Here’s a look at who’s televising and calling (where available) this week’s college football games, with some discussion of a featured game in each slot based on announcers, matchup, or both. All times are Eastern.
Friday, Aug. 30 (all listings from 506 Sports)
Lehigh @ Army
6:00 PM
CBSSN
Dave Ryan, Adam Breneman
Temple @ No. 16 Oklahoma
7:00 PM
ESPN
Anish Shroff, Andre Ware, Paul Carcaterra
Florida Atlantic @ Michigan State
7:00 PM
BTN
Jason Ross Jr., Brock Vereen
Elon @ Duke
7:30 PM
ACCN
Clay Matvick, Steve Addazio
Western Michigan @ Wisconsin
9:00 PM
FS1
Tim Brando, Devin Gardner
Featured game: TCU at Stanford
10:30 PM
ESPN
Dave Flemming, Brock Osweiler
This marks Stanford’s first game in the ACC following the conference’s addition of the Cardinal (as well as Cal and SMU) last fall. Meanwhile, the Horned Frogs have been in the Big 12 since 2012, but getting there came with quite the drama itself; they announced in 2010 that they would move from the Mountain West to the Big East, but then opted for the Big 12 instead of the next year as part of that wave of Big East exits. On the announcing side, Flemming and Osweiler have called a lot of Pac-12 games, and they’re now calling one of those teams in the ACC.
On the field, coach Troy Taylor’s first season with the Cardinal led to a 3-9 record last year (the same as the past season under David Shaw, who resigned following the 2022 campaign). Meanwhile, the Horned Frogs took a step back in Sonny Dykes’ second year, falling off significantly from their 13-2 run to the national championship game in 2022 to a 5-7 mark last season after several key departures for the NFL. We’ll see how their 2024 season starts.
Saturday, Aug. 31, Early Window
Featured game: No. 14 Clemson vs No. 1 Georgia (in Atlanta)
12:00 PM
ABC
Sean McDonough, Greg McElroy
This is one of only two ranked-on-ranked matchups Saturday, and it gets one of the three top ESPN teams. It’s also interesting to see ESPN put such a big game in the noon Saturday window, a spot that’s often been an emphasis for Fox. (They have their own good game there with No. 8 Penn State at West Virginia.)
On the field, the Bulldogs will be looking for redemption after their SEC Championship Game loss to Alabama last year left them as the first No. 1 team entering conference championship weekend to miss the playoff. (They’ll probably be the only one to ever do that, too, as the playoff expands to 12 teams this year.) But they were still 13-1 last season. Meanwhile, Clemson was 9-4, their lowest win total since they went 6-7 in 2010 (Dabo Swinney’s second year). So they’re coming in with a chip on their shoulder as well.
No. 8 Penn State @ West Virginia
12:00 PM
FOX
Gus Johnson, Joel Klatt
Virginia Tech @ Vanderbilt
12:00 PM
ESPN
Roy Philpott, Sam Acho
Connecticut @ Maryland
12:00 PM
FS1
Connor Onion, Mark Helfrich
Kent State @ Pittsburgh
12:00 PM
ESPNU
Matt Schumacker, Dustin Fox
Illinois State @ 25 Iowa
12:00 PM
BTN
Mark Followill, Anthony Herron
Indiana State @ Purdue
12:00 PM
BTN
Pat Boylan, J Leman
Austin Peay @ Louisville
12:00 PM
ACCN
Jorge Sedano, Orlando Franklin
Bucknell @ Navy
12:00 PM
CBSSN
Carter Blackburn, Randy Cross
Chattanooga @ 15 Tennessee
12:45 PM
SECN
Taylor Zarzour, Matt Stinchcomb
South Dakota State @ 17 Oklahoma State
2:00 PM
ESPN+
Shawn Kenney, Taylor McHargue
Towson @ Cincinnati
2:30 PM
ESPN+
Eric Rothman, Je’rod Cherry
Afternoon window:
Portland State @ Washington State
3:00 PM
CW
Ted Robinson, Ryan Leaf
19 Miami (FL) @ Florida
3:30 PM
ABC
Joe Tessitore, Jesse Palmer
Akron at No. 2 Ohio State
3:30 PM
CBS
Brad Nessler, Gary Danielson
UTEP @ Nebraska
3:30 PM
FOX
Jason Benetti, Brock Huard
Colorado State @ 4 Texas
3:30 PM
ESPN
Mike Monaco, Kirk Morrison
North Dakota @ Iowa State
3:30 PM
FS1
Eric Collins, Spencer Tillman
Miami (OH) @ Northwestern
3:30 PM
BTN
Lisa Byington, Jared Thomas
Florida International @ Indiana
3:30 PM
BTN
Joe Beninati, Matt Barkley
Ohio @ Syracuse
3:30 PM
ACCN
Chris Cotter, Mark Herzlich
Merrimack @ Air Force
3:30 PM
CBSSN
Chris Lewis, Robert Turbin
East Tennessee State @ Appalachian State
3:30 PM
ESPN+
Eastern Michigan @ Massachusetts
3:30 PM
ESPN+
Kennesaw State @ UTSA
3:30 PM
ESPN+
Jack Benjamin, LaDarrin McLane
Western Illinois @ Northern Illinois
3:30 PM
ESPN+
Kelsie Kasper, Ryan Cavanaugh
Boise State @ Georgia Southern
4:00 PM
ESPNU
Mike Corey, Rene Ingoglia
Old Dominion @ South Carolina
4:15 PM
SECN
Dave Neal, Aaron Murray
UC-Davis @ California
5:00 PM
ESPN+, ACCNX
Roxy Bernstein, Craig Haubert
North Texas @ South Alabama
5:00 PM
ESPN+
Stony Brook @ Marshall
5:00 PM
ESPN+
Campbell @ Liberty
5:00 PM
ESPN+
Eastern Kentucky @ Mississippi State
6:00 PM
ESPN+, SECN+
Kevin Fitzgerald, Charlie Strong
Richmond @ Virginia
6:00 PM
ESPN+, ACCNX
Chris Carlin, Forrest Conoly
Norfolk State @ East Carolina
6:00 PM
ESPN+
Joe Tordy, Reggie Walker
Featured game: Idaho State @ Oregon State
6:30 PM
CW
Thom Brennaman, Max Browne
Idaho State at Oregon State might not normally get much attention, but this will certainly be watched for Thom Brennaman‘s return to the national stage. And it’s also the first Pac-2 game for Oregon State, and the second in The CW’s new package there (following Portland State-Washington State at 3 p.m. ET). The game may not be close (the Beavers went 8-5 last year and are favored by 27.5 points against a Bengals squad that went 3-8 last year in FCS play), but many will be tuning in to see how Brennaman does.
Saturday, Aug. 31, Evening
Western Kentucky @ 5 Alabama
7:00 PM
ESPN
Dave Pasch, Dusty Dvoracek
UNLV @ Houston
7:00 PM
FS1
Alex Faust, Robert Smith
Furman @ 6 Ole Miss
7:00 PM
ESPN+, SECN+
Jay Alter, Rocky Boiman
UT-Martin @ 18 Kansas State
7:00 PM
ESPN+
Mark Neely, Ahman Green
Tarleton State @ Baylor
7:00 PM
ESPN+
Peter Sousa, Brad Hopkins
Bethune-Cookman @ South Florida
7:00 PM
ESPN+
AJ Ricketts, Patrick Murray
North Alabama @ Memphis
7:00 PM
ESPN+
James Westling, Leger Douzable
Sam Houston @ Rice
7:00 PM
ESPN+
Chuckie Kempf, Doc Holiday
Central Arkansas @ Arkansas State
7:00 PM
ESPN+
Nevada @ Troy
7:00 PM
ESPN+
Tennessee Tech @ Middle Tennessee
7:00 PM
ESPN+
Featured game: No. 7 Notre Dame at No. 20 Texas A&M
7:30 PM
ABC
Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit
ESPN College GameDay will be at this one, making for an easy post-show commute for Herbstreit. There’s going to be plenty of interest in this as the day’s second ranked-on-ranked matchup and as the first game for new A&M coach Mike Elko. The Aggies went 7-6 last year under Jimbo Fisher and interim HC Elijah Robinson, while the Irish were 10-3 in Marcus Freeman’s second season.
UCLA @ Hawaii
7:30 PM
CBS
Rich Waltz, Ross Tucker
Fresno State @ 9 Michigan
7:30 PM
NBC
Noah Eagle, Todd Blackledge
Alabama A&M @ Auburn
7:30 PM
ESPN+, SECN+
Lowell Galindo, Fozzy Whittaker
Idaho @ 3 Oregon
7:30 PM
BTN
Guy Haberman, Yogi Roth
Abilene Christian @ Texas Tech
7:30 PM
ESPN+
Ted Emrich, Dave Steckel
Southern Mississippi @ Kentucky
7:45 PM
SECN
Tom Hart, Jordan Rodgers, Cole Cubelic
James Madison @ Charlotte
8:00 PM
ESPNU
Justin Kutcher, Charles Arbuckle
Georgia State @ Georgia Tech
8:00 PM
ACCN
Wes Durham, Tom Luginbill
Texas A&M-Commerce @ San Diego State
8:00 PM
TruTV
Ari Wolfe, Darius Walker
Houston Baptist @ SMU
8:00 PM
ESPN+, ACCNX
Doug Sherman, Tyoka Jackson
Southern Illinois @ BYU
8:00 PM
ESPN+
Richard Cross, Barrett Brooks
Robert Morris @ Utah State
8:00 PM
KMYU My TV Utah, MWC Digital
Grambling State @ Louisiana
8:00 PM
ESPN+
Lamar @ Texas State
8:00 PM
ESPN+
Nicholls State @ Louisiana Tech
8:00 PM
ESPN+
Southeast Missouri State @ New Mexico State
9:00 PM
ESPN+
New Mexico @ 21 Arizona
10:30 PM
ESPN
Brian Custer, Rod Gilmore
Wyoming @ Arizona State
10:30 PM
FS1
Chris Myers, Petros Papadakis
Weber State @ Washington
11:00 PM
BTN
Jeff Levering, Jake Butt, Lincoln Kennedy
Sunday, Sept. 1:
N.C. Central vs Alabama State (in Miami)
3:00 PM
ESPN
Tiffany Greene, Jay Walker
Tuskegee vs Johnson C. Smith (in Montgomery)
7:00 PM
ESPNU
Jason Ross Jr, Marcus Ray
Featured game: No. 23 USC vs. No. 13 LSU (in Las Vegas)
7:30 PM
ABC
Rece Davis, Kirk Herbstreit
The weekend’s third and final ranked-on-ranked matchup should be a good one. It’s USC’s first game as a member of the Big Ten, and after an offseason with a lot of questions for Lincoln Riley after they went 7-5 despite having eventual No. 1 NFL draft pick Caleb Williams at quarterback. We’ll see how they replace him.
Meanwhile, LSU went 10-3 last season. That was Brian Kelly’s second year there, and the record was similar to the 10-4 the Tigers put up in his first year. But it came without the conference championship game appearance. The expectations are again high for the Tigers, and they’ll be looking to make noise of their own in a prominent matchup..
Monday, Sept. 2
Featured (and only) game: Boston College at No. 10 Florida State
7:30 PM
ESPN
Bob Wischusen, Louis Riddick
The Seminoles will be looking to bounce back after last week’s well-watched season-opening defeat at the hands of Georgia Tech in Ireland. There’s plenty to talk about with them beyond that, too, from their controversial exclusion from the playoff last year despite a 13-0 record (they went on to finish 13-1 after an Orange Bowl loss to Georgia) through their current media rights lawsuit involving ESPN and the ACC. And we’ll see if and how Wischusen and Riddick discuss any of that.
On the field, we’ll see what Mike Norvell (in his fifth year as HC) can do to turn the Seminoles’ season around. They’re still strong ACC contenders, and in the expanded playoff era, a season-opening loss is far from enough to knock them out of contention. Meanwhile, the Eagles were just 7-6 last season (Jeff Hafley’s fourth), but that’s the same 2023 record Georgia Tech had. We’ll see if Boston College can pull off a similar upset.
