jeff Hanisch/Imagn Images.)
CBS gets a pretty solid matchup here for the start of conference play in their new Big Ten window. It’s not as strong as it looked earlier this month, of course. The Badgers’ last game came two weeks back when they were blown out 42-10 at home by No. 4 Alabama and lost QB Tyler Van Dyke for the season, while the Trojans were ranked No. 11 last week but dropped a close road contest 27-24 to No. 18 Michigan.
But those are the only losses for each team, and they have plenty of hope left. The most interesting storyline in this one may be what Wisconsin backup QB Braedyn Locke can do , which could tell us a lot about what’s ahead for the Badgers this fall.
Colorado @ UCF 3:30 p.m. Fox Jason Benetti, Brock Huard
Arkansas vs. No. 24 Texas A&M (in Arlington) 3:30 p.m. ESPN Dave Pasch, Dusty Dvoracek
Fresno State @ UNLV 3:30 p.m. FS1 Chris Vosters, Charles Arbuckle
Georgia Southern @ Georgia State 3:30 p.m. ESPNU Clay Matvick, Steve Addazio
Louisiana @ Wake Forest 3:30 p.m. ACCN Chris Cotter, Rocky Boiman
San Diego State @ Central Michigan 3:30 p.m. CBSSN Chris Lewis, Taylor McHargue
Featured game 2: No. 15 Louisville @ No. 16 Notre Dame 3:30 p.m. Peacock Paul Burmeister, Jason Garrett
Louisville Cardinals quarterback Tyler Shough (9) looks for an open pass during their game against the Jacksonville State Gamecocks on Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024 at L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium in Louisville, Ky on Sept. 7, 2024. (Clare Grant/The Courier Journal, via Imagn Images.)
NBC gets quite a good Peacock-exclusive game here. Interestingly, there’s a lot of divide here between pundits and books, with the latter putting the Irish as a 6.5-point favorite . Some analysts, like CBS’ Rick Neuheisel, see it quite differently:
Shough has thrown for 850 yards so far and tossed eight touchdowns against no interceptions . We’ll see what he can do against an Irish defense that has allowed just 10 total points across their past two games (following a 16-14 home loss to Northern Illinois).
North Carolina @ Duke 4:00 p.m. ESPN2 Mike Monaco, Kirk Morrison
UTSA @ East Carolina 4:00 p.m. ESPN+ Richard Cross, Reggie Walker
Mississippi State @ No. 1 Texas 4:15 p.m. SECN Tom Hart, Cole Cubelic
Old Dominion @ Bowling Green 5:00 p.m. ESPN+ Jason Ross Jr, Tyoka Jackson
Louisiana Tech @ Florida International 6:00 p.m. ESPN+
UT-Martin @ Kennesaw State 6:00 p.m. ESPN+
Wagner @ Florida Atlantic 6:00 p.m. ESPN+ Ryan Urquhart, Patrick Murray
Saturday, Sept. 28 (evening/late-night window)
Stanford @ No. 17 Clemson 7:00 p.m. ESPN Mark Jones, Roddy Jones
No. 18 Iowa State @ Houston 7:00 p.m. FS1 Eric Collins, Spencer Tillman
Charlotte @ Rice 7:00 p.m. ESPN+ Ted Emrich, Charlie Strong
Tulsa @ North Texas 7:00 p.m. ESPN+ James Westling, Leger Douzable
ULM @ Troy 7:00 p.m. ESPN+
Featured game 1: No. 2 Georgia @ No. 4 Alabama 7:30 p.m. ABC Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit
Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Kalen DeBoer (R) greets offensive linenam Kadyn Proctor (74) prior to the game against the Wisconsin Badgers at Camp Randall Stadium on Sept. 14, 2024. (Jeff Hanisch/Imagn Images.)
ABC’s Saturday night slot gets its best matchup of the year to date, and maybe the best on any network. Both the Bulldogs and the Crimson Tide are 3-0 so far. There’s a bit of an irresistible force meets immovable object element here, as Alabama’s 49 points for per game are sixth in FBS . In comparison, Georgia’s only allowed 18 points through three games ( best overall in FBS, third on a points-per-game basis).
But while Nick Saban is no longer roaming the Crimson Tide sidelines, the Alabama defense has also continued strong under new head coach Kalen DeBoer. They’re sixth in FBS with 8.67 points allowed per game so far. And while the Bulldogs’ offense looked good in their first two games, it struggled in their last contest, a 13-12 win over Kentucky two weeks back. We’ll see what they can do here. Oh, and there’s a notable media dimension to this with former U.S. president Donald Trump expected to be in attendance ; how often will the broadcast show him, and how will they discuss him?
No. 19 Illinois @ No. 9 Penn State 7:30 p.m. NBC Noah Eagle, Todd Blackledge
Featured game 2 : No. 3 Ohio State @ Michigan State 7:30 p.m. Peacock Andrew Siciliano, Colt McCoy
Michigan State Spartans quarterback Aidan Chiles (2) runs the ball against the Boston College Eagles during the first half at Alumni Stadium on Sept. 21, 2024. (Eric Canha/Imagn Images.)
NBCUniversal streaming service Peacock really has a notable lineup this week. Yes, only Ohio State is ranked and undefeated (3-0), and they’re 23.5-point favorites , so maybe this won’t be a great game throughout. But the Spartans are 3-1 themselves; they’re coming off a loss to Boston College, but they’ve beat Florida Atlantic, Maryland, and Prairie View.
And Michigan State has been known for playing Big Ten spoiler at times, especially at home. We’ll see what QB Aidan Chiles can do for them; he’s thrown for 891 yards and four touchdowns so far but tossed seven picks. If he can produce more good than bad for them, this might be closer than some think. (And that may spark some people to subscribe to Peacock to see the finish quickly.)
South Alabama @ No. 14 LSU 7:45 p.m. SECN Dave Neal, Aaron Murray
Cincinnati @ Texas Tech 8:00 p.m. ESPN2 Brian Custer, Rod Gilmore
Florida State @ Southern Methodist 8:00 p.m. ACCN Wes Durham, Tom Luginbill
Air Force @ Wyoming 8:00 p.m. CBSSN Rich Waltz, Robert Turbin
New Mexico @ New Mexico State 8:00 p.m. ESPN+
Washington State @ No. 25 Boise State 10:00 p.m. FS1 Dan Hellie, Petros Papadakis
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