The first of the season’s college football Saturdays (largely listed below) is crowned by prime time’s Florida State vs. Alabama (ABC, 8 p.m.) and Louisville vs. Purdue (Fox, 7:30 p.m.).
What do other networks to have to play against that? How about two hours of “Candy Crush” (CBS, 8 p.m.) or a rerun of “America’s Got Talent” (NBC, 8 p.m.)?
“A Monster Calls” (HBO, 8 p.m.), with Liam Neeson and Felicity Jones, makes its premium cable debut.
There are plenty of marathons on today including more than 12 hours of “The Wire” (HBO2, 8 a.m.), “Planet Earth Africa” (BBC America, 12:30 p.m.) and “The Walking Dead” (AMC, 9 a.m.)
A new “Planet Earth: Wild West” (BBC America, 9 p.m.) goes to the America’s western coastline.
The survivor of the Railroad Killer tells her story on “48 Hours” (CBS, 10 p.m.); a murder and abduction is investigated on “Dateline” (NBC, 10 p.m.).
On the made for TV movie “One Small Indiscretion” (Lifetime Movie Network, 8 p.m.), a girl rents a house from a woman who had an affair with her father. With Ashley Scott and Tiera Skovbye.
“Declassified: Untold Stories of American Spies” (CNN, 9 p.m.) they look into the influence of the novel “The Turner Diaries,” which spurred Timothy McVeigh.
Tia and Sugar rescue a stray on “Pit Bulls and Parolees” (Animal Planet, 9 p.m.).
Nine couples talk about how they get along on “Black Love” (OWN, 9 p.m.).
Last weekend’s much-hyped Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor (Showtime, 9 p.m.) bout gets a replay — without the pay-per-view.
A diabetic gets a dog to detect his blood sugar levels on “Rescue Dog to Super Dog” (Animal Planet, 10 p.m.).
“Mysteries of the Missing” (Science, 10 p.m.) ponders Atlantis.
A party in the woods ends in tragedy on “Swamp Murders” (Investigation Discovery, 10 p.m.).
Steve Harvey pops up on “Oprah’s Master Class” (OWN, 10 p.m.).
The day’s college football onslaught begins the the following games at noon: Maryland at Texas (Fox Sports 1), Kent State at Clemson (ESPN), Akron at Penn State (ABC), Bowling Green at Michigan State (ESPNU). Then at 3 p.m. is South Carolina vs. N.C. State (ESPN) followed at 3:30 p.m. by UTEP at Oklahoma (Fox), Michigan vs. Florida (ABC) and Temple at Notre Dame (NBC).
Then comes Troy at Boise State (ESPNU, 3:45 p.m.), Kentucky at Southern Mississippi (CBS Sports, 4 p.m.), Appalachian State at Georgia (ESPN, 6:15 p.m.), Liberty at Baylor (Fox Sports 2, 7 p.m.), South Alabama at Mississippi (ESPNU, 7:30 p.m.), Vanderbilt at Middle Tennessee (CBS Sports, 8 p.m.), LSU vs. BYU (ESPN, 9:30 p.m.) and Montana State at Washington State (Fox Sports 1, 10:30 p.m.).
Baseball includes Boston at Yankees (MLB, 1 p.m.), St. Louis at San Francisco (Fox Sports 1, 4 p.m.), Angels at Texas (Fox Sports 1, 7:15 p.m.) and Dodgers at San Diego (MLB, 10 p.m.).
WNBA action has San Antonio at Indiana (NBA, 7 p.m.).
Third round play continues at the U.S. Open (ESPN2, 11 a.m.).
Soccer includes Ireland at Georgia (Fox Sports 2, noon) and Italy at Spain (Fox Sports 2, 2:30 p.m.) in UEFA World Cup qualifiers.
The Essentials on Turner Classic Movies of course includes “2001: A Space Odyssey” (8 p.m.), and it’s followed by other films about rogue computers, “Westworld” (10:45 p.m.), “Demon Seed” (12:30 a.m.), “Scanners” (2:15 a.m.) and “Them!” (4:15 a.m.).
Beck’s 2014 performance on “Austin City Limits” (PBS, 11 p.m., check local listings) gets a replay.
Last May’s season finale of “Saturday Night Live” (NBC, 11:30 p.m.), with Dwayne Johnson and Katy Perry, is rerun.