Opening weekend college football TV schedule and open thread

We made it guys. College football begins today.

There are a handful of games on deck this afternoon and evening to ease you gently into the 2017 season. Wet your whistle with some mostly middling action as you eagerly anticipate next week’s run up to Florida’s big opening match-up with Michigan (and other more ballyhooed contests).

Feel free to hang out in this thread while watching any of today’s games.

This is normally where I note that the area below contains our picks for each viewing window, but as there are only five games today, I went ahead and listed all of them below.

Afternoon (2:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Eastern)

Oregon State at Colorado State (2:30 p.m., CBSSN): In terms of Gator connections, here’s Luke Del Rio’s former team versus Jim McElwain’s former team. This game actually has potential, and there are much worse ways you could start the new season. The visiting Beavers have a solid run game, while the Rams have a capable quarterback, 1,200-yard receiver, and are breaking in a new on-campus stadium.

Portland State at BYU (3:00 p.m., ESPN): The Cougars kick off their season today with FCS Portland State before facing LSU next week in Houston.

Hawai’i at UMass (6:00 p.m.): A game so exciting that it isn’t being nationally televised, despite the dearth of college football options this weekend. Fun fact: one of the reasons there even are college football games this weekend is because of Hawai’i. Teams that travel to play the Rainbow Warriors can schedule a 13^th game, so some of them extend their seasons in order to keep a bye week – including BYU and San Jose State, who also play today.

Evening (7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Eastern)

South Florida at San Jose State (7:30 p.m., CBSSN): Watch former Florida defensive coordinator and occasional interim head coach Charlie Strong back at the helm of a team from the Sunshine State. The No. 19 Bulls were exciting under Willie Taggart last season on offense, but were rather poor on defense; which is, of course, Strong’s area of specialty.

Stanford vs Rice (10:00 p.m., ESPN): The No. 14 Cardinal open their season away from home with Rice. And when I say away from home, I mean away. Stanford and the Owls will be playing in Allianz Stadium in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. G’nite mate.

And here’s a handy schedule table.