Top-5 contest headlines first week
No team has lost its opening game and reached the Bowl Championship Series title game or the College Football Playoff.
Something to keep in mind when watching No. 3 Clemson play No. 5 Georgia in the biggest game of the opening weekend of the season.
The contest between the Tigers and Bulldogs is one of five games matching teams in the AP Top 25 today, the centerpiece of a long Labor Day weekend of college football.
The Big Ten decided to embrace early season conference games this year like never before, and the result is two ranked matchups (No. 17 Indiana at No. 18 Iowa, and No. 19 Penn State at No. 12 Wisconsin).
There are also a plethora of intriguing games with neither team ranked such as Texas Tech vs. Houston, West Virginia at Maryland and Louisville vs. Mississippi on Monday night.
New starting quarterbacks will debut at powerhouse programs such as No. 1 Alabama, No. 6 Texas A&M and No. 9 Notre Dame.
BEST GAME
Georgia vs. Clemson in Charlotte, N.C.
Sometimes the game with the highest-ranked teams is not the best game. This is not one of those times.
Bulldogs Coach Kirby Smart has been stacking topthree recruiting classes in recent years to keep up with Alabama — but Georgia hasn’t had Tide-level success.
Is this the season for a breakthrough, with USC transfer JT Daniels now healthy and established at quarterback?
Meanwhile, Clemson’s new starter at quarterback, D.J. Uiagalelei, gave everyone a glimpse at his high ceiling in two starts last season replacing Trevor Lawrence.
Realistically, the 60th meeting between the schools — first since 2008 — should not be a CFP elimination game, but history suggests the loser is in a bind.
HEISMAN WATCH
Alabama’s Bryce Young played some mop-up duty last year, throwing 22 passes, but the former five-star recruit is still mostly an unwrapped present.
The Crimson Tide unleash him against No. 14 Miami in Atlanta. Despite the inexperience, Young is already one of the betting favorites to win the Heisman Trophy, according to FanDuel.
Getting out of the gate with a big game against a ranked opponent would quickly help validate the hype around a player that gets compared to Heisman Trophy winner and Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray.
UNDER THE RADAR
With so many good games, it will be hard to catch everything this weekend. And it’s easy to brush past the FCSFBS matchups because so rarely does the FCS squad pull the upset.
There are a few ranked teams in FCS, Division I’s lower tier of college football, facing ranked major college teams that could inject some unexpected drama into the weekend.
Montana, the ninth ranked team in FCS, faces No. 20 Washington of the Pac-12.
No. 7 Iowa State faces Northern Iowa, which comes in ranked 21st in FCS.
A couple of other potentially tricky spots for FBS teams against FCS squads include Missouri State at Oklahoma State, Eastern Washington going to UNLV and Monmouth playing at Middle Tennessee State.
HOT SEAT
Can opening weekend be a must-win? No, not really.
However, after taking a pay cut after last year’s losing season, it would certainly help Michigan Coach Jim Harbaugh to take care of business in a drama-free way against Mid-American Conference contender Western Michigan at the Big House.