Sam Avellone
Week 1 is in the rearview mirror, which means our focus shifts to Week 2 of the college football season – where we get a fresh set of matchups and lines. Honestly, it feels like a breath of fresh air after dissecting the Week 1 matchups for what felt like an eternity. With the move to Week 2, my opening line report is back for another season. If you followed along last year, we finished 11-4 on these picks, which is a win rate of just over 73%. Hopefully we can recreate that magic this season.
Here are the early-week lines and odds for the biggest college football games of Week 2, capped off with my best bet of the bunch.
College Football Week 2 opening lines and odds
Odds courtesy of bet365 at the time of publishing.
- Louisville -15 (-110) vs James Madison – Friday, September 5th
- SMU -3 (-110) vs Baylor – Saturday, September 6th
- Syracuse -7 (-105) vs UConn – Saturday, September 6th
- Penn State -42 (-110) vs FIU – Saturday, September 6th
- Illinois -3 (-110) @ Duke – Saturday, September 6th
- Iowa State -3 (-110) vs Iowa – Saturday, September 6th
- Liberty -6 (-110) @ Jacksonville State – Saturday, September 6th
- Texas -36 (-110) vs San Jose State – Saturday, September 6th
- NC State -3 (-110) vs Virginia – Saturday, September 6th
- Texas A&M -29.5 (-110) vs Utah State – Saturday, September 6th
- Colorado -23.5 (-110) vs Delaware – Saturday, September 6th
- Oregon State -3 (-110) vs Fresno State – Saturday, September 6th
- Missouri -6 (-110) vs Kansas – Saturday, September 6th
- Oregon -27.5 (-115) vs Oklahoma State – Saturday, September 6th
- Ole Miss -10 (-110) @ Kentucky – Saturday, September 6th
- UTSA -4.5 (-110) vs Texas State – Saturday, September 6th
- Clemson -32.5 (-110) vs Troy – Saturday, September 6th
- West Virginia -3 (-110) @ Ohio – Saturday, September 6th
- Florida -17.5 (-110) vs South Florida – Saturday, September 6th
- Tulane -10 (-110) @ South Alabama – Saturday, September 6th
- Toledo -7 (-110) @ Western Kentucky – Saturday, September 6th
- Arizona State -7 (-110) @ Mississippi State – Saturday, September 6th
- Michigan State -3 (-110) vs Boston College – Saturday, September 6th
- Oklahoma -6 (-110) vs Michigan – Saturday, September 6th
- UCLA -2.5 (-115) @ UNLV – Saturday, September 6th
- Washington State -1.5 (-110) vs San Diego State – Saturday, September 6th
- Hawaii -9.5 (-110) vs Sam Houston State – Saturday, September 6th
Make sure to find our NCAAF predictions for all of the big games in Week 2
Week 2 college football opening line best bet: Tulane Green Wave -10 vs South Alabama Jaguars (-110)
Tulane sent a massive message in Week 1. The Green Wave were aggressive and physical, which all stems from their head coach Jon Sumrall. Against a Big Ten opponent in Northwestern, Tulane forced 5 turnovers, held the Wildcats to 237 total yards, and gained over 6 yards per rush attempt. It was an all-around beatdown, and an impressive one at that.
In Week 2, Tulane hits the road to play the South Alabama Jaguars as a 10-point favorite. Laying points on the road, much less double digits, is not something I recommend doing often. However, I cannot pass up Tulane in this spot, as Tulane’s offense should be able to run all over this South Alabama defense. The Green Wave averaged almost 6.5 yards per attempt en route to 269 rushing yards against Northwestern last week, while South Alabama gave up over 180 yards and 3 rushing touchdowns to FCS Morgan State.
The Jaguars lost 10 of their top 13 players in defensive snaps in the offseason, which included their top 3 players per PFF’s defensive ratings. That was evident in Week 1, as South Alabama finished in the bottom 10 nationally in tackling despite playing an FCS opponent. That’s simply not going to cut it against a physical team like Tulane. For reference, Tulane running back Maurice Turner forced 7 missed tackles alone in Week 1 against a Big Ten opponent.
Tulane’s defense was flying all over the place last week. In addition to the 5 turnovers, Tulane held Northwestern to 5 conversions on 12 third down attempts and just 3.6 yards per play. I expect much of the same this week for the Green Wave as they face a quarterback that’s struggled when facing pressure in his limited amount of collegiate snaps.
Like I said, laying points on the road in any fashion is not something I recommend doing often – especially on a double-digit line. However, Coach Sumrall has been an ATM on the road in his coaching career going back to his days at Troy. For reference, Sumrall’s teams are 16-2 ATS on the road since the 2022 season, including 8-0 ATS as a road favorite laying 7 points or more. Some may consider this a sandwich spot for the Green Wave given the fact that they played a power conference opponent last week and have 2 power conference opponents following this game, but I expect Sumrall to have his boys focused on this opponent and for Tulane to cruise to a win and cover.
Playable to -12.5.
