ESPN announces start times for early college football slate - ESPN

With less than 100 days until the start of the college football season, the bulk of the September schedule has been finalized, as ESPN on Wednesday announced the dates and times for the first three weeks of the season along with the network's Bowl Season schedule.

Week 1 begins Thursday, Aug. 31, with Florida at Utah (8 p.m. ET, ESPN) as the headliner and kicks off five straight days of games. The opening week runs through Labor Day Monday, which will be highlighted by LSU facing Florida State in the Camping World Kickoff in Orlando, Florida (7:30 p.m., ABC). Both teams have College Football Playoff aspirations, and last year, Florida State won 24-23 on a blocked LSU extra point attempt.

Saturday, Sept. 2, will feature an emotional return for the Virginia football team, which will be playing its first game since the deaths of three teammates on Nov. 13 in a campus shooting. Virginia, which canceled its final two games of the 2022 season as it mourned D'Sean Perry, Devin Chandler and Lavel Davis Jr., will face Tennessee at Nissan Stadium in Nashville (Noon, ABC).

As previously announced, Texas at Alabama (7 p.m., ESPN) on Sept. 9 will highlight Week 2. It will be their final game as nonconference opponents before the Longhorns and fellow Big 12 co-founder Oklahoma joins the SEC in 2024. Last year, Alabama escaped Texas with a 20-19 win after a 33-yard field goal with 10 seconds remaining.

Week 2 also includes Notre Dame at NC State (Noon, ABC) followed by Texas A&M at Miami (3:30 p.m., ABC). In Week 3, the Backyard Brawl between border rivals Pitt and West Virginia in Morgantown will be featured on Sept. 16 on ABC (7:30 p.m.).

ESPN wasn't the only network this week revealing dates and times for marquee games, as CBS