Week 0 had a couple of fun games, but nothing like a college football Saturday with a full slate. These are some bets to make for Saturday’s Week 1 college football slate on DraftKings Sportsbook.
Saturday Slate
If you read this on Friday, you can check out my weekday best bets for two games I like on Friday night. Otherwise, I will review all my bets for the Saturday college football slate.
Georgia vs. Clemson o48.5
I wrote an in-depth preview of this game featuring two of the top 15 teams in the country, so check that out for a deeper analysis of this matchup. However, my high-level thoughts on this game are that Georgia will win, but it will have a higher score than people think.
Georgia could be without RB Trevor Etienne, which will cause them to be more aggressive with their QB Carson Beck. Beck should have a Heisman-level season in 2024, and there is no reason why Georgia’s staff won’t trust him just to let it rip off the bat.
On the Clemson side, Cade Klubnik is going into his second season as the starter with OC Garrett Riley. The duo was unimpressive last year, but Klubnik lacked weapons at wide receiver. This wide receiver group is now healthy and has brought in some superstar freshmen who will make an instant impact.
Dabo Swinney should come in with an aggressive mindset in this underdog role. He is experienced enough in these games to know that Clemson needs to attack Georgia if they want a chance to win.
Ultimately, the Dawgs are too talented across the board and have a big quarterback advantage with Carson Beck. However, Clemson should hang around and make this game interesting. Also, this game is being played in Atlanta inside a dome on an NFL field. That usually leads to higher-scoring games like the SEC Championship game featuring Georgia last season.
Georgia/JMU/Virginia Tech/Penn State MLP (+135)
This is a collection of favorites I like to win on Saturday but not necessarily cover. I just discussed why I like Georgia to get the win. Regarding JMU, they are in a rebuild but made a great hire, bringing in Bob Chesney.
JMU brought in a lot of great talent through the portal, and I am very high on this team’s upside. Charlotte head coach Biff Poggi has alluded that the 49ers could be without almost half of their starters due to injury. JMU will be healthier, better coached, and have a quarterback advantage with Dylan Morris.
Virginia Tech is a hyped team across the national media. QB Kyron Drones was putting up huge numbers by the end of last season, and he is a Heisman sleeper this season. The Hokies have some of the highest returning production numbers in the country, and they should be doing well. They are playing Vanderbilt, who is… really bad. The Hokies should jump on Vandy early and often and win this one comfortably.
Penn State faces a tough opening test going to West Virginia, but they are up for the task. The Nittany Lions made one of the best offseason hires, bringing in OC Andy Kotelnicki from Kansas. He should unlock the potential of Drew Allar and get this Penn State offense into the 21st century.
Defensively, Penn State is loaded and should limit what Garrett Greene can do for WVU. WVU exceeded expectations last season but many indicators have them as a regression candidate this season. Penn State is the much more talented team, and James Franklin has an incredible record of 81-16 when Penn State is a favorite.
Eastern Michigan +3 (-124) @ UMass
UMass has virtually no home-field advantage so Eastern Michigan should be really comfortable coming to play here. Eastern Michigan is one of the country’s best-coached teams, and Chris Creighton consistently has his team overperforming expectations. I wanted to buy the half-point to get this number up to +3, but Eastern Michigan has a great chance of winning this game.
UMass had one of the worst defenses in the country last year. They went to the portal to try to fix that issue,e but it could take a while for those pieces to gel, if they ever do. QB Cole Snyder transferred to Eastern Michigan this offseason, and he should be able to exploit this bad defense.
Eastern Michigan managed to beat the Minutemen in a close game last season, and they will do so again with an edge at quarterback, on the sideline and defense.
Syracuse -18 vs. Ohio
Syracuse made a big splash by securing the transfer of QB Kyle McCord from Ohio State. McCord wasn’t quite up to the task at Ohio State, where the goal was to win a National Championship. However, at Syracuse, where the goal is to make a bowl game, McCord should be really solid.
LeQuint Allen returns at running back for the Orange after a monster 2023 season. This offense should be improved from last season straight away.
On the flip side, Ohio was absolutely gutted in the transfer portal this offseason. They most notably lost their star quarterback Kurtis Rourke to Indiana. However, they lost many key pieces on both sides of the ball and didn’t bring in much talent to replace those guys.
Parker Navarro is expected to start at quarterback for the Bobcats, and he comes into this role with very little experience and pretty low expectations.
Syracuse should control this game on both sides of the ball. The Orange’s brand new head coach, Fran Brown, will want to set the tone with a big win in his first game at the helm.
Indiana -21.5 vs. FIU
The Hoosiers are one of my favorite teams in college football this season. Indiana hired JMU’s Curt Cignetti as their new head coach. Cignetti brought a huge collection of JMU players and Ohio QB Kurtis Rourke. Rourke is a star ready to jump to the Big Ten competition. Cignetti also brought in many players to fill the holes in Indiana’s roster, especially on defense.
Rourke and WR Elijah Surratt will be one of the most exciting QB-WR duos in college football. This offense should feast against a team like FIU, which finished 115th in the nation in scoring defense last season.
FIU struggled to step up in competition last season. They lost by 24+ points on four separate occasions. This indicates that FIU doesn’t have the players to stack up when facing good teams.
Like with Syracuse, I expect the brand new head coach at Indiana, Curt Cignetti, to make a statement in his first game. If he can score one more time and improve the optics of his first game at Indiana, he will.
South Carolina -21 vs. ODU
Shane Beamer has done a great job against inferior opponents as the head coach at South Carolina. The Gamecocks are frequently in the underdog role in the SEC but when Beamer gets the chance to dominate inferior teams, he jumps on it. Under Beamer, South Carolina is 13-1 SU and 9-4-1 ATS as a favorite.
It will be a completely different-looking offense for South Carolina this season. Spencer Rattler and Xavier Legette left for the NFL, and LaNorris Sellers stepped in as the new quarterback. Sellers is inexperienced but has shown flashes of talent and has reportedly had a great offseason.
Sellers is much more of a run-first quarterback and should pair perfectly with RB Rocket Sanders who transferred in from Arkansas. Sellers and Sanders will run a great read-option offense with the threat of Olympic-level track star Nyck Harbor on the outside at wide receiver, keeping opposing defenses honest.
This is also projected to be the best defense Shane Beamer has ever had at South Carolina. DT Tonka Hemingway, LB Debo Williams, and safeties Jalen Kilgore and Nick Emmanwori make up an incredible defensive spine for the Gamecocks.
They should be able to shut down this ODU offense that lost their star RB Kadarius Calloway to the transfer portal this offseason. Without Calloway, ODU would be much more dependent on QB Grant Wilson, who would not be up to the task against this Gamecock defense.
Texas A&M -3 vs. Notre Dame, 1H u22.5
I wrote an in-depth preview of this game with a deeper analysis if you want to check that out.
This should be one of the best games of the weekend. Notre Dame brought in quarterback Riley Leonard from Duke to pair with an elite defense, and they hope that will get them to the new 12-team CFP.
On the other hand, Texas A&M hired Mike Elko, also from Duke, to take this program to the next level, which Jimbo Fisher could never do.
Elko inherits a really good Texas A&M roster with Conner Weigman at quarterback and an incredible defense. Elko should be able to scheme that defense to stop what Riley Leonard wants to do on the ground. Nobody knows Leonard better than Mike Elko, and he should be able to coach up his guys to stop what Leonard likes to do.
On the other side of the ball, Notre Dame has a fantastic defense. Al Golden is one of the country’s best defensive coordinators and should be able to keep Notre Dame in this game early on.
However, once they get into the second half, I expect Conner Weigman to find a groove in the passing game. Weigman has struggled with injuries throughout his career, but when healthy, he has the potential to be one of the best quarterbacks in the SEC.
This game should start slow as the teams feel each other out so I am betting the first half under. However, the Aggies are the better team and have the better head coach and quarterback. Not to mention, Texas A&M has one of the best home-field advantages in college football. So, I expect Texas A&M to come out on top and cover the number.
Arizona -30.5 vs. New Mexico
Arizona was a potential sleeper candidate to win the Big 12 and make the CFP before Head Coach Jedd Fisch left for Washington. However, QB Noah Fifita and WR Tetairoa McMillan surprisingly decided to stay at Arizona despite their coach’s departure.
This offense should still be electric, with arguably the best QB-WR duo in all of college football, Fifita and McMillan. Their ceiling isn’t as high without Fisch and his staff, but against an opponent like New Mexico, Arizona should score at will.
New Mexico was one of the few teams to play last week in Week 0. The Lobos lost at home to FCS Montana State. New Mexico put up 31 points, but they were gifted multiple scores by Montana State, who made some terrible mistakes in that game.
Arizona also has a big advantage of having tape on New Mexico from last week’s game, so they know what this offense wants to do. They have also had all offseason to prepare for this game, while New Mexico has a short turnaround after playing last week to prepare for Arizona.
New Mexico head coach Bronco Mendenhall is in the first year of a long-term project. I expect he is much more concerned with trying to win games where New Mexico can be competitive rather than pulling out big tricks against a team like Arizona. The Wildcats should roll and make a statement in Brent Brennan’s first game as head coach.
Texas -32 vs. Colorado State
This is a tricky spot for Texas because they play Michigan in a huge non-conference matchup next week. However, their offense should just dominate non-stop, even if they put backups in. QB Quinn Ewers should pick this Colorado State defense apart, and when they inevitably go to the bench to rest Ewers, backup QB Arch Manning should be able to do exactly the same thing.
The Rams were 99th in the country in scoring defense and 105th in total defense last season. In their first game of the season in 2023, they gave up 50 points to Washington State and 43 to Colorado the next week. Texas should easily put up numbers on that level against this year’s Colorado State defense.
Colorado State does have some good weapons on offense, led by QB Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi and WR Tory Horton. However, Texas is a huge step up in competition for the Rams. Texas did have to replace some NFL pieces from last season’s team but this is still a defense that made it to the College Football Playoff last season.
Texas should be able to limit Colorado State’s offensive options and score at will when they have the ball.
Place your College Football bets at DraftKings Sportsbook or by downloading the DraftKings Sportsbook app.
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I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and customer (my username is blakekrass) and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and do not constitute a representation that any particular strategy will guarantee success. All customers should use their own skill and judgment in building lineups. I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.
