College Football Week 1 Best Bets: Thursday, September 3
Week 0 was a nice appetizer, but the battle for a spot in the College Football Playoff fully begins in earnest this weekend and won’t slow down until a champion is crowned in January.
With a loaded weekend of college football ahead of us, it’s time to get into the Week 1 slate with the return of my weekly CFB best bets column. We got off to a great start in the column in Week 0, as I cashed both of my best bets on last week's card. Let's keep the momentum going this week!
Before we get to the full Week 1 card, there are a few bets on Thursday's slate for us to target as the season officially gets underway. Let’s take a look at my CFB best bets for today, while you can also find all of our expert CFB picks for this weekend’s action and every FBS game throughout the year.
CFB Best Bet: Colorado Buffaloes vs Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Under 51.5 (-115)
Odds available at FanDuel Sportsbook at time of publishing. Playable to 51
The most notable game from a national landscape perspective on Thursday comes in Atlanta, where we'll see Colorado take on Georgia Tech in a battle between a couple of programs that look entirely different from how they were a season ago. The Buffaloes are a completely new team thanks to a robust transfer portal class on both sides of the ball, along with the first full season of Julian Lewis as the starting quarterback. I'm not high on Colorado as a whole this season, but there's certainly a path for Deion Sanders' group to overachieve given the variance within this roster. However, regardless of how the rest of the season turns out, it should take a few weeks for the Buffaloes to grasp Brennen Marion's offense in a live game setting. I can't expect many explosive plays from a unit that should run the ball plenty and focus on not making any pivotal mistakes on the road.
As for the hosts, the Yellow Jackets were completely gutted across the roster and coaching staff in the offseason. Brent Key is back at head coach, but Georgia Tech is replacing Haynes King at quarterback, along with a trio of offensive lineman that were all multi-year starters, plus multiple wide receivers and its starting running back. Most importantly, Buster Faulkner is off to Florida, and he's a massive loss at offensive coordinator. With that in mind, it's only reasonable to assume that the offense will take a massive step back this season, especially in Week 1. Neither defense is particularly compelling to me in this matchup, but this is a game script that should feature plenty of methodical drives and running clock throughout. I'll grab the under while it's sitting above the key number of 51.
Be sure to check out our full Colorado vs Georgia Tech prediction for their matchup on ESPN on Thursday
CFB Best Bet: UMass Minutemen +29.5 over Rutgers Scarlet Knights (-110)
Odds available at FanDuel Sportsbook at time of publishing. Playable to UMass +28.5.
I understand that it's going to take a bit of courage to bet on a UMass team that went winless a season ago, but the Minutemen should be a much improved side this season. It all starts at quarterback with Williams "Pop" Watson coming over from Virginia Tech to give this unit a much-needed shot in the arm. Elsewhere, UMass did a solid job of bringing in talent from the Power Four and upper-tier Group of Six level via the transfer portal. Those additions should immediately pay dividends in Week 1 against a Rutgers team that I'm expecting to struggle all season long on both sides of the ball.
The Scarlet Knights are rolling with Dylan Lonergan at quarterback, but the cupboard is pretty bare across the rest of this offense. Even with a newly revamped two-deep on defense, Rutgers still has so much to improve on from its awful showing on that side of the ball a year ago. I have a hard time believing that the Scarlet Knights have solved their issues, and UMass is still a bit undervalued in the market, so I'll grab the points with UMass at over four touchdowns.
Get the full analysis for our UMass vs Rutgers prediction
CFB Predictions for Thursday, September 3
If you're looking for more college football predictions today, check out the rest of our picks for tonight's games:
