Finally, mercifully, college football is back!

Labor Day weekend brings a host of enormous matchups. Overreaction week will follow, with sweeping statements about the state of a program, conference, or the sport itself based on a tiny sample size. Remember when Texas knocked off Notre Dame and was officially back? Week 1 is the best. Here's what you need to know.

(Game times for Saturday except where noted.)

Top 5 games to watch

5) West Virginia vs. Tennessee (3:30 p.m. ET, CBS)

New Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt faces a tough test in his first game as Volunteers head honcho. Dana Holgorsen's fun-'n'-gun offense always finds a way to put up points, and with Will Grier at the helm, it could be one of the five best units in the country. However, West Virginia has a rough schedule and needs to start with a win. Meanwhile, as Pruitt seeks to change the culture at Tennessee, an early victory would be a nice platform for conference play.

4) Michigan at Notre Dame (7:30 p.m. ET, NBC)

Two huge teams. Two iconic helmets. South Bend. Michigan at Notre Dame seems like a massive contest.

Here's the thing, though: it could be a dud. The stakes aren't all that high. It feels similar to Michigan's opener against Florida last year. A defeat won't impact either team's season-long goal. And Michigan has better, more athletic, and more experienced players.

The most intriguing subplot is finding out what Shea Patterson will look like in Jim Harbaugh's complex offense.

Patterson is a gunner from the Johnny Manziel mold. From the dancing feet to the slingy release and even the arm sleeve, Patterson looks eerily similar to Johnny Football on the field. Harbaugh will demand much more than Patterson was asked to do at Ole Miss. The quarterback needs to control the offense at the line of scrimmage, getting into the right plays and getting out of the wrong ones; set and reset protections; get the ball out in rhythm; and run through a series of full-field, sophisticated reads. It won't be an easy transition.

Michigan's best hope against the Irish is for Patterson to take the easy throws before creating magic on third downs. Either way, Notre Dame's offense won't be able to handle the superior speed and quirky looks of Michigan's defense.

3) No. 20 Virginia Tech at No. 19 Florida State (Monday, 8 p.m. ET, ESPN)

From a schematic point of view, matchups don't get more intriguing than this one, which offers our first look at Willie Taggart's Florida State offense. Taggart's brand of "lethal simplicity" will go up against Bud Foster's swarming, suffocating defense. Something's got to give.

If Foster can't work some wizardry as defensive coordinator this year, Justin Fuente's Hokies are in trouble. The team sustained a nearly unthinkable amount of injuries and suspensions prior to the season, particularly in the secondary, transforming an area of strength into a weakness. An early win against a rival (and that rival's new coach) would be huge.

As an added bonus, Virginia Tech quarterback Josh Jackson is one of the most fun players to watch in the country. Also, the game is being played on a campus, which automatically vaults it ahead of a bunch of neutral-site options.

2) No. 6 Washington vs. No. 9 Auburn (3:30 p.m. ET, ABC)

Two playoff contenders with contrasting styles meet in a game that's unlikely to have much bearing on their national title hopes - that will come down to in-conference performances. Still, an early win against a top-ranked opponent would help one school make a strong first impression on the committee.

Washington's defense is built to limit explosive plays. Can Gus Malzahn and Jarrett Stidham crack the code?

1) No. 8 Miami vs. No. 25 LSU (Sunday, 7:30 p.m. ET, ABC)

As far as Week 1 non-conference games go, the stakes couldn't be much higher for Mark Richt and Ed Orgeron. More on Coach O later - for now, let's focus on the matchup.

I don't know if you've heard, but the U is back, baby. Richt has NFL players all over the field and a roster of athletes that everybody this side of Tuscaloosa and Clemson would envy.

Richt expects to return to the ACC title game with a one-off play-in to reach the playoff. If the Hurricanes stumble over the first hurdle, the optics won't be great, though the end goal would still be attainable.

Miami's weakness is obvious; among the country's top programs, I'm not sure there's a wider discrepancy in quality between any single position and the rest of the roster than between quarterback Malik Rosier and the rest of the team. The Hurricanes are stacked everywhere except the most important position in the sport.

Richt and Co. coached brilliantly around that major talent deficiency in 2017 by implementing some interesting wrinkles and relying on the run game, but that'll be tough against LSU. Miami's offensive line isn't as springy as the Tigers' defensive front, and it'll be difficult to run the kind of horizontal stuff the U found success with a year ago. To win the game, Miami will have to put the ball in Rosier's hands. Gulp.

Player to watch

Brian Burns, DE, Florida State

Nick Bosa, Ed Oliver, and Clemson's defensive line have dominated the preseason chitchat about the nation's best pass-rushers. People are sleeping on Burns.

A classic dip-and-rip rusher, Burns has lethal first-step quickness and the flexibility to get around lumbering offensive tackles. A favorable matchup against Virginia Tech gives him an early chance to dominate on the national stage.

Under-the-radar matchup

Ole Miss vs. Texas Tech (12 p.m. ET, ESPN)

If you love offense, here's the game for you. Kliff Kingsbury is famous for his air raid offense. Not to be outdone, nobody plays as fast as Ole Miss. Under offensive coordinator Phil Longo, the team's scoring drives in 2017 averaged 99 seconds, quicker than any other team in the nation.

Rebels quarterback Jordan Ta'amu is fearless, decisive, accurate, and does a marvelous job of orchestrating things at breakneck speed. He's not Ole Miss' only offensive star either. D.K. Metcalf is a top-10 NFL draft talent; no Texas Tech cornerback can match up with him one on one.

Kingsbury hasn't named a starting quarterback and may rotate series by series. This season, he'll be relying more on a surprisingly frisky Red Raiders defense, but despite that adjustment, this will be a shootout.

Coach that needs a win

Ed Orgeron, LSU

Nobody needs a Week 1 victory more than Orgeron, and though it's almost become a kind of sport to pile onto him at this point, some of the criticisms are valid.

He mishandled the situation with former offensive coordinator Matt Canada last year. Depending on what version of events you believe, Orgeron either interfered with Canada's carefully choreographed dance or reined in the experiments of a mad scientist. Regardless, it ended in a messy divorce as Orgeron kicked Canada to the curb, which in and of itself is an issue. Either he didn't know what Canada wanted to run before hiring him - an almost inconceivable oversight - or he chased the shiniest toy on the market, philosophical mismatch be damned.

Orgeron has now installed his guy, Steve Ensminger, as OC. Orgeron sold LSU's brain trust on the Dabo Sweeney model: He would oversee the program and delegate control of game-day Xs and Os to top-of-the-line coordinators. It hasn't worked out yet.

The Tigers, as always, are loaded on defense, and Dave Aranda is one of the most creative minds in the country. The defensive coordinator spurned a move to Texas A&M this spring, signing a fresh deal that gives him head coach money. He's waiting in the wings if things spiral out of control with Orgeron and LSU needs an interim boss.

LSU could also bring on Neal Brown, who beat LSU as Troy head coach a year ago. Brown is the most likely Group of 5 coach to make the leap to a big-time program in the next hiring cycle. Teams will be competing to lure away the 38-year old who's gone 25-13, with two bowl wins and a Sun Belt title, in the past three seasons. He'd also come cheaper than most high-profile candidates.

All this leaves Orgeron in a precarious spot, and he probably hasn't helped himself by hyping the Miami matchup like he's some kind of wrestling heel. LSU's defense should hold up its end of the bargain. Whether or not Ohio State transfer Joe Burrow can deliver at quarterback is another question. Orgeron had better hope he does.

(Photos courtesy: Getty Images)