It’s College Football Time Again! Oregon-Auburn, Northwestern-Stanford, and Boise St -Florida State Head Week One Action

Bust out the school colors and the fight songs! College Football is back! Yes, it’s still the SEC’s game and we’re all just playing along, but for the moment, everyone is on equal footing and can claim to have the same record as Alabama and Clemson.

The first week of games only features two matchups of ranked teams, but they’re evenly matched and should be great to watch. The bigger teams will basically be playing scrimmages as Alabama hosts the beats of Duke, and Ohio State brings in the juggernauts of Florida Atlantic. You can wonder whether FAU can cover the spread, or if Duke can actually score, but for true competitive games, here are some of the more entertaining.

No. 13 Oregon (+155) vs No. 16 Auburn (-200)

Is Oregon the real deal? After a few years off, the Ducks look to take the next step back to national prominence this year with an opening week game against a big opponent on the national stage in Arlington, TX. In last year’s opener, Auburn dispatched a similar Pac 10 foe with big aspirations in Washington, but never followed through and finished the season a disappointing 8-5, putting coach Gus Malzahn in the hot seat. 

When the Ducks are on offense, it will be strength against strength, as Oregon will be led by Heisman hopeful Justin Herbert, who came back to school for his senior year hoping to up his draft stock and take home some hardware. He’ll be surrounded with experience, from veteran RBs CJ Verdell and Travis Dye to his entire O-line from last year. That group will be tested by one of the best D-lines in the SEC, led by DT Derrick Brown and DE Marlon Davidson. 

When the Tigers have the ball, it will be the opposite side of the coin, with freshman QB Bo Nix looking into the eyes of another freshman in the nation’s #1 recruit, Oregon DE Kayvon Thibideaux, who will look to live up to all the hype he received when he picked the Ducks over other suitors. 

This is not only the highest profile game of the weekend, but also the hardest to pick, with no home field advantages to lean on to tip the scales either way. If the Auburn defensive line can get to Herbert, that might be the deciding factor, as the Ducks QB was ineffective under pressure last year. Auburn did the SEC proud last year with a win against a highly ranked PAC 10 team. We think they might do it again this year as well.

Boise St (+195) at Florida State (-265) 

Florida State looks to make amends for last year’s 5-7 record with a big opening win here. Luckily for them, thanks to Hurricane Dorian, the game has been moved from the somewhat neutral site in Jacksonville to the Seminole’s home stadium in Tallahassee, so FSU has one more thing going for them. Both teams will start new signal callers, with Boise State turning to freshman Hank Bachmeier, while the Seminoles will put their faith in James Blackmon, who beat out highly touted Wisconsin transfer Alex Hornibrook. Both defenses look strong and will look to feed off the inexperience in the backfield, but look for Willie Taggart’s team to start this year off on a positive note. 

No. 25 Northwestern (+185) at No. 23 Stanford (-250)

Count the fans at Northwestern as Clemson fans as well, as the rise of Trevor Lawrence had the unforeseen side effect of causing the transfer of former 5-star quarterback Hunter Johnson from the Tigers to the Wildcats. He’ll face off against KJ Costello, who emerged last season as another in the rich line of Stanford star quarterbacks. Both defenses are solid, with Northwestern led by LB Paddy Fisher, and Stanford anchored by DB Paulsen Adebo, who is coming off an impressive 4 pick season as a freshman. With both teams looking for an early season statement game against a ranked opponent to solidify their bowl game bona fides, this will be one of the best games of the weekend.  Stanford is favored, and with good reason: HC David Shaw, a veteran QB and homefield all tilt the game in the Cardinal’s favor.

Find your team, find your couch, and make your bets! College Football is back! It's gonna be a fun Fall!

*Credit to the main photo of this article belongs to Tony Avelar/Associated Press