The first full week of the upcoming college football season will feature a Saturday tripleheader on ABC, including Texas A&M hosting Notre Dame in prime time.
ESPN announced its major matchups for Week 0 and Week 1 on Tuesday as part of its presentation to advertisers in New York.
The Aug. 31 matchup also marks Mike Elko's first game as Texas A&M's head coach. Elko was the defensive coordinator and safeties coach at Texas A&M from 2018-21 before being hired by Duke, where he was 16-9 in two seasons.
Before his first stint with the Aggies, Elko was the defensive coordinator at Notre Dame in 2017.
College GameDay will also originate from College Station, Texas, that day for the first time since 2018.
ABC's other Saturday Week 1 games include Clemson facing Georgia in Atlanta at 12 p.m. EDT and Florida hosting Miami at 3:30 p.m. in the first SEC telecast on the network. ABC takes over the late afternoon SEC game from CBS.
The Sunday, Sept. 2, game between Southern California and LSU will also be on ABC with a 7:30 p.m. kickoff.
ESPN announced last December that College GameDay will make its first international trip on Aug. 24, when Florida State faces Georgia Tech in Dublin, Ireland. That game will kick off at 12 p.m., and is one of the Week 0 marquee matchups. ABC will carry the MEAC/SWAC Challenge Kick-Off between Florida A&M and Norfolk State at 7:30 p.m.
ESPN's Aug. 31 games include Alabama hosting Western Kentucky at 7:30 p.m. in Kellen DeBoer's Crimson Tide debut.
Texas and Oklahoma, which join the SEC this coming season, will have its openers on ESPN. The Sooners host Temple on Friday, Aug. 30, at 7 p.m. and the Longhorns face Colorado State on Aug. 31 at 3:30 p.m.
ESPN will also carry North Dakota State at Colorado on Aug. 29, TCU at Stanford on Aug. 30 and Boston College at Florida State on Sept. 2.
ESPN's unveiling follows announcements by NBC and Fox of some of their matchups on Monday.
NBC's first two "Big Ten Saturday night" games are set with defending national champion Michigan hosting Fresno State on Aug. 31 and Colorado at Nebraska on Sept. 6.
Fox has also finalized its first two "Big Noon Saturday" matchups. It announced the Sept. 6 game between Texas and Michigan during the Wolverines' spring game three weeks ago, but on Monday added the Sept. 13 matchup between Alabama and Wisconsin.
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JOE REEDY
Sports writer based in Los Angeles.
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