5 biggest games of college football Week 1

Week 0 is done and dusted. It is now time for all teams to play games. We have a few key games to start the 2024 season.

The #8 Penn State Nittany Lions travel to Morgantown to take on the West Virginia Mountaineers. Penn State enters as 8.5-point favorites, according to ESPN Bet.

Beginning with Penn State, they return star offensive pieces Drew Allar, Kaytron Allen, and Nicholas Singleton. The Nittany Lions achieved an average of 36.2 points per game in the 2023 season due to the contributions of these three key players.

They will look to repeat and start the season with a great win in Morgantown.

Now onto the side of the West Virginia Mountaineers. They return key players like CJ Donaldson Jr., Jahiem White, and Hudson Clement. Then add in breakout quarterback Garrett Greene, who led the Mountaineers to win five out of their last six games last season.

They will be hoping to continue what they built at the end of the season and start the season with a top-ten win at home.

Next, we have the #19 Miami Hurricanes traveling to Gainesville to take on the Florida Gators. Miami enters the game as 2.5-point favorites, according to ESPN Bet.

Beginning with the Miami Hurricanes. They had multiple key additions from the transfer portal. Those include quarterback Cameron Ward (Washington State), running back Damien Martinez (Oregon State), wide receiver Sam Brown (Houston), EDGE Tyler Baron (Louisville), and safety Mishael Powell (Washington).

All players listed played massive roles on their previous teams and should be expected to repeat in their first season in Miami.

Onto the Florida Gators; they start the season at home. The Gators will hope Graham Mertz has a repeat of last season and more. Just looking at their schedule, that might be tough, but they are hoping he will.

The Gators massively improved their defense via the transfer with additions like defensive lineman Joey Slackman (Penn), linebacker Grayson Howard (South Carolina), cornerback Jameer Grimsley (Alabama), cornerback Trikweze Bridges (Oregon), safety DJ Douglas (Tulane), and safety Asa Turner (Washington).

The defense should be massively improved during the 2024 season.

On Sunday night, the #23 USC Trojans are taking on the #13 LSU Tigers in Las Vegas, Nevada, in the Modelo Vegas Kickoff Classic. LSU enters the Modelo Vegas Kickoff Classic as 4-point favorites over the Trojans, according to ESPN Bet.

Both teams are coming into the season with a new quarterback. Starting with the Trojans. Miller Moss will be the starter after waiting his time behind Caleb Williams. USC's problem last season was their defense.

They brought in some good defensive talent through the transfer portal, like safety Kamari Ramsey (UCLA), linebacker Easton Mascarenas-Arnold (Oregon State), defensive lineman Nate Clifton (Vanderbilt), and safety Akili Arnold (Oregon State).

I will be curious to see if they made enough additions to help them adjust to the Big Ten, and this game will tell us many things.

Onto the LSU Tigers. The Tigers had Jayden Daniels, who won the Heisman Trophy and went to the NFL. The new starter will be Garrett Nussmeier, who was the backup similar to Miller Moss.

LSU upgraded on the offensive side of the ball with the additions of wide receiver CJ Daniels (Liberty) and wide receiver Zavion Thomas (Mississippi State). Both were great for their respective teams last season. They will help Garrett Nussmeier adjust to becoming the starter for the LSU Tigers.

Next, the #7 Notre Dame Fighting Irish travel to College Station to take on the #20 Texas A&M Aggies. The Aggies enter the game as 3-point home favorites.

Starting with Notre Dame. Notre Dame will once again have a transfer quarterback starting for them.

Last season it was Sam Hartman, who transferred in from Wake Forest, and now they have Riley Leonard, who transferred in from Duke. Similar to LSU, Notre Dame had key additions on offense from the transfer portal.

Those include wide receiver Kris Mitchell (Florida International), wide receiver Beaux Collins (Clemson), and wide receiver Jayden Harrison (Marshall). The Fighting Irish also lost their starting running back Audric Estime to the NFL.

They have a young but very talented running back room. Great test in College Station for a new offense.

Onto Texas A&M, they return Conner Weigman as the starting quarterback. He only played in four games last season due to injury. Mike Elko had one clear priority when he was hired as the Texas A&M head coach during the offseason.

He wants to improve the defense. He added players like EDGE Nic Scourton (Purdue), Cornerback Dezz Ricks (Alabama), EDGE Cashius Howell (Bowling Green), cornerback Will Lee III (Kansas State), safety Marcus Ratcliffe (San Diego State), and linebacker Scooby Williams (Florida).

Many more names were added to the defense that should be massively improved during the 2024 season.

And finally, the #14 Clemson Tigers are taking on the #1 Georgia Bulldogs in the Aflac Kickoff in Atlanta, Georgia.

Starting with the Clemson Tigers. Cade Klubnik is hoping to take a big jump during the 2024 season. Phil Mafah will be there to help him along the way. The Tigers are hoping to perform better than when they played the Bulldogs back in 2021 when they lost 10-3.

Georgia will be ready for this game; they are arguably the best team in college football. The Bulldogs return the likes of Carson Beck, Dominic Lovett, Smael Mondon Jr., Malaki Starks, CJ Allen, and Rara Thomas.

They also added wide receiver London Humphreys (Vanderbilt), wide receiver Colbie Young (Miami), running back Trevor Etienne (Florida), defensive lineman Xzavier McLeod (South Carolina), and tight end Ben Yurosek (Stanford).

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