Week 1 College Football Weekend Viewing Guide & Open Thread

Welcome to Game Day! The 2023 Husky football season is finally here. And with it comes a whole host of other college football games. We’ve had some nice warm-ups over the past few days but the real meat and potatoes starts today.

I’ll be honest that this isn’t the greatest slate of games we’ve ever seen for a week one. The premier game of the weekend is on Sunday, not Saturday. There are zero ranked vs. ranked games today. But there are still plenty of chances to watch college football for those of us who are starved for that opportunity.

Let’s go!

SUGGESTED VIEWING GUIDE (all times PT)

SATURDAY GAMES

9:00 AM: Colorado at #17 TCU, FOX

DraftKings Betting Line: TCU -20.5

One way or another this will be interesting to most people. You probably either love Deion or hate him and there’s a decent chance that there will be some serious schadenfreude going on if you’re in the latter camp. The defending runner-ups lost a ton of talent to the NFL Draft but Colorado obviously revamped their entire team. They’re also just adding players who have already been dismissed from fellow Pac-12 schools this month. That doesn’t exactly seem like a great sign.

12:30 PM: Boise State at #10 Washington, ABC

DraftKings Betting Line: Washington -14

The Huskies always make the viewing guide (obviously) but I think it’s pretty clear this is the best game of the time slot for anyone who doesn’t have their own team involved. Are you really going to watch Ohio State versus Indiana instead? Rice at Texas? No. Go Dawgs.

4:30 PM: South Carolina at North Carolina, ABC

DraftKings Betting Line: North Carolina -2.5

Who doesn’t love a battle of the Carolinas? On top of that you have a battle of two high-powered quarterbacks with Heisman hopeful Drake Maye and post-Heisman hopeful Spencer Rattler. We’ll see whether UNC has improved their O-line and how the offense looks now that OC Phil Longo is instead in Madison, Wisconsin.

7:30 PM: Coastal Carolina at UCLA, ESPN

DraftKings Betting Line: UCLA -15

It’s a very underwhelming night slate on Saturday night. Your only options are this game, Sam Houston State at BYU, and FCS Northern Arizona at Arizona. If you want to maximize scouting opportunities for later UW opportunities then the Arizona game at 7p is the pick but I’m not sure how much their game against UNA is going to really tell you. Back to this game. Coastal Carolina lost coach Jamey Chadwell to Liberty so this should be a much easier opponent for UCLA than you would’ve seen in past years with the Chanticleers.

Sunday Games

9:00 AM: Northwestern at Rutgers, CBS

DraftKings Betting Line: Rutgers -6.5

Maybe this is a good morning for a bit of a lie-in...

12:30 PM: #18 Oregon State at San Jose State, CBS

DraftKings Betting Line: Oregon State -17

We got to watch USC's offense carve up San Jose State in week one and now we’ll see how Oregon State measures up in comparison. The Beavers are making the trip to San Jose rather than hosting them so it’s a little bit different but it will still be interesting to see the comparison.

4:30 PM: #5 LSU at #8 Florida State (Orlando, FL), ABC

DraftKings Betting Line: LSU -2.5

This is pretty clearly the best game of the weekend and it’s not really close. It’s the only ranked vs. ranked matchup and both teams are in the top-ten and seem viable College Football Playoff contenders if they win this game (or maybe even if they don’t but then go on to run the table). Last year was a wild affair with the Seminoles holding on by a single point following a late PAT block. One can only hope this edition is just as exciting.

Monday Games

5:00 AM: #9 Clemson at Duke, ESPN

DraftKings Betting Line: Clemson -12.5

The Labor Day special has a chance to be exciting. Duke QB Riley Leonard has shot up the draft boards this offseason and goes against a Clemson team with a new quarterback and offensive coordinator (Clemson took TCU OC Garrett Riley, brother of USC head coach Lincoln). If you don’t have labor day BBQ plans then it’s worth checking out the start to see if Duke can make a game of it.

Odds/lines subject to change. T&Cs apply. See draftkings.com/sportsbook for details.