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

UNC at Appalachian State

September 3 at 12 PM ET on ESPNU

North Carolina heads into “The Rock” at Kidd Brewer Stadium in Boone, North Carolina for an intimate Group of 5 versus Power 5 Week 1 college football matchup.

While Kidd Brewer Stadium (24,000 capacity) is about a third of the size of North Carolina’s Kenan Memorial Stadium (63,000 capacity), it’s going to feel like the fans are on the field with the players.

And the Virginian-Pilot newspaper once wrote about “The Rock” as an unheralded place to play. “Among the game’s mid-major schools, there is no more difficult place to play,” they wrote back in 2016.

App State’s Camerun Peoples and North Carolina’s British Brooks are both on the Doak Walker Award Watchlist to start the 2022 college football season, so expect some exciting offensive plays from both teams.

Cincinnati at Arkansas

September 3 at 3:30 PM ET on ESPN

The Arkansas Razorbacks, one of the biggest surprises in all of college football last season, face a tough test against the Cincinnati Bearcats in Fayetteville in the first week of college football games.

Fresh off their appearance in last year’s College Football Playoff, Cincinnati will have a massive chip on their shoulder in 2022. They want to prove that they belong in the conversation as perennial contenders before they make the move to the Big 12 and graduate to a Power 5 conference.

The Bearcats lost a ton of talent on both sides of the ball to the NFL, but Head Coach Luke Fickell is one of the best recruiters and coaches in college football. Expect LB Deshawn Pace to have a huge game. He didn’t start many games last season, but ended up being one of the top tacklers on the team— it’s a big reason why he’s on the Butkus Award Preseason Watch List along with his brother, Ivan Pace, who transferred over from Miami (Ohio).

These two guys will look to keep Arkansas QB KJ Jefferson, who loves to run the football, in check at the line of scrimmage.

Arkansas will be favored in the game, but Cincinnati has more to prove and may be able to upset the Hogs on the road. This is going to be an incredibly fun game for fans to watch in Week 1.