The 2016 college football season kicks off on Friday, Aug. 26, with a game Down Under as the Cal Golden Bears and Hawaii Rainbow Warriors play in Sydney, Australia. Here’s a rundown of the best Week 1 college football action, including ESPN’s coverage of what it hails as their best opening weekend schedule ever:
Friday, Aug. 26
Cal vs. Hawaii
ESPN, 10pm ET
The Cal Golden Bears and Hawaii Rainbow Warriors kick off the 2016 college football season at ANZ Stadium in Sydney, Australia.
Thursday, Sept. 1
South Carolina at Vanderbilt
ESPN, 8pm ET
ESPN’s coverage of college football’s opening week features the South Carolina Gamecocks at the Vanderbilt Commodores in a primetime SEC matchup in Nashville, Tenn.
Friday, Sept. 2
ESPN & FS1, beginning at 8pm ET
Week 1 of the college football season continues Friday night with the Colorado State Rams vs. the Colorado Buffaloes in Denver (ESPN, 8pm ET) and the Kansas State Wildcats at the Stanford Cardinal (FS1, 9pm ET).
Saturday, Sept. 3
ABC, CBS, ESPN, ESPN2 & FS1, beginning at 7:30am ET
It’s the first full Saturday of the 2016 college football season, and the schedule is packed with top matchups, including Georgia Tech vs. Boston College in Ireland (ESPN2, 7:30am ET), Oklahoma vs. Houston at NRG Stadium (ABC, 12pm ET), Hawaii at Michigan (ESPN, 12pm ET), UCLA at Texas A&M (CBS, 3:30pm ET), LSU vs. Wisconsin at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis. (ABC, 3:30pm ET), Georgia vs. North Carolina at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta (ESPN, 5:30pm ET), USC vs. Alabama at AT&T Stadium in Texas (ABC, 8pm ET), Clemson at Auburn (ESPN, 9pm ET) and Arizona vs. BYU at University of Phoenix Stadium (FS1, 10:30pm ET).
Sunday, Sept. 4
Notre Dame at Texas
ABC, 7:30pm ET
A rare Sunday college football matchup has the Notre Dame Fighting Irish heading down to Austin to face the Texas Longhorns in primetime on ABC.
Monday, Sept. 5
Ole Miss vs. Florida State
ESPN, 8pm ET
A Monday night college football clash on ESPN has the Ole Miss Rebels against the Florida State Seminoles at Camping World Stadium in Orlando.
ESPN’s College Football Schedule
Week 0
Friday, Aug. 26
Time (ET) |
Game |
Network |
10 p.m. |
Hawaii vs. Cal from ANZ Stadium in Sydney, Australia Allen Bestwick, Mike Bellotti and Warren Smith |
ESPN |
Saturday, Aug. 27
Time (ET) |
Game |
Network |
7:30 p.m. |
FCS Kickoff: No. 6 Charleston Southern at No. 1 North Dakota State Adam Amin, Mack Brown, Molly McGrath |
ESPN |
Week 1
Thursday, Sept. 1
Time (ET) |
Game |
Network |
7 p.m. |
Charlotte at Louisville |
ACC Network Extra* |
Tulane at Wake Forest |
ACC Network Extra |
|
Presbyterian at Central Michigan |
ESPN3 |
|
Tennessee-Martin at Cincinnati |
ESPN3 |
|
Maine at UConn |
ESPN3* |
|
7:30 p.m. |
Appalachian State at No. 11 Tennessee Brent Musburger, Jesse Palmer, Laura Rutledge |
SEC Network |
Indiana at Florida International Mike Couzens, Clint Stoerner |
ESPNU |
|
William & Mary at NC State |
ACC Network Extra |
|
8 p.m. |
South Carolina at Vanderbilt Mark Jones, Rod Gilmore, Quint Kessenich |
ESPN |
9 p.m. |
Montana State at Idaho |
ESPN3* |
Friday, Sept. 2
Time (ET) |
Game |
Network |
6 p.m. |
Mississippi Valley State at Eastern Michigan |
ESPN3 |
7 p.m. |
Colgate at Syracuse |
ACC Network Extra |
Albany at Buffalo |
ESPN3 |
|
Ball State at Georgia State |
ESPN3* |
|
8 p.m. |
Colorado State vs. Colorado from Sports Authority Field at Mile High in Denver, Colo. Adam Amin, Mack Brown, Molly McGrath |
ESPN |
9 p.m. |
Toledo at Arkansas State Roy Philpott, Clint Stoerner |
ESPNU |
Saturday, Sept. 3
Time (ET) |
Game |
Network |
7:30 a.m. |
Georgia Tech vs. Boston College from Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland Jason Benetti, Kelly Stouffer, Paul Carcaterra |
ESPN2 |
Noon |
2016 AdvoCare Texas Kickoff: No. 5 Oklahoma vs. No. 18 Houston from NRG Stadium in Houston Dave Pasch, Greg McElroy, Tom Luginbill |
ABC |
Hawaii at No. 3 Michigan Mike Patrick, Ed Cunningham, Dr. Jerry Punch |
ESPN |
|
Western Michigan at Northwestern Clay Matvick, Dusty Dvoracek |
ESPNU |
|
South Alabama at Mississippi State David Neal, Matt Stinchcomb, Olivia Harlan |
SEC Network |
|
Eastern Kentucky at Purdue Dave Lamont, Ray Bentley |
ESPNEWS |
|
Boise State at Louisiana-Lafayette |
ESPN3* |
|
12:30 p.m. |
Liberty at Virginia Tech |
ACC Network Extra* |
1:30 p.m. |
Villanova at Pittsburgh |
ACC Network Extra |
3:30 p.m. |
No. 6 LSU vs. Wisconsin from Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis. Steve Levy, Brian Griese, Todd McShay |
ABC |
Miami (Ohio) at No. 23 Iowa Eamon McAnaney, John Congemi |
ESPNU |
|
Richmond at Virginia |
ACC Network Extra |
|
4 p.m. |
Louisiana Tech at Arkansas Beth Mowins, Anthony Becht, Rocky Boiman |
SEC Network |
5:30 p.m. |
2016 Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game: No. 13 Georgia vs. No. 19 North Carolina from Georgia Dome in Atlanta TV: Bob Wischusen, Brock Huard, Allison Williams Radio: Marc Kestcher, Tom Ramsey |
ESPN and ESPN Radio |
6 p.m. |
North Carolina Central at Duke |
ACC Network Extra |
Florida A&M at Miami (Fla.) |
ACC Network Extra |
|
Western Carolina at East Carolina |
ESPN3 |
|
6:30 p.m. |
VMI at Akron |
ESPN3 |
7 p.m. |
Southeast Missouri State at Memphis |
ESPN3 |
South Carolina State at UCF |
ESPN3 |
|
Towson at South Florida |
ESPN3 |
|
Rhode Island at Kansas |
ESPN3* |
|
Oklahoma Panhandle State at Sam Houston State |
ESPN3 |
|
7:30 p.m. |
Southern Mississippi at Kentucky Anish Shroff, Ahmad Brooks |
ESPNU |
UMass at Florida Tom Hart, Andre Ware, Cole Cubelic |
SEC Network |
|
8 p.m. |
No. 12 USC vs. No. 1 Alabama from AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas TV: Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Samantha Ponder Radio: Bill Rosinski, David Norrie, and Ian Fitzsimmons |
ABC and ESPN Radio |
Coastal Carolina at Lamar |
ESPN3* |
|
9 p.m. |
No. 2 Clemson at Auburn Brent Musburger, Jesse Palmer, Kaylee Hartung |
ESPN |
Sunday, Sept. 4
Time |
Game |
Network |
1 p.m. |
2016 MEAC/SWAC Challenge: Alcorn State vs. Bethune-Cookman Eric Clemons, Jay Walker |
ESPN |
6 p.m. |
Texas Southern vs. Prairie View A&M Mark Neely, Forrest Conoly |
ESPNU |
7:30 p.m. |
No. 9 Notre Dame at Texas Joe Tessitore, Todd Blackledge, Holly Rowe |
ABC |
Monday, Sept. 5
Time |
Game |
Network |
8 p.m. |
2016 Camping World Kickoff: No. 14 Ole Miss vs. No. 4 Florida State from Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Fla. TV: Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Samantha PonderRadio: Bill Rosinski, David Norrie, Ian Fitzsimmons |
ESPN and ESPN Radio |
*Not exclusive
Please note: ESPN.com’s “way too early top 25” rankings were used for this release. ESPN will utilize AP Rankings once they come out on August 21 for the start of the season. FCS Rankings were only utilized for the FCS Kickoff and are per the FCS Coaches’ Poll (Aug. 8).
Schedule and commentators subject to change
ESPN’s Best College Football Opening Weekend Schedule Ever from ESPNFrontRow on Vimeo.