Caleb Wilfinger
It’s been a long and eventful spring and summer, and now the 2025 college football season is finally upon us. Week 0 was a nice appetizer, but the battle for a spot in the newly revamped 12-team College Football Playoff fully begins in earnest this weekend and won’t slow down until a champion is crowned next 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. Much like the 2 years prior, the 2024 season was a profitable one for this column, as I finished the season on a 21-7 run to close out bowl season and the College Football Playoff. Hopefully you cashed with me!
While Friday’s slate of games isn’t nearly as strong as the days to follow, there is one particular matchup that I’ve targeted as my favorite play on the board. Let’s take a look at my CFB best bet for Friday as Week 1 of the college football season gets underway, while you can also find out all of our expert CFB picks for this weekend’s action.
Want more college football picks? Check out our NCAAF futures betting guide for EVERY Pickswise prediction for the 2025 CFB season
CFB best bet: Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets -3.5 over Colorado Buffaloes (-118)
Odds available at FanDuel Sportsbook at time of publishing. Playable to Georgia Tech -4 (-110).
There are plenty of games that represent what life is like in the new world of college football this weekend, and one such contest is Friday’s matchup between the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and Colorado Buffaloes. On one side, you have a consistent group that returns a ton of continuity from the 2024 campaign, while the other team is wildly different compared to where it was a season ago. While I typically like to target the underdog in a game with this much potential variance in the cards, I’m going to back the team I have a lot more trust in to start the season off with a fairly convincing victory on the road.
A myriad of teams across the country suffered a ton of losses across both sides of the ball, but few teams lost as much essential production from a season ago as Colorado. Gone are the names everyone knows, as Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter are off the NFL after each putting up outstanding seasons last year.
But what really hurts Colorado is the loss of continuity at some of the most important positions, including wide receiver, where the Buffaloes lost their top 4 targets from the 2024 campaign. The offensive line only brings back 2 starters, as they’ll look to mix and match combinations from the 7 lineman they brought in via the transfer portal. The Buffaloes really struggled to run the ball last season, and I wouldn’t expect that to change all that much this fall given Pat Shurmur’s offense has left a lot to be desired in that department over the last 2 seasons.
As for Georgia Tech, Brent Key’s team grades out pretty well in most returning production metrics, and the Yellow Jackets should pick up where they left off a season ago behind 4th-year quarterback Haynes King and veteran running back Jamal Haynes, who should be extremely productive in an offense that has steadily improved with each season. At this point, we have a good baseline for what to expect with Georgia Tech, and this offense should be ready to attack a Colorado defensive front that should be improved, but still has plenty of questions to answer in the season opener. On the other side, the Yellow Jackets will also bring back 6 starters on defense from a season ago, along with bringing in a number of Power 4 transfers at every level of the defense, which should give them a relatively high floor on that side of the ball.
There are certainly avenues for both teams to cover this number, especially given the uncertainty with what is a largely brand new Colorado team. However, given the fact that the Buffaloes will have to replace a trio of excellent wide receivers and an NFL quarterback, there could certainly be some growing pains for this offense against a Georgia Tech defense that should be rock solid at the line of scrimmage once again. Ultimately, I trust the continuity with a team that is projected to be a fringe contender in the ACC this season, so I’ll lay the points with the Yellow Jackets at Folsom Field on Friday.
After yesterday’s +435 winner, don’t miss out on tonight’s college football parlay picks at +697 odds!
