It’s almost that time.
Time to decide how much time to devote to college football watching each week.
Some weeks are easier than others. I’m naturally excited for Week 1, but the slate isn’t great. There’s only one ranked vs. ranked matchup this week, which is rare for the start of the season.
The schedule will, naturally, get better as the season goes on. Every Saturday isn’t loaded, though. There’ll be some weeks where you can spend some extra time with family friends. Then there are those weeks where you’ll have to get the family activities out of the way by noon before posting up in your basement for 13 hours.
I’m here to help you set up your fall. Following is a ranking of the five best weeks of the 2023 college football regular season, from the most loaded week to the least.
Week 13
Rivalry Week is the best week of the season year in and year out. Some of this year’s matchups have a little extra juice, though.
Nov. 23
Ole Miss at Mississippi State: The annual Thanksgiving night Egg Bowl. No matter what happens in this year’s game, it’ll be hard to top Ole Miss…um…pissing a win away in 2019.
Nov. 24
TCU at Oklahoma: TCU likely won’t be as good as it was in 2022, but I’m sure nothing would make the Horned Frogs and their fans happier than sending the Sooners to the SEC with an L.
Iowa at Nebraska: The Hawkeyes could be playing for a spot in the Big Ten title game, or for offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz’s job.
Penn State at Michigan State (at Ford Field in Detroit): The Big Ten overlords at NBC pushed for a Black Friday game and it gets a matchup for the Land Grant Trophy.
Texas Tech at Texas: We know who Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark will be pulling for here. Keep an eye out for Texas Tech as a sleeper to win the Big 12.
Oregon State at Oregon: Oregon joins the Big Ten in 2024. This will be the 130th meeting between the in-state rivals. The Ducks and Beavers say the Civil War will continue, but I’ll believe that when I see it.
Nov. 25
These matchups all speak for themselves:
- Alabama at Auburn
- Florida State at Florida
- Washington State at Washington
- Wisconsin at Minnesota
- Ohio State at Michigan
- UTSA at Tulane
Week 8
Oct. 21 will give us at least eight matchups with conference title and playoff implications, and a handful of other solid battles.
- Michigan at Michigan State
- Penn State at Ohio State
- Tennessee at Alabama
- Utah at USC
- Clemson at Miami
- Texas at Houston
- TCU at Kansas State
- Wisconsin at Illinois
- Ole Miss at Auburn
- Minnesota at Iowa
Week 11
- Michigan at Penn State
- Michigan State at Ohio State
- Ole Miss at Georgia
- Alabama at Kentucky
- Florida at LSU
- USC at Oregon
- Miami at Florida State
- Washington at Utah
- Texas at TCU
Week 10
Nov. 2
- TCU at Texas Tech
Nov. 4
- LSU at Alabama
- Washington at USC
- Notre Dame at Clemson
- Kansas State at Texas
- Oklahoma at Oklahoma State
- Texas A & M at Ole Miss
Week 4
- Ohio State at Notre Dame
- Iowa at Penn State
- Ole Miss at Alabama
- Florida State at Clemson
- UCLA at Utah
- Auburn at Texas A & M
Honorable mention
Week 7
Oct. 13
- Tulane at Memphis
Oct. 14
- USC at Notre Dame
- Oregon at Washington
- Texas A & M at Tennessee
- Kansas State at Texas Tech
- UCLA at Oregon State
- Iowa at Wisconsin
- Miami at North Carolina
