Heather DinichESPN Senior Writer May 31, 2023 2:01pm ET4 minutes read
Can Georgian football get a threesome?
Heather Dinich explains why Kirby Smart and Georgia should be in contention for a third straight national title.
With less than 100 days until the start of the college football season, most of the September schedule is complete as ESPN announced dates and times for the first three weeks of the season along with the network’s bowl season schedule on Wednesday.
Week 1 kicks off on Thursday, August 31 with Florida at Utah (8pm ET, ESPN) headlining and kicking off five straight days of games. Opening week runs through Labor Day and includes LSU’s clash with Florida State at Camping World Kickoff in Orlando, Fla. on Sunday, September 3 (7:30 p.m. ABC) and Clemson at Duke on Monday, September 4 (8 p.m., ESPN).
Saturday, September 2 will be an emotional return for the Virginia football team as they play their first game since the deaths of three teammates in a campus shooting on November 13, 2022. Virginia, which canceled its final two games of the 2022 season in mourning for D’Sean Perry, Devin Chandler and Lavel Davis Jr., meets Tennessee at Nissan Stadium in Nashville (noon, ABC).
As previously announced, Texas at Alabama (7 p.m. ESPN) will be the culmination of week two on September 9th. It will be their last game as non-conference opponents before the Longhorns and their Big 12 co-founder, Oklahoma, join the SEC in 2024. Last year, Alabama eluded Texas with a 20-19 win after a 33-yard field goal with 10 seconds left.
Week 2 also includes Notre Dame at NC State (noon, ABC), followed by Texas A&M in Miami (3:30 p.m., ABC). Week 3 will feature the Backyard Brawl between border rivals Pitt and West Virginia in Morgantown on September 16 on ABC (7:30 p.m.).
ESPN wasn’t the only network to announce dates and times for the main games this week, as CBS Sports announced its “SEC on CBS” broadcast windows on Tuesday. CBS will again broadcast the annual Florida-Georgia game in Jacksonville, Florida on October 28th. The final season of the SEC on CBS will debut with South Carolina on September 16 at defending champion Georgia. The SEC-TV package will move to ESPN in 2024.
The four-team CFP returns for the 10th grade, with the college football playoff semifinals at the Rose Bowl Game scheduled for Jan. 1 at 5:00 p.m. ESPN, followed by the college football playoff Allstate Sugar Bowl semifinals at 8:45 p.m. (ESPN). The College Football Playoff National Championship, presented by AT&T, is also on January 8 at 7:30 p.m. for ESPN
The New Year’s Six Bowls begin December 29 with the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic at 8 p.m. on ESPN. On December 30, the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl is at 12 p.m., followed by the Capital One Orange Bowl at 4 p.m., both on ESPN. The New Year’s Games on ESPN begins at 1 p.m. with the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl
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 be in the ABC spotlight on December 1 at 8:00 p.m. The Big 12 championship game begins at 12:00 p.m. in Arlington, Texas and the ACC championship game concludes at 8:00 p.m. in Charlotte, North Carolina.
ESPN platforms will also broadcast Saturday’s championship games from MAC (noon, ESPN), American (4 p.m., ABC or ESPN), Sun Belt (4 p.m., ABC or ESPN) and SWAC (4 p.m , ESPN2).