College football’s 2026 season is officially underway. Week 0 delivers eight FBS games on Saturday, August 29 — headlined by Bill Belichick taking North Carolina to Dublin, Ireland for a rematch with the TCU team that humiliated him a year ago — before the real avalanche arrives over Labor Day weekend, when Week 1 packs marquee games into five straight days, September 3–7. Here’s the complete guide: what’s on, what actually matters, and why a handful of teams get to start early at all.
Key Takeaways
- Week 0 kicks off Saturday, August 29 with eight FBS games, led by North Carolina vs. TCU in Dublin (noon ET, ESPN).
- Week 1 runs September 3–7 over Labor Day weekend: Clemson–LSU, Boise State–Oregon, the Apple Cup, and Notre Dame at Lambeau Field.
- There's no College GameDay for Week 0 — it returns for Week 1 at LSU.
- From 2027, every FBS team can open in Week 0 under the NCAA's new 14-week season.
Week 0: eight games and one very motivated Belichick
The season’s first full Saturday centers on the Aer Lingus College Football Classic at Aviva Stadium in Dublin: North Carolina vs. TCU at noon ET on ESPN. The subplot writes itself — USA Today notes last year’s meeting was a 48-14 TCU blowout in Chapel Hill that “set the tone for Bill Belichick’s forgettable first year” and left UNC expectations “at a basement level.” Now the experiment goes international.
The rest of the Week 0 slate, per FBSchedules.com and NCAA.com (all times ET):
- North Carolina vs. TCU (Dublin) — 12 p.m., ESPN
- San Jose State at USC — 3 p.m., NBC/Peacock
- NC State at Virginia — 3:30 p.m., ESPN
- Jacksonville State at North Dakota State — 5:30 p.m., CBS Sports Network
- Sacramento State at Eastern Michigan — 6:30 p.m., ESPN+
- Hawaii at Stanford — 7 p.m., ACC Network
- New Mexico State at Florida State — 7 p.m., The CW
- Memphis at UNLV — 10 p.m., FOX
Don’t sleep on NC State–Virginia: USA Today reports it was originally scheduled for Brazil before moving to Charlottesville, and — unusually for Week 0 — it counts in the ACC standings thanks to the league’s new nine-game conference schedule. CBS Sports suggests it “may wind up having ACC Championship implications.”
One heads-up for ritualists: there’s no College GameDay this Saturday. Per Yahoo Sports, the show returns for Week 1 at LSU, then Texas in Week 2 and Ole Miss in Week 3.
Why does Week 0 even exist? Blame Hawaii
Week 0 isn’t random — it’s a rulebook quirk. FBSchedules.com explains that most FBS teams can’t play until the Thursday before Labor Day (September 3 this year) under NCAA rules. But a 2016 exception lets Hawaii, plus any team playing at Hawaii and their opponents, start a week early — the travel-cost realities of playing in the middle of the Pacific. That’s why Hawaii–Stanford anchors the slate, and why San Jose State, North Dakota State, Sacramento State, New Mexico State, and UNLV (all of whom visit Hawaii this season) get early openers too. A separate exception covers games in foreign countries, which is what clears the Dublin game.
There’s a bonus rule: games played in Hawaii don’t count against the 12-game regular-season maximum, so San Jose State will play 13 games this year, per FBSchedules.com. And enjoy the quirk while it lasts — starting in 2027, every FBS team can open in Week 0 as the NCAA moves to a standardized 14-week season.
Week 1: five days of football over Labor Day weekend
Week 1 spreads across Thursday through Monday, September 3–7, per NCAA.com. The highlights by day:
Thursday, Sept. 3: Colorado at Georgia Tech (8 p.m., ESPN) headlines the opening night.
Friday, Sept. 4: Miami at Stanford (9 p.m., ESPN) and Fresno State at USC (9 p.m., FOX).
Saturday, Sept. 5: The big four, per USA Today’s best-games list — No. 23 Clemson at No. 13 LSU (7:30 p.m., ABC), Baylor vs. Auburn in Atlanta (3:30 p.m., ABC), Boise State at No. 2 Oregon (3:30 p.m., CBS), plus East Carolina at Alabama and Texas State at Texas.
Sunday, Sept. 6: A tripleheader of neutral-ish site spectacles — the Apple Cup (Washington State at No. 19 Washington, 4 p.m., NBC/Peacock), Louisville vs. No. 10 Ole Miss in Nashville (7:30 p.m., ABC), and Wisconsin vs. No. 5 Notre Dame at Lambeau Field (7:30 p.m., NBC/Peacock).
Monday, Sept. 7: No. 20 SMU at Florida State closes the weekend (7:30 p.m., ESPN).
The storylines inside those games
Kiffin’s LSU debut. USA Today frames Clemson at LSU as two programs moving in opposite directions: LSU rising under new hire Lane Kiffin, Clemson barely ranked after a 7-6 season. But with Kiffin breaking in a huge influx of transfers, USA Today sees a real chance Clemson “steals one in the other Death Valley.”
Boise’s shot at a classic. A Boise State win in Eugene would echo the program’s 2000s giant-killer era and boost the re-formed Pac-12, which was rebuilt with the Broncos as its football centerpiece, per USA Today. For Oregon, beating a Top 25-ish Boise team is playoff-résumé insurance.
The earliest Apple Cup ever. The Washington–Washington State rivalry has been played 117 times, but never this early in the season, USA Today notes — the third straight September edition since UW left for the Big Ten. Washington State won the last meeting in Seattle, 24-19.
Notre Dame at Lambeau. The No. 5 Irish — whom USA Today suggests “might be the best team in the country” — meet Wisconsin at a venue that sells the game regardless of the spread.
Florida State’s proof point. After 5-7 and 2-10 seasons, a Monday-night home win over an SMU team with playoff aspirations would move Mike Norvell’s “job status into safer territory,” per USA Today.
Honest expectations: Week 1 is an appetizer
CBS Sports’ week-by-week watchability ranking delivers a truth serum: it ranks Week 1 just 13th out of 14 weeks, noting the slate “lacks Tier 1 marquee matchups” because many power-conference teams open against overmatched opponents. The payoff comes fast, though — Week 2 (September 10–12) brings what CBS calls “real bangers,” including a top-five matchup in Austin and Oklahoma at Michigan. The defending national champion is Indiana, per NCAA.com, and the Hoosiers open at home against North Texas on September 5.
What happens next
This weekend’s Week 0 results will start shaping the polls before most teams have played a down. Then the season proper opens Thursday, September 3, with GameDay setting up at LSU for the Clemson showdown. If you’re planning your Labor Day viewing, the honest strategy: treat Saturday’s Clemson–LSU as the main event, keep Sunday free for the Apple Cup–Ole Miss–Lambeau tripleheader, and save some energy — the schedule’s best weekends, per CBS Sports’ rankings, arrive with the Red River Rivalry in October and rivalry week in late November. And the football feast doesn’t stop there — the NFL season kicks off September 9 with a Super Bowl rematch, so this is also the weekend to lock in your fantasy draft.
Quick poll
Which Labor Day weekend game are you actually blocking off time for?
For the record: CBS Sports ranks Week 1 just 13th out of 14 weeks for watchability — the "real bangers," it says, start in Week 2.
FAQ
When does the 2026 college football season start? Week 0 is Saturday, August 29, with eight FBS games. Most teams open in Week 1, September 3–7, over Labor Day weekend.
Why do some teams play in Week 0? NCAA rules bar most teams from playing before the Thursday preceding Labor Day, but exceptions exist for Hawaii and teams on its schedule, plus games in foreign countries — like this year’s UNC–TCU game in Dublin.
What are the best games of Week 1? Clemson at LSU (Lane Kiffin’s LSU debut), Boise State at No. 2 Oregon, the Apple Cup, Louisville vs. Ole Miss in Nashville, Wisconsin vs. Notre Dame at Lambeau Field, and SMU at Florida State on Labor Day Monday.
Where is College GameDay for Week 1? LSU, per Yahoo Sports — there’s no GameDay for Week 0. Week 2 is Texas and Week 3 is Ole Miss.
