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What is Week 0 in college football and when is Week 0 during the 2023 season?

By Mary Kate Hughes

Week 0Sep 1, 2012; Dublin, IRELAND; A general view of Aviva Stadium in the third quarter of the game between the Navy Midshipmen and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Notre Dame won 50-10. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports
Week 0Sep 1, 2012; Dublin, IRELAND; A general view of Aviva Stadium in the third quarter of the game between the Navy Midshipmen and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Notre Dame won 50-10. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports /
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It’s August, and that means that the start of the college football season is just around the corner. The Auburn football program will start their 2023 season on Week 1, but other teams play games the weekend before. So, what is Week 0 and when is it this year?

According to fellow FanSided site Hail Florida Hail, the concept of Week 0 has been around for a long time but did not really cement itself as part of the college football season until 2017. Week 0 was originally meant to help teams that traveled to play in Hawaii by giving them an extra home game to help with extra costs racked up by traveling out of the continental United States.

The concept of Week 0 gained steam in 2017 due to (shocker!) the opportunity for TV networks to make more money, and the first Power 5 matchup during Week 0 took place in 2019 against Florida and Miami.

FBSchedules.com reports that there will be 10 matchups during Week 0 2023, which kicks off on August 26th, one week before the Auburn football team kicks off the Freeze Era in Jordan-Hare Stadium. The 2023 Week 0 matchups are as follows, beginning with the games on neutral sites:

  • Navy vs. Notre Dame (Dublin, Ireland)
  • North Alabama vs. Mercer (Montgomery, AL)
  • Jackson State vs. SC State (Atlanta, GA)
  • UTEP at Jacksonville State
  • Fordham at UAlbany
  • UMass at New Mexico State (both 2023 opponents of Auburn football)
  • Ohio at San Diego State
  • Hawaii at Vanderbilt
  • San Jose State at USC
  • FIU at Louisiana Tech

Per Banner Society, the Tigers have only ever played in one Week 0 game, and that was in the Kickoff Classic in 1984 when Auburn football lost to Miami at a neutral site game in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

While Auburn’s season is a month away, we’ll finally be watching college football again before the end of the month.

Next. Players share thoughts on the quarterback battle. dark

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