Circle these Group of 5 vs Power 5 college football games in Week 1

We pick the best Group of 5 vs Power 5 games to circle on your Week 1 college football calendar

We are less than one month away from actual college football games being played and to celebrate, we’re taking a look at some Group of 5 teams that are squaring off against Power 5 teams in the very first week of the college football season.

There are a ton of options to choose from since Power 5 schools love to bring in a smaller foe to act as a tune-up before getting into the meat of their conference schedule.

Before we dive in, a few shout-outs that just missed the cut: Utah State at Alabama, Colorado State at Michigan, NC State at East Carolina, Rice at USC— all taking place Sept. 3.

I tried to identify games that will be the most intriguing from an entertainment perspective and a competitive standpoint. With that being said, let’s dive in.

Vanderbilt at Hawaii

August 27 at 10:30 PM ET on CBSSN

The Rainbow Warriors of Hawaii (6-7 in 2021) host the Vanderbilt Commodores (2-10 in 2021) of the SEC in this intriguing Week 0 college football matchup. On the surface, you may ask yourself why you might tune in to watch two teams that had losing records in 2021. But, there are plenty of storylines in one of the earliest college football games of the entire season.

Hawaii takes the field for the first time under new head coach Timmy Chang, whom many will remember as the former star quarterback for the Warriors from 2000-2004. How will he look orchestrating an entire team for the very first time? He’d previously been a position coach at Nevada since 2017.

Vanderbilt, the butt of all SEC jokes, would love nothing more than to start their season off 1-0 — something they have not done since 2018.

This is an opportunity for Vanderbilt to show how wide the gap is between the renowned SEC speed versus a team from the Group of 5 that, on paper, is perceived to have less talent.

While some may consider this a “Week 0” game, it still makes the list since it’s each team’s first game of the season and both teams have a lot to prove in the first game. Plus, how could you not love the setting: Honolulu, Hawaii at the tail end of summer, and there’s not much else on TV late at night in August.