Caleb Wilfinger
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At long last, Week 1 is finally here! Sure, Week 0 was a nice appetizer, but this week truly marks the start of the 2023 college football season. The action kicks off with a plethora of games on Thursday before getting into a weekend slate that features a number of high-profile matchups including LSU vs Florida State on Sunday night.
With Week 0 wrapped up, it’s time to turn our attention to the first full week of games. This slate isn’t as loaded as Week 2 will be, but there is still plenty of action for college football fans to enjoy. These lines opened a few months ago and have already seen some movement, so let’s take a look at these lines and give our first impressions.
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NCAAF Week 1 opening lines and odds
Odds available at DraftKings Sportsbook at time of publishing.
- Florida +7 (-120) vs Utah – Thursday, August 31
- Nebraska +7.5 (-110) vs Minnesota – Thursday, August 31
- Central Michigan +14.5 (-110) vs Michigan State – Friday, September 1
- Louisville -8 (-110) vs Georgia Tech – Friday, September 1
- Stanford -4.5 (-110) vs Hawaii – Friday, September 1
- Colorado +20.5 (-110) vs TCU – Saturday, September 2
- Virginia +28 (-110) vs Tennessee – Saturday, September 2
- East Carolina +36 (-110) vs Michigan – Saturday, September 2
- Arkansas State +35 (-110) vs Oklahoma – Saturday, September 2
- Ohio State -30 (-110) vs Indiana – Saturday, September 2
- Boise State +14.5 (-110) vs Washington – Saturday, September 2
- Rice +35.5 (-110) vs Texas – Saturday, September 2
- California -7.5 (-105) vs North Texas – Saturday, September 2
- Nevada +38.5 (-110) vs USC – Saturday, September 2
- Washington State -12 (-110) vs Colorado State – Saturday, September 2
- UTSA -1 (-110) vs Houston – Saturday, September 2
- West Virginia +20.5 (-110) vs Penn State – Saturday, September 2
- South Carolina +2.5 (-110) vs North Carolina – Saturday, September 2
- Texas Tech -14 (-110) vs Wyoming – Saturday, September 2
- Coastal Carolina +15 (-110) vs UCLA – Saturday, September 2
- Northwestern +6 (-110) vs Rutgers – Sunday, September 3
- LSU -2.5 (-110) vs Florida State – Sunday, September 3
- Clemson -12.5 (-110) vs Duke – Monday, September 4
We’ll have college football picks and NCAAF predictions for all the big games this season!
Best early bet for NCAAF Week 1
North Carolina Tar Heels -2.5 (-110) over South Carolina Gamecocks
This is more of a fade of South Carolina than it is an endorsement of North Carolina, especially because I have plenty of concerns about the Tar Heels’ defense with Gene Chizik at the helm. However, I don’t anticipate these defensive shortcomings being as big of an issue in this game against a South Carolina offense that was a middle of the pack unit in offensive EPA, success rate and EPA margin a season ago.
Furthermore, this is a play on Drake Maye, who has a bevy of weapons at his disposal and should have no trouble carving up a Gamecocks pass defense that barely cracked the FBS top 100 in 2022. There’s more hype around South Carolina given how well the Gamecocks ended last season, so I’ll gladly go in the other direction and take the Tar Heels to cover this short number.
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