The college football season is just starting, but once the action gets going, what are some of the more important dates of the season? One of them comes sooner rather than later, but most of the dates on this list feature the late-season duels which typically gain a lot of publicity and attention… and which figure to decide both conference championships and College Football Playoff berths. One thing that needs to be said: No specific matchup has been established for Saturday, December 2, but that is the day when almost all of the major conference championship games will be held. The Pac-12 title game will be on Friday, December 1.
September 9, 2017
This is the huge early-season Saturday college football fans have to pay attention to. Three big games – two of them non-conference games – will light up the season and do a lot to reshape the College Football Playoff chase. The Georgia Bulldogs visit the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in a game both teams desperately need to win. Georgia and Notre Dame both have coaches who face a lot of pressure this season. Georgia is the team loaded with high-end offensive talent. The Bulldogs have two NFL-level running backs in their backfield, Nick Chubb and Sony Michel. It is expected that second-year head coach Kirby Smart delivers an SEC East title and 10 wins to Athens at the very least. If he falls short of one or both of those goals, he will face a lot of questions about his ability to lead a premier program. Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly is on the hot seat after a disastrous 4-8 season in 2016. This is a big challenge for the Fighting Irish, but if they can overcome it, they will have reason to think they are back on the right track.
That’s just one of the three big games on this day.
The Oklahoma Sooners visit the Ohio State Buckeyes in the back end of a home-and-home series which started last year. Ohio State thrashed OU, and so the Sooners will try to get revenge this time around.
In the big conference game of the day, Stanford visits USC. The loser will immediately lose margin for error in the rest of the Pac-12 season and in the College Football Playoff race. USC could probably overcome this loss to win the Pac-12 South, but the Trojans would be pushed to the edge in terms of their playoff hopes.
October 28, 2017
The Penn State Nittany Lions changed their 2016 season when they upset the Ohio State Buckeyes. Penn State won the Big Ten championship and left the Buckeyes shaking their heads. Now Ohio State gets the Penn State Nittany Lions at home in the hyped rematch. The Buckeyes better hope that they perform a lot better in that game than they did in their opener against the Indiana Hoosiers. The winner will very likely win the Big Ten and move to the College Football Playoff.
November 4, 2017
The Oklahoma Sooners-Oklahoma State Cowboys game has often decided the Big 12 championship this decade, and while the Big 12 has a championship game again this season, OU versus State will almost certainly assure the winner of a place in that conference title game. The loser might get a chance for a rematch, but that cannot be guaranteed. This is regularly a huge game, and it figures to be again in 2017.
November 10 and 11, 2017
The night of Friday, November 10th features the Washington Huskies and Stanford Cardinal. The winner of this game will almost surely win the Pac-12 North and play likely South champion USC Trojans in the Pac-12 title game on December 1.
On Saturday, November 11, the Florida State Seminoles visits the Clemson Tigers. These two teams have won each of the last six ACC championships. They have made either the national title game or the College Football Playoff in each of the last four seasons. This could be the most significant game of the whole season, given the two teams’ histories.
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