2018 College Football Kickoff Weekend: Miami vs. LSU Moves to Sunday, Sept. 2; Airs on ABC in Prime Time

  • Hurricanes-Tigers Play in Third Annual ABC Sunday Night Labor Day Weekend Presentation
  • First Regular Season Matchup Since 1988; Only Third Overall Meeting in Nearly 50 Years

Miami and LSU, originally scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 1, 2018, will now be played on Sunday, Sept. 2, 2018, at 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC as part of ESPN’s networks five-day college football kickoff weekend showcase. The game, which will be played in AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, will mark the third consecutive year ABC has aired a prime time game on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend.

The 2018 opener for the Hurricanes and Tigers will mark the first regular season meeting between the two schools since 1988 and just the third overall meeting since 1969. The Tigers beat Miami in the 2005 Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, the last meeting between the ACC and SEC schools. Overall, the teams have played 12 times, dating back to 1946, and the Tigers own a 9-3 advantage in those matchups.

ABC’s Kickoff Weekend Sunday Night Presentation has Been Record Setting
Notre Dame and Texas played in ABC’s first college football kickoff weekend Sunday night presentation in 2016, with the two-overtime thriller generating a total live audience of 11,093,000 viewers – at the time, a kickoff weekend viewership record across all networks. This season, West Virginia vs. Virginia Tech — from Landover, Maryland — played in the second annual ABC special presentation, generating a total live audience of 4,737,000 viewers, the third most-watched college football game on broadcast TV during the season’s kickoff weekend.

AdvoCare Classic Celebrates 10th Anniversary
The 2018 AdvoCare Classic will mark the 10th anniversary of the annual kickoff weekend game. The Tigers have played in the game twice, beating Oregon 40-27 in 2011 and TCU 37-27 in 2016. Next year’s game will be the first-time Miami has participated and the team’s first game at AT&T Stadium.

 

By  – ESPN Media Zone

AdvoCare Classic Announces Matchups Through 2019 Season

The AdvoCare Classic has announced three additional premier matchups that will carry the series through the end of the decade.

The series continues a tradition of pitting two of college football’s top powers against each other at AT&T Stadium, located in Arlington, TX. The series began in 2009 when Oklahoma, ranked No. 3 in the country and led by reigning Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford, suffered a 14-13 upset loss to No. 20 BYU. For the next decade the AdvoCare Classic produced compelling matchups, exciting finishes, and premier games to kick off the college football season, and the future matchups in store seem likely to continue that trend.

The 2017 contest will feature the Florida Gators making their first-ever appearance in AT&T Stadium. The Gators will matchup against the Michigan Wolverines in a major cross-sectional showdown. The game, which will be played on Saturday, September 2, will be the first meeting in the regular season between the teams, but their fourth meeting overall. Traditionally the teams have battled in bowl games, with Michigan owning the upper hand. Michigan collected wins against the Gators in the 2003 Outback Bowl (38-30), the 2008 Capital One Bowl (41-35), and just recently in the 2016 Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl (41-7).

In 2018 the LSU Tigers return to AT&T Stadium and the AdvoCare Classic for their third appearance in the series. Their foe will be the Miami Hurricanes of the ACC on Saturday, September 1. LSU and Miami last faced each other in the 2005 Chick-fil-A Bowl, with LSU collecting a resounding 40-3 victory. The Tigers also lead the all-time series 9-3. Miami’s last win against the Tigers came in Tiger Stadium in 1988 when the Hurricanes drubbed the Tigers 44-3, tying the largest margin of victory in the series. LSU is 2-0 in its previous AdvoCare Classic appearances, defeating Oregon 40-27 to open the 2011 season and beating TCU 37-27 in 2012. Miami has not yet appeared in the AdvoCare Classic.

The 2019 contest continues the theme of pairing a newcomer with an AdvoCare Classic series veteran. On August 31, 2019, the Auburn Tigers and Oregon Ducks tangle in a rematch of the 2011 BCS Championship Game, the final game of the BCS era. The teams will meet for only the second time in history. Auburn defeated Oregon 22-19 on a field goal as time expired in the 2011 title game. Oregon’s lone previous appearance in the series came in 2011 when they fell to another set of SEC Tigers, the LSU Tigers, 40-27.

Since 2009, the AdvoCare Classic has hosted three teams that played in the national championship game the previous season. That will happen again in 2016 when the reigning national champion Alabama Crimson Tide host the USC Trojans. Additionally, the AdvoCare Classic has served as a launching pad for teams advancing to the national championship game, with the AdvoCare Classic participant winning two of those national championship contests, most recently in 2015 (Alabama Crimson Tide).

Alabama Runs To Victory in 2016 Advocare Classic

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ARLINGTON, Texas — While Nick Saban wants to see improvement, top-ranked Alabama was pretty impressive in the opening of its national-title defense — without a proven quarterback and with Heisman Trophy-winning tailback Derrick Henry in the NFL.

That Crimson Tide defense, down four players taken in the first two rounds of the NFL draft last spring, is still physical and dominating, too.

On the season’s first Saturday, when two top-five teams lost, freshman quarterback Jalen Hurts threw two touchdown passes to ArDarius Stewart and ran for two more scores in a 52-6 victory over No. 20 Southern California on Saturday night.

“We got off to a little bit of a shaky start in the first quarter, especially on offense,” Saban said. “We scored a lot of points, made a lot of big plays, but still our consistency in execution needs to be much improved. … My focus with our team right now is what can we do better.”

At least the Tide is 1-0, unlike No. 3 Oklahoma and No. 5 LSU after their losses Saturday. And No. 16 UCLA lost as well.

USC coach Clay Helton sees Alabama a little different than Saban after the Trojans were held to 194 yards in their most lopsided loss since a 51-0 setback to Notre Dame in 1966.

“Obviously one game does not make a season. We played a very good team,” said Helton. “They played to their potential. The cold hard truth is we did not play up to ours.”

Stewart was wide open in the end zone behind the secondary when Hurts hit him for a 39-yard score midway through the second quarter that made it 7-3 and put Alabama ahead to stay. They hooked up on a 71-yard touchdown right after halftime for a 24-3 lead, and Hurts later had TD runs of 7 and 6 yards.

“Hopefully it’s a statement we’re still going to fight, still going to play,” Stewart said about the team’s performance.

The season-opening win came at AT&T Stadium — the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys — was also where the Crimson Tide started their 2012 and 2015 national championship seasons with victories.

The Tide are 10-0 in season openers under Saban, including seven non-conference games at neutral sites against Power Five teams that they have won by an average margin of 23 points.

THE TAKEAWAY

USC: The Trojans may be targeting their first Pac-12 title since 2008, but they weren’t ready to compete with the defending national champions.

USC was held without a touchdown in a game for the first time since 1997, and for the first time in a season opener since 1960. It was the fewest points since a 10-6 loss to Utah in the 2001 Las Vegas Bowl.

Junior quarterback Max Browne waited three years for his first start, and had a tough time against the overwhelming Alabama defense. He was 14 of 29 for 101 yards with an interception. It certainly didn’t help him that receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, who had 89 catches for 1,454 yards and 10 touchdowns last season, had only one catch for 9 yards when targeted five times.

ALABAMA: While the Tide are still unproven at quarterback after playing two freshmen, the biggest hole on offense was left by Henry’s absence. Sophomore Damien Harris showed the ability for some big plays with runs of 46 and 73 yards. He finished with nine carries for 138 yards.

STOMP AND YOU’RE GONE

Southern Cal defender Jabari Ruffin was ejected from the game late in the first half when at the end of a punt return he stomped his foot into the groin area of Alabama’s Minkah Fitzpatrick, who was on the ground. The play happened right in front of referee Reggie Smith, who immediately threw a flag. When announcing the penalty, Smith said, “No. 40 has disqualified himself from the game.”

POLL IMPLICATIONS

USC: The Trojans will almost certainly be unranked before playing their next game. They still have a lot to prove to voters.

ALABAMA: There shouldn’t be any questions about Alabama staying the No. 1 team when the new poll comes out Tuesday.