College Football 2018: 5 reasons to be excited about Week 1
4. Fun matchups
Week 1 has marquee matchups and we’ll get there in due time, but there are also some just flat-out fun ballgames to watch starting Aug. 30 and rolling through Sep. 1.
On Thursday night, Jeff Brohm‘s Purdue Boilermakers host the Northwestern Wildcats. Pat Fitzgerald‘s Wildcats are known for playing ball control football and having a stingy defense while Brohm is looking to light up the scoreboard in what could be his final season at Purdue before moving on to a bigger position (Louisville?).
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On Friday the 31st of August, San Diego State heads to Palo Alto to face the Stanford Cardinal. David Shaw‘s Cardinal team has Heisman Trophy runner-up Bryce Love at running back but Rocky Long‘s Aztecs have been one of the more potent run games in FBS football and the defense is going to be as good as always.
On Saturday, Sept. 1, Lane Kiffin’s FAU Owls travel to Norman, Okla., to face Lincoln Riley’s Sooners. The Sooners will have a new starting quarterback (we’ll get to that in further detail) while FAU is in a showcase position against a playoff squad.
Also on Saturday afternoon are two other fun matchups. The first is between Appalachian State and Penn State where the Mountaineers could play upset to the Nittany Lions. The second is Washington State taking a new starting quarterback up to Wyoming to face the Cowboys really good defense.
To close out the evening slate will be a great battle between the top of the Group of Five heap as Boise State travels to Alabama to face Troy. The winner could cement themselves into a playoff argument much like UCF a year ago as Troy also faces Power Five Nebraska while Boise State also faces a Power Five squad in Oklahoma State.
For the late game, Navy travels to Hawaii for an 11 p.m. ET kickoff. The Midshipmen and Warriors could wind up scoring 100 combined points if Hawaii’s offense stays this potent while Navy has been known for high scoring openers.