College Football Returns With a Four‑Day Kickoff Weekend
College football is back, and the opening weekend delivers a massive slate stretching from Thursday through Monday. Fans can settle in for wall‑to‑wall action across ABC, FOX, ESPN, CBS, NBC, TNT, ACCN, BTN, SECN and multiple streaming platforms. The schedule features ranked teams, neutral‑site showdowns, conference openers and dozens of regional broadcasts.
Below is the complete viewing guide for all four days, including networks, times and broadcast crews.
Thursday, September 3
Massachusetts at Rutgers 6:00 PM ET — BTN Jason Horowitz, Anthony Herron
Akron at Wake Forest 7:00 PM ET — ACCN Matt Schick, Forrest Conoly
Bethune‑Cookman at UCF 7:00 PM ET — ESPN+ Eric Rothman, Doc Holliday
Merrimack at Delaware 7:00 PM ET — ESPN+
West Georgia at Kennesaw State 7:00 PM ET — ESPN+
Albany at Buffalo 7:00 PM ET — ESPN+ Michael Reghi, Je’Rod Cherry
Colorado at Georgia Tech 8:00 PM ET — ESPN Matt Barrie, Chase Daniel
UAPB at 25 Missouri 8:00 PM ET — SECN Chuckie Kempf, Dustin Fox
Eastern Illinois at Minnesota 8:00 PM ET — Peacock / NBCSN Jason Benetti, Yogi Roth
Idaho at 21 Utah 9:00 PM ET — ESPNU Pete Sousa, Leger Douzable
UAB at Illinois 9:00 PM ET — BTN Mark Followill, Rhett Lewis
Friday, September 4
San José State at Eastern Michigan 6:30 PM ET — ESPN+ Evan Stockton, Marcus Ray
Indiana State at Purdue 7:00 PM ET — BTN Chris Vosters, Ryan Kerrigan
N.C. A&T at Georgia State 7:00 PM ET — ESPN+
Toledo at Michigan State 8:00 PM ET — FS1 Noah Reed, Petros Papadakis
Long Island at Kansas 8:00 PM ET — ESPNU Mark Neely, Jeff Woody
UTEP at 10 Oklahoma 8:00 PM ET — SECN+ Ted Emrich, Fozzy Whittaker
Fresno State at 14 USC 9:00 PM ET — FOX Connor Onion, Robert Griffin III
Saturday, September 5
East Carolina at 13 Alabama 12:00 PM ET — ABC Bob Wischusen, Louis Riddick
North Texas at 6 Indiana 12:00 PM ET — FOX Gus Johnson, Joel Klatt
Oregon State at 23 Houston 12:00 PM ET — ESPN / Disney+ Anish Shroff, Andre Ware
Ohio at Nebraska 12:00 PM ET — FS1 Eric Collins, Spencer Tillman
Coastal Carolina at West Virginia 12:00 PM ET — TNT J.B. Long, Mike Golic Jr., Coy Wire
New Hampshire at Syracuse 12:00 PM ET — ACCN Roxy Bernstein, Dave Clawson
Bryant at Army 12:00 PM ET — CBSSN
Liberty at James Madison 12:00 PM ET — ESPNU Cooper Boardman, Craig Haubert
Tarleton State at Bowling Green 12:00 PM ET — ESPN+ Kelsie Kasper, Ryan Cavanaugh
Lafayette at Connecticut 12:00 PM ET — WWAX (Hartford), uconnhuskies.com
Miami (OH) at Pittsburgh 12:30 PM ET — CW Thom Brennaman, Jason Cabinda
Ball State at 1 Ohio State 12:30 PM ET — BTN Jeff Levering, Jake Butt
Kent State at South Carolina 12:45 PM ET — SECN Taylor Zarzour, Matt Stinchcomb
Youngstown State at Kentucky 1:00 PM ET — SECN+ Kevin Fitzgerald, Charlie Strong
Southeast Missouri State at Iowa State 1:00 PM ET — ESPN+ Shawn Kenney, Todd Doxzon
Duquesne at Air Force 1:00 PM ET — MW+
Rhode Island at Temple 2:00 PM ET — ESPN+
Tennessee State at 3 Georgia 3:00 PM ET — SECN+ Clay Matvick, Rocky Boiman
Baylor vs Auburn (Atlanta) 3:30 PM ET — ABC / Disney+ Joe Tessitore, Jesse Palmer
Boise State at 2 Oregon 3:30 PM ET — CBS Brad Nessler, Charles Davis
Boston College at Cincinnati 3:30 PM ET — FOX Tim Brando, Devin Gardner
Texas State at 5 Texas 3:30 PM ET — ESPN Roy Philpott, Brock Osweiler
Marshall at 18 Penn State 3:30 PM ET — FS1 Jack Kizer, Mark Helfrich
Tulane at Duke 3:30 PM ET — ACCN Jorge Sedano, Rodney McLeod
Towson at Navy 3:30 PM ET — CBSSN Chris Lewis, Randy Cross
Furman at 20 Tennessee 3:30 PM ET — SECN+ Richard Cross, Max Starks
The Citadel at Charlotte 3:30 PM ET — ESPN+
UT Rio Grande Valley at UTSA 3:30 PM ET — ESPN+
Maine at Appalachian State 3:30 PM ET — ESPN+
Fordham at North Dakota State 3:30 PM ET — ABC North Dakota / MW+
Oklahoma State at Tulsa 3:45 PM ET — ESPNU Mike Corey, Barrett Brooks
Northern Illinois at 22 Iowa 4:15 PM ET — BTN Mark Followill, Rhett Lewis
North Alabama at Arkansas 4:15 PM ET — SECN Dave Neal, Cole Cubelic
Alcorn State at Southern Miss 5:00 PM ET — ESPN+
Wyoming at Colorado State 6:00 PM ET — USA Nate Gatter, Ryan Leaf
Norfolk State at Old Dominion 6:00 PM ET — ESPN+
Missouri State at 8 Texas A&M 7:00 PM ET — ESPN Lowell Galindo, Kirk Morrison
Abilene Christian at 12 Texas Tech 7:00 PM ET — FS1 Dan Hellie, Robert Smith
Idaho State at Utah State 7:00 PM ET — CBSSN Jordan Kent, Robert Turbin
Austin Peay at Vanderbilt 7:00 PM ET — SECN+ Courtney Lyle, Rene Ingoglia
Nicholls at Kansas State 7:00 PM ET — ESPN+ Mark Neely, Jeff Woody
Arkansas State at Memphis 7:00 PM ET — ESPN+
Houston Christian at Rice 7:00 PM ET — ESPN+
Florida International at South Florida 7:00 PM ET — ESPN+
Murray State at Middle Tennessee 7:00 PM ET — ESPN+ Jake Rose, Jeremy Kellem
Eastern Kentucky at Jacksonville State 7:00 PM ET — ESPN+
Charleston Southern at Georgia Southern 7:00 PM ET — ESPN+ Adam Young, Frank Sulkowski
SE Louisiana at South Alabama 7:00 PM ET — ESPN+
Sam Houston at Troy 7:00 PM ET — ESPN+ Will Kollmeyer, Ben Stanfield
Clemson at 11 LSU 7:30 PM ET — ABC Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit
Western Michigan at 16 Michigan 7:30 PM ET — NBC Noah Eagle, Todd Blackledge
ULM at Mississippi State 7:30 PM ET — ESPNU Doug Sherman, Tom Luginbill
VMI at Virginia Tech 7:30 PM ET — ACCN Wes Durham, Max Browne
Northwestern State at Louisiana Tech 7:30 PM ET — ESPN+
Florida Atlantic at Florida 7:45 PM ET — SECN Matt Schumacker, Aaron Murray
Hampton at Maryland 8:00 PM ET — BTN
South Dakota State at Northwestern 8:00 PM ET — BTN / DTV 610‑1 Lisa Byington, Tanner Morgan
Utah Tech at 14 BYU 8:00 PM ET — ESPN+ Pete Sousa, Leger Douzable
Lamar at Louisiana 8:00 PM ET — ESPN+
Mercyhurst at New Mexico State 9:00 PM ET — ESPN+
Portland State at San Diego State 9:30 PM ET — USA Ted Robinson, Darius Walker
Northern Arizona at Arizona 9:30 PM ET — ESPN+ Chris Sylvester, Jordan Reid
UNLV at Hawai‘i 10:00 PM ET — CW Chris Fisher, Cody Kessler, Marshall Newhouse
Central Michigan at New Mexico 10:00 PM ET — FS1 Carlo Jiménez, Petros Papadakis
Morgan State at Arizona State 10:00 PM ET — ESPN+ James Westling, Michael Bumpus
Mississippi Valley State at Sacramento State 10:00 PM ET — ESPN+ Will Iger, Mo Hasan
UCLA at California 10:30 PM ET — ESPN Tom Hart, Roddy Jones
Western Kentucky at Nevada 10:30 PM ET — CBSSN Rich Waltz, Adam Breneman
Sunday, September 6
Washington State at 17 Washington 4:00 PM ET — NBC Paul Burmeister, Yogi Roth
24 Louisville vs 9 Ole Miss (Nashville) 7:30 PM ET — ABC Sean McDonough, Greg McElroy
Wisconsin vs 4 Notre Dame (Green Bay) 7:30 PM ET — NBC Dan Hicks, Jason Garrett
Monday, September 7
19 SMU (Game details pending release)
College football’s opening weekend delivers nonstop action, national brands, rivalry energy and dozens of regional matchups. Fans have four full days to settle in and enjoy the return of the sport.
