College football's opening weekend is already chaos, and the NFL's Week 1 is one Sunday away

Real games count again. It's been a mess of blowouts so far, Friday night is still being decided as this goes up, and Saturday is stacked with ranked matchups. Meanwhile the NFL finished its roster cuts and dropped the full Week 1 schedule - which opens on a Wednesday, of all things.

Thursday was rough if you were the underdog

College football's first full slate ran Wednesday through Thursday, and a lot of it wasn't competitive. Some lowlights from Thursday, Sept 3:

• UCF 73, Bethune-Cookman 6 - not a misprint
• Utah 66, Idaho 14
• Missouri 54, Arkansas-Pine Bluff 14
• Minnesota 59, Eastern Illinois 7
• Kennesaw State 47, West Georgia 0
• Illinois 42, UAB 23
• Delaware 42, Merrimack 7
• Wake Forest 38, Akron 16
• Colorado 14, Georgia Tech 13 - the one actual nail-biter of the night
• Buffalo 21, UAlbany 17

Add in the early openers from the prior Saturday - USC 42, San José State 26; North Carolina 15, TCU 10 in Dublin; Virginia 34, NC State 8; Florida State 34, New Mexico State 17 - and it's been mostly a lot of ranked and Power Four teams doing exactly what they were supposed to do against overmatched opponents.

Friday night is still being decided

As of Friday evening, several games are still on the field, and a few already look decided: Oklahoma was up 27-0 on UTEP at the half, Purdue had Indiana State down 44-6 into the fourth, and Georgia State was running away from North Carolina A&T. The two games worth actually watching - Miami at Stanford and Fresno State at #14 USC - were both still in the first quarter and single scores apart. Check the College page for final scores once the night wraps; they'll post as soon as the games go final.

Saturday is the real proving ground

This is the first Saturday where the preseason rankings actually get tested. The marquee matchups, all Sept 5:

• #2 Oregon vs. Boise State - 3:30 PM ET, CBS
• #1 Ohio State vs. Ball State - 12:30 PM ET, BTN
• #3 Georgia vs. Tennessee State - 3:00 PM ET, SECN+
• #5 Texas vs. Texas State - 3:30 PM ET, ESPN
• #6 Indiana vs. North Texas - 12:00 PM ET, FOX - the defending national champs' first game since winning it all, and it comes days after an Indiana circuit court cleared defensive linemen Stephen Daley and Kellan Wyatt to suit up this season
• #8 Texas A&M vs. Missouri State - 7:00 PM ET, ESPN
• #11 LSU vs. Clemson - 7:30 PM ET, ABC
• #13 Alabama vs. East Carolina - 12:00 PM ET, ABC
• #16 Michigan vs. Western Michigan - 7:30 PM ET, NBC
• Auburn vs. Baylor (Aflac Kickoff, Atlanta) - 3:30 PM ET, ABC - unranked on both sides but a neutral-site showcase game

Two more ranked games close out the weekend into Monday: #17 Washington hosts Washington State Sunday night (NBC), and #24 Louisville visits #9 Ole Miss for the Music City Kickoff (ABC), before #19 SMU heads to Florida State on Monday night to close the week.

Meanwhile, the NFL wrapped cuts and set its Week 1 schedule

Every team is down to 53 players, and the full Week 1 slate is locked in. It's a strange one to open the year - instead of the usual Thursday kickoff, the league leads with a Wednesday game:

• Wed, Sept 9: Patriots at Seahawks - 8:20 PM ET, NBC
• Thu, Sept 10: 49ers at Rams - 8:35 PM ET, Netflix - played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia
• Sun, Sept 13, 1:00 PM ET: Bucs at Bengals · Saints at Lions · Jets at Titans · Ravens at Colts · Falcons at Steelers · Bears at Panthers · Browns at Jaguars · Bills at Texans
• Sun, Sept 13, 4:25 PM ET: Dolphins at Raiders · Packers at Vikings · Commanders at Eagles · Cardinals at Chargers
• Sun, Sept 13, 8:20 PM ET: Cowboys at Giants, NBC
• Mon, Sept 14, 8:15 PM ET: Broncos at Chiefs, ESPN/ABC

The Melbourne game is the headline curiosity - the league's first regular-season game in Australia, tucked onto Netflix in a Thursday night slot most fans in the U.S. will be watching well after midnight. Everything else runs on the normal grid once the real slate starts Sunday.

Once kickoff hits, everything above will update automatically on the College and NFL pages - live scores, your local kickoff times, and TV as it's confirmed.