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We get a college football 'tease' this Saturday. Let's recall how eventful "week zero" was a year ago.
To start with, Florida State, the preseason ACC favorite and an expected playoff team, went to Ireland to face Georgia Tech as a 10.5-point favorite and a 16.40-point computer pick (Congrove Computer Rankings at CollegeFootballPoll.com). The Seminoles fell 24-21 on a 44-yard walk-off field goal. They never got up as they finished the year with a 2-10 record that was the program's worst since 1974.
SMU went to Nevada as a 27.5-point favorite and a 31.19-point computer pick. The Mustangs trailed 24-13 after 3 quarters before rallying to eke-out a 29-24 victory on RJ Maryland's 34-yard pass from Preston Stone with just 1:18 to go in the game. SMU would go on to finish 8-0 in the ACC and win the regular season title in its first year in the conference. They lost the championship game, 34-31, to Clemson, but still gained entry to the College Football Playoff where they lost at Penn State.
Montana State was a rare FCS favorite in a road game against a FBS school. The Bobcats traveled to New Mexico as a 13.5-point favorite, but just a 0.17-point computer pick. Montana State would go 15-0 before falling 35-32 to North Dakota State in the FCS Championship game, but they almost didn't make it past game 1. The 'Cats trailed 31-14 after 3 quarters, but rallied to win on Scottre Humphrey's 4-yard run with 10 seconds to go in the game. QB Tommy Mellott began the comeback with his own 15-yard rush at the 13:39 mark of the final period to trim the deficit to 10. But it was Adrian Jones' 93-yard touchdown run with 4:35 to go that lit the fuse to Montana State's comeback momentum.
The only other 'week zero' game involving an FBS program had Hawaii as a 39.5-point favorite, but a lower 29.98-point computer pick at home over FCS member Delaware State. The Warriors would win the game 35-14.
So, what do we have on tap this week?
For starters, we get the debuts of three new official head coaches at Sam Houston, Stanford and UNLV, and the debut an interim head coach at Fresno State. Read on for the details.
The main event, and the game that literally kicks off the season at Noon eastern time on ESPN, is once again in Dublin, Ireland where the Aer Lingus College Football Classic has a Big 12 conference matchup between two of the league's potential champions - Iowa State and Kansas State. The Congrove Computer Rankings project Iowa State to finish first in the regular season, but once again fall to Arizona State in the conference title game. The computer favors the Cyclones by 10.02 points in Saturday's contest. However, Kansas State is the preseason favorite to win the Big 12 at the FanDuel sportsbook, and a 3.5-point favorite to topple Iowa State as the Cyclones only have the 7th-best odds for winning the conference.
Following that game is a 4:00 p.m. eastern time kickoff in Las Vegas on the Mountain West Network where UNLV will host FCS member Idaho State. The Rebels were 11-3 a year ago, but head coach Barry Odom is gone (Purdue) and so are most of the players. The oddsmakers have UNLV by 25.5, but the computer puts it much closer at 11.95 in Dan Mullen's first game as a head coach since being fired by Florida with one game to go in the 2021 regular season.
At 6:30 p.m. eastern time on FOX, another Big 12 team will take the stage when the Kansas Jayhawks open against Fresno State from the Mountain West as a 12.5-point, but only a 6.16-point computer play. Kansas was 5-7 a year ago with a mixed bag of results that included a 3-game winning streak over ranked teams in November as the Jayhawks toppled #17 Iowa State, # 7 BYU and #16 Colorado before falling at unranked Baylor to miss the magical 6-6 mark for a bowl bid. Fresno State limped into the bowl season at 6-6 with losses in 3 of its 4 November games, and lost again in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, 28-20, to Northern Illinois. Tim Skipper spent the entire season as the interim head coach after Jeff Tedford resigned in mid-July. Matt Entz (North Dakota State, 2019-2023) became the new official coach on December 4 after spending 2024 on the USC staff as the assistant head coach of the defense and linebackers coach. He was 60-11 in five seasons in Fargo, winning two FCS National Championship and losing in the title game in another. Entz' predecessor at North Dakota State was Chris Klieman (2014-2018) who begins his seventh season as the head coach of Kansas' in-state rival, Kansas State.
CBSSN has the 7:00 p.m. eastern time game at Western Kentucky where the Hilltoppers will host Sam Houston in a Conference USA contest. WKU was 8-6 a year ago with losses in its last two games. First came a 52-12 beatdown at Jax State in the conference championship game, after which Rich Rodriguez announced his departure from the Gamecocks program of which he led the ultra-successful transition from the FCS to the FBS. The Hilltoppers were then toppled 27-17 by James Madison in the Boca Raton Bowl. Sam Houston went 10-3 with a win over Georgia Southern in the New Orleans Bowl where the Bearkats were led by interim head coach Brad Cornelsen as KC Keeler had resigned to become the head coach at Temple. This game will mark the debut of Phil Longo as head coach after he was fired from his job with Wisconsin as the OC and QB coach. Longo's only head coaching experience came at LaSalle where he was 7-14 in two seasons from 2004-2005. WKU is favored by 9.5 in this game, but only gets a 5.01-point edge by the computer.
The fifth and final game is slated for a 7:30 p.m. eastern time kick-off in Hawaii where the Warriors are favored by 2.5 over Stanford. Hawaii,which was 5-7 a year ago, gets a 5.07-point edge from the computer over a Cardinal program that went 3-9 and waited until March 25 to fire Troy Taylor and named Frank Reich as interim head coach for the 2025 season on March 31.
Aside from those games involving FBS teams, there are five contests involving FCS schools. We already mentioned Idaho State at UNLV, but there's also the Congrove Computer' Rankings' preseason No. 1 team, UC Davis, taking on No. 15 Mercer in Montgomery, Alabama in the FCS Kickoff. In addition, No. 10 Incarnate Word visits Nicholls in a Southland Conference game, No. 11 North Carolina Central travels to No. 23 Southern, and No. 8 Tarleton goes to Portland State.
OREGON - Won 18 straight regular season games. Had won 14 straight over-all.
Last: College Football Playoff No. 1 seed lost 41-21 to No. 8 seed Ohio State in the Rose Bowl on Wednesday, January 1.
Next: Hosts Montana State (FCS) on Saturday, August 30
NOTRE DAME - Had won 13 straight games before falling to Ohio State in the National Championship game..
Last: The College Football Playoff No. 7-seed lost 34-23 to 8-seed Ohio State in the National Championship game on January 20 in Atlanta.
Next: at Miami (FLA) on Sunday, August 31.
GEORGIA - Won 31 straight home games.
Last: College Football Playoff No. 2 seed lost 23-10 to No. 7 seed Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl on Thursday, January 2.
Next: Hosts Marshall on Saturday, August 30.
BOISE STATE - Won 12 straight conference games. (Tied with Army)
Last: College Football Playoff No. 3 seed lost 31-14 to No. 6 seed Penn State in Fiesta Bowl on Tuesday, December 31.
Next: Visits USF on Thursday August 28.
ARMY - Won 12 straight conference games. (Tied with Boise State)
Last: Won 27-6 over Louisiana Tech in the Independence Bowl on December 28.
Next: Hosts Tarleton State (FCS) on Saturday, August 30
TEXAS - Won 11 straight true road games (at opposition venue).
Last: College Football Playoff No. 5 seed lost 28-14 to 8-seed Ohio State in the Cotton playoff semifinal on Friday, January 10.
Next: Visits Ohio State on Saturday, August 30
SMU - Had won 10 straight true road games (at opposition venue) - second to Texas.
Last: College Football Playoff No. 11 seed lost 38-10 at Penn State in 1st round of the College Football Playoff on December 21.
Next: Hosts East Texas A&M (formerly known as Texas A&M-Commerce) on Saturday, August 30.
KENT STATE - Lost 21 straight over-all. Lost 16 straight conference games. Lost 14 straight road games. Lost 9 straight home games.
Last: Lost 43-7 at Buffalo on Tuesday November 26.
Next: Hosts Merrimack (FCS) on Saturday, August 30.
TEMPLE - Lost 20 straight true road games.
Last: Lost 24-17 at home to North Texas on Saturday November 30.
Next: Saturday, August 30 at UMass
FBS schools were 115-6 in FBS-FCS games last season, and are a cumulative 1,915-158 (.924) since we began tracking this in 2003.
In 2024, there were 121 matchups scheduled between FBS and FCS schools with 119 playing one such game, while Hawaii and UMass each play two.
This year, there are 126 games (one each for 126 of 136 teams).
One such game takes place this week when Idaho State visits UNLV.
2024 FCS wins vs. FBS:
August 24: Montana State 35, New Mexico 31
September 7: St. Francis (PA) 23, Kent State 17
September 7: Idaho 17, Wyoming 13
September 7: Southern Utah 27, UTEP 24 (OT)
September 21: Monmouth 45, FIU 42
September 28: UT-Martin 24, Kennesaw 13
In 2023, FBS schools were 114-4. These were the FCS wins last year:
September 9: Idaho 33, Nevada 6
September 9: Southern Illinois 14, Northern Illinois 12
September 9: Fordham 40, Buffalo 37
September 16: Sacramento State 30, Stanford 23