One under-the-radar game for Weeks 0-7 of college football season

We are just a few days from the opening kickoff of another college football season, so it is time to look at games that could steal the spotlight each weekend.

There are always the obvious, exciting games featuring the top teams in the country, but there are also always under-the-radar games that need more attention. Here’s a list of one of those games for the first eight weeks of the 2025 season. We’ve also gone over an under-the-radar game for Weeks 8-14.

Aug. 23 | Stanford at Hawaii: Stanford will travel to Hawaii for its first game under interim head coach Frank Reich and general manager Andrew Luck.

Stanford knocked Hawaii off, 37-24, in Week 2 of the 2023 season, so the Week 0 matchup will be a chance at redemption for the Rainbow Warriors.

Aug. 28 | Nebraska at Cincinnati: Both of these teams won five of their first six games last season. 

Nebraska barely made it to bowl eligibility, and Cincinnati did not qualify for a bowl game. The winner of this will have a ton of early season momentum.

Sept. 6 | No. 12 Illinois at Duke: This is the first true test for an Illinois team that has College Football Playoff aspirations.

It’ll travel to Durham and will be greeted by a Duke team that lost Malik Murphy to the transfer portal, but replaced him with Darian Mensah.

Sept. 13 | Vanderbilt at No. 13 South Carolina: Each of these teams should be 2-0 when Week 3 rolls around, and there is a bit of juice already added to this.

Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia said that “week three” is the game he’s got circled on his calendar this season. He’ll certainly get the Gamecocks’ best shot in what will be a rowdy night game.