Before the start of the 2017 season, Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl CEO Gary Stokan declared that Alabama-Florida State was “the best opener in college football history.” That was quite the declaration to say that anything was No. 1 in the 149-year history of the sport. But it made sense. After all, Alabama and FSU were set to start the season at No. 1 and No. 3, respectively, in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game at the brand-new Mercedes-Benz Stadium. It was Nick Saban vs. Jimbo Fisher, AKA “master vs. disciple,” and tickets to the neutral-site showdown were sold out 2 months before kickoff.

Of course, the game itself wasn’t a classic. Alabama dominated what we learned was a flawed FSU team, and to make matters worse, FSU quarterback Deondre Francois went down with a season-ending injury.

But Stokan’s claim — in his totally unbiased opinion as the CEO of the Chick-fil-A Kickoff game — served its purpose. The hype was second to none.

Eight years later, it’s time for a new season-opening G.O.A.T.

Texas-Ohio State? Yeah, that’s worthy.

Barring an injury to a starting quarterback, both teams will likely start in the top 3, just as Alabama-FSU did. As it stands, DraftKings has Ohio State (+450) and Texas (+550) as the 2 national title favorites just weeks after they faced off in an instant classic in the Playoff semifinal.

That alone should sell you on this opener’s G.O.A.T. status. Not sold yet? Fine.

Be honest. You have an opinion about Arch Manning. Even if you’re still think that his last name is doing more bidding than his actual play — I don’t, based on what he showed in 2024 — you still have a reason to watch him in his first career road start. You’ll dissect his every throw.

Alternatively, you’ll watch Manning for the revisionist history angle. As in, “if Texas had played him instead of Quinn Ewers against Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl, the Longhorns would’ve won a national title.” That’ll ignore the context of Ohio State having loads of defensive turnover, including the loss of DC Jim Knowles and scoop-and-score hero Jack Sawyer.

Ohio State does, however, return arguably the best player in the sport in safety Caleb Downs. I say “arguably” because Jeremiah Smith still exists. As in, the national championship hero who already looks like one of the best receivers in Ohio State’s illustrious history at the position. Go figure that it’s a revenge game of sorts for Smith, who was held to 1 catch for 3 yards against that loaded Texas defense in the Cotton Bowl.

Ah, speaking of that Texas defense … it’s still loaded. Stunning, I know. Defensive end Colin Simmons was the Shaun Alexander Freshman of the Year, linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. was an All-American and safety Michael Taaffe earned All-America honors, as well. Texas A&M game hero Ethan Burke is back on the defensive line, as is late-season star Trey Moore and emerging linebacker Liona Lefau. On top of that, Pete Kwiatkowski is the lone defensive coordinator returning from a Playoff semifinal team.

Loaded.

You could argue that 4 of the 10 best players in the sport are in this game, and that’s not even including Manning (Downs, Smith, Simmons and Hill should all be considered top-10 players). Shoot, it’s also not including Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin, who was the No. 1 signal-caller in the 2024 class. Sayin has slightly better Heisman odds (+1500) than Smith (+1600). Including Manning (+700), 3 of the top 6 Heisman favorites will be in this game. That’s wild.

There’s another element that’ll make for an even more wild atmosphere than FSU-Alabama: This isn’t at a neutral site. This game will be in Columbus. We’re ushering in the era of elite home-and-home matchups, which are set to begin in the latter half of the decade thanks to the expanded Playoff (more on that in a second). There’s more grace than ever.

Ah, that’s where you’ll push back on this game having “G.O.A.T.” opener status. You’ll argue that games like LSU-Oregon (neutral site) in 2011 or 2012 Alabama-Michigan (neutral site) had more significant stakes because they were played during an era when 1 loss could prevent a team from playing for a national title.

Fine. I’ll concede that.

What I won’t concede is the notion that Texas-Ohio State is some sort of an exhibition game and that both teams are destined to reach the Playoff, regardless of how things shake out. The loser of that game might only have 1 more loss to give. Alternatively, the winner has an argument to hold onto that No. 1 ranking with what could end up being the best win of the regular season. It could be the difference in hosting a home Playoff game vs. traveling, which proved to be significant in Year 1 with home teams going 4-0 with 4 wins by double digits.

So yeah, this game still has significant national championship implications. It has household names galore, recent history and an elite college football venue as its stage.

What more could you want?

This game, in many ways, feels like the perfect start to the latter half of the 2020s decade. It’s overlooked by the “12-team Playoff killed the regular season” crowd that the 12-team Playoff also yielded a slew of home-and-home matchups that didn’t exist during the neutral-site era of the 2010s. Texas is in Year 4 of an 8-year stretch that included nonconference home-and-homes either Alabama, Michigan, Ohio State and Notre Dame. From 2025-31, Ohio State will have home-and-homes vs. Texas, Alabama and Georgia.

There’s a chance that this is the first of several No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchups in nonconference play among those teams. If that happens in 2025, many will hark back to Week 2 of the 2006 season when No. 1 Ohio State traveled to No. 2 Texas. The Buckeyes picked up a monumental win in Austin in what turned out to be the first of 2 regular-season victories in No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchups that season. Of course, the No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup in the postseason didn’t exactly follow suit, and Florida’s victory in the BCS National Championship ended up being the launching point to the SEC’s 17-year run of dominance.

Nearly 2 decades later, conference stakes will be on the line come Aug. 30. The 2 conferences that run the sport will seek those season-opening bragging rights. Make of that what you will.

What’s undeniable is that stakes and storylines are everywhere, regardless of whether Texas-Ohio State marks the 26th regular-season game involving No. 1 vs. No. 2. It would, however, be the first such matchup to occur in a season opener.

If that’s not a G.O.A.T. way to kick off the season, I don’t know what is.