This article is part of our College Football Picks series.
College Football Betting Picks: Jeff Edgerton's Week Zero Best Bets
College football kicks off this week, and Finding The edge will once again provide an unparalleled look at the betting landscape week-by-week. Like last year, we'll give betting advice on every game of the week, along with five highlighted games with our recommended wagers. We are also adding a new section, separating the Top 25 games from the rest of the field. We will keep track of our progress every week with the featured bets, Top 25 games and the rest of the field, as well as an aggregate score of all three categories
Many other sports outlets attempted similar feats last season, although most of them focused on predictions for Top 25 contests. Almost every site I followed ended up below .500 on the season, but FTE ended up in the black, coming in above 50 percent on all games and close to 60 percent on our highlighted games. We'll attempt to do even better this year! Like last year, we will be completely transparent, tracking our process every week.
All of our simulated bets are unweighted at one Unit each. A unit represents a static desired batting amount. If you normally bet a minimum of $10 per game, a nit would present that amount.
Since there are only a handful of games this week, we will only highlight two contests. For every other week, we will showcase five betting spots.
Top 25 Matchups
NONE
Simulated Bets for College Football Week 0
NEB -13, ILL -11. CONN +27, WKU -27, FSU -42.5, CHAR +7.5, UNLV -21.5, UNC -40.5, UTEP +1.5, NMST +8, VAN -9.5
Featured Bets for College Football Week 0
NEBRASKA -13 @ Northwestern
The line has crept up a couple of points since opening, but I'm still confident here. There's no home advantage, as this contest is played across the pond in Ireland, but it's pretty much all Nebraska in every column. Casey Thompson comes over from Texas after thriving in Steve Sarkisian's offense, and I imagine the Cornhuskers are going to move at a much faster pace to suit their new signal-caller. Thompson also has the advantage of former Pitt QB coach Mark Whipple, who is known to work miracles with his students. Northwestern's defense is abysmal and Nebraska should grind them down with a deep core of running backs.
ILLINOIS -11 vs. Wyoming
I actually caught this bet when the odds were in the single digits, but the public is definitely favoring the Illini and I am inclined to agree. Couple a blue-chip defense with the relentless run game led by Chase Brown, and the Illini look to have a great chance in their first-ever meeting against Wyoming. The Cowboys are probably going to tinker at quarterback since they have three guys that are all untested, but there's no question who will be the signal-caller on the other end. Syracuse transfer Tommy DeVito will start for Illinois, and while his previous stats aren't flashy, he's proven to be an apt game manager during his ACC tenure.
Remember that RotoWire has a full suite of betting pages and tools with everything you need from the latest college football odds to weekly college football picks along with updated college football futures and Heisman odds. New Kansas bettors can wager on these odds with the PointsBet Kansas promo code.
Be sure to check out our college football custom rankings and our player rankings cheat sheet for up-to-date season-long rankings, as well as our college football weekly rankings to help guide your lineup decisions. During the season, our college football DFS optimizer and value report are powerful tools to help build DFS lineups on DraftKings and FanDuel.