College football Week 1 preview: Top 5 games to kick off a loaded weekend

The countdown is on as the first weekend of the 2024 college football season is upon us.

A lot has changed – the College Football Playoff has finally expanded to 12 teams, some of the game's greatest coaches are gone (Nick Saban and Jim Harbaugh will not be on a sideline near you), and there are some rule changes that have been used in the NFL for years (adding a two-minute warning as well as coach-to-player helmet communication). 

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

After months of talking about all these things and more, it's time for the games to begin and Week 1 has a quality slate of matchups that will certainly have CFP implications down the road.

Here are the top five games to watch this weekend:

No. 8 Penn State at West Virginia ( 12 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app )

Penn State's march to its first CFP berth begins now. With the expanded 12-team field, the Nittany Lions will finally have a chance to get that boogeyman off their back after consistently winning 10 or 11 games and appearing in New Year's Six bowl games.

James Franklin has new offensive, defensive and special teams coordinators, and a talented roster to boot. After a tough first year as the starting quarterback, Drew Allar is back with more experience, but needs to find chemistry with an unproven receiving corps. Running backs Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton form one of the best duos in the country and the defense, which was ranked No. 2 in the country last year, is led by defensive end/linebacker Abdul Carter, who is expected to be one of the best players in the Big Ten. 

Meanwhile, West Virginia would love to shock the college football world by pulling a major upset at home. The