The 2023 college football season really gets rolling this holiday weekend with the first full slate of games, including a massive top-10 matchup with potential playoff implications.
Here are five games worth your time:.
The five-star game | No. 5 LSU at No. 8 Florida State (Sunday | 7:30 p.m. ET)
The only game featuring two top-10 teams takes place in Tallahassee, Fla. It could be one of the biggest games of the season. Both schools have legit playoff aspirations — especially LSU, which enters the second year of the Brian Kelly era.
The Seminoles won last season, 24-23, in a game that came down to a blocked LSU extra point with no time remaining.
The Tigers have a lot of new faces on their roster, but Kelly is bullish on his team. On his weekly radio show, he talked big (comment begins around the 13:30 mark):
“I think we’re in a really good position in year two. Look, I will say there are still some areas that need to be improved. We’re going to take 15 freshman on this trip and 14 transfers. So, nearly 40 percent of this travel roster are going to go overnight for the first time with LSU. And that’s not a disclaimer of any kind. We’re going to go beat the heck out of Florida State.”
The winner of this game gets an instant résumé booster for the College Football Playoff committee.
The Heisman game | Boise State vs. No. 10 Washington (Saturday | 3:30 p.m. ET)
Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. is a dark-horse candidate for the Heisman Trophy. You might want to hop on his bandwagon.
He leads a top-10 team, has five years’ college experience and is coming off an outstanding 2022 performance that saw him finish second in the nation with 4,641 yards passing. An experienced, talented passer on a good team that has a chance to win a lot of games is exactly the type of Heisman candidate you want to buy stock in early in the season.
The Huskies have a Heisman committee for Penix that has met every two weeks since January to help get the message to the people.