College football Week 0 live updates: Latest news, schedules, matchups

We are nine days from Virginia Tech’s season starting at Old Dominion on Sept. 2. Can you feel it?

The mailbag feels it, with plenty of big-picture questions about how the Hokies might fare in Brent Pry’s debut season. Let’s get to some of them.

Boston College has hired former Pro Bowl RG Chris Snee as an analyst with a focus on player personnel and scouting.

That’s now two OL starters from the New York Giants’ two Super Bowl teams who have become college analysts this year, as Memphis recently hired LT David Diehl.

Nebraska was delayed by about 90 minutes out of Omaha on Monday night, but the Huskers arrived Tuesday morning in Dublin ahead of their opener Saturday against Northwestern. The Wildcats are set to arrive in Ireland Wednesday. The game, at 12:30 p.m. ET, is the only Power-5 matchup of Week Zero.

Nebraska’s full preseason roster of 110 players, plus a handful of camp additions, flew overnight Monday into Tuesday from Omaha to Dublin. Northwestern will join the Huskers in Ireland on Wednesday to ready for their season-opening clash Saturday at 11:30 a.m. CT from Aviva Stadium in the Aer Lingus College Football Classic.

Here, it’s time for takeoff, too. In this space, we’ll look periodically this season at a series of popular (or unpopular) beliefs about the Huskers — and determine if they’re myths or truths.

Wisconsin receiver Skyler Bell spent most of last season hampered by a left hamstring injury and didn’t even make an appearance in a game until the Las Vegas Bowl, when he played 14 snaps and caught one pass. Eight months later, Bell has positioned himself for a major role as a potential starter.

That’s what you call a breakout player candidate.

As Wisconsin closes in on its Sept. 3 season opener against Illinois State, several other breakout candidates have emerged. Here are 10 such candidates (plus one) for the Badgers. The list consists of players who earned minimal snaps at their position last season but have impressed during fall camp.

Notre Dame entered full prep for Ohio State on Monday afternoon, complete with scout team players playing the part of key Buckeyes. Freshman Steve Angeli is now Heisman candidate C.J. Stroud, for example.

As for how Notre Dame sees itself, the past two weeks have been a learning experience for coaches and players. In other words, what the Irish are today might not be exactly what the Irish thought they were when camp opened. That’s thanks to some significant preseason impressions being made up and down the roster, from individuals and position groups. These are the players (or groups) who turned heads most in August.

Notable news here, Marshall RB Rasheen Ali, a potential All-American, will be away from the team for an unknown period of time.

Three million people have watched Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman spoof “The Hangover” alongside two players on a mission to recover alternate uniforms somewhere in Las Vegas.

Cool is not usually an adjective associated with Notre Dame, one of the most storied programs in college football. But the 36-year-old Freeman has challenged that in his first eight months in charge, connecting with his players and younger Fighting Irish fans in creative ways while keeping on-field expectations as high as ever. His all-in performance for this year’s Shamrock Series uniform reveal was just another delightful reminder.

In less than a week, you can expect an actual depth chart from the Washington Huskies. It’s possible they could name a starting quarterback even sooner.

Until then, we project the starting lineup, beginning with the offense and continuing tomorrow with the defense. One caveat: This is our projection for the season and not solely for the Sept. 3 opener against Kent State. So keep that in mind regarding Jaxson Kirkland, in particular.

Kaiya McCullough held the slip of paper in her hand that every UCLA student-athlete must at the beginning of every academic quarter. From class to class, she bounced around the campus in Westwood, Calif., introducing herself to her instructors, telling them she was a defender for the Bruins women’s soccer team and that from August to probably November, her athletic and academic life would be constantly contradicting one another.

The Cincinnati Bearcats are not lacking for speed at wide receiver. Tre Tucker ran a 4.29-second 40-yard dash this offseason, matching the personal best of teammate and close friend Tyler Scott.

Second-year wideout Drew Donley ran a 4.31 40 and topped 23 mph, a human being too fast for a school zone. Yet Tucker swears that if the three of them raced 100 times this offseason, Scott might have claimed five, Donley another five, and he’d take the other 90.

Don’t expect Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald to announce his starting quarterback until just prior to the Wildcats’ opener against Nebraska in Dublin on Saturday.

Wisconsin’s football team scrimmaged for about an hour during an open portion of practice Sunday at Camp Randall Stadium — the final open practice of camp — which included attendance from roughly 3,500 fans. Badgers coach Paul Chryst said the team went through its normal pregame routine in what was a dry run of sorts for Wisconsin’s Sept. 3 season opener at home against Illinois State.