College football Week 1 preview -- Storylines to watch from a loaded Week 1

The fire hose is on. College football's opening weekend features 84 games involving FBS teams, plus tons more at lower levels; it began on Wednesday with UAB's 31-0 win over Jacksonville State and will continue through what is almost guaranteed to be a wild and wacky Ole Miss-Louisville game in Atlanta on Monday night.

You're going to need two TVs and games pulled up on your laptop, phone and iPad to keep up with everything that's coming at you this weekend. It's going to be a lot. But let's talk about the most noteworthy storylines to pay attention to as the spray from the hose smacks you in the face.

All listed times are Eastern. Games are on Saturday unless otherwise noted.

Jump to a game:
Clemson-Georgia | Penn State-Wisconsin | Alabama-Miami
LSU-UCLA | Indiana-Iowa | New QBs for Horns, Aggies
Western Michigan-Michigan

All right, Georgia, show us what you've got

No. 3 Clemson vs. No. 5 Georgia (7:30 p.m., ABC)

JT Daniels is the next Mac Jones. Georgia is the next Clemson. Daniels is the most important player in college football. Georgia games are must-watch, either because of greatness or angst. Virtually anything I wrote this offseason included something about how fascinating Georgia's prospects are in 2021. Bulldog fans are tired of hearing it and I'm tired of writing it. So it's great that Georgia begins the season in one of the biggest games of the year.

While this game isn't a must-win for the Dawgs when it comes to the national title race -- a theoretical 12-1 UGA squad would still have wins over Florida and the SEC West champion (probably Alabama) on its résumé and would likely get into the College Football Playoff -- it's a chance to answer a lot of questions. Was what we saw from Daniels in a small sample late in 2020 what we'll see over a larger sample? Does a banged-up receiving corps have the requisite firepower? Is a remodeled secondary going to be an issue?

Mind you, the stakes could be even higher for Clemson than for Kirby Smart's Dawgs. No other opponent on the Tigers' 2021 schedule ranks higher than 40th in SP+, and even if an opponent or two were to overachieve projections, Clemson will still end up with one of the weakest schedules of any power conference team. It needs to take advantage of this quality win opportunity more than UGA does.

The second-best team in the Big Ten is [insert PSU-Wisconsin winner here]

No. 19 Penn State at No. 12 Wisconsin (noon, Fox)

My go-to radio answer for any sort of "Team I'm most intrigued by" or "Team most likely to exceed its preseason poll rankings" question in recent weeks has been "The winner of Penn State-Wisconsin."

The Nittany Lions and Badgers went a combined 21-6 in 2019 and 8-8 in 2020. The former had a pair of statistically unlikely losses during a jarring 0-5 start (they outgained Indiana and Nebraska by a combined 480 yards but fell a combined eight points short) but rebounded to win its last four games; the latter couldn't keep its starters on the field due to injury and COVID protocol, couldn't run the ball all that well despite its reputation and fell into a massive midseason funk before rebounding.

Both James Franklin's and Paul Chryst's squads are generally among the most reliable in the country. You can't count on them to be elite, but 2020 aside, you can count on them to be very good. The winner of this battle at Camp Randall will have an excellent shot at a top-10 finish, but the loser could battle a nagging "Here we go again" feeling right out of the gate. That's doubly true if Penn State loses, as the Nittany Lions still face road trips to Ohio State, Iowa and a potentially pesky Maryland squad later in the season (plus home games against Indiana, Michigan and Auburn).

Both defenses should be excellent, but can new PSU offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich take that offense up a notch or two? Can Wisconsin reestablish the between-the-tackles run game it has so reliably leaned on through the years?

Bryce Young must be dialed in immediately

No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 14 Miami (3:30 p.m., ABC)

It's not exactly going out on a limb to predict big things from new Alabama starting quarterback Bryce Young. He was the top quarterback in the 2020 class. His stat line at Mater Dei (California) High School was video game-worthy: 13,250 career passing yards with a 70% completion rate, 1,084 rushing yards and 194 combined touchdowns, according to MaxPreps. Despite everything that Nick Saban's Crimson Tide lost from last year's nearly perfect team -- six top-40 draft picks on offense alone, plus offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian -- Young will see potential All-Americans everywhere he looks when he lines up for his first start on Saturday afternoon. And instead of Sarkisian, he'll have another former NFL playcaller, Bill O'Brien, sending in the calls.

He'll also see a pretty good defense coming at him. Miami ranked 16th or better in defensive SP+ each year from 2016 to 2019 before sliding to 31st late last season. The back seven has all the starting experience it lacked a year ago, and Manny Diaz defenses tend to have few peers in the havoc department.

No matter how much I'm trying to will a chaotic season into reality (and no matter how much the No. 1 team losing in Week 1 would help in that department), it's safe to assume Alabama will probably win this one. After all, under Saban the Tide have won 10 neutral-site season openers by an average of 25 points. But Miami is still a team with top-10 potential and, with D'Eriq King healthy, could have the better quarterback in this game. The Hurricanes defense will force quick, smart decisions from Young, and we'll learn about any weaknesses he brings to the table pretty quickly.

Was 2020 a harbinger of doom for LSU, or is everything fine now?

No. 16 LSU at UCLA (8:30 p.m., Fox)

Defending national champions aren't supposed to go .500 the next year, but that's exactly what LSU did in 2020, and it was lucky to go even 5-5 -- the Tigers were 3-1 in one-score finishes, and their late-season win over Florida was one of the most statistically unlikely of the season.

Granted, any luck in close games was offset by bad personnel luck: LSU lost starting quarterback Myles Brennan three games into the season (he suffered another long-term injury in August), cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. was beset by a number of maladies, star receiver Terrace Marshall Jr. opted out with three games left -- need we go on? But the ceiling of 2019, combined with the floor of 2020, makes the Tigers the nation's biggest wild card this fall. They could finish anywhere between 6-6 and 12-0, and it wouldn't be all that surprising. And they begin their season against another wild card, a UCLA team that improved dramatically last year -- albeit with a 1-4 record in one-score games -- and returns almost everyone.

Chip Kelly's Bruins ran the ball like Kelly's Oregon teams used to last week in an easy win over Hawaii -- Brittain Brown and Michigan transfer Zach Charbonnet combined for 184 yards and four scores in just 19 carries -- and LSU's run defense was awful a year ago.

But this game could come down to which of two inconsistent quarterbacks better handles pressure. UCLA's Dorian Thompson-Robinson has been up and down for three seasons and went a discouraging 10-for-20 against Hawaii. And while LSU's Max Johnson improved late in 2020, he still completed only 55% of his passes in late wins over Florida and Ole Miss. This game could be the most explosive of the week, in both good and bad ways. I can't wait.

The third-best team in the Big Ten is [insert Indiana-Iowa winner here]

No. 17 Indiana at No. 18 Iowa (3:30 p.m., BTN)

You might not have noticed Iowa last season. Kirk Ferentz's Hawkeyes began the season with losses to Purdue and Northwestern by a combined five points despite outgaining both foes and didn't sneak into the AP poll until December. But after that 0-2 start, they achieved a level of play that they hadn't seen in a while. They beat their last six opponents, including Penn State and Wisconsin, by an average score of 36 to 14 and ended up 10th in SP+, their highest finish since 2008, another season sidetracked by tight early losses. They lost just enough from last year's team -- three starters each from dominant offensive and defensive lines, plus a particularly high upside receiver in Ihmir Smith-Marsette -- that it might be difficult to match last year's high level. But it isn't impossible.

You almost definitely noticed Indiana. Tom Allen's Hoosiers pulled off a magic act against Penn State, scared the hell out of Ohio State and spent half their season in the AP top 10, their first appearances there since the 1967 Rose Bowl run. They hung 35-plus points on four opponents and held three to 11 or fewer. They were a bit fortunate from a turnovers perspective, and the passing game wasn't particularly efficient with or without quarterback Michael Penix Jr., who tore the ACL in his right knee -- his third straight season-ending injury. Even so, Bloomington has a genuine top-25 program for maybe the first time ever.

These two teams went about their 6-2 campaigns in extremely different ways last year, but they both have designs on a big 2021. The Big Ten's Week 1 slate is just fantastic.

The floor is yours, Haynes King and Hudson Card

No. 23 Louisiana at No. 21 Texas (4:30 p.m., Fox)
Kent State at No. 6 Texas A&M (8:00 p.m., ESPNU)

Texas' Casey Thompson torched Colorado for four touchdown passes in eight Alamo Bowl completions last year and is 20-for-29 for his career. Texas A&M's Zach Calzada threw two touchdown passes as a backup in 2019 and boasted one of the best arms in the 2019 recruiting class. Both proved something when given the opportunity, and both lost battles with blue-chip redshirt freshmen in fall camp. New Texas coach Steve Sarkisian chose Hudson Card instead on Thompson, while A&M's Jimbo Fisher elected to hand the reins of his top-10 team over to Haynes King.

• MORE on college football's blockbuster Week 1 slate

In terms of raw upside, both decisions make sense. Card and King were the No. 2 and 3 dual-threat quarterbacks in 2020's ESPN 300, behind only Young, and their respective upside flashes on the screen quickly.

King takes over an A&M team that SP+ projects as a double-digit favorite in each of its first five games (though a potentially tricky road trip to Colorado looms in Week 2), and while Card inherits lower expectations overall -- UT ranks 15 spots lower than its former and future conference rival in the AP poll -- he faces a stiffer immediate test. Louisiana returns almost everyone from a team that beat Iowa State and went 10-1 in 2020. The Ragin' Cajuns have a power conference physicality and will hit Card awfully hard if he's indecisive. Both Caesars and SP+ project the Longhorns as a touchdown favorite, but this will be a bruising encounter.

An early test for Mike MacDonald

Western Michigan at Michigan (noon, ESPN)

Don Brown is one of the most celebrated defensive coordinators on the planet, but none of us really batted an eye when Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh replaced him after last season.

Brown's aggressive tendencies required more quality, both in the pass rush department and at cornerback, than the last couple of Wolverine teams had. After what were technically four straight years of regression (from third in defensive SP+ in 2016, to fifth, ninth, 11th and then 36th), Harbaugh moved on. Brown is now at Arizona, and 34-year old Mike MacDonald, most recently the linebackers coach for Harbaugh's brother John on the Baltimore Ravens, takes over.

This is certainly a case where hiring a guy upon your brother's recommendation might end up being a very good thing; the Ravens have quite the defensive reputation, after all. But an explosive WMU offense could give the new-look Wolverines a solid test.

WMU ranked 28th in offensive SP+ in 2020 -- first in both rushing success rate and passing explosiveness, albeit against MAC defenses only -- and returns nine starters, including quarterback Kaleb Eleby (65% completion rate, 17.3 yards per completion) and receiver Jaylen Hall (12 catches for 323 yards and seven touchdowns!). The Broncos probably don't have the defense to pull an outright upset, but if Michigan holds them to 21 or fewer points, that could be a positive sign.

What impact did a spring FCS season have on fall legs?

South Dakota State at Colorado State (9 p.m., FS1)

We witnessed a thought experiment brought to life with FCS' 2021 spring football season. It began in late February and ended with Sam Houston's thrilling 23-21 win over South Dakota State on May 16, and now, not even four months after the finish, the next season gets underway.

I'm not entirely convinced we'll see any tired legs or ill effects from this experiment. Most of the teams participating in the spring campaign had gone more than a year without a game beforehand, and coaches I talked to in the lead-up to the spring campaign thought that three to four months at least clear the bar for a bare minimum recovery time needed.

If we're going to see ill effects, however, we'll see them on Friday night in Fort Collins. There's no guarantee that Steve Addazio's first full season in charge at Colorado State will be particularly successful -- the Rams went 1-3 last fall, and SP+ projects an average win total of about 5.6 games this year -- but this is an Addazio team, and we know it will play as physical as possible, especially with 240-pound Boston College running back transfer David Bailey now in tow.

If John Stiegelmeier's SDSU squad is anything less than 100% sturdy in the legs, we'll find out. The Jackrabbits are good enough to scare the Rams under normal circumstances (SP+ projects CSU as an 8.7-point favorite), but we'll find out if these are normal circumstances.

Coach Prime's army of transfers is ready

Florida A&M vs. Jackson State (Sunday, 3 p.m., ESPN2)

The spring FCS was a mixed bag for Jackson State and first-year head coach Deion Sanders. The Tigers improved from 4-8 in 2019 to 3-3 (4-3 including a forfeit win over Alcorn State) and beat Grambling for the first time since 2012. Players such as Missouri transfer linebacker Aubrey Miller Jr. (4.5 tackles for loss in five games) and running back Tyson Alexander (6.1 yards per carry) shined.

After a 3-0 start, however, JSU allowed a combined 121 points in losses to Alabama State, Southern and Alabama A&M, ceding control of the SWAC East to Aqeel Glass and A&M. Opposing coaches threw some passive-aggressive jabs at Coach Prime along the way.

With the SWAC's addition of Florida A&M Rattlers and Bethune-Cookman, the conference race is going to be dynamite this season. Local media picked Alabama A&M as a slight favorite over FAMU in the East, with JSU a nose ahead of Alabama State in third. But the reinforcements are ready in Jackson: blue-chip quarterback Shedeur Sanders (son of the head coach), four-star juco corner De'Jahn Warren and a load of power conference transfers -- Tennessee receiver Malachi Wideman, Auburn defensive tackle Coynis Miller, Florida linebacker James Houston, South Carolina safety Shilo Sanders, among others.

Is that enough to tip the balance? We'll start to find out in Sunday's Orange Blossom Classic. The famed HBCU series that ran from 1933 to 1978 resumes in Miami on Sunday and this one could be memorable.