Bowl season is at all times a reminder of how superior non-conference school soccer video games will be. The 12-team School Soccer Playoff made that reminder deafening.
Whereas some energy convention groups are dodging marquee video games exterior of league play, others are embracing them.
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This 12 months’s Week 1 slate is stuffed with these can’t-miss non-con joys. Yahoo Sports activities is beginning there, however we’re additionally flagging a handful of extra video games you need to circle in your calendar this season.
Texas @ Ohio State: 12 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 30
It’s SEC-Massive Ten; it’s a School Soccer Playoff semifinal rematch; it’s Lee Corso’s remaining “School GameDay” present; and it’s Arch Manning’s debut as Texas’ full-time beginning quarterback, in fact in opposition to the defending nationwide champion Buckeyes. Jack Sawyer’s cinematic strip sack and 83-yard scoop-and-score dashed Texas’ nationwide title hopes in final season’s Cotton Bowl. For the second 12 months in a row, the Longhorns reached the doorstep of the massive sport, solely to fall a play or two brief.
However head coach Steve Sarkisian’s staff enters the 2025 marketing campaign with bigger expectations than the state it performs in. Manning has lastly taken over as QB1, and he’s a classy Heisman decide. He’ll be beneath the microscope in Columbus versus a Buckeyes staff that appears totally different than the one which sported 14 draft picks in 2024. That mentioned, Ohio State nonetheless has two of the most effective gamers in school soccer — vast receiver Jeremiah Smith and security Caleb Downs — and a employees hungry to show this 12 months’s squad can win all of it too.
Texas and Ohio State Buckeyes met within the semifinals of the School Soccer Playoff final 12 months. This 12 months, they meet in Week 1. (Alex Slitz/Getty Pictures)
(Alex Slitz by way of Getty Pictures)
Alabama @ Florida State: 3:30 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 30
Florida State quarterback Tommy Castellanos gave Alabama loads of bulletin board materials final month throughout an interview with On3’s Pete Nakos. Castellanos, a switch from Boston School, mentioned Alabama now not has “Nick Saban to avoid wasting them” and that he doesn’t “see them stopping me.” He additionally famous that he looks like he “tore the ACC up by my rattling self for the final two years.”
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Castellanos could have been attempting to instill some much-needed confidence into an FSU program that crawled to a 2-10 end final season. However the dual-threat quarterback — who recorded 1,113 speeding yards and 28 complete touchdowns in 2023 earlier than posting the bottom QBR of all qualifying ACC quarterbacks in 2024 — might need woken up a napping big. In its first season beneath Kalen DeBoer, Alabama received fewer than 10 video games for the primary time since 2007, Saban’s first 12 months on the helm. The Crimson Tide need to return to SEC dominance and the CFP in 2025.
LSU @ Clemson: 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 30
LSU is leaving Dying Valley to play within the different Dying Valley in opposition to the opposite Tigers in a prime-time, Week 1 showdown. Clemson introduced again a wealth of expertise from final season. After successful the ACC championship, Clemson put up a decent combat at Texas within the first spherical of the School Soccer Playoff. Cade Klubnik’s three landing passes weren’t sufficient that day, however the now-senior enters this season as a Heisman candidate headlining an offense with extra fireworks than Clemson’s Memorial Stadium.
The Tigers’ offensive line returns 4 senior starters. Their vast receiver corps consists of Antonio Williams, Bryant Wesco Jr. and T.J. Moore, a trio that mixed for two,263 yards and 21 touchdowns final season. On the opposite facet of the ball, Clemson has a star-studded duo up entrance in defensive finish T.J. Parker and defensive deal with Peter Woods. LSU has myriad stars as nicely — particularly quarterback Garrett Nussmeier and linebacker Whit Weeks — however this sport shall be a chance for Clemson to show its preseason expectations are becoming, not nostalgic.
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Notre Dame @ Miami: 7:30 p.m., Sunday, Aug. 31
That is one among two Sunday evening, Week 1 bangers (the opposite is Virginia Tech-South Carolina). Notre Dame is taking part in Miami for the primary time since 2017, and solely the second time since 2012. The 2017 assembly began as a extremely anticipated, top-10 matchup and ended as a 33-point, head-turning Miami victory. It was the proper storm for the turnover-chain-wearing Hurricanes, who created 4 takeaways for the fourth straight week and sniffed 250 speeding yards.
It took Miami seven years to creator one other 10-win marketing campaign. The Hurricanes reached that win complete final season, however their late-season sputter price them a visit to the CFP, the place Notre Dame marched its method to the nationwide title sport. Cam Ward and Riley Leonard at the moment are within the NFL. Miami’s latest switch quarterback is former Georgia signal-caller Carson Beck. This time round, the Combating Irish are staying in-house with redshirt freshman CJ Carr. Beck and Carr will duel in Exhausting Rock Stadium through the newest iteration of a sequence that after featured “Catholics vs. Convicts.”
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TCU @ North Carolina: 8 p.m., Monday, Sept. 1
Invoice Belichick shall be teaching school soccer for the primary time, besides he’ll be doing so on a Monday evening, giving his UNC debut some NFL taste. The 73-year-old, six-time Tremendous Bowl-winning head coach transitioned to media after his awkward parting with the New England Patriots in 2023 after which shocked everybody along with his now-well-documented relationship, plus his determination this offseason to go up the Tar Heels.
It’s a little bit of a thriller what UNC will appear like beneath Belichick. He’s identified for his defenses, however of the 16 Tar Heel defenders who logged not less than 200 snaps final 12 months, solely three returned — all of them defensive backs. TCU is the guinea pig, litmus check, no matter you wish to name it. The Horned Frogs will get the primary stab at Belichick. TCU quietly received six of its final seven video games this previous season. Quarterback Josh Hoover is a reputation to know. He’s joined by a seasoned offensive line and a few key items from a protection that coordinator Andy Avalos appeared to determine down the stretch of 2024.
How a lot success will Invoice Belichick’s Tar Heels have in his first season as a school coach? (Peyton Williams/Getty Pictures)
(Peyton Williams by way of Getty Pictures)
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