The college football season is creeping ever closer, as Thursday marks the 100-day mark until the Week 0 slate begins. But the Week 0 slate will only be an appetizer for a loaded Week 1 schedule, and kickoff times for the biggest games of that weekend are beginning to trickle out as anticipation for the 2022 campaign ramps up.
Three games featuring six of the game’s biggest brands and three coaches debuting in new spots will be in the spotlight during the Week 1 action, beginning with defending national champion Georgia playing Oregon in Atlanta on Saturday, Sept. 3. Later that day, Ohio State will host Notre Dame in a gargantuan primetime battle.
Action continues Sunday, as well, with Florida State taking on LSU in New Orleans. Those are just a few of the big Week 1 matchups for which kickoff times and channels were revealed on Tuesday. More details will later be revealed about the kickoff times and channels for the rest of the action. But for now, let’s take a deeper look at the big games announced so far and help you start getting a TV viewing plan together.
Dates, times, television information and game breakdowns can be viewed below. All kickoff times Eastern.
Oregon vs. Georgia
Saturday, Sept. 3 — 3:30 p.m. on ABC
Considering that Georgia and Oregon are separated by nearly 2,700 miles and have only met once before, there will be a surprising amount of familiarity in this matchup. When the Ducks travel to Atlanta to face the defending national champions inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium, they will be playing their first game under new coach Dan Lanning. Of course, Lanning just so happens to be the mastermind who coordinated UGA’s historically dominant defense in the 2021 season.
Offensively, the Ducks’ quarterback is likely to be Auburn transfer Bo Nix, who also brings plenty of familiarity with the Bulldogs to the meeting from his three years with the Tigers. Nix went 0-3 against Georgia while at Auburn, but Lanning knows the UGA defensive personnel well, and perhaps he and former Auburn offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham can make this Saturday afternoon reunion feel like an SEC showdown.
Notre Dame at Ohio State
Saturday, Sept. 3 — 7:30 p.m. on ABC
This marks the first regular-season meeting between Notre Dame and Ohio State since 1996, when the Buckeyes won a 29-16 game in South Bend. The last meeting between the two in the Horseshoe came in 1995 in a game also won by the Buckeyes. In total, Ohio State has won the last four games in the series, including Fiesta Bowl victories in 2006 and 2016. You must go back to the 1930s and the first two games in the series to find Notre Dame’s lone victories against the Buckeyes.
For first-year Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman, the program’s defensive coordinator last season, playing against such a vaunted offense right out of the gate is daunting. But Ohio State struggled defensively in 2021, and if new coordinator Jim Knowles from Oklahoma State needs some time to get his unit up to speed, then Notre Dame will have a shot at handing the Buckeyes another surprising early-season home loss after their loss to Oregon in Week 2 of last season.
Florida State vs. LSU
Sunday, Sept. 4 — 7:30 p.m. on ABC
This game has chaos written all over it, as former Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly goes up against the Seminoles in a Sunday night tilt to open the season for a second year in a row. Last year, his Fighting Irish pulled out a thrilling 41-38 overtime win over the Seminoles. Now as the coach at LSU, Kelly will be expected by Tigers fans to quickly return the program to a championship trajectory. Winning a standalone game against a big brand on opening weekend would be a huge jolt in the early stages of his reboot.
Standing in the way will be a Florida State team needing to show signs of improvement after an 8-13 beginning to Mike Norvell’s tenure. Now in his third season with the Seminoles, Norvell could use a splashy victory. FSU leads the all-time series 7-2 and won the last four meetings — but the last victory came in 1991.
Florida vs. Florida State
Friday, Nov. 25 — 7:30 p.m. on ABC
In a bonus lookahead for football fans in the Sunshine State, it was also announced Tuesday that the Seminoles and Gators will play in the first-ever Thanksgiving Friday primetime broadcast on ABC. It will be a big stage for two programs entering the season seeking to re-establish themselves. The Gators won last season in a battle for bowl eligibility. This will be Florida’s first regular-season game not played on a Saturday since 1992 as first-year coach Billy Napier gets his first taste of one of the sports’ best rivalries.
