Brett Ludwiczak
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You’re Nuts: Which college football game in August are you most looking forward to watching?
Brett Ludwiczak via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Ric Tapia/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Your (almost) daily dose of good-natured, Ohio State banter.
Our annual national nightmare is almost over! We have finally reached the point of the year where we can say “college football starts this month!”. With the recent introduction of “Week 0”, now we are assured of college football games being played in the month of August, while in years before the soft opening weekend, there were years in which the first college football games of the season were played in September.
Much like last year’s season that started with Nebraska/Northwestern over in Dublin, the first game of the season will again be played over in Ireland, except this year we’ll see Notre Dame and Navy square off inside Aviva Stadium. Later on that day, fans of the Ohio Bobcats will see their team travel to San Diego State to take on the Aztecs. The highest-ranked team in action on the first day of the season will be the USC Trojans, who host San Jose State. That game will be on Pac-12 Network, so the seven people in the country who get that channel will be able to see how the Trojans look as they have their eyes on a CFP spot.
The start to Week 1 of the college football season will take place on Thursday, Aug. 31. FOX will feature the first Big Ten game of the season, as Minnesota hosts Nebraska. Also kicking off at the same time will be a rematch of the thrilling contest from the opening weekend of last year’s college football season, as Florida heads out west to take on Utah in a battle of former employers of Urban Meyer. UCF’s first game as a member of the Big Ten will be a non-conference matchup against Kent State, and the other game between FBS schools on the final day of the month will see NC State take on UConn.
Since by the time the end of the month rolls around and we’ll have already been doing our best to get our fix for football off the snicklefritz that is NFL preseason action, we’ll all certainly be jonesing to watch football where the results actually count for something. What we want to know today is what college football game in the month of August are you most looking forward to watching. Even though there are just two days in the month when college football games are being played, there are enough quality options to make this an interesting question.
Last year’s season opener between these two teams in Gainesville was bonkers, with Florida upsetting the Utes 29-26 in head coach Billy Napier’s first game as head coach of the Gators. Anthony Richardson was massive for Florida, with the quarterback doing a lot of work on the ground, rushing for three touchdowns, including the game-winner with 1:25 left in the fourth quarter. The teams went in opposite directions the rest of the season with Utah reaching the Rose Bowl for the second straight season, while Florida was rolled in the Las Vegas Bowl by Oregon State to finish the season 6-7.
Even though Anthony Richardson was selected by the Indianapolis Colts in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft, there is still an interesting quarterback matchup in this game. Utah will have Cam Rising returning for another season as the starter, while Florida brought in Wisconsin transfer Graham Mertz. Backing up Mertz will be former Ohio State quarterback Jack Miller, who started the Las Vegas Bowl loss to Oregon State.
While expectations aren’t very high for Florida this year, the same can’t be said for Utah, who will likely be a factor in the Pac-12 title race. The Utes have won the last two conference championship games, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see them in Las Vegas defending their crown in December. With USC, Oregon, and Washington all looking like they have teams capable of making the College Football Playoff, it should be a fun year to watch some Pac-12 football before USC and UCLA depart the conference for the Big Ten after this season.
If the game ends up being a laugher, at least we will likely get some enjoyment from hearing stories about Florida fans in Salt Lake City. It is refreshing to see the Gators take a trip outside of the South for a non-conference game in a hostile environment. We have seen Florida play a neutral-site game in Dallas against Michigan and bowl games in Glendale and Las Vegas, but I can’t remember the last time they took on a non-conference opponent on the road outside the South. Hopefully, this becomes more of a normal occurrence for the Gators, as well as other teams that don’t travel outside their comfort zone very often.
Now, I know, technically, Brett is operating inside the rules of our prompt for today, but he kind of took the easy way out opting for a Week 1 game played on Thursday night, while I am stuck with Week 0 games. So while Utah and Florida is the most big=picture intriguing, there is a Week 0 game that is worth paying attention to, even if it isn’t played on United States soil.
The first FBS game of the season will be played on Saturday, Aug. 26 at 3:30 p.m. ET and broadcast on NBC and Peacock as the Navy Midshipmen prepare for a war abroad with the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. I have pulled for Navy ever since I read John Feinstein’s book “A Civil War: Army vs. Navy” nearly two decades ago, so I am predisposed to root for them, but if you put them against one of my least favorite programs in college football, and I am especially geeked up. But when you factor in that Ohio State will be squaring off against the Golden Domers in Week 3, that just makes the game even more appointment television.
It also doesn’t hurt that we will get to see a little bit more of what NBC has in terms of its broadcast plans and capabilities for the season since Big Ten games will be airing on the network and streaming on Peacock for the first time this season. While obviously NBC has long been ND’s broadcast partner and has been doing NFL “Sunday Night Football” for years, now that the Buckeyes are going to play at least two games (Notre Dame and Michigan State have already been designated for the network) on NBC this season.
Navy was a pretty bad 4-8 last year, while we all saw the Irish have an up-and-down campaign in the first season under former Buckeye Marcus Freeman. So, I’m not expecting an upset from the Middies, but it will be nice to see what ND is working with before the season starts in earnest the following week.
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Brett Ludwiczak via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Ric Tapia/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Your (almost) daily dose of good-natured, Ohio State banter.
Our annual national nightmare is almost over! We have finally reached the point of the year where we can say “college football starts this month!”. With the recent introduction of “Week 0”, now we are assured of college football games being played in the month of August, while in years before the soft opening weekend, there were years in which the first college football games of the season were played in September.
Much like last year’s season that started with Nebraska/Northwestern over in Dublin, the first game of the season will again be played over in Ireland, except this year we’ll see Notre Dame and Navy square off inside Aviva Stadium. Later on that day, fans of the Ohio Bobcats will see their team travel to San Diego State to take on the Aztecs. The highest-ranked team in action on the first day of the season will be the USC Trojans, who host San Jose State. That game will be on Pac-12 Network, so the seven people in the country who get that channel will be able to see how the Trojans look as they have their eyes on a CFP spot.
The start to Week 1 of the college football season will take place on Thursday, Aug. 31. FOX will feature the first Big Ten game of the season, as Minnesota hosts Nebraska. Also kicking off at the same time will be a rematch of the thrilling contest from the opening weekend of last year’s college football season, as Florida heads out west to take on Utah in a battle of former employers of Urban Meyer. UCF’s first game as a member of the Big Ten will be a non-conference matchup against Kent State, and the other game between FBS schools on the final day of the month will see NC State take on UConn.
Since by the time the end of the month rolls around and we’ll have already been doing our best to get our fix for football off the snicklefritz that is NFL preseason action, we’ll all certainly be jonesing to watch football where the results actually count for something. What we want to know today is what college football game in the month of August are you most looking forward to watching. Even though there are just two days in the month when college football games are being played, there are enough quality options to make this an interesting question.
Today’s question: Which college football game in August are you most looking forward to watching?
We’d love to hear your choices. Either respond to us on Twitter at @Landgrant33 or leave your choice in the comments.
Brett’s answer: Florida vs. No. 10 Utah
Last year’s season opener between these two teams in Gainesville was bonkers, with Florida upsetting the Utes 29-26 in head coach Billy Napier’s first game as head coach of the Gators. Anthony Richardson was massive for Florida, with the quarterback doing a lot of work on the ground, rushing for three touchdowns, including the game-winner with 1:25 left in the fourth quarter. The teams went in opposite directions the rest of the season with Utah reaching the Rose Bowl for the second straight season, while Florida was rolled in the Las Vegas Bowl by Oregon State to finish the season 6-7.
Even though Anthony Richardson was selected by the Indianapolis Colts in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft, there is still an interesting quarterback matchup in this game. Utah will have Cam Rising returning for another season as the starter, while Florida brought in Wisconsin transfer Graham Mertz. Backing up Mertz will be former Ohio State quarterback Jack Miller, who started the Las Vegas Bowl loss to Oregon State.
While expectations aren’t very high for Florida this year, the same can’t be said for Utah, who will likely be a factor in the Pac-12 title race. The Utes have won the last two conference championship games, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see them in Las Vegas defending their crown in December. With USC, Oregon, and Washington all looking like they have teams capable of making the College Football Playoff, it should be a fun year to watch some Pac-12 football before USC and UCLA depart the conference for the Big Ten after this season.
If the game ends up being a laugher, at least we will likely get some enjoyment from hearing stories about Florida fans in Salt Lake City. It is refreshing to see the Gators take a trip outside of the South for a non-conference game in a hostile environment. We have seen Florida play a neutral-site game in Dallas against Michigan and bowl games in Glendale and Las Vegas, but I can’t remember the last time they took on a non-conference opponent on the road outside the South. Hopefully, this becomes more of a normal occurrence for the Gators, as well as other teams that don’t travel outside their comfort zone very often.
Matt’s answer: Navy vs. No. 13 Notre Dame
Now, I know, technically, Brett is operating inside the rules of our prompt for today, but he kind of took the easy way out opting for a Week 1 game played on Thursday night, while I am stuck with Week 0 games. So while Utah and Florida is the most big=picture intriguing, there is a Week 0 game that is worth paying attention to, even if it isn’t played on United States soil.
The first FBS game of the season will be played on Saturday, Aug. 26 at 3:30 p.m. ET and broadcast on NBC and Peacock as the Navy Midshipmen prepare for a war abroad with the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. I have pulled for Navy ever since I read John Feinstein’s book “A Civil War: Army vs. Navy” nearly two decades ago, so I am predisposed to root for them, but if you put them against one of my least favorite programs in college football, and I am especially geeked up. But when you factor in that Ohio State will be squaring off against the Golden Domers in Week 3, that just makes the game even more appointment television.
It also doesn’t hurt that we will get to see a little bit more of what NBC has in terms of its broadcast plans and capabilities for the season since Big Ten games will be airing on the network and streaming on Peacock for the first time this season. While obviously NBC has long been ND’s broadcast partner and has been doing NFL “Sunday Night Football” for years, now that the Buckeyes are going to play at least two games (Notre Dame and Michigan State have already been designated for the network) on NBC this season.
Navy was a pretty bad 4-8 last year, while we all saw the Irish have an up-and-down campaign in the first season under former Buckeye Marcus Freeman. So, I’m not expecting an upset from the Middies, but it will be nice to see what ND is working with before the season starts in earnest the following week.
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