Thursday Tailgate: Ranking opening night's most intriguing matchups
At last! Opening day has arrived for college football’s top division in 2015. Not sure how much of a fan Etta James was, but we’ll use any excuse to hear her signature tune. Go ahead — we’ll wait.
Back? Good. Since it’s kickoff night, this is a more crowded Thursday slate than we’ll see most weeks during the season. Here’s a ranking of tonight’s best games to watch in order of intrigue factor.
1. Michigan at Utah, 8:30 p.m. ET, FS1
Take away the added hype associated with Michigan and the coaching debut of Jim Harbaugh, and what you have is two programs in remarkably similar situations. They’re schools with devoted followings trying to make strides amid increasingly difficult divisions in their respective conferences. The first mystery to be solved is whether incumbent Shane Morris or Iowa transfer Jake Rudock will take the opening snap for the Wolverines (Harbaugh knows, but he isn’t saying). There’s far less drama for the Utes as coach Kyle Whittingham has announced that Travis Wilson will call the signals, though his best option will usually be handing off to Devontae Booker. Utah’s excellent defensive line could make Harbaugh’s Michigan curtain raiser difficult.
2. No. 2 TCU at Minnesota, 9 p.m. ET, ESPN
The Horned Frogs are the first of the projected playoff contenders to take the field. They figure to get a good test from a well-coached Golden Gophers squad that is hoping to compete for the Big Ten West crown. Under TCU’s dream scenario, QB Trevone Boykin would get his Heisman campaign off to a solid start in a hard-fought win, and Minnesota would go on to a successful season, thus helping the Frogs’ schedule strength. Minnesota will have other notions on its home field. Mitch Leidner has worked to improve his passing accuracy, but he’s going to need ground support to get his offense into manageable third-down situations to control the clock. If it’s close at halftime, it will definitely be worth losing a little sleep to see.
3. South Carolina vs. North Carolina in Charlotte, 6 p.m. ET, ESPN
Let’s face it — any game involving the “Head Ballcoach” is worth a look. This will be far from the best team Steve Spurrier’s has ever fielded, but that’s a high bar since he won a national championship at Florida. The Gamecocks do have a true gamebreaker in WR Pharoh Cooper, but it will be up to QB Connor Mitch to get him the ball. The Tar Heels are hoping for better things from a defense that surrendered nearly 40 points a game in 2014.
4. Duke at Tulane, 9:30 p.m. ET, CBSSN
Saturday’s Stanford at Northwestern contest might be called the SAT Bowl, but this one could make a strong claim to that title as well. From a football perspective, Blue Devils coach David Cutcliffe has brought a level of respect to the program not seen since the aforementioned Ballcoach was roaming the sidelines in Durham. The Green Wave are looking for consistency as they try to find their footing in the American Athletic Conference.
5. Texas-San Antonio at No. 22 Arizona, 10 p.m. ET, Pac-12
The Roadrunners put scares into a number of teams, including Arizona, last season despite a 4-8 finish. But UTSA is much younger this season, and the Wildcats are looking for even bigger things from QB Anu Solomon after his breakout freshman season and should take care of business in this opening act.
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