Saturday, August 25, 2018

College Football kicks off on Saturday, with the annual Week 0 games, spotlighting both FCS and FBS Group of 5 programs

Saturday, August 25th
Duquesne at UMass4:30 pmELVN / NESN+
#6 Jacksonville State vs. #14 North Carolina A&T6:00 pmESPN 
Prairie View at Rice6:00 pm$espn+ Video
Hawaii at Colorado State6:30 pmCBSSN
Wyoming at New Mexico State9:00 pmESPN2 

Four Group of 5 programs and two FBS Independents kick off the 2018 College Football season on Saturday, including the MWC opener between Hawaii (3-9, 1-7 MWC West in '17) and Colorado State (7-6, 5-3 MWC Mountain in '17) from Fort Collins, CO.

Power 5 programs will be eyeing several of these openers, since UMASS (4-8 in '17) is Boston College's season home opener on 9/1. Boston College (7-6 in '17) is coming off a 27-20 loss in the Pinstripe Bowl to the Iowa Hawkeyes (8-5). Other Power 5 programs with an eye on Week 0:
  • Washington State (9-4) will be Wyoming (8-5), who host the Cougars on 9/1 in Laramie
  • Minnesota (5-7) will be eyeing New Mexico State (7-6), since the Golden Gophers will host the Aggies on Thursday night in TCF Bank Stadium for the season opener
  • Colorado (5-7) will be eyeing Colorado State, as they kickoff the state rivalry game in Denver
This first Saturday in College Football has become popular for a Top 25 FCS showdown, as #6 Jacksonville State (10-3 in '17) and #14 North Carolina A&T (12-0 in '17) kickoff the season.

Looking at the Mountain West Conference heading into 2018. Stassen Composite has the West and Mountain divisions trending as follows:

  • West Division break down for 2018
  1. San Diego State
  2. Fresno State - the defending champs in the West, after Aztecs took 2015 and 2016 division!
  3. UNLV
  4. Nevada
  5. Hawaii
  6. San Jose State
  • Mountain Division break down for 2018
  1. Boise State - the defending champions are projected #21 by Stassen in the Top 25!
  2. Wyoming
  3. Utah State
  4. Colorado State
  5. Air Force 
  6. New Mexico


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