200 days out, the 10 best games of college football’s opening weekend

OK, the Super Bowl is over and now comes the long nuclear winter for football fans – no games that truly matter until August. But fear not: We’re just 200 days away from the start of the real first weekend of college football.

We say “real” because Week 0 games will be played August 26. But there is just one game that day involving a Power 5 team (USC vs. San Jose State), and the 2023 college football season truly gets under way August 31 – which is 200 days away.

Here are the 10 best games of the opening weekend.

10. Ohio State at Indiana

Date: September 2
The buzz: This is the second time in three seasons that Ohio State (11-2 in 2022) has opened the season on the road against a conference foe. (The Buckeyes beat Minnesota 45-31 to open the ’21 season.) You know, that’s not a nice way to treat a league standard-bearer. This will be the first game of the post-CJ Stroud era, but while the quarterback question figures to get the bulk of the offseason attention, the rest of the Buckeyes’ offense looks quite good. Indiana (4-8 in ’22) again figures to be one of the weaker teams in the Big Ten. The Hoosiers have surrendered 301 points to the Buckeyes in their past six meetings; that’s 50 points per game.

9. South Alabama at Tulane

Date: September 2
The buzz: This is one of two opening-weekend games matching teams that won at least 10 games last season (the other is on this list, as well). Tulane was one of the nation’s biggest surprises in 2022, going 12-2 and winning the Cotton Bowl a season after finishing 2-10. While star RB Tyjae Spears is gone, standout QB Michael Pratt returns. The wide receiving corps needs to be rebuilt, but the defense should be better in 2023 than it was in 2022. South Alabama (10-3 in 2022) is a defense-first team that returns 10 of its top 11 tacklers. RB La’Damian Webb, a 1,000-yard rusher, returns, as does starting QB Carter Bradley.

8. Boise State at Washington

Date: September 2
The buzz: This is the first regular-season meeting since 2015, though the teams did meet in the 2019 Las Vegas Bowl. That was the final game for then-Huskies coach Chris Petersen. This game will kick off Washington QB Michael Penix’s Heisman “campaign.” He led the nation in passing yards per game in 2022 and guided the Huskies to a surprising 11-2 record. This season’s team should be even better and legitimately in the hunt for the Pac-12 title. Boise State was 10-4 in 2022 and lost in the Mountain West title game. The Broncos became more run-oriented than usual last season, but can they run on the Huskies?

7. Nebraska at Minnesota

Date: August 31
The buzz: The first game of the Matt Rhule era is a Big Ten West showdown against a Minnesota program that has won four in a row and five of six vs. the Huskers. This is the third season in a row that Nebraska has opened the season with a conference game. How will the offenses look? Minnesota (9-4 in ’22) must replace 1,600-yard rusher Mohamed Ibrahim. Nebraska (4-8 in ’22) will have a new look on that side of the ball under coordinator Marcus Satterfield, who had been at South Carolina.

6. UTSA at Houston

Date: September 2
The buzz: Both will be playing their first games in new conferences. UTSA (11-3 in 2022) is moving from Conference USA to the AAC, and Houston (8-5 in ’22) is moving from the AAC to the Big 12. UTSA’s biggest advantage is QB Frank Harris, who will be a seventh-year senior and a fourth-year starter. He has thrown 59 TD passes in the past two seasons. Houston will be breaking in a new quarterback and will be looking for defensive improvement after a lackluster showing in 2022. The Cougars beat the Roadrunners 37-35 in overtime in 2022.

5. West Virginia at Penn State

Date: September 2
The buzz: This will be the first meeting since 1992; the teams played annually from 1947-92. The “rivalry” was one-sided, for sure: Penn State leads 48-9-2. They also will meet in 2024, in Morgantown; this two-game set was announced in 2013. Penn State was 11-2 in 2022 and expectations are high for ’23. QB Drew Allar ascends to the starting job, and his performance will determine how the season goes. WVU has had back-to-back losing seasons and also had a losing record in 2019. In short, there is a ton of pressure on fifth-year coach Neal Brown to get things right.  

4. Florida at Utah

Date: August 31
The buzz: The Gators (6-7 in 2022) beat the Utes (10-4 in ’22) in Gainesville in the opening game of the 2022 season, which was the best win of Billy Napier’s first year. These Gators will have a new quarterback (much-maligned Wisconsin transfer Graham Mertz), a rebuilt offensive line and a revamped receiving corps. In addition, the hope is that an influx of young talent helps the defense get a lot stingier. Utah has won the past two Pac-12 titles, but returning starting QB Cameron Rising just had ACL surgery. Utah returns four starting offensive linemen as well as eight defensive starters.

3. North Carolina vs. South Carolina

Date: September 2
Neutral site: Charlotte
The buzz: A couple of interesting subplots with this one. The biggest is Tar Heels QB Drake Maye, who figures to be a Heisman frontrunner, vs. Gamecocks QB Spencer Rattler, who at one time was a presumptive Heisman favorite while at Oklahoma. Both are coming off surprisingly good seasons, though in different ways. UNC (9-5) played great early, then tailed off. The Gamecocks (8-5) struggled early, then played well, then struggled, then played well again. Maye makes UNC one of the favorites in the ACC; South Carolina looks as if it could vie for third in the SEC East. This will be the 60^th meeting, but just the sixth since 1991 and 10^th since 1983.

2. Colorado at TCU

Date: September 2
The buzz: TCU is coming off an appearance in the national title game. Colorado, meanwhile, was 1-11 in 2022 and the worst Power 5 program in the nation. But this has a ton of intrigue because it will be the Colorado debut for Deion Sanders, who has mined the transfer portal (26 newcomers) and recruited well in an attempt to start a rebuild. TCU will have a new starting quarterback, a rebuilt receiving corps and much higher expectations than it had in 2022.

1. Florida State vs. LSU

Date: September 3
Neutral site: Orlando
The buzz: This is the other opening-week matchup involving teams that each won at least 10 games in 2022. LSU was 10-4, Florida State 10-3. FSU edged LSU 24-23 in 2022. It figures to be a match of preseason top-10 teams; at worst, it will be two teams in the preseason top 15. Both return quarterbacks coming off big seasons: LSU’s Jayden Daniels and FSU’s Jordan Travis. Both return defenders in line for big seasons: LSU LB Harold Perkins and FSU DE Jared Verse. And both also look to have hit it big in the transfer portal. In short, this is a big one and well-suited for a prime-time spot on Sunday night.