World’s Earliest 2018 College Football Preview

I write this on Tuesday, January 9th. It's been almost 24 hours since there was last college football, with 'Bama beating Georgia in the College Football Championship.

In other words, way too long. So all we can do is look ahead to the future, and next year's Week 1 schedule.

This is possible, as always, thanks to Matt Sarzyniak, who runs MattsarzSports.com, the greatest college sports TV schedule website — nay, the greatest website of any kind — in the history of man. In his twitter bio, Sarzyniak says he is "running out of ideas and steam," which terrifies me. If he shutters his website, I don't know that I'll ever stop gnashing my teeth and rending my garments.

Anyway, here are the notable games awaiting us the first week of the college football season in 2018.

Saturday, August 25th

Wyoming @ New Mexico State — This is one of three "Week 0" games and the only one featuring two FBS teams. This will be New Mexico State's first game after breaking the nation's longest FBS bowl drought at 57 years. It will also be their first game as an independent. They, along with Idaho, were kicked out of the Sun Belt Conference. Idaho will step down to the FCS Big Sky conference — and become the first school ever to reclassify from FBS to FCS — but the Aggies are going to try to hack it as an FCS independent. I'm rooting for them.

Thursday, August 30th

Northwestern @ Purdue — More games are likely to move from Saturday to Thursday; there are currently just five such games in the FCS, but this one is probably going to stay the marquee matchup. It's not as sexy as last year's Ohio State/Indiana matchup, but it does feature two teams that won their bowl game last season.

Saturday, September 1st

Texas @ Maryland — Last year, the Terps beat Texas in what turned out to be an upset: Maryland finished 4-8 and Texas won their first bowl game since 2012. This one will be played at FedEx Field, where the Washington Redskins play.

BYU @ Arizona — Both these programs are coming in trying to recover from a shock. In Arizona's case, it was the sudden firing of Rich Rodriguez; for BYU, it was their worst season in recent memory.

North Carolina @ Cal — Last year, Cal won in Chapel Hill. That, and their home victory over Ole Miss, had me foretelling greatness for Cal. I was wrong.

Washington vs. Auburn in Atlanta — There were 6-8 or so great teams in 2017, and then there was a second tier, which included both of these teams. Perhaps the best matchup of the week.

Ole Miss vs. Texas Tech in Houston — Both teams had pretty awful 2017. For one, the pain will continue.

Louisville vs. Alabama in Orlando — Alabama always destroys their opponents in these high-profile non-conference neutral site games, and Louisville won't have Lamar Jackson anymore. The media will hype this game but it won't be competitive. I hope I'm wrong.

Tennessee vs. West Virginia in Charlotte — Stewart Mandel has West Virginia 16th in his "Way Too Early Top 25," and Tennessee is, ahem, unranked. Unless there are unforeseen key injuries or program shakeups between now and then, you might want to pound the Mountaineers if Las Vegas sets the line close.

Michigan @ Notre Dame — Both had meh-by-their-standards 2017s, but someone is going to win this game and someone in the national media will pen a piece entitled (team) IS BACK! They're not back.

Sunday, September 2nd

Miami vs LSU in Arlington, TX — SUNDAY, SUNDAY, SUNDAY! FIND OUT IF MIAMI WILL GET OUT OF THE TAILSPIN THEY ENDED LAST SEASON WITH! FIND OUT IF LSU, WHO BEAT EXACTLY ONE TEAM BETTER THAN TEXAS A&M LAST YEAR, WILL AVOID EMBARRASSING THEMSELVES! SUNDAY, SUNDAY, SUNDAY!

Monday, September 3rd

Virginia Tech @ Florida State — Labor Day night continues to belong to the ACC, and these two teams, by my untrustworthy memory, have been there the most times, so this matchup makes sense.