There's college football this weekend! Saturday kicks off the 2025-26 season with Week 0 and five early matchups that, despite their participants, football fans will be glued to their televisions for.
For all we know, any of those games could wind up being a huge factor in the College Football Playoff race. You're lying if you knew a year ago that SMU's 29-24 squeaker over Nevada would be a crucial win for their ACC title hopes and an eventual resume-builder for their CFP application.
So let's explore three of Saturday's games that could help a program springboard to an unlikely postseason berth.
3 games from the Week 0 college football slate that could have CFP implications
No. 22 Iowa State vs. No. 17 Kansas State
Farmageddon in Ireland of all places. Besides the easy marketing and heavyweight matchup between Big 12 foes, this could easily be a conference playoff game before the season actually kicks off for the rest of the sport. The Cyclones came up short in last year's conference championship game and the Wildcats fell short after being among the favorites to be there with them. The winner could be on the inside track to Dallas while the loser may be in a deep hole to start the campaign.
Lest we forget Georgia Tech destroyed Florida State's CFP hopes in Ireland last year, too. (Well, they just destroyed the Seminoles' hopes and dreams period.) Things just went down hill from there for the preseason No. 10-ranked team in the nation. Both the Cyclones and Wildcats will be hoping to avoid a repeat of that fate this year.
Fresno State vs. Kansas
This is a juicy one and fans probably don't even know it. Fresno State, while in the Mountain West for the final time this year, is moving to the Pac-12 next year. The Bulldogs aren't necessarily considered in the hunt for the Group of Five bid to the CFP but they could certainly play spoiler for a Kansas team that got hot late last year and returns a star quarterback in Jalon Daniels.
The Jayhawks will need a perfect start to insert themselves into the Big 12 conversation and eventually the national one too. A loss to Fresno State in Week 0 could be enough to tank their resume for the rest of the year unless they run the table in a stacked conference.
Idaho State vs. UNLV
This is where things get interesting. UNLV was in the hunt for the Group of Five bid to the CFP late last year but couldn't get past Boise State. The Broncos are still favored in the Mountain West but the Rebels could give them another run for their money, and getting a big win over FCS Idaho State will be crucial in doing that.
If the Bengals end up toppling UNLV on the road, that would be a devastating loss to open the year for the Rebels. One might even call it unrecoverable. While it should be a blowout in Las Vegas, there's always the potential for some early madness in college sports.