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College Football 2018: How to binge-watch Week 1

By Patrick Mayhorn

PALO ALTO, CA - NOVEMBER 25: Brandon Wimbush #7 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish passes the ball against the Stanford Cardinal at Stanford Stadium on November 25, 2017 in Palo Alto, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
PALO ALTO, CA - NOVEMBER 25: Brandon Wimbush #7 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish passes the ball against the Stanford Cardinal at Stanford Stadium on November 25, 2017 in Palo Alto, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /

Thursday

New Mexico State at Minnesota, 7:00 p.m. EST, BTN

The first week Thursday games this season are a little bit underwhelming. You can usually get a couple pretty solid games in this slot, but they’re pretty weak this season, with just one matchup of two power five teams, and only four games really worth talking about at all. This is one of the two watchable games in the earlier (kind of) slot on Thursday night, and it’ll serve pretty well as an appetizer before the best games of the night come on an hour later.

One sentence sell: Minnesota is starting a true freshman walk on at quarterback in Zack Annexstad, so while New Mexico State isn’t very good, this one could still get dumb.

UCF at UConn, 7:00 p.m. EST, ESPNU

Well hey, the champs are playing this Thursday! UCF is obviously not the same team as they were last season, and I don’t expect them to be undefeated again, but they return a lot of talent, and should still be very fun to watch. Josh Heupel’s offense is delightful, and McKenzie Milton may be one of the five best quarterbacks in the country. UConn stinks, but UCF is worth watching, at least as a filler game for a little while.

One sentence sell: How could anyone pass up on watching this famous rivalry, The Civil ConFLiCT?

Wake Forest at Tulane, 8:00 p.m. EST, CBSSN

Looking for some fun offense to flip the channel to when the main event of the evening is on commercial or an exciting game to put on a second screen? This is quietly a very good candidate, and could be one of the more entertaining games of the week. Wake Forest and Tulane both run fun offenses, and I really can’t suggest watching a Willie Fritz option offense enough, it’s delightful and worth your time.

One sentence sell: Wake Forest is looking to replace star quarterback John Wolford, but the presumed starter is suspended, so there could be some upset potential from an upstart Tulane team.

Northwestern at Purdue, 8:00 p.m. EST, ESPN

The best game of the night, by far, is this early season Big Ten West showdown. Purdue and Northwestern are, in my opinion, the two biggest threats to Wisconsin in the West, so this will be a huge tell for which team is a legitimate contender, as well as a possible tie-break at the end of the season. Purdue’s offense should be very good this year, and Northwestern looks to be a top 25 caliber team, so this will be a lot of fun.

One sentence sell: You can probably skip all the other games this Thursday, but this game should be a great battle, and could be close to the very end.

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