What To Watch: Top-10 Matchups Highlight Week 1
No. 3 Ohio State’s highly anticipated season-opening matchup with No. 1 Texas is undoubtedly the biggest game of week one, but it certainly isn’t the only contest worth watching.The Buckeyes’ bout with the Longhorns is only one of three top-10 matchups over Labor Day weekend.
Here are some of the week’s top matchups:
No. 9 LSU vs. No. 4 Clemson (7:30 p.m., ABC): The battle between the SEC’s Tigers and the ACC’s Tigers will include two of the nation’s best quarterbacks. LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier and Clemson’s Cade Klubnik each enter the season as bona fide Heisman contenders. Clemson returned many of the starters from its 2024 ACC Championship team, including not just Klubnik, but also defensive linemen like T.J. Parker and Peter Woods, each of whom is projected to be selected in the first round of the 2026 NFL draft.
LSU doesn’t have quite the same level of returning production as Clemson, but after bringing in the top-ranked transfer portal class, according to 247 Sports’ rankings, it is expected to have a strong season this year under fourth-year head coach Brian Kelly.
Against Clemson, LSU will look to win its first season-opening game since its national-championship-winning 2019 season. Kelly’s group most recently lost to USC last season, but they also were defeated by Florida State in 2022 and 2023.
No. 8 Alabama vs. Florida State (3:30 p.m., ABC): In their second season under head coach Kalen DeBoer, the Crimson Tide will look to bounce back from a disappointing 2024 campaign. Despite winning its first four games of the 2024 season and being ranked as high as No. 1 in the Associated Press’ top 25, Alabama lost games against Vanderbilt, Tennessee and Oklahoma to fall to 9-3 and miss the playoffs. Alabama also lost to Michigan in the ReliaQuest Bowl to finish the season at 9-4. After bringing in a solid group of players from the transfer portal, the Crimson Tide will hope to make the playoffs this year.
Florida State had plenty of its own struggles in 2024. After being ranked inside the top-10 of the AP’s preseason top-25, the Seminoles managed to win only two games. The Seminoles revamped their roster through the transfer portal by bringing in 23 players. One of the Seminoles’ most important additions out of the portal was former Boston College quarterback Thomas Castellanos, who completed 61.5 percent of his passes last year for 1,366 passing yards and 18 touchdowns. If the Seminoles want to emerge from the basement of the ACC, they will have to score more than 15.4 points per game as they did last season. The Seminoles’ offense will be tested in week one, going against a loaded Crimson Tide defense. Alabama returns eight defensive starters from a 2024 unit that only allowed 17.4 points per game.
No. 6 Notre Dame vs. No. 10 Miami (Fl.) (Sunday, 7:30 p.m., ABC): After a breakthrough 2024 season that included a trip to the national championship game, the Fighting Irish return to action with a Sunday night game against Miami. Notre Dame, led by fourth-year head coach and former Ohio State linebacker Marcus Freeman, will need a solid performance from first-year starter CJ Carr to come out of South Florida with a win.
Carr will be supported by preseason All-America running back Jeremiyah Love. In 2024, Love ran for 1,125 yards and 17 touchdowns, while helping his team finish the season inside of the top 10 nationally in scoring offense, averaging 36.1 points per game.
The Hurricanes looked poised for a birth in the playoffs during much of the 2024 season after they won each of their first nine games. However, head coach Mario Cristobal’s group lost two of its last three regular-season games, and in the postseason, was defeated by Iowa State in the Pop Tarts Bowl. Still, with consensus All-America quarterback Cam Ward leading the way, the Hurricanes finished the year averaging 43.9 points per game, a mark that made them the No. 1 scoring offense in college football. After Ward was selected with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL draft, the Hurricanes picked up former Georgia quarterback Carson Beck out of the transfer portal.
Beck, an All-SEC quarterback in 2023 and one of 18 players to transfer to Miami over the offseason, will look to help the Hurricanes win their first game over a top-10 foe since 2017, when they defeated Notre Dame 41-8.
Other notable games on the schedule include:
Syracuse vs. No. 24 Tennessee (Noon, ABC)
Northwestern vs. Tulane (Noon, ESPNU)
New Mexico vs. Michigan (7:30 p.m., NBC)
California vs. Oregon State (10:30 p.m., ESPN)
Utah vs. UCLA (11:00 p.m., Fox)
Virginia Tech vs. No. 13 South Carolina (Sunday, 3:00 p.m., ESPN)
TCU vs. North Carolina (Monday, 8:00 p.m., ESPN)