College Football’s Best Games on the Week 0 Schedule You Should Watch Today

It’s been a long seven months of waiting, but college football is finally back today.

Coming out of the long offseason with Indiana as the reigning national champion, the 2026 campaign kicks off with more than a few other marquee programs looking to snatch the title away from the Hoosiers, and Saturday brings us our first game action in the traditional Week 0 slate.

Here are the most important games on the Week 0 schedule we’ll be watching, and that you should be watching, too.

What You Should Watch on the College Football Schedule Today

All times Eastern

North Carolina vs. TCU

College Football's Best Games on the Week 0 Schedule You Should Watch Today — IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Why watch? You like college football, don’t you? Well, this is the first action since January, and it features a couple of intriguing teams that could have some real potential if they can get a few things right. Saturday is their first chance.

Bill Belichick’s debut as a college football coach came against TCU a year ago, getting a national Monday night audience to make a good first impression… He didn’t. Carolina got pantsed at home in a 48-14 result against the Horned Frogs.

Now comes the rematch. TCU is more than a touchdown favorite coming off a 9-4 season that included a bowl win against resurgent USC, and returns some notable production, while Belichick is still yet to prove he can recruit or win in the NCAA.

When? 12 p.m. on ESPN

NC State at Virginia

Why watch? To see if a surprise ACC title contender from a year ago can make their way back, and how well the Wolfpack, despite returning a great quarterback, can recover from losing some other key players in a matchup with potentially very, very early conference championship implications.

Not having Chandler Morris at their disposal after he won 11 games last season, Virginia dipped into the portal and came out with Beau Pribula, the former Penn State and Missouri signal caller. Low on passing output, he is a solid dual threat who ran for almost 300 yards and 6 TDs last fall.

Few quarterbacks in college football could be better positioned for a breakout season than CJ Bailey, the NC State signal caller who ranks fifth in FBS with 22 career starts, boasts elite size at 6-6 and 220, was third in the ACC with a 69% completion mark, scored 31 TDs, and won 8 games a year ago.

When? 3:30 p.m. on ESPN

Memphis at UNLV

Why watch? Charles Huff and Dan Mullen face off in a battle of Group of Six teams that have College Football Playoff ambitions and want to make a good first impression in postseason positioning.

Huff steps in from Southern Miss and Marshall before then taking over a Memphis team that won 29 games over the last three years, but loses its coach and the most important contributor from a great rushing attack, and will debut a new and inexperienced quarterback.

Mullen returns a potent UNLV offense in which Jai’Den Thomas averaged more than 7 yards per carry and scored a dozen times, but the Rebels need to prove they can defend better against the run if they want to take advantage of a more wide open Mountain West that lost a ton of its better teams to the Pac-12 in realignment this year.

When? 10 p.m. on Fox

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