Welcome to the debut of NBC Sports’ College Football Storyline Watch, your weekly checkdown of hot reads on the major gridiron narratives across the country.
We’ll have a special focus on Big Ten teams, and there’s one playing in the most anticipated matchup of Week 2 – a battle of schools with high-profile new coaches.
Nebraska will travel to Boulder to face the current darlings of college football. The Colorado Buffaloes are basking in the glow of a 45-42 road victory over 17th-ranked and national championship runner-up TCU – among the sport’s biggest upsets in recent years and another testament to the disruptive force of nature that is “Coach Prime” (who naturally made some controversial waves after the landmark win).
Deion Sanders has commanded the spotlight on and off the field in five consecutive decades since emerging at Florida State, starting as a generational multisport superstar who became a centerpiece on teams that played for championships in Major League Baseball and the NFL.
The only athlete to compete in the World Series and Super Bowl has made an impressively smooth transition into a second career as a coach. After three largely successful seasons at Jackson State, where he quickly became known as a game-changing recruiter for an HBCU, Sanders brought several stars with him to revive Colorado’s moribund program (which was 1-11 last year, the nadir of six consecutive losing seasons).
After his son, Shedeur, passed for a school-record 510 yards and four touchdowns against TCU, Colorado now has an opportunity to surpass its 2022 victory total in its 2023 home opener.
Deion Sanders 🤝 Shedeur Sanders
— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) September 6, 2023
Big Connections
NBC Sports | @Xfinity pic.twitter.com/TKEZtWNiX8
But there’s also much at stake for the Cornhuskers, too.
The Matt Rhule Era began with a disappointing 13-10 loss to Minnesota (on a last-second field goal after Nebraska led deep into the fourth quarter), and a victory over the upstart Buffaloes would raise hopes of avoiding a seventh consecutive losing season for the Huskers.
Nebraska has lost 23 consecutive games to ranked teams, so Rhule (whose reputation took a hit in the Carolina Panthers’ recent collapse after a sterling run at Temple and Baylor) can make a major statement if he is able to outmaneuver Sanders and Colorado (which is No. 25 in the NBC Sports’ poll).
Much of Nebraska’s chances likely will hinge on the performance of the confidence of quarterback Jeff Sims (as Todd Blackledge and Noah Eagle discussed here).
Other major storylines for Week 2:
Clemson’s cautionary tale
A stunning 28-7 road loss to unranked Duke left Clemson as an easy target for pundits who have criticized coach Dabo Swinney for resisting the dual gravitational pull of the transfer portal and NIL deals that have reshaped college football.
Swinney struck a typically defiant tone in the aftermath of a loss that he blamed on “almost indescribable” lack of fundamentals (“If we do what we did offensively for the rest of the year, we won’t lose another game”), and the Tigers should get well at home in its first meeting with Charleston Southern of the FCS.
But the loss – Clemson’s fourth in its last seven games after starting 8-0 last year – will keep the focus on signs of weakness in other powerhouse programs.
Was this the start of an inevitable decline for Swinney (who sometimes has fancied a slash-and-burn style to roster management, particularly with quarterbacks), or were other lackluster wins for ranked teams over middling opponents (notably, Iowa and Wisconsin) indicative that college football could be leveling out with more parity?
Lost summer has Northwestern on brink of lost season
Northwestern’s dizzying fall from grace could reach new depths Saturday in Evanston. The Wildcats are underdogs in their home opener against the University of Texas El Paso, which is more than a half-century removed from its most recent victory over a Power 5 Conference team.
A 24-7 loss to Rutgers in the debut of interim coach David Braun was worse than the score indicated (NU scored on a short TD drive led by mobile backup quarterback Brendan Sullivan after a late turnover in garbage time), and the program still is reeling from the July 11 firing of Pat Fitzgerald during a hazing scandal that could have repercussions for years to come.
Before the Wildcats were enveloped in two tumultuous months amid questionable university leadership and player defections, Fitzgerald already was facing questions from a 1-11 season that followed a 3-8 record in 2021. Having won last year’s opener over Nebraska in Ireland, Northwestern is coming up on two years since its last victory on U.S. soil (a 21-7 homecoming win over Rutgers on Oct. 16, 2021).
Playoff conversation ahead for Penn State?
Drew Allar lived up to the hype for No. 7 Penn State in a convincing victory over West Virginia. After the star turn in his starting debut, the sophomore quarterback can build off the momentum at home against Delaware State (noon ET on Peacock).
The Nittany Lions’ first meeting with the Blue Hens figures to be a tune-up for an important stretch of three key B1G matchups in five weeks. Illinois on the road, Iowa at home and Ohio State in Columbus will set the course for how realistic the chances are of Penn State making its first appearance in the national championship playoff. A crowd of 110,747 (the fourth-largest in Beaver Stadium history) for the victory over the Mountaineers shows expectations are very high in Happy Valley.
.@PennStateFball’s fans are READY for Big Ten Saturday Night! #BigTen pic.twitter.com/g71NsAuJVG
— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) September 2, 2023
The feelings are a little measured at Ohio State and No. 2 Michigan. The perennial title contenders have opened with softer schedules – the Wolverines’ first real test probably won’t come until Oct. 21 against Michigan State – and it likely will take until mid-November (when Michigan will play Penn State and Ohio State in a three-week span) that the picture crystallizes.
Other key matchups
—No. 3 Alabama and No. 11 Texas will square off in Tuscaloosa – the second consecutive Week 2 matchup for the schools (the Crimson Tide nipped the Longhorns 20-19 in Austin last year on a field goal with 10 seconds remaining).
—While Clemson tries to rebound from its drubbing, LSU (the other ranked team to lose in Week 1) will try to recover at home against Grambling (which also lost its opener to Hampton and is in its second year under former Cleveland Browns coach Hue Jackson).
—The Hawkeye State showdown between Iowa and Iowa State often is a barnburner (the Cyclones won 10-7 last year on a missed Hawkeyes field goal as time expired), and both teams are coming off Week 1 wins. Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz, the longest-tenured coach in FBS at 25 seasons, is seeking his 200th coaching victory.
—After winning its first two games by a combined score of 98-6, Notre Dame will face a stiffer opponent as the Irish travel to Raleigh for North Carolina State.
B1G Saturday night
Maryland will bring its Big Ten title hopes into Saturday’s featured game on NBC (7:30 p.m. ET). The Terrapins, whose 8-5 record last season marked their highest victory total since 2010, will play host to the Charlotte 49ers.
With a supercharged atmosphere at SECU Stadium around redshirt senior quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa (younger bother of the Miami Dolphins’ Tua), the Maryland student section’s traditional flag drop (read more about that here) will showcase the reinvigorated crowds that are flocking to College Park.
More storylines and game info are available here.
How to watch Big Ten football on NBC and Peacock this weekend
In addition to Charlotte-Maryland (which will be shown on NBC and Peacock), Delaware vs. Penn State (noon) also will be streamed exclusively on Peacock. Information for how to sign up for Peacock is available here. Peacock is available for streaming on several devices (view the full list of supported devices here).
Below is the announced remaining schedule for Big Ten on NBC Sports; more NBC Sports games will be announced during the season.
| Sat., Sept. 9 | Noon | Delaware at Penn State | Peacock |
| Sat., Sept. 9 | 7:30 p.m. | Charlotte at Maryland | NBC,Peacock |
| Sat., Sept. 16 | 5:00 p.m. | Washington at Michigan State | Peacock |
| Sat., Sept. 16 | 7:30 p.m. | Syracuse at Purdue | NBC,Peacock |
| Sat., Sept. 23 | 7:30 p.m. | Ohio State at Notre Dame | NBC,Peacock |
| Sat., Oct. 14 | 7:30 p.m. | USC at Notre Dame | NBC,Peacock |
| Sat., Nov. 11 | 7:30 p.m. | Michigan State at Ohio State | NBC,Peacock |
| Fri., Nov. 24 | 7:30 p.m. | Penn State at Michigan State (Ford Field) | NBC,Peacock |