It's Big Ten vs. SEC Week.
No. 1 Ohio State at No. 4 Texas has been a red-letter game on the college football calendar for months, a litmus test in the debate over conference supremacy and possibly a factor down the road in College Football Playoff seeding but definitely not a knockout game.
The Big Ten-SEC undercard Saturday has No. 11 Oklahoma at Michigan and Mississippi State at Minnesota.
The Bryce Underwood-John Mateer quarterback matchup at the Big House lost some of its shine in the wake of Michigan's controversial, second-chance Hail Mary win over Western Michigan. The Wolverines punted six times, with three three-and-outs, and turned over the ball twice after scoring on their first possession. The Sooners' defensive-minded head coach, Brent Venables, surely was taking notes watching film.
Mississippi State is picked near the bottom of the SEC and can do the conference proud if it knocks off the Gophers on the road. The Bulldogs amassed a school-record 762 yards in a rout of Louisiana-Monroe. Minnesota's Anthony Smith-led defense is an entirely different challenge.
The SEC is a combined 16-0 through Week 1, including 10-0 against Bowl Subdivision opponents with an average winning margin of 38.7 points per game.
The Big Ten is 17-2 after Rutgers took a horrid loss against UMass and Wisconsin lost to a top-five Notre Dame. Of those 17 wins, only two were decided by fewer than 10 points.
No. 1 Ohio State (1-0) at No. 4 Texas (1-0), Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET (ABC)
This is the first regular-season top-five matchup since these teams met in Columbus last year, a 14-7 Buckeyes win.
There are stars aplenty with quarterbacks Julian Sayin and Arch Manning, receivers Jeremiah Smith and Cam Coleman and running backs Bo Jackson and Hollywood Smothers.
The key matchup is Smith vs. the Texas secondary. The Longhorns have done a fabulous job on him in their previous two meetings, holding him to one catch for 3 yards in a College Football Playoff semifinal and to six catches for 43 yards last season.
The Longhorns will be going for their first win over a No. 1 team since they beat Oklahoma 45-35 in 2008.
Miami quarterback Darian Mensah needed no ramp-up time to get comfortable with his new team. Against Stanford, he did exactly what the No. 7 Hurricanes hoped he would when they offered him a pile of money to transfer from Duke.
Of course, it helps that Mensah has rising Heisman candidate Malachi Toney and fellow Duke transfer Cooper Barkate catching his passes.
Mensah shouldn't have to play much more than the first half when Miami hosts Florida A&M on Thursday night in a tuneup for next week's ACC opener at Wake Forest.
6 — Consecutive seasons Notre Dame has returned an interception for a touchdown after DJ McKinney's 55-yard pick-6 against Wisconsin.
24 — Years since Clemson lost by as lopsided a score as its 51-10 defeat at LSU.
56.4% — National fourth-down conversion rate through Week 1. FBS newcomer North Dakota State has converted the most, going 5 for 6 over two games.
79 — Navy's consecutive wins when leading after the third quarter, the longest active streak in the nation.
2011 — The last time a Big 12 team visited Kyle Field before Arizona State plays at Texas A&M. That was the Aggies' final year in the Big 12.
Memphis (2-0) at Boise State (0-1), Saturday, 6 p.m. ET (USA)
The winner gets a leg up in the race for the Group of Six spot in the CFP assuming it wins its conference title.
The Tigers have been a revelation in the early going under new coach Charles Huff, knocking off UNLV on the road and beating Arkansas State at home. Huff brought in 61 transfers, including 20 of his 22 starters, and the Tigers could supplant Navy as the team to beat in the American Conference.
Boise State gave then-No. 2 Oregon all it could handle last week, confirming its status as the class of the new Pac-12. The Broncos haven't had a signature nonconference win since they beat Florida State on the road in 2019.
Rutgers' Greg Schiano this week lamented being the butt of jokes nationally after his team laid an egg against UMass and it won't be easy to change the narrative with the Scarlet Knights 3.5-point road underdogs against Boston College and Southern California coming up next week.
AJ Surace gets the start at quarterback against BC, but the Scarlet Knights' problems extend to defense. They allowed 397 yards to a UMass team that ranked last in the nation in offense in 2025.
Schiano followed back-to-back 7-6 seasons with a 5-7 campaign last year that ended with losses in seven of nine games. Schiano's contract runs through 2030, and he would be owed north of $17 million if he were fired after the season. That's no small amount for an athletic department deep in the red, but a change could be coming if Schiano doesn't make a bowl game.
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Texas mascot Bevo is brought on to the field by handlers for an NCAA college football game between Texas and Texas State in Austin, Texas, Saturday, Sept. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Six goals for Paris Saint-Germain, five for Barcelona and classically just one for Arsenal as the serious contenders for the Champions League started with wins Wednesday.
There was a hat trick for Ferran Torres, the World Cup-winning goalscorer, on his PSG debut in the competition, and two goals for his new teammate Ousmane Dembélé in a 6-1 beating of Slovan Bratislava by the two-time title holder.
At Barcelona, Raphinha scored two more in his rapid-fire start to the season, and Lamine Yamal fired a free kick through Feyenoord's defensive wall in an easy 5-1 win.
It was a typically Arsenal result, a 1-0 win at Napoli with the only goal scored by the English champion's suddenly prolific captain Martin Ødegaard. It's his fourth goal so far after just one in the whole of last season.
All four English clubs won their opening games after Liverpool rallied to beat Atletico Madrid 2-1 with goals by midfielders Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister. However, Liverpool saw its record signing Bradley Barcola limp off with an apparent calf injury in the second half.
Unheralded Stuttgart forward Ermedin Demirović got a hat trick inside 12 first-half minutes in a 3-1 win over Norwegian debutant Viking.
Sporting Lisbon beat Galatasaray 3-1 having also trailed early in the game. The third was a powerful curling free kick by Uruguayan midfielder Rodrigo Zalazar.
The high rate of goals — 45 through the first 12 games in this Champions League campaign at a rate of 3.75 per game — is well above the average of 3.47 last season. That was itself the highest rate since the 1960s in the old European Cup format.
After beating Aston Villa 2-1 in the UEFA Super Cup four weeks ago, PSG failed to win any of its next four games in France, including three in defense of its Ligue 1 title.
A routine demolition of Slovakian champion Slovan was more like business as usual.
“Confidence isn‘t easy to get, especially if you’re not getting the results you want," PSG coach Luis Enrique said. “For me, our first three games were acceptable.”
Luis Enrique, who coached Barcelona to a Champions League title before his two in Paris, had praise for Slovan coach Yaya Touré. The Ivory Coast great became the first African to coach a team in the Champions League main phase.
“I like the messages he transmits to his players, he has everything to succeed," the PSG coach said. "He has the quality and the ability to be a great manager.”
Raphinha now has eight goals in just five games this season, as if sending a reminder to those who left his name off the Ballon d'Or nominations Tuesday.
Barcelona got high-class goals from all angles Tuesday, including from new signings Karim Adeyemi and Gabriel Jesus. Adeyemi found the top corner of Feyenoord's net with a precise curling shot in the 22nd and Jesus came off the bench to glance in a header in the 85th.
Teenage star Yamal fired a free kick left-footed from 20 meters (yards) in the 77th that went at waist height between Feyenoord players jumping and turning sideways in the wall.
“He is outstanding,” Barcelona coach Hansi Flick said of Yamal, "you can see it every game. He is special.”
Feyenoord was coached by Giovanni van Bronckhorst, who returned to Camp Nou where he spent four years as a player and won a Champions League title in 2006.
A 12-minute hat trick by Stuttgart forward Ermedin Demirović was just the eighth-fastest in the Champions League era, UEFA said.
The Bosnia-Herzegovina forward found his rhythm to strike in the 20th, 26th and 32nd minutes and give Stuttgart a decisive lead against Norwegian newcomer Viking, whose captain Zlatko Tripić had leveled in the 22nd.
PSG’s Ferran Torres followed suit hours later — in the 31st, 47th and 57th minutes — to make it two trebles after just 12 of the 189-game Champions League season.
Eight hat tricks were scored last season, including two by Kylian Mbappé in the league phase for Real Madrid, both in away games at Kairat Almaty and Olympiakos.
Atletico Madrid midfielder Marcos Llorente once had such a stellar game at Liverpool he named his dog after the storied Anfield stadium.
On Wednesday, the 31-year-old Llorente played at Anfield in the Champions League for the third time in his career and scored his fifth goal there. That matches his tally of five goals in his other 56 Champions League games.
His 17th-minute strike to give Atletico the lead Wednesday ultimately was in vain in a 2-1 loss. He will always have those two extra-time goals in March 2020 for a 3-2 win that eliminated then-defending champion Liverpool in the round of 16.
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Liverpool's Alexis Mac Allister scores his side's second goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Liverpool and Atletico Madrid in Liverpool, England, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)
Arsenal's Martin Odegaard, left, celebrates with Arsenal's Christos Tzolis after scoring the opening goal during their Champions League soccer match between Napoli and Arsenal, in Naples, southern Italy, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
PSG's Ferran Torres celebrates after scoring his third goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between PSG and Slovan Bratislava in Paris, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Stuttgart's Ermedin Demirovic celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between VfB Stuttgart and Viking FK in Stuttgart, Germany, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (Harry Langer/dpa via AP)
Barcelona's Raphinha celebrates after scoring the opening goal of his team during the Champions League opening phase soccer between Barcelona and Feyenoord in Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026.(AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
Barcelona's Lamine Yamal scores his side's fourth goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer between Barcelona and Feyenoord in Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026.(AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
Barcelona's Lamine Yamal celebrates after scoring his side's fourth goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer between Barcelona and Feyenoord in Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026.(AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
Arsenal's manager Mikel Arteta talks to Arsenal's Martin Odegaard during the English Premier League soccer match between Arsenal and Chelsea in London, Sunday, Sept. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Dave Shopland)
Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola attends a training session in Liverpool, England, Tuesday Sept. 8, 2026. (Peter Byrne/PA via AP)
Barcelona's Raphinha, right, celebrates with teammate Lamine Yamal after scoring his side's third goal during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Valencia and Barcelona in Valencia, Spain, Sunday, Sept. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)
