When Does The 2017 College Football Season Start? 10 Teams Begin Schedule

The fight between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor isn’t the only major sporting event scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 26. The date also marks the beginning of the 2017 college football season.

Football returns with five games on opening day. The action gets underway in the early afternoon with a matchup between Oregon State and Colorado State, followed by a few contests that include potentially ranked teams.

READ: When Does The 2017 NFL Preseason Start?

Stanford finished last season ranked No.12 in the country, going 10-3 and ending the year with a victory over North Carolina in the Sun Bowl. They’ll start the 2017 season on the other side of the globe with a game against Rice in Sydney, Australia. On Aug. 26 of last year, California and Hawaii made the trip Down Under, opening the season with a game that featured 82 combined points.

Hawaii is one of the 10 teams that will be on this year’s Aug. 26 schedule. They’ll take on Massachusetts in the third game of the day.

Like Stanford, South Florida could find themselves in the Top 25 to start the year. They’ll face San Jose State in a game that isn’t expected to be all that close.

The top national championship contenders don’t kick off their respective seasons until a few days later. Ohio State and Oklahoma State are among the 30 teams that will start the year with games on Thursday, Aug. 31.

Eight games are scheduled for Friday, Sept. 1. National championship contender Washington will visit Rutgers. Wisconsin hosts Utah State.

Alabama, the team with the best odds to reach the College Football Playoff and win the national title, begins their season on Saturday, Sept. 2 in one of the year’s biggest games. They’ll host Florida State, who could also be a top-five team.

Clemson isn’t expected to be nearly as good after defeating the Crimson Tide in last year’s title game. After losing quarterback Deshaun Watson to the NFL, the Tigers will start the year on Sept. 2 against Kent State in what should be a win to kick off their 2017 campaign.

More than 60 games in total are on the Sept. 2 schedule. That includes a matchup between Michigan and Florida, which is a rematch of the 2017 Citrus Bowl. The Wolverines won that game 41-7.

A week after they start their season, BYU will be back to play in one of the biggest games of Week 1. The Cougars will take on LSU in a contest set to be played at Houston’s NRG Stadium.

Two teams won’t start their seasons until Sept. 4 when the year’s first Monday night game is on the schedule. Tennessee will visit Georgia Tech in a matchup that will be broadcast on ESPN.

Below is the complete college football schedule for Saturday, Aug. 26.

Oregon State vs. Colorado State, 2:30 p.m. EDT

Portland State vs. BYU, 3 p.m. EDT

Hawaii vs. UMass, 6 p.m. EDT

READ: Alabama, Ohio State, USC Among College Football Playoff Betting Favorites

South Florida vs. San Jose State, 7:30 p.m. EDT

Stanford vs. Rice, 10 p.m. EDT