Updated Thursday, September 3, 2026. All times Eastern.
Week 1 of the 2026 college football season is the real national kickoff: Thursday, September 3 through Monday, September 7, with the full Saturday slate landing on September 5 over Labor Day weekend. After Week 0’s appetizer, this is when nearly all 136 FBS teams open, including defending champion Indiana, which begins its title defense against North Texas with FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff live from Bloomington.
The marquee games are stacked across five days. Thursday opens with Colorado at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, Friday sends Miami to Stanford, and Saturday peaks with Clemson at LSU in Death Valley on ABC, College GameDay’s Week 1 site, alongside Boise State at Oregon on CBS. Sunday belongs to NBC and ABC with Washington State at Washington, Wisconsin against Notre Dame at Lambeau Field, and Louisville against Ole Miss in Nashville, and SMU at Florida State closes the week on Monday night.
The full headline slate with times and networks is in the chart below, plus the pregame show map and streaming guide. Day by day listings with every game are on our Thursday, Friday and Saturday pages, and the channel by channel view is on our Week 1 TV schedule.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL 2026
Week 1 Schedule and TV Guide
The full national kickoff, Thursday, Sept. 3 through Monday, Sept. 7
MAIN SLATE
Sat, Sep 5
Labor Day weekend
BIGGEST GAME
Clemson-LSU
7:30 PM ET, ABC
CHAMPS OPEN
Indiana
Big Noon, FOX
FINALE
SMU-FSU
Monday 7:30 PM ET, ESPN
2026 Week 1 headline schedule
All times Eastern; kickoffs subject to change
Date
Matchup
Kickoff (ET)
TV / Stream
Note
Thu, Sep 3
UMass at Rutgers
6:00 PM
BTN
First FBS game of the week
Thu, Sep 3
Colorado at Georgia Tech
8:00 PM
ESPN
Season’s first marquee game
Thu, Sep 3
Arkansas-Pine Bluff at No. 25 Missouri
8:00 PM
SEC Network
First SEC game of 2026
Thu, Sep 3
Eastern Illinois at Minnesota
8:00 PM
Peacock
Streaming only
Thu, Sep 3
Idaho at No. 21 Utah
9:00 PM
ESPNU
Thu, Sep 3
UAB at No. 22 Illinois
9:00 PM
BTN
Fri, Sep 4
Indiana State at Purdue
7:00 PM
BTN
Fri, Sep 4
Toledo at Michigan State
8:00 PM
FS1
Fri, Sep 4
Long Island at Kansas
8:00 PM
ESPNU
Fri, Sep 4
UTEP at No. 10 Oklahoma
8:00 PM
SEC Network+
Streaming only, provider login required
Fri, Sep 4
Fresno State at No. 14 USC
9:00 PM
FOX
Fri, Sep 4
No. 7 Miami at Stanford
9:00 PM
ESPN
Canes open their title-game defense
Sat, Sep 5
North Texas at No. 6 Indiana
12:00 PM
FOX
Big Noon from Bloomington; champs’ opener
Sat, Sep 5
East Carolina at No. 13 Alabama
12:00 PM
ABC
Sat, Sep 5
Oregon State at No. 23 Houston
12:00 PM
ESPN
Sat, Sep 5
Ohio at Nebraska
12:00 PM
FS1
Sat, Sep 5
Coastal Carolina at West Virginia
12:00 PM
TNT / HBO Max
TNT’s college football debut
Sat, Sep 5
Ball State at No. 1 Ohio State
12:30 PM
BTN
No. 1 opens at home
Sat, Sep 5
Baylor vs. Auburn
3:30 PM
ABC
Sat, Sep 5
Boise State at No. 2 Oregon
3:30 PM
CBS
Top non-conference test
Sat, Sep 5
Texas State at No. 5 Texas
3:30 PM
ESPN
Arch Manning’s second season opens
Sat, Sep 5
Marshall at No. 18 Penn State
3:30 PM
FS1
Matt Campbell’s first game
Sat, Sep 5
Boston College at Cincinnati
3:30 PM
FOX
Sat, Sep 5
Northern Illinois at No. 22 Iowa
4:15 PM
BTN
Sat, Sep 5
Wyoming at Colorado State
6:00 PM
USA Network
The Border War, CSU’s first Pac-12 season
Sat, Sep 5
Missouri State at No. 8 Texas A&M
7:00 PM
ESPN
Sat, Sep 5
Abilene Christian at No. 12 Texas Tech
7:00 PM
FS1
Sat, Sep 5
Clemson at No. 11 LSU
7:30 PM
ABC
GameDay in Baton Rouge; Week 1’s biggest game
Sat, Sep 5
Western Michigan at No. 16 Michigan
7:30 PM
NBC / Peacock
Sat, Sep 5
Florida Atlantic at Florida
7:45 PM
SEC Network
Sat, Sep 5
Utah Tech at No. 14 BYU
8:00 PM
ESPN+
Streaming only
Sat, Sep 5
UCLA at California
10:30 PM
ESPN
Late window
Sun, Sep 6
Texas Southern at Prairie View
12:00 PM
ESPN2
Labor Day Classic
Sun, Sep 6
Orange Blossom Classic
3:00 PM
ESPN
Sun, Sep 6
Washington State at No. 17 Washington
4:00 PM
NBC / Peacock
The Apple Cup, on opening weekend
Sun, Sep 6
No. 24 Louisville vs. No. 9 Ole Miss (Nashville)
7:30 PM
ABC
Neutral site, two ranked teams
Sun, Sep 6
Wisconsin vs. No. 4 Notre Dame (Green Bay)
7:30 PM
NBC / Peacock
At Lambeau Field
Mon, Sep 7
No. 19 SMU at Florida State
7:30 PM
ESPN
Labor Day nightcap; ACC Tailgate in Tallahassee
Rankings are the preseason AP poll. Times via ESPN, FOX, NBC Sports, CBS and the conference TV releases, confirmed Sept. 3, 2026.
Pregame shows and streaming
Where the circus sets up
Show / window
Where
College GameDay
Baton Rouge, La. (Clemson-LSU), 9 AM ET, ESPN/ESPNU
Big Noon Kickoff
Bloomington, Ind. (North Texas-Indiana), 10 AM ET, FOX
B1G Tailgate
Columbus, Ohio (Ball State-Ohio State), 10 AM ET, BTN
ACC Tailgate
Tallahassee, Fla. (SMU-Florida State), 10 AM ET Monday, ACC Network
Streaming
ESPN games on the ESPN App (Unlimited covers ABC/ESPN/SECN/ACCN); NBC games on Peacock; FOX/FS1 on Fox One; TNT’s game on HBO Max; YouTube TV, Fubo, Hulu + Live TV carry all networks
WEEK 1 NOTES
The title-game rematch that isn’t
Indiana and Miami open 1,200 miles apart: the champs at home at Big Noon, the runner-up on a Friday-night trip to Stanford.
LSU-Clemson with a lawsuit attached
The SEC sued LSU on Thursday over its former NFL players, and a Baton Rouge judge is deciding whether they can play. The biggest game of the weekend has a courtroom subplot.
Lambeau hosts the Irish
Wisconsin-Notre Dame at Lambeau Field is the weekend’s best venue story and NBC’s Sunday centerpiece.
Indiana opens as the sport’s first undefeated champion since 2019 trying to run it back, with Heisman-winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza now in the NFL; the Hoosiers’ title defense starts with a new offense in front of Big Noon. Clemson-LSU is the weekend’s stakes game, and it now comes with the SEC’s federal lawsuit against LSU over the former NFL players Lane Kiffin has been practising. Boise State-Oregon is the Group of Five’s annual chance to plant a playoff flag, Miami’s Friday opener at Stanford begins the Hurricanes’ answer to January’s six-point heartbreak, and Louisville against Ole Miss in Nashville on Sunday is the weekend’s one meeting of two ranked teams. By Monday night, the first CFP picture, however premature, will already be forming.
The Bottom Line
Week 1 runs September 3 through 7 with the main slate Saturday the 5th: Indiana’s title defense at noon on FOX, Boise State-Oregon on CBS in the afternoon, Clemson-LSU on ABC at night, then Sunday’s Apple Cup, Louisville-Ole Miss and Notre Dame at Lambeau, and a Monday closer in Tallahassee. The first in-season AP poll drops Sunday; our AP Top 25 page refreshes when it does.
