The No.1 team in the country, Nick Saban's Alabama Crimson Tide, highlight the slate of NCAA action on TSN2 this weekend. You'll also get a look at No.17 Coastal Carolina and No.21 Utah. ​You can catch all of the action on TSN2, the TSN app, streaming on TSN Direct and on TSN.ca.

Saturday, September 11

Mercer (1-0) vs. No.1 Alabama (1-0), 4pm et/1pm pt - Mercer is about to be thrown into the deep end. Fresh off of a nice 69-0 win over Point in Week 1, the FCS school jumps to FBS competition against the kings in the Crimson Tide at a Bryant-Denny Stadium that will be packed for the first time since 2019. Bama was also a Week 1 winner, demolishing No. 14 Miami, 44-13. Brampton, Ont.'s John Metchie III had six receptions for 76 yards and a touchdown in the victory. This will be the fourth meeting between the two schools and, unsurprisingly, the Tide have won the previous three. Last time out, Alabama beat Mercer, 56-0, in 2017. But Nick Saban isn't taking anything for granted. In fact, he took more bad than good from the win over the Hurricanes that saw the Tide dominate in the first half and then take their foot off the gas in the second. Saban is challenging his team to play a full four quarters on Saturday. "Several years ago it was the sixth or seventh game of the year, we just beat Texas A&M and people started talking about our team and I had to bring everyone’s attention to, what I refer to as ‘rat poison,'" Saban said this week. "So now, we’ve basically played, one half of one game. Aight. We went ahead 27-0 in the game and then it was basically 17-16 after that with two stops inside the five-yard line. So we didn’t maintain our intensity in the game, so we were affected by the scoreboard, so we haven’t proven that we can play for 60 minutes." What he doesn't need to worry about, though, is new starting quarterback Bryce Young. In his first career start last week, Young threw for 344 yards on 27-for-38 passing and four touchdowns in what was a program-best debut for a QB. For his efforts, Young was named both the SEC Offensive Player of the Week, as well as the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback of the Week. The game against Mercer will very likely hand Young the opportunity to pad his stats as he vaults into the early Heisman conversation.

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No.21 Utah (1-0) vs. Brigham Young (1-0), 10:15pm et/7:15pm pt - This won't be a meeting of Power 5 schools on Saturday, but it would be in a couple of years. Alongside UCF, Houston and Cincinnati, the Cougars are joining the Big 12 in time for the 2023 season. But for right now, Kalani Sitake's BYU is set for its second matchup in a run of three straight games against Pac-12 opposition in their state rival Utes. The Cougars were 24-16 Week 1 victors over Arizona and will host ASU next weekend. In Utah, the Cougars face an all-too familiar opponent. Saturday's meeting is the 101st between the two schools in a rivalry that has been particularly one-sided in the Utes' favour. Utah is 62-34-4 all-time against the Cougars. Last time the two teams met was in Week 1 of 2019 when Utah prevailed with a 30-12 victory. Still, the Utes say that this game remains an important one circled on their calendar. “There’s a lot more at stake here than a game," Utah wide receiver Britain Covey said. "I think you’re fooling yourself if you say that it’s just another game. It’s not. It doesn’t mean that it’s the Super Bowl, but it’s a big game. We respect BYU, they respect us. We know they’re going to play their best game and we know we’re going to play our best game. People that don’t know about the ‘Holy War,’ especially people from the East, they don’t really understand that it’s one of the biggest rivalries in the country. You tell them about that." If the Utes have designs on their first-ever Pac-12 title, building up momentum in their non-conference schedule will go a long way to setting the tone for intraconference games.

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ALSO ON TSN2: Pittsburgh (1-0) vs. Tennessee (1-0), Noon/9 am et