Finally, the first week of the 2022 college football season has arrived, and the sport is in for a fantastic opening weekend.
The return of the Backyard Brawl, between West Virginia and Pitt, will kick off five days of games on Thursday at Heinz Field (7 p.m. ET, ESPN). That evening, Purdue will also host Penn State (8 p.m. ET, Fox), and another Big Ten matchup will take place on Friday when Illinois visits Indiana (8 p.m. ET, ESPN).
The marquee contests on Saturday include Georgia’s game against Oregon (3:30 p.m. ET, ABC), Utah’s game against Florida in The Swamp (7 p.m. ET, ESPN), and the game between Notre Dame and Ohio State in Columbus (7:30 p.m., ABC).
College football will also take center stage this weekend with Florida State-LSU (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC) and Clemson-Georgia Tech (8:00 p.m. ET, CBS). The NFL won’t kick off for another week.
Who will triumph in all of the above contests?
Looking for more college football preseason analysis? Check out SI’s predictions for the preseason bowls, the All-American team, and the most intriguing Week 1 game.
Straight-up predictions from SI’s experts for Week 1:
Looking for more college football preseason analysis? Check out SI’s predictions for the preseason bowls, the All-American team, and the most intriguing Week 1 game.