College Football’s Week 0 Kicks Off In Ireland, But It Runs Through Hawaii

The 2024 college football season officially begins Saturday when a Florida State-Georgia Tech matchup in Ireland kicks off a four-game Week 0 FBS slate.

But this year, fewer schools are taking part in the late-August tradition of playing a week before the rest of the nation does on Labor Day weekend. Montana State-New Mexico, SMU-Nevada, and Delaware State-Hawaii round out the four games involving FBS schools Saturday, down from seven Week 0 games in 2023 and an all-time high of 11 in 2022.

While fans may wish there were more games this weekend, the process of scheduling Week 0 games isn’t that simple—and actually runs almost exclusively through the Aloha State.

An Island Special 

Outside of international contests like FSU-Georgia Tech, the only schools that can schedule a Week 0 game without requesting a special exemption are those playing a game in Hawaii that season. Both New Mexico and Nevada will visit the Rainbow Warriors this fall, and took advantage of scheduling an early matchup. 

Hawaii has played on Week 0 each of the last eight years, excluding 2020. “By starting in Week 0, we can accelerate our build up to our first game,” Hawaii athletic director Craig Angelos tells Front Office Sports. “And then we have three byes throughout the season.” This weekend’s matchup with Delaware State will come after the FCS school was beset by travel delays leaving the East Coast earlier this week.

Boise State, UCLA, and UNLV also play at Hawaii this season, but opted against a Week 0 game. There were no other special exemptions granted for Week 0 matchups, either. There are four Week 0 games scheduled for 2025, although it’s possible that more could pop up.

Travel Request

The other key of playing on the road in Hawaii is that it also allows football programs to add a 13th game, if they wish. New Mexico was the only one of Hawaii’s five home FBS opponents to take advantage of that this year, as that trend may also be slowing down. 

“From what I’ve seen, that’s not as high a priority as much, to play 13 games,” says Angelos, who is entering his second year on the job. “I think schools like the [bye weeks] and like staying at 12. So, I haven’t seen that as much as it probably was in the past.”