While most people will be watching their favorite teams in Week 1, there are a few games that are college football fans should be watching.
Any good, loyal fan will be glued to the television when their favorite team plays in Week 1 of college football. There are a few games that most viewers will also take interest in based on some of the offseason drama we have experienced.
To start, we all want to know who Nick Saban is going to start under center for the Alabama Crimson Tide. On one hand, Jalen Hurts has taken Alabama to the National Championship two years in a row,and only has two losses in his college football career. On the other hand, Tua Tagovailoa put together one of the most spectacular halves of football ever seen in last year’s National Championship game.
To continue with headline quarterback battles, some question whether Kirby Smart is bold enough to get freshman Justin Fields some snaps under center early in the Georgia Bulldogs game against Austin Peay.
And lastly, everyone will be watching how Ohio State will perform without Urban Meyer on the sidelines in their game against Oregon State, despite the high certainty of a blowout win for the Buckeyes.
However, there are some other story lines that worth paying noting in Week 1. Here are a few games that may not be getting the attention they deserve.
Florida Atlantic at No. 7 Oklahoma
Baker Mayfield is gone. Yet, the Oklahoma Sooners are ranked at number seven in the polls.
Florida Atlantic has won 10 games in a row including a 50-3 win against Akron in the Cheribundi Tart Cherry Boca Raton Bowl at the end of last year.
With Lane Kiffen leading the Florida Atlantic Owls and Kyler Murray in is first start as a Sooner, Oklahoma is officially on upset alert.
Oklahoma was a field goal away from winning the 2017 Rose Bowl against Georgia and competing for the National Championship. Since Lincoln Riley’s arrival in Norman, Oklahoma, the Sooners have won three straight Big 12 Conference Championships. The first team in their way to a 4-peat is Florida Atlantic
FAU is full of talent and thoroughly underrated. Last year the Owl’s started off the season with losses against Navy and Wisconsin. The Owls lost a close game to Buffalo in Week 4, and from that point on, the team averaged scoring 51 points per game during their 10 game win streak. Now this was in Conference USA, and their defense gave up way too many points. Regardless, this Florida Atlantic team is dangerous.
No. 23 Texas at Maryland
It was only a few weeks ago that the University of Maryland football program was the talk of every sports network. And rightly so.
The athletic department and university accepted responsibility for the death of offensive lineman, Jordan McNair, and fired head strength and conditioning coach Rick Court (or he “resigned”). Now the team looks to earn its first win of the season against the Texas Longhorns at FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland. Things do not look good for the Maryland Terps, but in college football, the players play for each other, and the death of a teammate often inspires a team.
Texas is led by Tom Herman. Coach Herman is in his second year as the Longhorns coach and looking to improve on last year’s 7-6 record, including a win in the Texas Bowl against Missouri. I don’t want to say Herman is on the hot seat this early in the year, and last year was the Longhorns first winning season since 2013…but expectations of any coach at Texas are extremely high. Entering the year at 23 in the polls helps Coach Herman for now. However, this also means he can only improve 22 spots, yet fall much, much further.
If Maryland gives Texas some trouble this week, it will say a lot about both programs.
Tennessee at No. 17 West Virginia
Will Grier is the favorite to win the 2018 Heisman Trophy for many. And frankly, he has a great opportunity to earn the honors if he can take the West Virginia Mountaineers to the top of the Big 12. But it starts with Week 1. The first game of the year is a critical moment for a player to separate themselves from the pack in the Heisman Race. Gaining recognition right out of the gate leads to continued attention throughout the year.
As for the Tennessee Volunteers, uncertainty is high. Jeremy Pruitt makes his head coaching debut for a team that struggled tremendously last season. The Volunteers lost seven of their final eight games last year. Opening up at West Virginia won’t be an easy way to break the losing trend.
The potential story line here from Week 1 is that defensive guru, Jeremy Pruitt, shuts down the Heisman favorite in the first game of the year. An even bigger story is that Tennessee shocks Mountaineer nation as one of the first upsets of the year.