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Just as a disclaimer to people who will try to argue some of these games, these are just my opinion of the most intriguing matchups each week in the upcoming 2018 college football season.
These are not necessarily the “headline” games for each week or the most high profile teams. These are strictly what I consider MOST INTRIGUING on a week-to-week basis based on a series of different variables.
With that said, let's get into it shall we?
Week 1- MICHIGAN vs NOTRE DAME [Notre Dame Stadium]
I think this game speaks for itself. A historic rivalry between two of the winningest programs in college football history was cancelled after the 2014 season. Now, after a three year hiatus, these two prestiged universities will clash yet again to kick off the 2018 college football season; though, the teams aren’t quite as good as they both once were and neither are competing for a playoff spot this year in my opinion. But, nevertheless, this should still be quite an entertaining game.
Other Notables: Washington vs Auburn, Tennessee vs West Virginia, Miami vs LSU, Virginia Tech vs Florida State, **FAU vs Oklahoma, **Northern Illinois vs Iowa, **Boise St vs Troy
Week 2 - MISSISSIPPI STATE vs KANSAS STATE [Bill Snyder Family Football Stadium]
A potential dark-horse team in the SEC West to dethrone Alabama against what is, in my opinion, the best coach in college football history, Bill Snyder. Nick Fitzgerald vs Skylar Thompson & Alex Delton. Aeris Williams vs Alex Barnes. Jeffery Simmons & Montez Sweat vs the experienced Wildcat offensive line with guys like Dalton Risner, Scott Frantz, Adam Holtorf and Abdul Beecham. This game has a ton of intriguing aspects if you’re a football fan and if you want a great game to watch in week 2 outside of the headliners, this is it.
Other Notables: Georgia vs South Carolina, Arizona vs Houston, Georgia Tech vs South Florida, Clemson vs Texas A&M, **Nebraska vs Colorado (old Big 12 rivalry renewed....sort of), **Duke vs Northwestern, **UCLA vs Oklahoma, **Iowa St vs Iowa, **Kentucky vs Florida, **Michigan St vs Arizona St
Week 3 - WEST VIRGINIA vs NORTH CAROLINA STATE [Carter-Finley Stadium]
This is set to be one of the most entertaining games of the season. One of the nation’s top returning quarterbacks in Will Grier travels to Raleigh to take on another great quarterback in Ryan Finley. There are playmakers all over the field, offensively, for both teams. The Mountaineers return seven starters on offense including Grier, Gary Jennings and David Sills. The Wolfpack lost a lot to the NFL, returning only 9 total starters from last year’s team with six of them being on the offensive side of the ball, including Kelvin Harmon, Stephen Louis, Jakobi Meyers and Reggie Gallaspy. Look for an offensive explosion in this barn-burner.
Other Notables: Boston College vs Wake Forest, Missouri vs Purdue, Ohio St vs TCU, USC vs Texas, **Oklahoma vs Iowa St, **Florida St vs Syracuse, **Miami vs Toledo (why in God's name is Miami going to Toledo, Ohio?), **Boise St vs Oklahoma St, **Alabama vs Ole Miss, **Washington vs Utah
Week 4 - FLORIDA ATLANTIC vs CENTRAL FLORIDA [Spectrum Stadium]
Two of the nation's biggest scoring threats will go toe-to-toe in what should be an electric matchup of touchdowns. McKenzie Milton, who accounted for 45 total touchdowns for UCF last season, versus the dynamic runner in Devin Singletary, who was just 11 yards short of 2000 rushing yards last season and racked up 33 total touchdowns (32 rushing, 1 receiving). It may not be Power Five football but if you’re privy to talent, athleticism and explosiveness, you know this is a game worth watching.
Other Notables: Stanford vs Oregon, Northern Illinois vs Florida State, Notre Dame vs Wake Forest, Kansas State vs West Virginia, **Georgia vs Missouri, **Boston College vs Purdue
Week 5 - FLORIDA vs MISSISSIPPI STATE [Davis Wade Stadium]
New Florida head coach, Dan Mullen, makes an early return to his previous place of employment. Mullen was the head coach at Mississippi State from 2009-2017; before that he was the offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach at Florida from 2005-2008. In his tenure with the Bulldogs, Mullen only played Florida twice; in 2009 he lost 29-19, in 2010 he won 10-7. He went 9-4 in his last season with State and now takes over a downtrodden Florida team coming off of a 4-7 year. Joe Moorhead will look to ruin the Mullen homecoming.
Other Notables: Iowa State vs TCU, Texas vs Kansas State, Ohio State vs Penn State, Stanford vs Notre Dame, **South Carolina vs Kentucky
Week 6 - TEXAS vs OKLAHOMA [Cotton Bowl]
Two coaches in their second year at their respective schools. Lincoln Riley, with Oklahoma, went 12-2 overall last year which included a Big 12 title and a loss to Georgia in a thriller of a Rose Bowl. No more Baker Mayfield but Kyler Murray and Rodney Anderson will be a tough combo to stop. Tom Herman, with Texas, went 7-6 in his first season with the Longhorns but lead them to their first bowl victory since 2012 with a victory over the Missouri Tigers 33-16. Oklahoma won last year’s game 29-24. It should be a great midseason rivalry game when the offensive mastermind, Lincoln Riley, collides with a defensive guru for Texas in Todd Orlando.
Other Notables: Boston College vs NC State, Clemson vs Wake Forest, Missouri vs South Carolina, Northwestern vs Michigan State, **Auburn vs Mississippi St, **Utah vs Stanford, **Florida St vs Miami, **Notre Dame vs Virginia Tech
Week 7 - TEXAS A&M vs SOUTH CAROLINA [Williams-Brice Stadium]
Jimbo Fisher has faced the Gamecocks one time in his head coaching career and that was back in 2010 when Florida State defeated Steve Spurrier’s East Division Champions in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl, 26-17. This time he gets to travel to Columbia as the new head coach at Texas A&M, a team that the Gamecocks have yet to beat since they joined the SEC and became the crossover game for South Carolina back in 2014. This is one of the bigger games for the Garnet and Black in the 2018 season and this is a great chance for them to avenge a few losses.
Other Notables: App St vs Arkansas St, Arizona vs Utah, Washington vs Oregon, Georgia vs LSU, **Missouri vs Alabama, **Michigan St vs Penn St, **Wisconsin vs Michigan, **West Virginia vs Iowa St, **Duke vs Georgia Tech
Week 8 - MICHIGAN vs MICHIGAN STATE [Spartan Stadium]
Jim Harbaugh is 1-2 against the Spartans since becoming the head coach at Michigan with that lone win coming on the road in 2016. Majority of people would say Harbaugh has significantly underachieved since he was named head coach of the Wolverines; posting a 1-5 record against the school’s biggest rivals in the Spartans and Buckeyes of Ohio State. This will be a huge game for his resume going forward and if the Shea Patterson experiment works out, it could be a great quarterback battle with Brian Lewerke on the other side.
Other Notables: Oklahoma vs TCU, NC State vs Clemson, Wake Forest vs Florida State, Memphis vs Missouri
Week 9 - CLEMSON vs FLORIDA STATE [Doak Campbell Stadium]
Don’t think I need to say much about Clemson and the program Dabo Swinney has built there. But Florida State is starting a new era with Willie Taggert who will look to get back into the upper ranks of the ACC with his “lethal simplicity” approach. The Noles definitely have talent to compete each year but how quick Jimbo’s former players are able to gain a foothold on a completely different style of offense and coaching will determine how far they can go this year. This should be a fun matchup as it usually is every year though.
Other Notables: Miami vs Boston College, Kansas State vs Oklahoma, Florida vs Georgia, Georgia Tech vs Virginia Tech, **Oregon vs Arizona
Week 10 - UCLA vs OREGON [Autzen Stadium]
Similar to my Week 5 matchup with Dan Mullen making his return to his former team as a coach at a new school, Chip Kelly gets to make his return to Eugene late in the 2018 season as UCLA’s new head coach. The matchup itself doesn’t sound intriguing as far as the players go, with no Rosen at UCLA, but Oregon has Justin Herbert and it will be interesting to see where the Bruins offense is at this point in the season under Kelly. In his time at Oregon, Kelly went 5-0 against UCLA.
Other Notables: Stanford vs Washington, Boston College vs Virginia Tech, Florida St vs NC State, West Virginia vs Texas, **South Carolina vs Ole Miss, **Penn St vs Michigan, **Kansas St vs TCU, **Duke vs Miami, **Notre Dame vs Northwestern
Week 11 - OHIO STATE vs MICHIGAN STATE [Spartan Stadium]
This game will decide the Big Ten East winner, in my opinion. Dwayne Haskins vs Brian Lewerke. JK Dobbins vs LJ Scott. Urban Meyer vs Mark Dantonio. Those two head coaches have gone head-to-head six times at their current schools with Meyer winning four of them. This year could be the best game of them all though. The defenses for both teams are just as intriguing as the offenses. The Spartans return their top four tacklers from a year ago and the Buckeyes have one of the better defensive lines in the country headlined by Nick Bosa and Dre’mont Jones. I firmly believe this game will determine who plays Wisconsin for the Big Ten title.
Other Notables: Clemson vs Boston College, Wisconsin vs Penn State, Miss St vs Alabama, Auburn vs Georgia, **Wake Forest vs NC State, **Fresno St vs Boise St, **South Carolina vs Florida, **Oregon vs Utah, **TCU vs West Virginia, **Miami vs Georgia Tech, **Florida St vs Notre Dame
Week 12 - BOSTON COLLEGE vs FLORIDA STATE [Doak Campbell Stadium]
In years past this game comes off as more of a snoozefest than a “must-see” battle. Two of the nation’s top ten running backs will be featured in this game in AJ Dillon and Cam Akers; both are just sophomores coming off of impressive freshman seasons. The Noles will be looking to avenge an utterly embarrassing loss to the Eagles in Chestnut Hill last season, 35-3, while BC looks to start a ‘run’ against the Seminoles. I think the winner of this game will probably finish second in the ACC Atlantic behind the Clemson Tigers.
Other Notables: Florida Atlantic vs North Texas, Pittsburgh vs Wake Forest, Utah vs Colorado, Iowa St vs Texas, **Arizona St vs Oregon, **Wisconsin vs Purdue
Week 13 - BYU vs UTAH [Rice Eccles-Stadium]
The Holy War. On April 6, 1896, these two teams met on the gridiron for the first time. Utah got the 12-4 victory. The Utes and Cougars have met 98 times overall with Utah winning the majority of the games, posting a 60-34-4 record. Every year this is one of the most physical and emotionally taxing games. They hate each other to the core. It’s one of the greatest rivalries and series in college football lore. The Utes are currently on a seven-game win streak over BYU; the longest streak in the series is nine wins with both teams sharing separate nine year stretches in which they dominated the rivalry (Utah 1929-1937; BYU 1979-1987).
Other Notables: Clemson vs South Carolina, Ohio State vs Michigan, Auburn vs Alabama.....it's Rivalry Week. There are too many games to name.
** = added after initial release of article
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