Ohio State’s Week One contest may not be very close. The Buckeyes face off against Ball State, an overmatched MAC foe to open the season, but there are still plenty of big games over Labor Day weekend.
In a game played at Lambeau Field, Wisconsin will attempt to pull off a huge upset over Notre Dame, LSU will look to start the Lane Kiffin era with a win and in the only ranked matchup of the week, Ole Miss and Louisville will square off in Nashville.
Here are the top games to watch this week:
Clemson vs. No. 10 LSU (7:30 p.m., ABC): Led by one of the best coaches in college football and a very talented roster, LSU is unquestionably the favorite over Clemson. Kiffin, coming off a very successful tenure with Ole Miss, brought former Arizona State quarterback Sam Leavitt to LSU. Leavitt, a second-team All-Big 12 quarterback in 2024, headlines a loaded transfer portal class. The Tigers brought in 44 players out of the portal. It was easily the No. 1 ranked portal class in the country.
Kiffin’s Tigers take on a program that has built a reputation on not using the portal. Although he’s received plenty of criticism for his approach, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney has opted not to rely on the portal as heavily as other programs do.
Last year, Clemson may have needed to add a couple more players from the portal. Swinney’s group went just 7-6 after receiving the No. 4 ranking in the preseason poll. Despite the disappointing season, the Tigers had nine players selected in the NFL Draft, including quarterback Cade Klubnik. Klubnik will be replaced by senior quarterback Christopher Vizzina, who won the starting job this year after a long battle with true freshman Tait Reynolds.
Vizzina will have a couple of solid receivers to throw to in Bryant Wesco and T.J. Moore, each of whom has over 1,000 career receiving yards at Clemson.
No. 24 Louisville vs. No. 9 Ole Miss (Sunday, 7:30 p.m., ABC): Despite Kiffin’s departure, Ole Miss has sky-high expectations heading into 2026. First–year head coach Pete Golding proved he’s deserving of his role when he led the Rebels to the semifinals of the College Football Playoffs after Kiffin left the program midway through the season to join LSU last year. Golding, who previously served as the Rebels’ defensive coordinator, will likely rely heavily on his quarterback in his first full season as head coach.
Senior Trinidad Chambliss is widely regarded as one of the best quarterbacks in the country heading into 2026. He threw for 3,937 yards, 22 touchdowns and only three interceptions last year. Chambliss wasn’t even expected to start for the Rebels at the beginning of last season, but took the world by storm after coming in off the bench midway through the year and eventually earned second-team All-SEC honors.
The Rebels will go against former Ohio State transfer quarterback Lincoln Kienholz. Kienholz is in good hands at Louisville. The Cardinals’ head coach Jeff Brohm has done very well with transfer quarterbacks, and quarterbacks in general, during his time as a head coach both at Louisville and Purdue.
The Cardinals were ranked as high as No. 15 nationally after knocking off eventual national runner-up Miami. A three-game losing streak caused the Cardinals to fall out of the top-25 rankings altogether, but they still finished the season 9-4.
The Cardinals’ defense was particularly strong last year. Louisville finished in the top-40 nationally in both scoring defense and total defense last year. Working against arguably the best quarterback in college football, Louisville will need to play its best to win the game.
Wisconsin vs. No. 4 Notre Dame (Sunday, 7:30 p.m., NBC): The Fighting Irish didn’t make the College Football Playoffs last year, but it wasn’t for a lack of dominance in the final 10 weeks of the season. After picking up a pair of losses in the opening two weeks of the season to eventual playoff participants Texas A&M and Miami (Fla.), Notre Dame won each of its final 10 games of the season by at least 10 points.
Returning 14 starters from last year’s team, including star quarterback C.J. Carr, the ceiling is high for Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish really didn’t have a flaw last year. They finished the season top-15 in scoring defense and had the No. 2 scoring offense in the country. In his first year as a starter, Carr threw for 2,741 yards, 24 touchdowns and six interceptions while completing 66.6 percent of his passes. He is expected to have a huge year in 2026 and will open his season against an opponent that should be hungry to prove itself.
The Badgers had another disappointing season under third-year head coach Luke Fickell. After starting 2-0, Wisconsin won just two of its final 10 games to finish 4-8.
Wisconsin went to the transfer portal to try to improve its roster. The Badgers added 33 new players, including former Old Dominion quarterback Colton Joseph, who was named the Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Year last year.
If the Badgers have any chance of beating one of the best teams in the country, Joseph must play at an extremely high-level.
Other games to watch:
Boise State vs. No. 2 Oregon (3:30 p.m., CBS)
Texas State vs. No. 5 Texas (3:30 p.m., ESPN)
Baylor vs. Auburn (3:30 p.m., ABC)
Tulane vs. Duke (3:30 p.m., ACC Network)
Western Michigan vs. Michigan (7:30 p.m., NBC)
UCLA vs. California (10:30 p.m., ESPN)
No. 19 SMU vs. Florida State (Monday, 7:30 p.m., ESPN)
