Sam Avellone
It’s been a long offseason, but college football is right around the corner. In fact, we will get a small taste of college football this weekend when Week 0 kicks off with the Iowa State-Kansas State game from Dublin, Ireland. At this point, we’ve already locked in our National Championship best bets, gone through all of our conference best bets ranging from the SEC to Conference USA, and even discussed our favorite Heisman bets. Now, it’s time to turn our attention to actual games, but not in the sense that you think.
Week 0 and Week 1 lines have been on the board for weeks. Lines may continue to move in certain games based on lingering quarterback competitions or future injuries, but for the most part, the market has already had its say in what it thinks will happen in these games. Instead, certain books offer lookahead lines on some of the bigger games later in the season, and those lines can offer substantially more value than the current Week 0 and Week 1 lines – especially if your season projections are accurate. With that being said, I’ve circled 5 games after Week 1 that are bettable right now and are likely to move as soon as teams put their finished products on the field.
Find out ALL of our CFB futures best bets in one place with our handy betting guide
2025 CFB: 5 lookahead lines to bet right now
Week 3: Texas A&M Aggies +7.5 over Notre Dame Fighting Irish (-118)
Odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook at the time of publishing
This number jumps off the page at me. I realize Notre Dame will be playing at home with extra rest off a weird early-season bye in Week 2, but let’s be honest, Texas A&M’s Week 2 matchup against Utah State is as close to a bye as you can get without officially having one. It’s Notre Dame’s Week 1 road trip to Miami that makes me gravitate toward this number. The Irish are currently laying 2.5 points against the Hurricanes, but a win is far from a guarantee. The Irish will be working in a new quarterback and a revamped offensive line, in addition to replacing some of their best defenders in Jack Kiser, Xavier Watts, Jordan Clark, and Howard Cross III on the road against a Miami team with ACC Championship aspirations, led by a quarterback that was a Heisman favorite going into last season.
If Notre Dame loses at Miami in Week 1 and the quarterback play looks questionable at best, then this line is going to shrink – especially if this loaded Texas A&M roster takes care of business against UTSA and Utah State. I power rate this game closer to 5 points, so I’ll try to get a couple points of value by snagging this number before the season starts. Notre Dame is certainly capable of winning in Miami, but if that were to happen, I don’t see this number moving as much the other way as it could if the Irish were to lose Week 1. Don’t forget, this is a revenge spot for the Aggies, who were outscored by the Irish 17-7 in the second half of last season’s Week 1 matchup in College Station. The Aggies are top 10 in returning production, so they certainly have not forgotten about that game. With Marcel Reed now at the helm with a vastly improved wide receiver group, Texas A&M’s offense should be much better this time around than it was in Week 1 of last season.
All eyes on our SEC Championship predictions — can Arch Manning lead Texas to glory?
Week 5: LSU Tigers ML over Ole Miss Rebels (-128)
Odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook at the time of publishing
We know what LSU is going to look like offensively. Garrett Nussmeier is going to sling the ball all over the field to a very talented group of pass-catchers, which could be an absolute nightmare for a completely revamped Ole Miss defense. The Rebels defense was elite last year, but over 50% of that production is gone. Going one step further, Ole Miss is going to have a completely new secondary that projects to start multiple Group of 5 transfers.
LSU plays on the road at Clemson in Week 1, so the Tigers will have already experienced a hostile road environment prior to their trip to Oxford. Furthermore, after a home game against Florida, the Tigers will have a pseudo-bye week against FCS Southeast Louisiana the week prior to their trip to Ole Miss. It’s a scheduling advantage for LSU, as the Rebels will be coming off more challenging games against Arkansas and Tulane. The Rebels are going to have to score in bunches if they want to beat LSU, but who knows what the Ole Miss offense is going to look like with 4 new offensive line starters, a new quarterback, and almost all new skill-position players. If the Rebels slip up at least once against any of Kentucky, Arkansas, or Tulane, this spread would likely balloon to 3 points or more with a moneyline shorter than -150. Anything under -130 feels of value right now.
Week 5: Penn State Nittany Lions -6.5 over Oregon Ducks (-110)
Odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook at the time of publishing.
Trusting head coach James Franklin in a big game is a scary proposition, but this is a glorious situational spot for Penn State. First, it’s a revenge spot for the Nittany Lions after they lost to Oregon in the Big Ten title game last year despite out-gaining the Ducks by more than 50 yards. Drew Allar had a couple of big interceptions and the Ducks had no turnovers. This time around, Penn State will benefit from getting this game at home. Not only will this game be in Happy Valley, but the Nittany Lions will come into this game off a bye after 3 straight home games against Nevada, FIU, and FCS Villanova. Penn State will likely deploy very vanilla game plans in those 3 games, in an effort to keep their big plays off tape. Meanwhile, Oregon will fly across 2 time zones to Northwestern in Week 3, fly back west for a home game against in-state rival Oregon State in Week 4, and then fly further east to Penn State in Week 5 for what will be an infamous “White Out” game at Beaver Stadium.
On the field, Oregon’s offense is going to look vastly different this season without Dillon Gabriel at the helm. There are high hopes for Dante Moore after he sat out a year to learn the system, but let’s be honest, a road trip to Happy Valley under the lights is going to be an atmosphere unlike anything Moore saw as a freshman starter at UCLA prior to his transfer to Oregon. To make matters worse for the Ducks, Penn State brought in defensive coordinator Jim Knowles after he saw Oregon twice last year and helped the Buckeyes hold the Ducks to fewer than 300 total yards and just 8 first-half points in the CFP Quarterfinals. If Oregon looks less-than-convincing in any of its first 4 games, this line could balloon over a touchdown.
See our Big Ten Conference picks for the new season — will it be Ohio State or Penn State?
Week 6: Texas Longhorns -6.5 over Florida Gators (-110)
Odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook at the time of publishing
Laying this many points on the road in a conference like the SEC is not something I recommend doing very often, but this number feels light even if both teams will benefit from a bye week prior to this game. Texas, the current favorite to win the National Championship, faces a tough test in Week 1 at Ohio State, but then it’s smooth sailing for the Longhorns until their trip to the Swamp. If they are as good as people think they will be, the Longhorns should cruise to massive wins over San Jose State, UTEP, and Sam Houston prior to what will be their 2nd true road game of the season at Florida. Meanwhile, the Gators have back-to-back road games at LSU and Miami ahead of their meeting with Texas. The aforementioned mutual bye week should help the Gators rest and recover ahead of hosting the Longhorns, but Texas is going to have a massive advantage from a preparation standpoint heading into this game. Let’s be honest, preparing for the likes of San Jose State, UTEP, and Sam Houston won’t take nearly as much time and energy as preparing for teams like LSU and Miami.
When these teams met last season, Texas dominated Florida 49-17. DJ Lagway did not play in that game, and Quinn Ewers threw for 333 yards, 5 touchdowns, and 0 interceptions. Lagway has been battling injuries throughout the offseason, so who knows how reliable he’s going to be from an availability standpoint. But even if he plays, is his presence and the replacement of Ewers with Arch Manning really going to swing this game 20+ points the other way? The Longhorns ran all over the Gators last year, gaining 210 yards with an average of 6.8 yards per attempt. That could easily be replicated this season considering Florida lost half of its best run defenders per PFF, while Texas returns Quintrevion Wisner, CJ Baxter, and Jerrick Gibson in the backfield along with a mobile quarterback in Manning.
Week 7: Auburn Tigers +7 over Georgia Bulldogs (-110)
Odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook at the time of publishing
If you follow college football closely, you are aware of the magic that happens at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Even when the Tigers are down as a program, that stadium is a tough place to play in, and much has been the same under coach Hugh Freeze. In his first season at Auburn, the Tigers had #1 Georgia, #13 Ole Miss, and #8 Alabama on the ropes at home, but narrowly lost all of those games by 7 points or less with a roster that was much worse on paper than what Freeze has at his disposal in 2025. Last year, Auburn beat #15 Texas A&M at home by 2 in 4 overtimes. This season, I have Auburn’s date with Georgia circled as “the” spot in which the Tigers will show up in a big way and give the Bulldogs everything they can handle.
Auburn plays 3 road games against power conference opponents in the first 5 weeks of the season. However, the Tigers will benefit from a bye in Week 6 prior to this game. Needless to say, the atmosphere should be absolutely incredible at Jordan-Hare considering it will be the first conference home game of the season for the Tigers. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs will travel to Auburn on the heels of hosting Alabama and Kentucky and ahead of hosting Ole Miss. It just feels like one of those awkward sandwich spots that we see so often in college football. Sure, Georgia is the better team at this point in time, but I’m not sold on the new offensive line or quarterback just yet, and I still have questions about a Georgia secondary that experienced a dropoff in production compared to the years when the Bulldogs were competing for national titles. There’s a world in which Auburn has vastly improved offensively with the additions of Jackson Arnold and Eric Singleton behind what should be a very good offensive line, so I will take the key number of 7 now in hopes that this line closes closer to 5.5 come Week 7.
Find out our ACC Championship best bet at +1400 odds
