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All but one one if the 134 FBS teams will see action over the Labor Day weekend with five consecutive days of college football for your enjoyment.
Week Zero already delivered a huge upset as ACC preseason favorite Florida State fell to Georgia Tech in Ireland as a 10.5-point favorite. It was also a conference game which complicates FSU's playoff chances even more.
As usual, a lot of the opening week games are intended to be tune-up games with a record 58 matchups against FCS schools in the same week. Last year, there were 42 such matchups.
There are 21 games on Thursday night, but only two of those pit FBS teams against each other. The rest see FBS schools hoping to pick on a FCS program.
Some of those FBS-FCS games are among the most interesting games on this week's slate. This past weekend, the computer correctly had FCS member Montana State over New Mexico, but even the oddsmakers had the Bobcats in that game.
One of those Thursday games sends North Dakota State to Colorado as a 9.5-point underdog while the computer has the Bison on the wrong end by 10.05.
But, the computer loves Jackson State's chances at ULM on Thursday night, installing the Tigers as 5.12-point favorites against a program that closed last season on a 10-game losing streak and was preseason picked by the Sun Belt Coaches and the computer to finish last in the Sun Belt's west division. However, JSU is a 7.5-point underdog on handicapping websites such as DocSports.com, one of the most trusted names in handicapping since 1971! By the way, Doc's is offering $60 in Free Premium Member Only picks if you want to check out their services.
Elsewhere, two-time defending FCS Champion South Dakota State plays in Stillwater against the Oklahoma State Cowboys as a 9.5-point underdog, as of Tuesday morning. Somewhat surprisingly, the Congrove Computer Rankings at CollegeFootballPoll.com have the Jackrabbits at much larger underdogs at 25.20 points.
Sacramento State at San Jose State also looks interesting. The computer gives the Spartans a 13.62-point advantage but the spread is only 2.5. The Hornets were 30-23 winners at Stanford last year after the oddsmakers had the Cardinal by 6.5 while the computer took Sac State by 6.31.
Sacramento State also won big at Colorado State in 2022, blowing out the Rams 41-10.
SJSU is one of 29 schools that are kicking off the 2024 season with a different head coach than a year ago. Brent Brennan left to take Jedd Fisch's spot at Arizona after Fisch filled Kalen DeBoer's shoes at Washington when he moved to Alabama. Former Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo is now the head coach of San Jose State.
The computer puts Nicholls at just 2.58 points behind Louisiana Tech on Saturday and the line only favors the Bulldogs by 8.5.
SEMO at New Mexico State could also be ripe for an upset, though the Redhawks are 8.5-point underdogs and come up negative in the computer by 15.06.
One of the two FBS-FBS matchups on Thursday has North Carolina at Minnesota to return the favor of the Gophers playing in Chapel Hill last year. The Tar Heels won that contest 31-13 but find themselves as 2.5-point dogs in Minneapolis, and an even larger 6.20-point computer dog.
The only other game on Thursday between FBS schools sends Coastal Carolina to Jacksonville State where the Gamecocks are 3.5-point favorites by the oddsmakers. The computer sees that game as a toss-up with Jax State getting just a 0.54-point edge.
On Friday, four of the six games are head-to-head FBS matchups with two B1G teams in action as Michigan State hosts FAU and Wisconsin entertains Western Michigan. Another sees Oklahoma play its first game as a SEC school, but its a non-conference affair at home versus Temple. The other FBS-FBS contest sends TCU to face a Stanford team that could be much improved over last season's 3-9 record in Troy Taylor's second season as head coach.
The first battle of ranked FBS teams comes our way on Saturday when Clemson plays Georgia in Atlanta in the AFLAC (previously Chick-fil-A) Kickoff Game. We also get Penn State at West Virginia, Notre Dame at Texas A&M, and Miami at Florida.
The lone Sunday contest is a much-hyped battle in Las Vegas between USC and LSU where the sportsbooks have the Tigers by 4.5 while the computer has the Trojans by 3.32.
The weekend closes on Monday with Florida State looking to rebound from last Saturday's shocking loss to Georgia Tech by battling Boston College at home in a second ACC game for the 'Noles. The line for FSU has fallen from 21.5 before last week's loss to just 15.5 as of this morning. The computer has the 'Noles by 16.22.
Last but not least, Kennesaw State plays its first game as a FBS program when the Owls visit UTSA. Kennesaw will compete in Conference USA and, in fact, received a 3rd-place conference finish-projection from the computer. The computer correctly picked Jax State's coming out success a year ago, so we'll see if Kennesaw can manage to do the same in 2024.
Last season had 117 of the 133 FBS schools facing one FCS opponent, and Army played two such games for a total of 118 FBS-FCS matchups.
Of the 16 FBS schools that did NOT play a FCS program, 7 were in the B1G (Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Purdue, Wisconsin). 6 more are evenly split between the Big 12 (Houston, Oklahoma, Texas) and Pac-12 (Colorado, USC, Washington). The other three were Liberty (CUSA) , UTSA (American), and Virginia Tech (ACC).
The FBS programs were 114-4 last year against the FCS schools. Over-all, the FBS is a collective 1,800-152 (.922) since we began tracking this in 2003.
These were the FCS wins in 2023:
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
In 2024, there are 121 scheduled matchups between FBS and FCS schools with 119 of the 134 FBS schools (Kennesaw State moves up from FCS) playing one such game, while Hawaii and UMass each play two.
This year, 15 schools do not play a FCS opponent and 5 are in the B1G (Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, USC and UCLA). Texas is the only school in the SEC that will not play a FCS program. The same is true for Virginia Tech in the ACC. In fact, Texas and Virginia Tech, along with Michigan and Houston, are repeats from last year's list of schools that played all FBS programs.
2024 FCS wins vs. FBS:
August 24: Montana State 35, New Mexico 31
GEORGIA - Had won 29 straight over-all before losing to Alabama in the SEC Championship game. The school still enters 2024 with streaks of 25 straight home wins, and 15 straight true road wins.
Last: Won 63-3 over Florida State in the Orange Bowl.
Next: vs. Clemson on Saturday, August 31 in Atlanta
WASHINGTON - Had won 21 straight over-all.
Last: Lost 34-13 to Michigan in the College Football Playoff national championship game on Monday, January 8 in Houston.
Next: Hosts Weber State (FCS) on Saturday, August 31
MICHIGAN - Won 15 straight over-all. Won 25 straight conference games.
Last: 34-13 win over Washington in the College Football Playoff national championship game on Monday, January 8 in Houston.
Next: Hosts Fresno State on Saturday, August 31 (first of five straight home games)
VANDERBILT - Lost 10 straight over-all.
Last: 48-24 loss at Tennessee on Saturday, November 25.
Next: Hosts Virginia Tech on Saturday, August 31
ULM - Lost 10 straight over-all, lost 10 straight conference games.
Last: 52-21 loss at Louisiana on Saturday, November 25
Next: Hosts Jackson State (FCS) on Thursday, August 29
STANFORD - Lost 9 straight home games.
Last: 56-23 home loss to Notre Dame on Saturday, November 25
Next: Hosts TCU on Friday, August 30
TEMPLE - Lost 14 straight true road games.
Last: 45-21 home loss to Memphis on Saturday, November 25
Next: Visits Oklahoma on Friday, August 30