We’ve got college football on today, folks! It’s a Thursday night and we get to watch some college football! Specifically speaking, we get to watch some Big 12 teams take on *checks notes* other teams. There’s a handful of Big 12 teams in action this evening and there aren’t a ton of games going on. So, you know, let’s check a few of these games out, shall we?
To make it easy on figuring out what the schedule looks like, let’s take a look at what games are happening when and what you need to do to watch them.
Here’s what you need to know:
College football schedule: Jacksonville State vs. UCF Knights - 6 p.m. on ESPN+
Let’s start with the first game on the menu.
Get to ESPN+ at 6 p.m. Game 1 of the second stint for Scott Frost down in Orlando will be against the Jacksonville State Gamecocks. A season ago, this one likely would’ve been a bit more intriguing and there’s still an element to where it might be kind of interesting depending on how Frost’s team has come together since his return.
It’s a bit of a bummer we don’t get to see the Gamecocks coached by Rich Rodriguez in this one. That would have been a fun one (and we likely would’ve seen quite a few points).
UT Martin vs. Oklahoma State Cowboys - 6:30 p.m. on ESPN+
Around 30 minutes after things get going in Orlando, we’ll see the Oklahoma State Cowboys and Mike Gundy get started over in Stillwater. And while this game in and of itself isn’t all that important in the grand scheme of things for everyone outside of Stillwater, it’ll be a little interesting to keep an eye on it given the changes and climate with that program right now.
Gundy is on the hot seat and he’s facing some pretty noteworthy pressure to win, win a lot, and win by a lot. And the Cowboys made some pretty interesting changes in the offseason.
Like the hiring of offensive coordinator Doug Meacham, for example. The man has been around a number of fascinating, high scoring offenses. He arrived in Stillwater after helping Sonny Dykes (and Gary Patterson) at TCU. Then on the defensive side of things, Todd Grantham arrived in Stillwater as the new DC. And that’s going to be interesting to keep an eye on.
Stephen F. Austin vs. Houston Cougars - 7 p.m. on ESPN+
Sticking with ESPN+ and sticking with 30 minute intervals, we’re headed down to the Bayou City to watch the Cougars welcome the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks to town. And this is a game that should be pretty easy (at least in theory) for Willie Fritz and UH to win.
I think.
There’s an element of intrigue here in that Fritz is in the second season of a pretty drastic rebuilding effort and also SFA is a ranked FCS team. And there’s a regionality element to this. SFA almost certainly wants to perform well in Houston in front of high school players that they’d like to recruit. SFA is going to be very, very invested in this game.
I don’t think the Cougars lose this one. I just happen to think it’ll be a game to keep an eye on.
Nebraska vs. Cincinnati in Kansas City, Missouri - 8 p.m. on ESPN
This game is a little bit later and it’s on ESPN and it’s also at a neutral site. And it’s definitely going to be one worth watching.
The Nebraska Cornhuskers and Cincinnati Bearcats are giving us a Midwest neutral site matchup in a game that likely won’t be very pretty for Cincinnati fans as the former Big 12 team in this equation will likely punish the Bearcats.
I don’t know exactly what to expect from Nebraska this season, but I suspect that the talent they’ve accumulated in Lincoln will lead them to being a bit better than Cincinnati, which just seems to be in such a weird place since Luke Fickell left for Wisconsin following the 2022 season (I can’t believe it’s been three years since that happened).
This is a team that earned a spot in the College Football Playoff back in 2021. And ever since then, the Bearcats have been down. And that can’t be fun. The move to the Big 12 hasn’t been easy and this game certainly won’t be a walk in the park.