Kickoffs set to begin ESPN’s college football slate

• Heather Dinich, ESPN

  • Senior Citizen WriterMay 31, 2023, 02:01 PM ET Close College football
  • press reporter Joined ESPN.com in 2007
  • Graduate of Indiana University

With less than 100 days till the start of the college football season, the bulk of the September schedule has actually been completed, as ESPN on Wednesday announced the dates and times for the first three weeks of the season in addition to the network’s Bowl Season schedule.Week 1 starts Thursday, Aug. 31, with Florida at Utah (8 p.m. ET, ESPN) as the headliner and starts five straight days of games. The opening week runs through Labor Day Monday, which will be highlighted by LSU facing Florida State in the Outdoor Camping World Kickoff in Orlando, Florida (7:30 p.m., ABC). Both groups have College Football Playoff aspirations, and in 2015, Florida State won 24-23 on a blocked LSU extra point attempt.Saturday, Sept. 2,

will feature an emotional return for the Virginia football team, which will be playing its first game given that the deaths of 3 colleagues on Nov. 13 in a school shooting. Virginia, which canceled its last 2 games of the 2022 season as it grieved D’Sean Perry, Devin Chandler and Lavel Davis Jr., will face Tennessee at Nissan Arena in Nashville(Noon, ABC). As previously announced, Texas at Alabama(7 p.m.,

ESPN)on Sept. 9 will highlight Week 2. It will be their last game as nonconference challengers prior to the Longhorns and fellow Big 12 co-founder Oklahoma joins the SEC in 2024. Last year, Alabama got away Texas with a 20-19 win after a 33-yard basket with 10 seconds remaining.Week 2 likewise includes Notre Dame at NC State(Twelve Noon, ABC)followed by Texas A&M at Miami (3:30 p.m., ABC ). In Week 3, the Yard Brawl between border rivals Pitt and West Virginia in Morgantown will be included on Sept. 16 on ABC (7:30 p.m.). Editor’s Picks 1 Related ESPN wasn’t the only network this week revealing dates and times for marquee games, as CBS Sports on Tuesday announced its”SEC on

CBS”broadcast

windows. CBS will once again relay the annual Florida-Georgia game in Jacksonville, Florida, on Oct. 28. The last season of the SEC on CBS will debut Sept. 16 with South Carolina at defending national champion Georgia. The SEC TV bundle will transfer to ESPN in 2024. The four-team CFP returns for several years 10, with the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Rose Bowl Game set for 5 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 1( ESPN), followed by the College Football Playoff

Semifinal at the Allstate Sugar Bowl at 8:45 p.m.(ESPN). The College Football Playoff Championship game provided by AT&T is also set for ESPN on Monday, Jan. 8, at 7:30 p.m.The New Year’s 6 bowls kick off Dec. 29 with the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic at 8 p.m. on ESPN. On Dec. 30, the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl is at midday followed by the Capital One Orange Bowl at 4 p.m., both on ESPN. New Year’s Day games on ESPN start with the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl at 1 p.m.ESPN will present the ACC, American, Big 12, MAC, Pac-12, Sun Belt and SWAC championship games the first weekend of December. The Pac-12 championship game will have the ABC spotlight on Friday, Dec.

1, at 8 p.m. The Big 12 national championship kicks off Champion Saturday action from Arlington, Texas, at noon, with the ACC championship game liquidating the day at 8 p.m. from Charlotte, North Carolina.ESPN platforms will also display Saturday’s championship play from the MAC( midday, ESPN ), American(4 p.m., ABC or ESPN), Sun Belt (4 p.m., ABC or ESPN )and SWAC(4 p.m., ESPN2).