Week 0 can be a confusing phrase if you’re hearing it for the first time. It might even sound downright wrong if you’re mathematically inclined; zero is, after all, not a counting number by definition.

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But the term is fairly well known among college football aficionados. For most schools around the country, the start of the season arrives on Labor Day weekend, the traditional Week 1. In recent years, a handful of contests have been scheduled for the prior weekend. This preliminary launch date has come to be known as Week 0, and that week is now at hand.

The 2022 Week 0 slate might not seem all that exciting on its face. No Top 25 teams are in action during Saturday’s 11-game lineup of contests involving members of the Football Bowl Subdivision. There are, however, some things worth paying attention to during the course of the day. For one thing, unlike NFL preseason games, the results of these contests matter. A win is a step toward bowl eligibility. In some cases, they’ll even count in conference standings.

Here are a few storylines to monitor as college football returns.

Big Ten headed overseas
The headliner of the day is an actual Big Ten West showdown in Dublin, Ireland, between Nebraska and Northwestern (12:30 p.m. ET, Fox). While neither the Cornhuskers nor the Wildcats are expected to compete for the league title, it is nonetheless an important game for both programs coming off subpar seasons.

Nebraska easily handled the Wildcats 56-7 last Oct. 2. Unfortunately for the ‘Huskers, that was their last victory in 2021, though there were admittedly a number of close calls. Suffice to say, however, that any struggles shown by Nebraska against a team it throttled a year ago won’t be viewed kindly by a fan base whose patience with coach Scott Frost is already thin.

But Pat Fitzgerald’s track record at Northwestern would indicate this won’t be an Irish holiday for the Cornhuskers. Prior to last year’s 3-9 clunker of a season, five of the previous six years produced winning records for the Wildcats. Nebraska figures to have the talent edge, particularly with the arrival of QB Casey Thompson from Texas, but if Northwestern can regain its characteristic toughness along the lines, things could get very interesting indeed after halftime.

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Elsewhere in the Big Ten
The other team in the Big Ten getting a Week 0 jump start on the season is Illinois, where Bret Bielema embarks on the second year of his rebuilding project hosting Wyoming (4 p.m. ET, BTN). But the Fighting Illini face a potentially dangerous opponent in the Cowboys, a program with few geographic advantages that nevertheless punches above its weight from time to time.

The Cowboys might be in something of a transition year themselves after considerable losses through the transfer portal, but Craig Bohl is a good coach who knows how to optimize the personnel he has. The home crowd in Champaign would like to have this one on ice quickly, but don’t be stunned if that isn’t the case.

More Conference calls
It won’t produce as much fanfare as the Big Ten opener, but Conference USA is also jumping straight into league play with a pair of contests. Florida Atlantic hosts Charlotte at 7 p.m. ET on CBSSN, and out west Texas-El Paso has a 9 p.m. ET home date with North Texas, available on live stream via Stadium. In what figures to be a wide-open year given C-USA’s membership losses, grabbing an early win in the standings will be a significant advantage.

#GOACC
A couple of ACC squads coming off somewhat disappointing campaigns will hope for easy openers against Football Championship Subdivision opponents. Florida State kicks off the ACC Network doubleheader against Duquesne (5 p.m. ET), followed by North Carolina hosting Florida A&M (8:15 p.m. ET). Of course, the Seminoles were upended by another FCS member, Jacksonville State, last year, so their fans won’t be especially forgiving if they struggle to put away the Dukes.

First in the SEC?
Vanderbilt is the longest of long shots to win the SEC, but the Commodores do at least have a chance to earn the league’s first victory this season. It won’t be easy, however, as Vandy makes the long trip to Hawaii for the final Week 0 game of the day (10:30 p.m. ET, CBSSN).

It’s a game the Commodores will almost certainly have to have if they want to even think about going bowling, but the Rainbow Warriors will be excited for the opportunity to pick off an SEC opponent.

Upset Pick No. 1: Irish Eyes Smile on Northwestern
This is a good spot for Northwestern, and not just because a coach named Fitzgerald and a quarterback named Sullivan will line up in the Big Ten opener for both in Dublin, Ireland, even though the Wildcats are +375 on the moneyline, which means they have a 21.1% implied probability to beat Nebraska.

Northwestern was drubbed on the road at Nebraska last season, 59-7, but that result was the most extreme outlier in a series that has been played every year since the Cornhuskers joined the Big Ten in 2011. Nebraska took out the frustration of close losses to Oklahoma and Michigan State in the previous two games against a Northwestern team that had lost its starting quarterback two weeks before.

Series trends favor the Wildcats, who are 5-6 SU and 7-4 ATS in the series. They have won four of the last seven, and eight of the 10 games before 2021 were decided by eight points or fewer. The Wildcats bounced back from a 3-9 season in 2019 to win the Big Ten West in 2020. They were 3-9 a year ago, which kept their conference title odds low this time around.

The Huskers are trending down. They have had five straight losing seasons for the first time since 1956-61 and are 15-29 under fifth-year coach Scott Frost, whose 15 victories are fifth-fewest in the Power Five. Their 16 road losses are tied for third-most. A new quarterback (Casey Thompson) and offensive coordinator (Mark Whipple) may need time to adjust.

Upset Pick No. 2: Charlotte Like This Spot
Charlotte returns one of the top quarterbacks in Conference USA in fifth-year senior starter Chris Reynolds, who threw for 2,680 of his school-record 7,726 passing yards last season as the 49ers averaged 29.3 points in league play. Reynolds had 26 touchdowns and nine interceptions a year ago.

Charlotte is 2-1 SU and 3-0 ATS in the three games played in Florida since Florida Atlantic joined CUSA in 2013. Both teams ended 2021 on a down note — Florida Atlantic lost its last four and Charlotte lost five of its last six. Underdog Charlotte is +220 on the moneyline, which means it has a 31.3% implied probability to beat the Owls.

Florida Atlantic coach Willie Taggart is 6-11 in his last 17 games here, and although the Owls are considered a stronger contender in the conference title odds, there is some work to do as Taggart again reorganized his staff this spring in an attempt to jump start the program around quarterback N’Kosi Perry in the CUSA opener for both.

Upset Pick No. 3: Mountain West Rises
These teams play defense. Illinois finished 46th in the NCAA in total defense (365.6 yards per game) a year ago, a number tempered slightly because the Illini missed Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State in the unbalanced Big Ten schedule. Wyoming ranked 55th (370.4), and it has ranked in the top 50 in advanced metrics in the last five seasons.

And not much offense … Illinois ranked in the bottom 20 in total offense in 2021 and both ranked in the bottom 15 in passing offense, making the double-digit spread even more appealing despite the fact that the Cowboys have only a 23.5% implied probability of winning. This is their first meeting.

Wyoming is counting Utah State transfer quarterback Andrew Peasley and returning halfback Titus Swen. Swen rushed for 785 yards (5.95 per carry) and seven touchdowns as a backup in 2021. Illinois has a new offensive coordinator and a new quarterback in Syracuse transfer Tommy DeVito.