The college football season might have served up a couple of appetizers last week, but it really kicks into gear tonight with Ohio State taking on Indiana. And then it hits full blast Saturday at 3:30 when Florida faces Michigan, reaches fever pitch that night when Alabama and Florida State collide, and continues right on through the Vols meet the Yellow Jackets.

Here are two sets of schedules, the first curated just for Vols fans who don’t have 40 hours to watch football this weekend, and one with the complete schedule in case you’re looking for something in particular.

Enjoy!

College football schedule curated for Vols fans

Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017

Matchup Time (ET) TVTickets How to Watch Root For
(2) Ohio State at Indiana 8:00 pm ESPN Live Indiana

The reason to watch this? It’s football. Actual, real football. Yeah, Indiana’s not beating Ohio State, but . . . it’s football!

Friday, Sept. 1, 2017

Matchup Time (ET) TVTickets How to Watch Root For
(8) Washington at Rutgers 8:00 pm FS1 Channel Hop Rutgers
Utah State at (9) Wisconsin 9:00 pm ESPN Channel Hop Wisconsin

See Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017. It’s football. Just hop back and forth between these two until you fall asleep.

Saturday, Sept. 2, 2017

Matchup Time (ET) TVTickets How to Watch Root For
Akron at (6) Penn State Noon ABC Channel Hop Akron
Kent State at (5) Clemson Noon ESPN Channel Hop Kent State
(11) Michigan vs. (17) Florida (at Arlington, TX) 3:30 pm ABC Live Debatable
Appalachian State at (15) Georgia 6:15 pm ESPN Live, until 8:00 Debatable
(3) Florida State vs. (1) Alabama (at Atlanta, GA) 8:00 pm ABC Live Debatable
BYU vs. (13) LSU (at New Orleans, LA) 9:30 pm ESPN DVR, until after AL/FSU Debatable

The noon slot is just an opportunity to see a couple of Top 10 teams. Things really pick up at 3:30, when Florida and Michigan kick off. In the window between that game and the day’s main event at 8:00 (Alabama vs. Florida State), you get a chance to see future opponent Georgia. And if you still haven’t had enough by the end of AL-FSU, you can fall asleep to LSU/BYU late.

There’s a lot of room for debate on who to root for when an SEC rival plays an out-of-conference foe. Will and I had this very debate just after recording the Gameday on Rocky Top Podcast last night. He’s generally of the mind that he wants his rivals to be at full strength and to have their best-possible resume when Tennessee faces them. That has a certain appeal. If you win, you’re bragging rights are greater. I embrace that philosophy much of the time, but sometimes it’s in conflict with what might actually improve Tennessee’s chances to win, which is the most important thing. If Florida losing to Michigan somehow improves Tennessee’s chances to beat them in a couple of weeks, perhaps by eating away at their confidence or something, then I’m for that. Also, the recruiting contest never sleeps, and anything that might make it more difficult for a rival to recruit, well, I’m for that, too. So right now, I’m sort of rooting against all SEC teams except Tennessee.

Sunday, Sept. 3, 2017

Matchup Time (ET) TVTickets How to Watch Root For
(22) West Virginia vs. (21) Virginia Tech (at Landover, MD) 7:30 pm ABC Live Irrelevant

This is a Top 25 matchup, so could be worth watching if you haven’t used up all of your football credit with the family.

Monday, Sept. 4, 2017

Matchup Time (ET) TVTickets How to Watch Root For
(25) Tennessee vs. Georgia Tech (at M-B Stadium) 8:00 pm ESPN Live Vols!

The entire schedule

And here’s the entire schedule for the weekend for reference.

Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017

Matchup Time (ET) TVTickets
FIU at UCF 6:00 pm CBSSN
Presbyterian at Wake Forest 6:30 pm ACCNExtra
Austin Peay at Cincinnati 7:00 pm ESPN3
Buffalo at Minnesota 7:00 pm BTN
Elon at Toledo 7:00 pm ESPN3
Rhode Island at Central Michigan 7:00 pm ESPN3
Tennessee State at Georgia State 7:00 pm ESPN3
Holy Cross at UConn 7:30 pm SNY/ESPN3
North Dakota at Utah 7:30 pm Pac-12N
Tulsa at (10) Oklahoma State 7:30 pm FS1
FAMU at Arkansas (at Little Rock, AR) 8:00 pm SECN
(2) Ohio State at Indiana 8:00 pm ESPN
Sacramento State at Idaho 9:00 pm ESPN3/ALT
ULM at Memphis 9:00 pm CBSSN
New Mexico State at Arizona State 10:30 pm Pac-12N

Friday, Sept. 1, 2017

Matchup Time (ET) TVTickets
Fordham at Army 6:00 pm CBSSN
Charlotte at Eastern Michigan 6:30 pm ESPN3
CCSU at Syracuse 7:00 pm ACCNExtra
Colorado vs. Colorado State (at Denver, CO) 8:00 pm Pac-12N
Navy at Florida Atlantic 8:00 pm ESPNU
(8) Washington at Rutgers 8:00 pm FS1
Utah State at (9) Wisconsin 9:00 pm ESPN
Boston College at NIU 9:30 pm CBSSN

Saturday, Sept. 2, 2017

Matchup Time (ET) TVTickets
Akron at (6) Penn State Noon ABC
Ball State at Illinois Noon BTN
Bowling Green at Michigan State Noon ESPNU
Kent State at (5) Clemson Noon ESPN
Maryland at (23) Texas Noon FS1
Missouri State at Missouri Noon SECN
Wyoming at Iowa Noon BTN
California at North Carolina 12:20 pm ACCN
Bethune-Cookman at (18) Miami, FL 12:30 pm RSN
Youngstown State at Pittsburgh 1:00 pm ACCNExtra
Portland State at Oregon State 2:00pm Pac-12N
VMI at Air Force 2:00 pm ESPN3
NC State vs. South Carolina (at Charlotte, NC) 3:00 pm ESPN
Alabama A&M at UAB 3:30 pm Stadium
(11) Michigan vs. (17) Florida (at Arlington, TX) 3:30 pm ABC
Nevada at Northwestern 3:30 pm BTN
Temple at Notre Dame 3:30 pm NBC
UTEP at (7) Oklahoma 3:30 pm FOX
William & Mary at Virginia 3:30 pm ACCNExtra
Troy at Boise State 3:45 pm ESPNU
Charleston Southern at Mississippi State 4:00 pm SECN
Eastern Washington at Texas Tech 4:00 pm FSN
Kentucky at Southern Miss 4:00 pm CBSSN
Stony Brook at (19) USF 4:00 pm ESPN3
Western Michigan at (4) USC 5:15 pm Pac-12N
Albany at Old Dominion 6:00 pm ESPN3
James Madison at East Carolina 6:00 pm ESPN3
NC Central at Duke 6:00 pm ACCNExtra
Appalachian State at (15) Georgia 6:15 pm ESPN
Miami, OH at Marshall 6:30 pm Stadium /
Central Arkansas at (20) Kansas State 7:00 pm K-StateHD.TV
Eastern Kentucky at WKU 7:00 pm FloSports.TV /
Hampton at Ohio 7:00 pm ESPN3
Houston at UTSA Postponed
Houston Baptist at Texas State 7:00 pm ESPN3
Lamar at North Texas 7:00 pm ESPN3
Liberty at Baylor 7:00 pm FS2
Northwestern State at Louisiana Tech 7:00 pm ESPN3
SE Louisiana at UL Lafayette 7:00 pm ESPN3
SE Missouri at Kansas 7:00 pm JTV
Stephen F. Austin at SMU 7:00 pm ESPN3
UMass at Coastal Carolina 7:00 pm ESPN3
Cal Poly at San Jose State 7:30 pm No TV
Georgia Southern at (12) Auburn 7:30 pm SECN
(16) Louisville vs. Purdue (at Indianapolis, IN) 7:30 pm FOX
South Alabama at Ole Miss 7:30 pm ESPNU
Abilene Christian at New Mexico 8:00 pm No TV
Arkansas State at Nebraska 8:00 pm BTN
(3) Florida State vs. (1) Alabama (at Atlanta, GA) 8:00 pm ABC
Grambling State at Tulane 8:00 pm ESPN3
Jackson State at TCU 8:00 pm FSN
Northern Iowa at Iowa State 8:00 pm Cyclones.tv
Vanderbilt at Middle Tennessee 8:00 pm CBSSN
Southern Utah at Oregon 8:15 pm Pac-12N
UC Davis at San Diego State 8:30 pm Stadium /
Howard at UNLV 9:00 pm MWN
BYU vs. (13) LSU (at New Orleans, LA) 9:30 pm ESPN
Incarnate Word at Fresno State 10:00 pm No TV
Montana State at (24) Washington State 10:30 pm FS1
NAU at Arizona 11:00 pm Pac-12N
Western Carolina at Hawaii 11:59 pm Spectrum PPV

Sunday, Sept. 3, 2017

Matchup Time (ET) TVTickets
Texas A&M at UCLA 7:30 pm FOX
(22) West Virginia vs. (21) Virginia Tech (at Landover, MD) 7:30 pm ABC

Monday, Sept. 4, 2017

Matchup Time (ET) TVTickets
(25) Tennessee vs. Georgia Tech (at M-B Stadium) 8:00 pm ESPN
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DylanVol
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DylanVol
7 years ago

To me there is no debate when it comes to rooting for/against SEC teams. They are our rivals, many of them hated. I only want two things for all of them, and those are losses and (metaphorical) pain. The only time I root for an SEC other than Tennessee is when they are playing a conference game and one team winning/losing is more beneficial for the Vols.

Andrew Cooper
Andrew Cooper
7 years ago
Reply to  DylanVol

They are OUR rivals. They are still ours. They are part of the group of us. That makes Alabama vs Ohio State an US vs THEM thing. Florida vs Florida State is an US vs THEM thing. I’m always going to go for us. Besides, from a more pragmatic viewpoint, a strong SEC is better for Tennessee. We have to play these guys all the time. The more they win the better we look. If we beat them we look like rockstars. If we lose at least we don’t look like goobers who lost to bad teams. The better the… Read more »

Dave S
Dave S
7 years ago
Reply to  Andrew Cooper

The “strong SEC is better for Tennessee” argument is a tired one and empirically false. What has Alabama’s dominance in the national conversation done for Tennessee in the past 10 years? Or Auburn’s natty? Or LSU’s natty (10 years ago)? Or Florida’s (06, 08)? A strong SEC means teams we actively recruit against in a zero sum game. The better UGA and UF are, the worse Tennessee is by comparison. When Tennessee has been strongest, our rivals were down from where they were now. I want a strong Tennessee, not a strong SEC. I’m for “little England.” Oops, I meant… Read more »

Will Shelton
Admin
Will Shelton
7 years ago
Reply to  Dave S

My thoughts on it assume the Vols can be good enough to handle their own business, which wasn’t true until the last couple of years. If we’re good enough to beat Florida/Georgia anyway, might as well beat higher-ranked versions of them. It only lasts as long as UT can control its own destiny in the East, but I’ll absolutely pull for Florida against Michigan. It just means more, as they say.

Oleg Zeltser
Oleg Zeltser
7 years ago

I only care about 2 teams

1: My beloved VOLS
2: Whoever I might have placed a bet on ( Bama -6 1/2 is just plain stealing money this early in the season )

Brenna Russell
Brenna Russell
7 years ago

Indiana’s been eating their Wheaties.

Brenna Russell
Brenna Russell
7 years ago

Yeah, wouldnt mind losing the points on that one.