NOT A GREAT START

First Saturday of college football season is underwhelming. Blame COVID-19.

Week 1 of the college football season did not begin with a compelling matchup that featured national brands.

And it did not end with fireworks.

That’s how it would have been any other Saturday, one not turned upside down and inside out by a pandemic.

The highlight was to be USC vs. Alabama at the Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium.

Instead, the big game was Eastern Kentucky at Marshall. Or maybe it was Middle Tennessee at Army. Or SMU at Texas State. Or Arkansas State at Memphis.

Spoiler alert. I wouldn’t have set the DVR, even if I owned one.

Locally, San Diego State fans would have been able to whet their appetites all morning and early afternoon before tailgating at SDCCU Stadium and then enjoying the Aztecs’ season opener against Sacramento State.

The crowd would have swelled to more than 40,000 by the game’s conclusion, with casual fans (and a good number of non-fans) joining the diehards to watch the evening conclude with the KGB Skyshow, a fireworks spectacular set to music.

Nope. Not this fall.

Not with SDSU, and the Mountain West and the Pac-12 and the Big Ten and others sitting on the sidelines. They watched Saturday from dorm rooms and dens, living rooms and lounges — hoping against hope their time will come in the spring — while others somehow were still allowed to take the field.

The day was “not completely devoid of interest,” as a former colleague who has been in my thoughts this week used to say when editing a story.

It is faint but fitting praise for a Saturday that felt nothing like it would have under normal circumstances.

The day’s most notable moment came before kickoff.

ESPN’S Kirk Herbstreit spoke emotionally during the network’s "College Gameday" show on Saturday morning. Herbstreit, Lee Corso and Co., discussed from a distance the impact of COVID-19 on the season, but the most powerful portion came when the discussion turned to racial injustice.

“The Black community is hurting,” Herbstreit began.

He spoke of “empathy” and “compassion” given events of the past four months that were triggered with the killing of George Floyd.

“How do you listen to these stories and not feel pain, and not want to help?” said Herbstreit, his voice breaking. “You know what I mean? It’s like, wearing a hoodie and putting your hands at 10 and 2 (on a steering wheel). ‘Oh, god, I better look out because I’m wearing Nike gear.’

"Like, what? What are we talking about? You can’t relate to that if you’re White, but you can listen and you can try to help, because this is not OK. It’s just not . ... We’ve got to do better.”

You knew it was a Saturday unlike any other when:

The stands at Marshall’s Edwards Stadium in Huntington, W.VA., had just a sprinkling of fans in the stands and, to viewers from California, it still seemed like too many.

Sideline personnel wore masks but players on the field — who were actually coming in contact with each other again and again — did not.

Coaches wore shirts that were distinctive not for school logos but sayings like “Black Lives Matter,” “Enough is enough” and “Say their names.”

ESPN’S first graphic was not five “Keys to the Game” but instead seven “Team COVID-19 Protocols.”

The list included: daily health screenings & temperature checks; COVID-19 testing three times this week; virtual meetings; reduced bus capacity; masks on sidelines; team box extended from 25-yard lines to 15-yard lines; only one captain per team for coin toss.

Marshall led 7-0 within three minutes, 21-0 after the first quarter and 38-0 at halftime (final score: 59-0).

Watching the movie “We Are Marshall” — even if it is 14 years old — would have been more compelling viewing.

ESPN’S halftime report had only one other game to update viewers on, letting us know that Army led Middle Tennessee 21-0 midway through the second quarter (final score: 42-0).

Noting the absence of jampacked stadiums, bands and cheerleaders, ESPN studio cohost Jesse Palmer said: “The energy is not quite what we’re used to seeing,”

You think?

The ACC and Big 12 kick off next week and the SEC the week after that — if something hasn’t gone dreadfully wrong in a year dripping with dreadful developments.

ESPN announced Saturday morning that next week’s "College Gameday" site will be the Clemson at Wake Forest contest, where fans will not be allowed on the Gameday set that morning or inside Wake Forest’s Truist Field that evening (cutouts notwithstanding).

So much for atmosphere. Gameday has never been to Winston-salem, N.C., nor would it have been on this occasion.

Where it would have been in Week 2 is Eugene, Ore., where No. 2 Ohio State was to meet No. 9 Oregon.

Maybe Gameday can still make the trip when the Buckeyes and Ducks do get together. In February.

With SMU and Texas State tied 14-14 after two quarters as afternoon headed toward evening, ESPN went back into the studio for another halftime report.

Breaking news was that Tennessee had canceled that day’s scrimmage because 44 players were sidelined with either positive COVID-19 tests, contact tracing precautions or injuries.

The Volunteers, who originally would have opened the season Saturday against Charlotte, have three weeks to get healthy for their first game, Sept. 26 at South Carolina.

The Gamecocks have received approval to allow 20,000 fans in the stands for home games at Williams-brice Stadium (which seats 80,000).

All South Carolina fans will be required to wear masks. Perhaps more importantly, they also will be more than 6 feet away from the Tennessee players.