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.
Troy @ South Alabama 7:30 p.m. ESPN2 Clay Matvick, Steve Addazio
Kennesaw State @ Middle Tennessee 8:00 p.m. CBSSN Jordan Kent, Logan Ryan
Featured matchup: Louisiana Tech @ New Mexico State 9:00 p.m. ESPNU Mike Corey, Forrest Conoly
Louisiana Tech against NC State on Sept. 14, 2024. (Jaylynn Nash/Imagn Images.)
All of Tuesday’s matchups feature sub-.500 teams on both sides, but the Conference USA clash of the 2-3 Bulldogs at the 1-5 Aggies does have some interesting elements. Louisiana Tech has wins over Middle Tennessee (a 48-21 home win last week) and Nicholls, plus a 23-20 overtime loss to Tulsa and a 10-point loss to NC State. The Aggies are having a rough year, including a 54-13 thumping from Jacksonville State and Rich Rodriguez in last week’s Wednesday featured game , and their only win was against Southeast Missouri State in their season opener. But they only lost by six to Conference USA favorite Liberty on Sept. 7, and they did beat Auburn 31-10 last year.
These teams are former WAC opponents, which is why this will be their 14th matchup but just their second in CUSA. Louisiana Tech QB Evan Bullock is one player to watch; he threw for 290 yards and five touchdowns against Middle Tennessee, and was named CUSA player of the week. For New Mexico State, keep an eye on big-play threat WR PJ Johnson III, who leads the Aggies with 156 receiving yards on just nine catches (17.3 yards per catch).
Wednesday, Oct. 16
Featured matchup: Western Kentucky @ Sam Houston 7:00 p.m. ESPN2 Lowell Galindo, Fozzy Whittaker
Sam Houston’s Michael Phoenix II (4) against UTEP on Oct. 3, 2024. (Omar Omelas/El Paso Times, via Imagn Images.)
This CUSA clash Wednesday looks a lot more promising, with the 4-2 Hilltoppers travelling to take on the 5-1 Bearkats. WKU is coming off a 44-17 thumping of UTEP last week and a one-point loss to Boston College before that. Sam Houston had a bye last week, but also thumped UTEP (41-21) the week before to follow up a one-point home win over Texas State.
Bearkats’ QB Hunter Watson is an intriguing figure, leading the team in both passing (859) and rushing (370) yards to date. He was selected as the winner of the Manning Award (a Sugar Bowl fan vote) two weeks back after leading Sam Houston to that 40-39 win against Texas State, which featured the largest (18-point) comeback in program history, and he’s been one of the top rushing quarterbacks in the country this season. Meanwhile, Western Kentucky will counter with Caden Veltkamp, who has thrown for 1,147 yards and 11 touchdowns (against five interceptions) so far this year.
Florida International @ UTEP 9:00 p.m. CBSSN Dave Ryan, Brock Vereen
Thursday, Oct. 17
Georgia State @ Marshall 7:00 p.m. ESPN2 Matt Schumacker, Dustin Fox
Featured game: Boston College @ Virginia Tech 7:30 p.m. ESPN Matt Barrie, Dan Mullen
Virginia Tech QB Kyron Drones against Miami on Sept. 27, 2024. (Sam Navarro/Imagn Images.)
This ACC clash has some merits. The Eagles looked solid early on this year, including beating then-No. 10 Florida State in their opener. But they’re in tougher straits recently, barely surviving Western Kentucky two games ago and falling 24-14 to Virginia in their last game (where they blew a 14-point lead) to drop to 4-2. Meanwhile, the Hokies are just 3-3 on the year, but thumped Stanford 31-7 last game and narrowly fell 38-34 to then-No. 8 Miami the game before. Both teams are coming off byes here, so they should be fresh.
Boston College quarterback Thomas Castellanos has thrown for 983 yards and 12 TDs with a 67.0 percent completion mark (against four interceptions). By contrast, Virginia Tech’s Kyron Drones has thrown for 1,155 yards and eight touchdowns with a 61.0 percent completion mark (against four interceptions), but has rushed for 278 yards and three touchdowns to Castellanos’ 103 and 1. And Drones looked great in the Hokies’ last game against Stanford, throwing for 201 yards and two touchdowns with a 73.7 percent completion mark and no interceptions while also rushing for 17 yards and another touchdown. We’ll see what he can do against the Eagles.
Friday, Oct. 18
Florida State @ Duke 7:00 p.m. ESPN2 Mike Monaco, Kirk Morrison
Brown @ Princeton 7:00 p.m. ESPNU Eric Frede, Jack Ford
Featured game: No. 2 Oregon @ Purdue 8:00 p.m. Fox Tim Brando, Devin Gardner
Fox gets one of the country’s hottest teams for their Friday night window this week, and one coming off a massive win over Ohio State (with late controversy !) that drew big viewership numbers for NBC. The 1-5 Boilermakers don’t seem like a huge threat for the 6-0 Ducks at first glance, but there have been plenty of CFB upsets under Friday night lights in particular, and Purdue at least put up a heck of a fight in a 50-49 overtime road loss at Illinois last week.
For the Boilermakers, there’s some reason for optimism around redshirt freshman QB Ryan Browne. He took over for starter Hudson Card (concussion symptoms) last week and promptly accounted for 415 total yards (297 passing) and three passing touchdowns, and he’ll get the start again this week (with it unclear if Card will be available). Meanwhile, Oregon QB Dillon Gabriel has thrown for 1,790 yards (with a 76.1 percent completion mark) and 13 touchdowns against three interceptions to date, including 341 against Ohio State last week. We’ll see what he can do against Purdue.
Oklahoma State @ No. 13 BYU 10:15 p.m. ESPN Anish Shroff, Andre Ware
Fresno State @ Nevada 10:30 p.m. CBSSN John Sadak, Taylor McHargue
Saturday, Oct. 19, early window
Featured game 1: No. 6 Miami (FL) @ Louisville 12:00 p.m. ABC Joe Tessitore, Jordan Rodgers
Tessitore was on the call (alongside Jesse Palmer) for an incredible early game last week with South Carolina’s almost-upset of then-No. 7 Alabama. Will the JoeTess Effect strike again here? Louisville went 10-4 in Jeff Brohm’s HC debut last year and is 4-2 so far, including a 24-20 win over Virginia last week. (They lost the two before that, though, to SMU and Notre Dame.) Meanwhile, Miami is 6-0, but barely survived 39-38 against Cal in their last game, the GameDay game two weeks back.
For the Hurricanes, QB Cam Ward is getting Heisman buzz, throwing for 2,219 yards (second-most in FBS) so far with a 69.2 percent completion mark and 20 touchdowns against five interceptions. But Louisville’s Tyler Shough is no slouch, throwing for 1,674 yards to date and thriving in the system run by Brohm and his brother Brian, both former Cardinals’ QBs who went to play in the NFL and beyond before turning to coaching. This could wind up as quite an aerial duel.
Featured game 2: Nebraska @ No. 16 Indiana 12:00 p.m. Fox Gus Johnson, Joel Klatt
The Hoosiers are undefeated through six games for the first time since 1967 , led by first-year coach Curt Cignetti and Canadian quarterback Kurtis Rourke (the younger brother of former NFL and current CFL QB Nathan ). Rourke has thrown for 1,752 yards and 14 touchdowns with a 73.8 percent completion rate (against two interceptions) so far, with Elijah Sarratt (513 receiving yards and two touchdowns, plus an average of 17.7 yards per catch) a favorite target.
The 5-1 Huskers won’t be an easy opponent, though. Their only loss to date was a Sept. 20 overtime one against Illinois, and they’re coming off wins over Rutgers and Purdue. Their defense is 13th in FBS with 272.5 yards allowed per game and seventh with 11.7 points allowed per. This could be a defensive battle, as Indiana also doesn’t give up many yards (255.7, sixth nationally), but allows a few more points (14.8, 11th).
Featured game 1: No. 7 Alabama @ No. 11 Tennessee 3:30 p.m. ABC Sean McDonough, Greg McElroy
After that narrow escape against South Carolina last week, there are a lot of eyes on the Tide. This 5-1 Alabama team has maybe this season’s best ranked-on-ranked win (a 41-34 victory over then-No. 1 Georgia on Sept. 28), but also its most inexplicable upset (a 40-35 loss to Vanderbilt two weeks back). Head coach Kalen DeBoer, in his first season following Nick Saban, is certainly facing plenty of pressure.
For Tennessee and head coach Josh Heupel, in his fourth season there, the defense has been key to their 5-1 start so far. They’re second nationally in yards allowed per game at just 247.3, and fourth in points allowed (10.7). But the offense has been more questionable; they only scored 14 in a 19-14 loss to Arkansas two weeks back, and needed overtime to edge Florida 23-17 last week. QB Nico Iamaleava had one of his worst games last week , throwing for just 169 yards and no touchdowns with two turnovers. We’ll see what he can do against the Tide.
Featured game 2: No. 24 Michigan @ No. 22 Illinois 3:30 p.m. CBS Brad Nessler, Gary Danielson
It’s been a tough season for reigning champions Michigan so far. The Wolverines are 4-2 heading into this clash, and they’re coming off a 27-17 road loss at Washington two weeks back. Will Sherrone Moore have been able to use their bye to get this team back focused and on track? Meanwhile, Bret Bielema’s 5-1 Illini only edged Purdue by the aforementioned point last week, but they’re having a strong year, with their only loss one to Penn State two weeks back.
For the Illini, QB Luke Altmyer has been key to a lot of the success so far (1,426 passing yards and 14 touchdowns with a 67.7 percent completion mark and one interception). But they’ve also gotten some traction on the ground with the two-headed attack of Kaden Feagin (67 carries for 303 yards and three touchdowns) and Josh McCray (41 carries for 181 yards and three touchdowns). We’ll see what they can do against a weaker-than-usual Michigan defense that’s giving up 336.2 yards and 22.3 points per game to date.
No. 12 Notre Dame vs Georgia Tech 3:30 p.m. ESPN Bob Wischusen, Louis Riddick
Florida A&M @ Jackson State 3:30 p.m. ESPNU Tiffany Greene, Jay Walker
Hawaii @ Washington State 3:30 p.m. CW Ted Robinson, Michael Bumpus
N.C. State @ California 3:30 p.m. ACCN Jorge Sedano, Orlando Franklin
Charlotte @ No. 25 Navy 3:30 p.m. CBSSN Carter Blackburn, Adam Brenemen
USC @ Maryland 4:00 p.m. FS1 Eric Collins, Robert Smith
New Mexico @ Utah State 4:00 p.m. TruTV Ari Wolfe, Darius Walker
Wyoming @ San Jose State 4:00 p.m. NBCS Bay Area, MWC Digital
James Madison @ Georgia Southern 4:00 p.m. ESPN+
No. 14 Texas A&M @ Mississippi State 4:15 p.m. SECN Taylor Zarzour, Matt Stinchcomb
Saturday, Oct. 19, evening/late-night window
Featured game 1: No. 8 LSU @ Arkansas 7:00 p.m. ESPN Mark Jones, Roddy Jones
The 5-1 Tigers won a close one 29-26 in overtime against Ole Miss last week, but they now come into a Battle for the Boot that’s often seen some upsets. And Sam Pittman, in his fifth season at the Razorbacks’ helm, has pulled off some notable underdog victories there, including beating Tennessee last week. 4-2 Arkansas is definitely a team Brian Kelly and LSU can’t overlook, especially on the road.
For the Razorbacks, RB Ja’Quinden Jackson is a player to watch. The Utah transfer has been key to their offense so far, rushing for 566 yards and 10 touchdowns on 99 carries (5.7 yards per carry) to date. And LSU’s often-vaunted defense has looked a bit weaker this year, allowing 372.0 yards per game (127.7 on the ground) and 22.3 points per game. We’ll see what Jackson and Arkansas can do against them this week.
Ball State @ Vanderbilt 7:00 p.m. ESPN+, SECN+ Richard Cross, Charles Arbuckle
Arkansas State @ Southern Mississippi 7:00 p.m. ESPN+
Featured game 2: No. 5 Georgia @ No. 1 Texas 7:30 p.m. ABC Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit
Maybe the day’s best game comes in the primetime window here. The Bulldogs have just that one blemish on the season, the aforementioned loss to Alabama, and they’re coming off wins over Mississippi State and Auburn since then. Meanwhile, the unbeaten Longhorns are coming off a dominant 34-3 rivalry win over Oklahoma, and have some other good wins to date (particularly a 31-12 road thumping of Michigan on Sept. 7), but many have been wondering how they’ll match up against Georgia.
For the Bulldogs, QB Carson Beck has thrown for 1,818 yards and 15 touchdowns with a 67.9 percent completion mark to date, while RBs Trevor Etienne and Nate Frazier have picked up 335 and 194 rushing yards so far. For Texas, Quinn Ewers is back after missing time due to an abdominal strain (which led to backup Arch Manning actually being the team’s passing leader to date with 901 yards versus Ewers’ 890), but only threw for 199 yards with a touchdown and an interception last week. We’ll see what he can do against the Bulldogs.
No. 17 Kansas State @ West Virginia 7:30 p.m. Fox Connor Onion, Mark Helfrich
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