NFL football is still five days away. The league is in its post-preseason lull until next Wednesday’s regular-season opener, a Super Bowl LX rematch between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks.
Friday belongs entirely to college football again, with nine games spread across the evening and three ranked programs in action, one of them already sitting at 1-0 heading into its next test.
Here is the full breakdown of tonight’s college football slate, along with the NFL Week 1 info.
College Football Games Today: Friday’s Full Schedule
Ranked teams in action:
No. 7 Miami at Stanford, 9 p.m. ET (ESPN)
Miami crosses three time zones for a late West Coast kickoff against a Stanford team that already has a game under its belt this season, having opened with a win over Hawaii.
No. 10 Oklahoma vs. UTEP, 8 p.m. ET (SEC Network+)
This one streams only through the ESPN App for subscribers who already carry SEC Network, since SEC Network+ is not a standalone purchase or a traditional cable channel.
No. 14 USC vs. Fresno State, 9 p.m. ET (FOX)
Like Miami’s opponent, USC also enters the night unbeaten, having handled San Jose State in its own opener at the Coliseum. FOX carries the game over the air, making it the most widely accessible broadcast of the night.
BE THE GM OF YOUR FAVORITE TEAM: PFN’s Free NFL Mock Draft Simulator
The rest of Friday’s slate:
- San Jose State at Eastern Michigan, 6:30 p.m. ET (ESPN+)
- North Carolina A&T at Georgia State, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN+)
- Indiana State at Purdue, 7 p.m. ET (Big Ten Network)
- Franklin Pierce at Marist, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN+)
- Long Island at Kansas, 8 p.m. ET (ESPNU)
- Toledo at Michigan State, 8 p.m. ET (FS1)
START PREPARING: PFN’s Free Fantasy Draft Simulator
Why There’s No NFL Football Until Next Week
The NFL preseason concluded on August 29 with two final tune-up games, and the league does not return until the regular-season opener on Wednesday, September 9, when Seattle hosts New England in a rematch of Super Bowl LX.
That gap explains why college football has full control of the sports calendar this week, from Thursday’s 11-game slate through Friday’s nine games and into a massive Saturday card featuring nearly every ranked team in the country.
Once that opener kicks off at 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock, the NFL wastes no time filling out the rest of Week 1. The 49ers and Rams meet in Melbourne, Australia, the very next night, streaming exclusively on Netflix in the league’s first regular-season game on Australian soil.
Sunday, September 13, carries the heaviest workload of the week, with FOX broadcasting Bears at Panthers, Buccaneers at Bengals, and Saints at Lions at 1 p.m. ET before NBC closes the day with Cowboys at Giants in the Sunday night window.
Denver at Kansas City wraps the full slate Monday night on ABC and ESPN, a rematch loaded with stakes after the Broncos won the AFC West at 14-3 while the Chiefs stumbled to 6-11 the year before.
For fans looking to fill the football void before next week, tonight offers real stakes.
One top-15 program is protecting a spotless record, while two more ranked teams open their seasons tonight, including a ranked SEC team that opens as a heavy favorite against a Conference USA opponent in a game most fans will need a specific streaming setup to actually watch.
The NFL’s long wait ends in five days.
