When does the 2026 college football season start? Week 0 schedule
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Back in January, Indiana beat Miami in the championship game of the College Football Playoff to complete one of the most remarkable and unforeseen turnarounds in the history of American sports.
Then came the wait.
The nearly eight-month lag from the end of one college football season until the start of another is a painful yearly exercise for millions of fans across the country who live for fall Saturdays and everything that comes with them.
Thankfully for them, toe will soon meet leather.
At the midway point of August, a new college football season mercifully inches closer, with the first game of the 2026 campaign only two weeks away.
As the summer starts to wind down, here’s what you need to know about the upcoming season:
When does college football start?
The 2026 college football season starts on Saturday, August 29, meaning today is the penultimate Saturday without a game until mid-December.
The season will be getting started with an interesting matchup, too.
After a disastrous 4-8 finish in his first season, Bill Belichick will look to try to salvage his North Carolina tenure when his Tar Heels travel to Dublin, Ireland to take on TCU in the Aer Lingus College Football Classic in Dublin, Ireland, which in recent years has become the official kickoff to the college football season. The game is a rematch of the Horned Frogs’ 48-14 bludgeoning of North Carolina last season in Chapel Hill in Belichick’s debut.
It won’t be the only game, either. Seven other matchups will follow it on Saturday, giving fans more than 12 straight hours of non-stop college football action.
College football schedule Week 0
Here’s a look at the eight games that will make up Week 0 of the 2026 college football season, along with start times and TV designations:
Saturday, August 29
All times Eastern
- North Carolina vs. TCU, 12 p.m., ESPN
- San Jose State at No. 14 USC, 3 p.m., NBC
- NC State at Virginia, 3:30 p.m., ESPN
- Jacksonville State at North Dakota State, 5:30 p.m, CBS Sports Network
- Sacramento State at Eastern Michigan, 6:30 p.m., ESPN+
- Hawai’i at Stanford, 7 p.m., ACC Network
- New Mexico State at Florida State, 7 p.m., CW
- Memphis at UNLV, 10 p.m., Fox
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY Sports: When does the 2026 college football season start? Week 0 schedule
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