College football games today: Week 2 schedule for Friday

Week 2 of the college football schedule kicks off today, with four matchups set across the country under the Friday night lights.

Coming off a very active and consequential opening weekend, college football returns for an encore in Week 2, with three Power Four teams in action, and another that was among the dozen schools to make the College Football Playoff a year ago.

Another of those teams hopes to make waves in the ACC after scoring a key quarterback in the transfer portal, while two Big Ten squads play home games in primetime.

Here’s your look at the complete schedule for all the Week 2 college football games on TV today, as the second week of the season gets an early start.

College football games today: Week 2 schedule for Friday

All times Eastern, and game lines are courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook

James Madison at Louisville

Fri., Sept. 5 | 7 p.m. | ESPN2

Line: Louisville -14.5

Louisville: Senior transfer quarterback Miller Moss leads the Cardinals’ offense, going 17 of 25 passing for 223 yards and a score in the opener, but was also picked off twice. Sophomore tailback Isaac Brown scored twice off 6 carries for 126 yards.

James Madison: Alonza Barrett had 130 yards and a TD in the Dukes’ opener and a year ago had 2,598 yards passing while hitting 60 percent of his throws with 26 touchdowns and 4 interceptions. George Pettaway had 980 rushing yards and 5 TDs last year.

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Western Illinois at Northwestern

Fri., Sept. 5 | 7:30 p.m. | BTN

Northwestern: Already down a game after a 23-0 loss to Tulane, the Wildcats allowed 269 rushing yards in that game and need to drastically improve play on both lines of scrimmage, and quarterback Preston Stone threw a career-high four interceptions.

Western Illinois: The Leathernecks are also 0-1 coming into this one after a forgettable 52-3 loss at Illinois in the opener, allowing 440 total yards after spotting the then-No. 12 ranked Illini 38 straight points.

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Northern Illinois at Maryland

Fri., Sept. 5 | 7:30 p.m. | BTN

Line: Maryland -16.5

Maryland: True freshman quarterback Malik Washington had a good first showing in the opener, throwing for 258 yards and 3 touchdowns in the Terrapins’ win over Florida Atlantic, connecting with 10 different receivers in that game.

Northern Illinois: This team knocked off eventual playoff runner-up Notre Dame on the road a year ago and led the MAC with 36 sacks last season, but quarterback Josh Holtz was just 12 of 18 passing for 101 yards and a pick last weekend.

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Eastern Washington at Boise State

Fri., Sept. 5 | 9 p.m. | FS1

Line: Boise State -29

Boise State: The reigning Mountain West champs were listless in a season-opening loss at USF last week, scoring just seven points as quarterback Maddux Madsen averaged under 5 yards per throw despite putting the ball in the air 46 times.

Eastern Washington: Jared Taylor had 138 yards with no TDs or INTs in the opener as the Eagles allowed 31 points to Incarnate Word in the season opener, but their front line defense looked good, allowing just 12 yards rushing.

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AP top 25 college football rankings for Week 2

First-place votes in parentheses

1. Ohio State (55)
2. Penn State (7)
3. LSU (3)
4. Georgia 
5. Miami
6. Oregon
7. Texas
8. Clemson
9. Notre Dame
10. South Carolina
11. Illinois
12. Arizona State
13. Florida
14. Florida State
15. Michigan
16. Iowa State
17. SMU
18. Oklahoma
19. Texas A&M
20. Ole Miss
21. Alabama
22. Tennessee
23. Indiana
24. Texas Tech
25. Utah

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