ND-A&M to cap off Week 1 tripleheader on ABC
The first full week of the upcoming college football season will feature a Saturday tripleheader on ABC, including Texas A&M hosting Notre Dame in prime time.
ESPN announced its major matchups for Week 0 and Week 1 as part of its presentation to advertisers in New York on Tuesday.
The Aug. 31 matchup also marks Mike Elko’s first game as Texas A&M’s head coach. Elko was the defensive coordinator and safeties coach at Texas A&M from 2018 to 2021 before being hired by Duke, where he was 16-9 in two seasons.
Before his first stint with the Aggies, Elko was the defensive coordinator at Notre Dame in 2017.
“College GameDay” will also originate from College Station, Texas, that day for the first time since 2018.
ABC’s other Saturday Week 1 games are Clemson facing Georgia in Atlanta at noon ET and Florida hosting Miami at 3:30 p.m. in the first SEC telecast on the network. ABC takes over the late-afternoon SEC game from CBS.
The Sunday, Sept. 1, game between USC and LSU will also be on ABC, with a 7:30 p.m. kickoff.
ESPN announced last December that “College GameDay” will make its first international trip on Aug. 24, when Florida State faces Georgia Tech in Dublin. That game will kick off at noon ET and is one of the Week 0 marquee matchups. ABC will carry the MEAC/SWAC Challenge Kick-Off between Florida A&M and Norfolk State at 7:30 p.m.
ESPN’s Aug. 31 games include Alabama hosting Western Kentucky at 7:30 p.m. in Kalen DeBoer’s Crimson Tide debut.
Texas and Oklahoma, which join the SEC this coming season, will have their openers on ESPN. The Sooners will host Temple on Friday, Aug. 30, at 7 p.m., and the Longhorns will face Colorado State on Aug. 31 at 3:30 p.m.
ESPN will also carry North Dakota State at Colorado on Aug. 29, TCU at Stanford on Aug. 30 and Boston College at Florida State on Monday, Sept. 2.
CBS, which will be in its first full season carrying Big Ten games at 3:30 p.m. ET, will have USC‘s first conference game on Sept. 21 when it visits Michigan. The network also has Notre Dame at Purdue on Sept. 14 as well as the conference title game on Dec. 7 at 8 p.m.
NBC’s first two “Big Ten Saturday Night” games are set with defending national champion Michigan hosting Fresno State on Aug. 31 and Colorado at Nebraska on Friday, Sept. 6.
Fox has also finalized its first two “Big Noon Saturday” matchups. It announced the Sept. 6 game between Texas and Michigan during the Wolverines’ spring game three weeks ago, then on Monday added the Sept. 13 matchup between Alabama and Wisconsin.
The Pac-12 Conference also announced on Tuesday that Oregon State and Washington State‘s home games will be on the CW Network or Fox. Most will be on the CW, including the Beavers hosting the Cougars on Nov. 23 at 6:30 p.m. ET.
Fox or FS1 will carry Texas Tech at Washington State on Sept. 7 and Oregon at Oregon State on Sept. 14.
Oregon State and Washington State remain committed to rebuilding the Pac-12, but it will as a two-team league for 2024 and possibly 2025.
The CW Network also has a package of ACC games.
