College Football

College football Week 1 preview: Top games, players and position battles to watch

Updated Aug. 29, 2024 4:51 p.m. ET

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RJ Young

FOX Sports National College Football Analyst

Laken Litman

College Football & Soccer Analyst

Michael Cohen

College Football and College Basketball Writer

It's been a long offseason, but college football is finally here, with Week 1 set to kick off Thursday and run all the way through the holiday weekend with No. 10 Florida State hosting Boston College at 7:30 p.m. ET Monday night.

There is plenty to know heading into Week 1, including notable names making their college football debut, a fascinating QB competition that still remains unsettled, and a highly anticipated Big Ten vs. Big 12 matchup between a pair of teams with College Football Playoff aspirations.

[Read more: 2024 college football rankings: RJ Young's Ultimate 134]

FOX Sports college football writers Laken Litman, Michael Cohen and RJ Young are here to preview the biggest storylines heading into Week 1 of the 2024 college football season.

Penn State is set to take on West Virginia in a highly anticipated Week 1 matchup on FOX. What is the key for James Franklin's team to kick off the 2024 season with a win?

Laken Litman: West Virginia would love to make an example out of Penn State at home given the way this game unfolded last year in Happy Valley. The Mountaineers might not be ranked to start this season, but they do boast a powerful offensive trio in quarterback Garrett Greene and running backs CJ Donaldson Jr. and Jahiem White. Those three can impact any game and plan to do so on Saturday in front of a rowdy home crowd. 

And so the Nittany Lions' defense, now led by former Indiana head coach Tom Allen following Manny Diaz's departure, has a tough test early. They will need to stop the run, which shouldn't be that hard of an ask given this unit had the No. 1 rushing defense in the country a year ago. However, Penn State lost a chunk of defensive talent to the NFL, so how Allen gets his players ready will be crucial.

Michael Cohen: The outcome of this game is likely to hinge on how well Penn State's defense can contain what many expect to be a particularly potent West Virginia rushing attack. Defensive coordinator Manny Diaz left Penn State to become the head coach at Duke following two incredibly successful seasons in which the Nittany Lions ranked 17th nationally in rushing defense during the 2022 campaign, limiting opponents to just 75.5 yards per game on the ground. Also gone are starting edge rushers Chop Robinson and Adisa Isaac, both of whom were top-100 picks in this year's NFL Draft, and starting cornerbacks Kalen King and Johnny Dixon, with the former earning All-Big Ten honors in 2023. The new defensive coordinator tasked with maintaining Diaz's lofty standard is former Indiana head coach Tom Allen. 

Containing the Mountaineers' ground game will be easier said than done considering how much talent West Virginia returns on the offensive side of the ball. A three-headed approach comprised of Greene (722 yards, 13 TDs), White (842 yards, 4 TDs) and Donaldson (798 yards, 11 TDs) should give second-year offensive coordinator Chad Scott plenty of options after West Virginia topped 30 points in seven of its final eight games last season to finish with its highest scoring average (31.5 points per game) since 2018. The Mountaineers are 27-8 in games when they've rushed for 100-plus yards since head coach Neal Brown took over six years ago. They're only 3-21 when they've failed to top the century mark on the ground. 

RJ Young: Find your inner Michael Bay and make things go BOOM! The Nittany Lions ranked 118th in the country in explosive rate last season, according to Tru Media. That's the reason Franklin made the move to fire Mike Yurcich and poach Andy Kotelnicki. With Drew Allar at quarterback and talented wideouts like Julian Fleming running vertically, there's no reason the Nittany Lions shouldn't hit for big gains repeatedly this season. WVU is their first chance to show that.

Michigan is set to host Fresno State in Week 1. What do you anticipate seeing from the Wolverines' new-look offense in this game?

RJ: Dominance. I expect Michigan to show us why it's the defending national champion. I want Michigan to show us that none of the changes to the staff, NCAA sanctions, notice of allegations, or what Connor Stalions and Jim Harbaugh said has any effect on the outcome of the game. If I see that from Sherrone Moore's team in Week 1, I'll feel better about the prospect of them defending their Big Ten title for a fourth-straight year.

Michael: In some respects, this is a difficult question to answer given the uncertainty surrounding Michigan's quarterback competition, which has been whittled down to a two-man race between junior Alex Orji (dual-threat) and senior Davis Warren (pocket passer). Should the former win the job, the Wolverines' offense would likely include a heavier dose of designed quarterback runs or read-option plays that seek to capitalize on Orji's terrific open-field ability. Should the latter land atop the depth chart, then first-year offensive coordinator Kirk Campbell might feel more comfortable with a downfield passing attack given the proficiency Warren showed in that area during Michigan's spring game. Moore declined to name a starter during his news conference earlier this week and said the competition would sort itself out in the next few days. It's unclear if the Wolverines will formally announce a starter before kickoff on Saturday night. 

Regardless of who plays quarterback, Michigan is expected to lean on the tenacity of its offensive line, a group that will feature five new starters in 2024. But what gives the Wolverines' coaching staff confidence in that group is the experience some of those players gained in recent seasons, be it at Michigan or other schools. New left tackle Myles Hinton logged 287 snaps at Michigan in 2023 and played more than 1,000 combined snaps in three prior years at Stanford. New left guard Josh Priebe, a transfer from Northwestern, racked up more than 1,700 snaps for the Wildcats. And new right guard Giovanni El-Hadi was a part-time starter for the Wolverines two years ago. There are ongoing competitions at center and right tackle — both of which feature players with far less experience — that could spill into the regular season. 

Laken: Like Michael said, this is a tough question given Moore will not announce who his starting quarterback will be until the end of this week. But regardless of who gets the QB1 job, I am also interested to see how a brand-new offensive line gels, especially given that the Wolverines host Texas in Week 2. 

Michigan has been known for having indomitable O-lines. The unit won the Joe Moore Award in 2021 and 2022 and was a semifinalist last year. The room is motivated to be great and even has a new mantra to uphold this season that players have shared with the local media. Internally, they are bonded by the word "Invictus," or being unbeatable.

What is one sneaky-good matchup that fans should be watching in Week 1?

Michael: The return of an in-state rivalry between No. 19 Miami and Florida is a game that could serve as an important barometer for two programs, and two head coaches, desperate for more success in 2024. Five years have passed since the Hurricanes and Gators last tangled, on Aug. 24, 2019, and Saturday's game will be just their fourth meeting since 2004 and the eighth since 1987. Miami leads the all-time series, 29-27, thanks to an extended run of dominance that includes victories in eight of the last 11 games dating back to 1984, a year when the game was played on neutral territory in Tampa, Florida. This week's matchup will be hosted by the Gators. 

For the Hurricanes, who made a slew of high-profile additions in the transfer portal, Saturday should serve as the unveiling for a roster many believe is talented enough to reach the College Football Playoff. The one-two punch of quarterback Cameron Ward (formerly of Washington State) and tailback Damien Martinez (formerly of Oregon State) is among the most explosive duos in the ACC, where Miami was picked third behind Florida State and Clemson. It could be a make-or-break season for head coach Mario Cristobal after finishing below .500 in conference play each of the last two years. 

The story is similar for Florida head coach Billy Napier, who is entering his third season with an overall record of 11-14 after suffering through a five-game losing streak to close the 2023 campaign. His Gators will be desperate for any non-conference win they can get given the supreme difficulty of their SEC slate this fall. No school in the country has a more difficult finishing kick than Florida: vs. No. 1 Georgia on Nov. 2, at No. 4 Texas on Nov. 9, vs. No. 13 LSU on Nov. 16, vs. No. 6 Ole Miss on Nov. 23 and at No. 10 Florida State on Nov. 30. Given what's waiting for them, the Gators can't afford an early slipup. 

Laken: This isn't exactly "sneaky good," but since we haven't discussed it yet, I think Notre Dame-Texas A&M is going to be a ton of fun. This is a matchup not short on storylines: for example, new Aggies coach Mike Elko makes his debut against the Fighting Irish, where he was the defensive coordinator in 2017. And not only that, but he gets to face quarterback Riley Leonard, who starred for him at Duke before transferring to Notre Dame after Elko was hired by A&M.

Kyle Field is going to be a wild environment, and better yet, this game has early College Football Playoff implications.

RJ: Oklahoma State vs. FCS No. 1-ranked South Dakota State.

Oklahoma State fans would be forgiven for having a knee-jerk reaction to seeing this game on the schedule and asking who's to blame for it? The Jackrabbits are not just the best team in the FCS, they're a team riding a 29-game winning streak — third-longest in FCS history — and feature a quarterback in Mark Gronowski who could work his way into Day 1 of the NFL Draft with an impressive showing against a Pokes team that expects to contend for the Big 12 title and make the CFP.

[Read more: 2024 Big 12 football preview: Projections and players to watch]

Last year, Shedeur Sanders took the college football world by storm in Week 1, passing for 510 yards and four touchdowns in an upset win over TCU. Who is one player fans should be watching in Week 1?

Laken: I'll be interested to see what Carson Beck does against Clemson. Georgia is the favorite to win the national championship this year, and Beck is a Heisman Trophy front-runner and projected to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. He has to come out swinging, and he probably will, especially given that he'll be missing his top two running backs for the season opener.

Beck is the most prolific returning quarterback from last season, when he had 3,941 passing yards with 24 touchdowns to six interceptions. His yardage was third to only Michael Penix Jr. and Bo Nix, both of whom are now in the NFL. Yes, he lost some of his favorite pass catchers to the NFL, but there are rising stars and new faces in Georgia's wide receiver room. Clemson's secondary, which was a top 10 unit last year, will provide an intriguing challenge in the first week of the season for Beck and give the country a glimpse of the QB leading the Bulldogs.

RJ: Jeremiah Smith. I realize Ohio State plays Akron this weekend, and IMG Academy is likely to give Ohio State a better game than the Zips. But the hype around Smith, a wideout, is unheard of in the CFP era, especially at a program that wears excellence like a set of underwear you got for half-off. The way folks talk about him in Columbus is the way folks talked about Adrian Peterson when he arrived on campus in Norman, Oklahoma. For the first time, we'll get a glimpse of what they've seen for nearly nine months.

Michael: If the idea is to select a player whose performance in a nationally televised game will spark immediate discussion ahead of Week 2 and beyond, then Penn State defensive end Abdul Carter might be the pick. Carter was a highly touted four-star prospect in the 2022 recruiting cycle who made an immediate splash as an inside linebacker during his true freshman season. He earned second-team All-Big Ten honors from the media, third-team All-Big Ten honors from the coaches and freshman All-America honors from a handful of different outlets after racking up 56 tackles (including 10.5 for loss), a team-high 6.5 sacks, two forced fumbles and four pass breakups. He followed up with 48 tackles (including 5.5 for loss) and 4.5 sacks in 2023 to be named first-team All-Big Ten by the coaches.

This year, though, Carter will be deployed differently by head coach James Franklin and first-year defensive coordinator Tom Allen. At Carter's request, he spent the spring and summer shifting from off-ball linebacker to edge rusher in an effort to have a greater impact on games, though he might return to the middle at select moments. That edge rusher is also one of the sport's premier positions when it comes to financial compensation in the NFL was surely part of the equation as well. At 6-foot-3 and 252 pounds, Carter has the requisite size and athleticism to be a consistent threat rushing the passer, evidenced by 48 quarterback pressures over his first two collegiate seasons combined. He's expected to be a first-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. 

Laken Litman covers college football, college basketball and soccer for FOX Sports. She previously wrote for Sports Illustrated, USA Today and The Indianapolis Star. She is the author of "Strong Like a Woman," published in spring 2022 to mark the 50th anniversary of Title IX. Follow her on Twitter @LakenLitman.

Michael Cohen covers college football and basketball for FOX Sports with an emphasis on the Big Ten. Follow him at @Michael_Cohen13.

RJ Young is a national college football writer and analyst for FOX Sports and the host of the podcast "The Number One College Football Show." Follow him at @RJ_Young and subscribe to "The RJ Young Show" on YouTube.

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