The first full weekend of the faculty soccer season brings 91 video games from Thursday by Monday, together with Clemson at LSU, Louisville vs. Ole Miss, Notre Dame vs. Wisconsin and SMU at Florida State.
However these aren’t the one video games value placing on the tv.
A number of the most intriguing Week 1 video games are flying beneath the radar. Whether or not it’s a quarterback matchup, a staff trying to make a press release, or just two evenly matched applications, these 5 video games deserve extra consideration than they may initially obtain.
Notice: These video games are listed chronologically, so consider this as a viewer’s information for the weekend.
Colorado at Georgia Tech
Thursday, Sept. 3 — 8 p.m. ET on ESPN
The Yellow Jackets received 27-20 once they met in Boulder final season. One other aggressive matchup wouldn’t be stunning.
Georgia Tech enters a brand new period at quarterback. Alberto Mendoza, the brother of final 12 months’s Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza, is available in following the departure of Haynes King. After a disappointing 3-9 marketing campaign in 2025, Colorado is relying on former five-star recruit Julian Lewis to take a big step ahead in his second season.
Georgia Tech has established itself as a aggressive ACC program beneath Brent Key, whereas Deion Sanders desperately wants Colorado to indicate indicators of progress.
Baylor vs. Auburn in Atlanta
Saturday, Sept. 5 — 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC
Baylor and Auburn will meet at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in a matchup that includes two intriguing quarterbacks. Florida switch DJ Lagway takes over at Baylor, whereas new Auburn coach Alex Golesh introduced over his quarterback at USF, Byrum Brown.
The quarterback storyline alone makes this value watching.
Brown helped South Florida defeat Lagway and Florida final season, and now the 2 quarterbacks will meet once more beneath very completely different circumstances.
Auburn is favored coming into the matchup, however Baylor has sufficient offensive expertise to make this attention-grabbing.
Boise State @ No. 2 Oregon
Saturday, Sept. 5 — 3:30 p.m. ET on CBS
Always remember that Boise State beat Oregon in back-to-back years in 2008 and 2009 (LeGarrette Blount would most likely need folks to neglect that). In addition they took Oregon to the brink in 2024 with Ashton Jeanty. Had it not been for Oregon’s particular groups, Boise State would’ve walked out of Autzen once more with a win.
Oregon enters this season with national championship expectations, whereas Boise State is once more anticipated to be one of many strongest Group of Six applications.
UNLV at Hawaii
Saturday, Sept. 5 — 10 p.m. ET
That is the place the under-the-radar label actually begins to suit.
UNLV and Hawaii are each coming off Week 0 losses, making this an unusually essential recreation. Neither staff needs to start the 12 months 0-2.
UNLV misplaced 27-21 to Memphis, whereas Hawaii fell 37-27 at Stanford.
The quarterback matchup is particularly intriguing. UNLV has former five-star recruit Jackson Arnold, who’s making an attempt to revive his profession beneath Dan Mullen. Hawaii counters with Micah Alejado, who threw for 3,106 yards and 24 touchdowns final season and is thought to be one of many Group of Six’s prime quarterbacks.
A late-night recreation in Honolulu is all the time a special problem, and this one may have vital early-season implications for each groups.
UCLA at Cal
Saturday, Sept. 5 — 10:30 p.m. ET
If you happen to’re nonetheless watching faculty soccer late Saturday night time, do not overlook this one.
UCLA and Cal are former Pac-12 rivals assembly as nonconference opponents for the primary time since realignment separated them.
Extra importantly, each groups are coming into new eras.
UCLA has first-year head coach Bob Chesney together with returning quarterback Nico Iamaleava. Cal begins the Tosh Lupoi period with sophomore quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele returning after a powerful freshman season.
Sagapolutele threw for 3,454 yards and 18 touchdowns in 2025 and is already producing vital buzz coming into his second season.
This recreation additionally seems to be like one of the crucial evenly matched contests on the schedule. Cal was a slight favourite coming into the week, making this way more than a late-night showcase.
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