College Football Week 0 Best Bets & Picks: North Carolina and TCU set for defensive battle in Dublin
It’s been a long and eventful spring and summer, and now the 2026 college football season is finally upon us. With the offseason chaos behind us and our extensive college football previews for every conference available for your reading pleasure, it’s time to get into the Week 0 slate with the return of my weekly best bets column.
As with most Week 0 slates in recent years, this isn’t the most exciting platter of games on paper, but there are some good value bets of which we can take advantage. At the very least, it will be the appetizer before next week’s massive slate of games. Let’s take a look at our CFB best bets for Week 0 as the college football season gets underway.
Want more college football picks? Check out our NCAAF futures betting guide for EVERY Pickswise prediction for the 2026 CFB season
CFB Best Bet: North Carolina Tar Heels vs TCU Horned Frogs Under 47.5 (-110)
Odds available at FanDuel Sportsbook at time of publishing. Playable to 46.5
This installment of the annual Week 0 game in Dublin, Ireland features a ton of variance on both sides, which makes it pretty difficult to handicap. On one hand, North Carolina is a team that I'm looking to fade early and often this season following a noisy and often negative offseason, coupled with a largely underwhelming roster across the board. Most recently, defensive coordinator Steve Belichick was announced to be away from the team on medical leave, which only makes me want to fade them even more. On the other side, TCU has its fair share of uncertainty and issues heading into the season. The Horned Frogs are 100th in returning production on offense, including new quarterback Jaden Craig — who brings plenty of promise and questions in equal measure. Starting safety Jacob Fields was also recently dismissed after allegedly assaulting a teammate, so I'm not ruling out a bit of internal turmoil within the locker room either. With that in mind, it's hard to get a feel for the side in this one; I'm a bit more confident in targeting the under.
While I have confidence in the ability of Sonny Dykes' offense from a long-term perspective this season, there could be some real growing pains in the season opener against a North Carolina defense that is still the strength of the team and checks in at 36th in Bill Connelly's defensive returning production rankings. On the other side, this is the first game for North Carolina quarterback Billy Edwards on his new team, and I don't expect him to lead a productive offense against a Horned Frogs defense that should have one of the better fronts in the Big 12 this season. Additionally, the weather in this game is certainly a factor, with the majority of the recent contests in Ireland featuring plenty of rain and wet conditions. Each of the previous three games played at Aviva Stadium went under this total, so I'll bank on that trend to continue in Saturday's showdown.
Be sure to check out our full North Carolina vs TCU prediction for their matchup in Dublin
CFB Best Bet: Stanford Cardinal -3.5 over Hawaii Rainbow Warriors (-115)
Odds available at FanDuel Sportsbook at time of publishing. Playable to Stanford -4.
A season ago, these teams met in Week 0, and it was Stanford that got out to a quick double-digit lead on the road and still led 20-17 in the fourth quarter before Hawaii rallied and ultimately won the game on a field goal as time expired. This time around, I fully expect the Cardinal to finish the job against a Hawaii team that lost the majority of its offensive line, multiple wide receivers and its starting running back from last year's 8-4 squad. To make matters worse, the Rainbow Warriors are expected to be without All-Conference wideout Pofele Ashlock in this game as he continues to recover from an offseason knee injury. Needless to say, this is an offense that should take a serious step back from a season ago, even with quarterback Micah Alejado returning to the team.
As for Stanford, the Cardinal are the far more experienced team in this matchup, with Tavita Prichard's team sitting at 33rd in returning production per Bill Connelly's SP+. This is a group that is going to embrace running the ball and dictating the game through their play in the trenches. With that in mind, given the fact that the Rainbow Warriors will have to replace seven starters from last season's defense — with most of those players having started for multiple seasons — there could certainly be some growing pains for this unit against a Stanford offense that should have better quarterback play while being much improved at the line of scrimmage compared to a season ago. Ultimately, Hawaii is a team that I'll be looking to fade throughout the season, and that starts on Saturday against an experienced Stanford side that is surely looking to exact a bit of revenge. I’ll lay the points with the Cardinal at home.
Get the full analysis for our Hawaii vs Stanford prediction
