Well, it turns out that this is the final Week Zero in CFB. We shall not see its like again. (Metaphorically) pour one out for the arbitrary nature of college football!
Austin Nivison
First four games are in this thread; second set of games comes later this afternoon. For the old hands, you know the deal. For the new folks: hi! We're glad you're here.
Let's get to the schedule.
North Carolina Tarheels v TCU Horned Frogs
12:00 ET/11:00 GTZ. ESPN. TCU -7.5, O/U 47.5.
Look, this Dublin thing tends to be a weird one. It's the first game of the year, it's in a rugby stadium, and it's on an island in the North Atlantic. Weird shit happens. In three of the last four years, the favorite has lost outright.
2022: Northwestern 31, Nebraska 28 (lol Scott Frost)
2024: Georgia Tech 24, Florida State 21 (lol FSU)
2025: Iowa State 24, Kansas State 21. (ok, this one was just fun as hell)
(The outlier in the post-Covid landscape being Notre Dame hamblasting Navy 42-3 in 2023. The Pugilistic Hibernians don't respect the troops, clearly.)
So what I'm saying, despite having put down a unit or two of my own hard-earned American currency on TCU a few weeks ago, is that Belichick's Tar Heels are probably going to win by 3. Do with that what you will. This is, as always, not financial advice.
San Jose State Spartans at #14 (?!) Southern California Trojans
3:00 ET/2:00 GTZ. NBC. USC -38.5, O/U 59.5
This one's going to be quite the ... odyssey. Yeah, I'll show myself out.
North Carolina State Wolfpack at Virginia Cavaliers
3:30 ET/2:30 GTZ. ESPN. UVA -5.5, O/U 53.5.
An ACC game that doesn't feature a team in California? Eh. It's lacking the absurdism that I want in an All Coasts Conference matchup.
Jacksonville State Gamecocks at North Dakota State Bison
5:30 ET/4:30 GTZ. CBSSN. NDSU -7, O/U 46.5.
Ten long years ago (good lord, they have been long years), these two played for the FCS championship in Frisco in January 2016. Now they're in the bigs.
