Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I’m excited for Week 1 to start early with a series of Thursday night games.

In today’s SI:AM:

🅾️ Ohio State’s Spending Spree
🏈 The Steelers QB Competition
🏌️‍♂️ PGA Tour Rankings

Technically, college football season has already started. But with all due respect to the four games played this past weekend in Week 0, it doesn’t really start until Thursday night. There are nearly 100 games featuring FBS teams between now and Monday night. If you’re doing the math and wondering how the 134 teams in FBS can play that many games, it’s because many of them play against FCS opponents. There are plenty of games on the schedule, like Arkansas State vs. Central Arkansas and Northern Illinois vs. Western Illinois—not exactly the kinds of games football fans spend their spring and summer dreaming about. But there are still a fair number of games that neutral fans should pay attention to. Let’s break them down.

Colorado vs. North Dakota State (8 p.m. ET Thursday on ESPN)

Year 2 of the Deion Sanders era in Boulder begins with a tough matchup against perennial FCS powerhouse North Dakota State. The Bison are the No. 2 team in the FCS coaches poll after finishing third last season.

Most FBS programs haven’t been willing to try their luck against NDSU of late. The Bison won six straight against FBS opponents from 2010-’16 (beating Kansas, Minnesota, Colorado State, Kansas State, Iowa State and Iowa) and then didn’t play another FBS game until ’22, when they lost 31-28 to Arizona. They don’t have another FBS game on the schedule until a game at Oregon in 2028. Losing to a team as consistently successful as NDSU shouldn’t be too embarrassing, but there’s certainly a stigma attached to losing to a lower-subdivision program, and most teams aren’t willing to take the risk.

The Bison have shown an ability to beat teams in the middle of the power conferences, and there should be some question as to whether Colorado can even be considered part of that middle of the league. The Buffaloes’ 2023 season started off with a bang, with a surprise win over ranked TCU, but they were quickly humiliated in conference play, finishing 4-8. Sanders’ team is expected to take a step forward this year, hopefully resulting in its first six-win season since 2016. Colorado has two of the best players in the country in quarterback Shedeur Sanders and receiver/defensive back Travis Hunter, but there are questions about the rest of the roster. With about 40 players departing through the transfer portal and about as many players coming to Boulder as transfers, this roster is hardly recognizable. It should be better than last year’s 4-8 team, but will it be good enough to beat North Dakota State?

No. 1 Georgia vs. No. 14 Clemson (in Atlanta, Saturday noon ET on ABC)

This is the most eye-catching game of the weekend, though it seemed a lot more exciting when it was scheduled in 2018, when Clemson was in the midst of a six-year streak of top-three finishes. Georgia’s 2023 season ended on a disappointing note after losing to Alabama in the SEC championship game and missing out on the playoffs. Clemson’s year, however, was even more disappointing. The Tigers went 9-4, their most losses in a single season since 2011. They have a lot of talent returning from last year’s squad, so they should be improved, but Georgia is the best program in college football right now and is a two-touchdown favorite.

No. 19 Miami at Florida (3:30 p.m. ET Saturday on ABC)

Miami’s Mario Cristobal and Florida’s Billy Napier were hired before the 2022 season, and neither hire has gone according to plan. Cristobal went 5-7 and 7-6 in his first two seasons, while Napier went 6-7 and didn’t even make a bowl game last year at 5-7.

The Hurricanes appear better positioned for success this season. The biggest change is that they added former Washington State quarterback Cam Ward to the transfer portal, who should be an upgrade over last year’s starter, Tyler Van Dyke (now at Wisconsin). They also have a fairly easy schedule: Their only game against a team ranked in the preseason AP poll is at home to Florida State. The Gators, meanwhile, have a brutal eight-game schedule against currently ranked teams.

Welcoming a ranked rival to Gainesville is a tough way for Florida to open the season. There’s a distinct possibility that the Gators, coming off their second-worst season of the past decade, could find themselves 0-1 with a matchup against a powerful Texas A&M team looming in two weeks.

No. 7 Notre Dame at No. 20 Texas A&M (7:30 p.m. ET Saturday on ABC)

Speaking of Texas A&M, the Aggies are having a tough start to their season as they face Notre Dame at Kyle Field. The Irish have performed well in Marcus Freeman’s first two years as manager and will have their sights set on the expanded 12-team playoff this year. However, it’s a bit tricky for an independent team to make the playoffs since there’s no way to earn an automatic bid. If Notre Dame wants an at-large bid, picking up big wins against teams like Texas A&M will be crucial.

No. 13 LSU vs. No. 23 USC (in Las Vegas, 7:30 p.m. ET Sunday on ABC)

Last year was a major disappointment for USC. The Trojans had the reigning Heisman Trophy winner in Caleb Williams, but the defense was a disaster (ranked 121st out of 133 teams in points allowed per game) and cost them dearly, leading to an 8-5 record. Defensive coordinator Alex Grinch was fired after a 52-42 loss to Washington on Nov. 4. He was replaced by D’Anton Lynn (the son of former Los Angeles Chargers coach Anthony Lynn), who was the defensive coordinator across town at UCLA last season and led a Bruins D that ranked 14th in points allowed per game. LSU had the nation’s best offense last season, but lost Heisman winner Jayden Daniels to the NFL draft, along with several other key offensive players. Still, the Tigers’ performance against a revamped USC defense will tell us a lot about what to expect from the Trojans this year.

Boston College vs. No. 10 Florida State (7:30 p.m. ET Monday on ESPN)

The Seminoles’ season got off to a disastrous start with a loss to Georgia Tech last weekend in Ireland. That was a bad move for a program that had spent the past year shouting about how good it was in the ACC. Flying halfway around the world to play a game abroad can (and did in this case) lead to a weird outcome, so playing at home is a chance for FSU to win in a more familiar environment. But if the Seminoles lose? Oh, baby.

…things I saw yesterday:

5. The Crazy Yankees 8-6-2-3-2-5-4 doubles.
4. Nationals prospect Dylan Crews’s first home run of his career.
3. The stunning winning goal in injury time from outside the penalty area in Southampton’s EFL Cup victory over Cardiff City. It was only the third goal of Bree’s career.
2. Travis Jankowski’s Catch to rob a potential walk-off home run.
1. Shohei Ohtani’s dog “first throw.”