High school football begins statewide in Iowa this week. There were a handful of eight-player games last week, but all five Jasper County teams kick off their seasons Friday night.
For those who also follow college football, you are in for a big treat on opening weekend.
It may be the best college football weekend of the year starting with a good Thursday night matchup on Sept. 1.
Iowa, Iowa State and Northern Iowa all begin their 2016 seasons on Saturday, Sept. 3, but there are plenty of other games to plan your week and weekend around.
Kicking off the week is a Pac-12/Big Ten matchup in Minneapolis. The Minnesota Gophers host Oregon State at 8 p.m. on Sept. 1. It’s not a matchup of two ranked teams, but an opening weekend game could be much worse.
If you don’t attend one of the five area high school games on Sept. 2, there is another game on TV for you. A chance to watch Heisman hopeful Christian McCaffery can happen that night as No. 8 Stanford hosts Kansas State at 8 p.m.
That start time gives you the opportunity to attend a high school game and probably still be able to see the second half of the college game.
If your wife has a honey-do list for you to get crossed off, it may be beneficial to get that list done before Sept. 3.
That day starts with a doozy in No. 3 Oklahoma and No. 15 Houston playing in the Houston Texans’ stadium at 11 a.m. Another morning game featues Missouri and West Virginia.
Setting your DVR for an afternoon game may be required. The best game according to the rankings pits No. 18 Georgia against No. 22 North Carolina at 3:30 p.m.
But if you want to see a few other good ones No. 16 UCLA plays at Texas A&M and No. 5 LSU plays Wisconsin inside Lambeau Field. Both of those games kick off at 2:30 p.m.
Iowa, which begins the season ranked 17th nationally, opens its season at home against Miami (Ohio). The game also begins at 2:30 p.m.
There are two night games on Sept. 3 that may get your blood boiling. Kicking off at 7 p.m. is No. 1 Alabama hosting No. 20 South California. Second-ranked Clemson plays Auburn at 8 p.m. that night as well.
Another game of interest that night features the other two instate schools. Matt Campbell’s era at Iowa State kicks off at 7 p.m. on Sept. 3 when the Cyclones host Northern Iowa at Jack Trice Stadium.
The first weekend gives fans games on Sunday and Monday night, too, because there are no NFL games.
No. 10 Notre Dame, which has been in the news for not-so-good reasons recently, plays at Texas at 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 4.
The following night No. 11 Mississippi travels to Florida to face No. 4 Florida State to kick off their seasons at 7 p.m. on Sept. 5.
Take advantage of those games in Week 1 because there’s not a lot to watch in Week 2. Arkansas does play at No. 13 TCU and Virginia Tech plays at No. 9 Tennessee.
But those games are both on at the same time as the Cy-Hawk game. Iowa hosts Iowa State at 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 10.
College football is getting closer. Get those DVRs set.
Contact Troy Hyde at
thyde@newtondailynews.com