Week 0 (or Week Zero) refers to the opening weekend of
college football games in the
NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), in which a small number of games are played to begin the regular season, a week before the vast majority of teams begin their season in "Week 1". Although the FBS football season has traditionally begun on the first Saturday before
Labor Day, the NCAA has sporadically awarded waivers for games to be played a week earlier in order to bring a game to a national television audience, or as part of the "Hawaii Rule" that grants teams that play a game in Hawaii an extra regular season home game to offset travel costs. The first Week 0 game was the 1983
Kickoff Classic
The Kickoff Classic was a season-opening college football game played at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey from 1983 to 2002.
History
In 1978, the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority (NJSEA), which operated and scheduled ...
, in which No. 1
Nebraska
Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...
defeated No. 4
Penn State, 44–6, at
Giants Stadium in
East Rutherford, New Jersey.
For the
2020 season, the NCAA issued a blanket waiver for Week 0 games by any team, in order to allow for scheduling flexibility amid the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
.
However, no Division I FBS members wound up playing in a Week 0 game in 2020.
Results
Week 0 games since 2002:
Rankings reflect preseason
AP Poll
The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broad ...
.
;Notes
See also
*
FCS Kickoff
The FCS Kickoff is an annual college football game played on the Saturday before the opening weekend of the college football season. The game showcases teams from the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). For the game's first t ...
, a Week 0 game featuring two Division I FCS teams that has been played since 2014
*
MEAC/SWAC Challenge
The MEAC/SWAC Challenge is an annual historically black college (HBCU) football game showcasing a team from each of the two NCAA Division I conferences made up entirely of HBCUs—the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) and Southwestern Athle ...
, a game featuring teams from the two
historically black FCS conferences that has taken place on Week 0 since 2021
References
{{Reflist
NCAA Division I FBS football