College Football Picks This Week: Week 0 Odds, Predictions and Best Bets

Written by

Published on August 25, 2022

The college football season kicks off Saturday with 11 games filling the Week 0 slate. RotoWire's College Cappers, Chris Bennett and Greg Vara, are here to break down their best bets for the opening weekend of the 2022 season. The Cappers will be offering their college football best bets each week of the season all the way through the National Championship, and RotoWire will be expanding its College Football betting content with game-specific betting articles all season long.

Sign up at Caesars Sportsbook using our Caesars Sportsbook promo code for your $1,250 First Bet on Caesars plus tier and reward credits.

Chris' Week Zero College Football Picks

Week 0 doesn't offer a lot of marquee matchups, but we do have a conference game in Nebraska-Northwestern, and two other power conference schools playing amongst the nine contests. With only a handful of games to pick from, and needing five here for content, I'd encourage caution when taking these picks confidently.

Nebraska vs. Northwestern under 50.5 (Dublin, Ireland)

Loyal readers from prior seasons know I do not like totals when it comes to picking winners, so why not start the year off with one? Even sillier, the Cornhuskers put up 56 on the Wildcats last year, so why would it make any sense to expect a far lower-scoring game here? It's honestly a fair question, but simply put, I'll bank on Northwestern improving their defense enough to not allow Nebraska to average 8.1 yards per carry this time around. Pair that with tons of new pieces offensively and in the coaching staff for the Cornhuskers, and I'm banking on some growing pains. Northwestern should be vulnerable in their secondary, so a few early big plays could allow Nebraska to play conservatively and grind the clock late.

New Mexico State (+9) vs. Nevada

Both sides are breaking in new coaching staffs, but it's Nevada with a first-time head coach against a veteran in Jerry Kill for the Aggies. Pair that with massive turnover for the Wolfpack on both sides of the ball, and this just seems like too many points. If New Mexico State can find success on the ground, they'll churn clock, further frustrating the Nevada offense as they work to build chemistry.

Illinois (-10) vs. Wyoming

It's all about roster turnover with these early-season games, and while I don't want to trust Illinois with this big number, they've got ample returning pieces on both sides that should allow them to handle a Wyoming team that's replacing a ton. Syracuse transfer Tommy DeVito gives the Illini a leg up under center after officially being named the starter Thursday, and Chase Brown is a 1,000-yard rusher. Illinois also has a solid returning pass rush, which should create negative plays often. It's simply a game they have to win and will come focused from the opening snap.

Florida Atlantic (-7) vs. Charlotte

I'm not really understanding this line. Florida Atlantic won 38-9 in Charlotte last season as six-point favorites, so what's changed so much to assume a similar outcome isn't in store? The Owls return N'Kosi Perry under center, who had three TDs last year against the 49ers, and they piled up 202 yards rushing and 5.1 yards per carry. Mix that with four returning offensive linemen, and I don't believe the Owls' offense will be kept down. Charlotte and QB Chris Reynolds likely get more than nine points here, but their defense hasn't improved enough to keep this close.

Vanderbilt (-6.5) at Hawaii

We could almost cut and paste these breakdowns and just changed the teams and player names. Trusting the SEC's bottom feeder to travel to paradise and cover a spread seems like a tall ask, but only Nevada returns less production from 2021 than Hawaii does. The return of Ray Davis to the backfield should help offset the Commodores' offensive line turnover, and quarterback Mike Wright offers dual-threat capabilities and far more experience than whomever Hawaii turns to. There's likely to be a time to back Hawaii as a home dog later in the year, but I don't think the opener with a new regime is it. The Commodores' returning defense will be more than enough to cover this against a rebuilding opponent.

College Football Betting Tools

Greg's Week 0 College Football Best Bets

Another offseason has come and gone and just like that it's time for some college football. The landscape of college football has changed more in the past two years than the previous 50 years, but one thing remains the same, they still play 11 per side, on a 100-yard field, for 60 minutes. Oh, and you can still bet on which side will cover and whether or not the final score goes over or under the total, so what do we care about all of these changes?

Before we look ahead, we'll take a quick look back at last season, but just a quick one, because it wasn't good. I struggled all season to break away from the 2-3/3-2 weeks and only late in the year was I able to put a run together. I closed with a solid bowl season and maybe I can carry that momentum over to this year.

As we get ready for another season, I feel I need to lay out the annual disclaimer about the first couple weeks of the season. It goes something like this – a lot has changed with nearly all the teams on the slate, so tread very lightly these first couple weeks…unless you've got some information that might give you an edge.

There are only a handful of games this weekend, and I'm not going to force any plays, so what you see is what you get.

All lines courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook. Sign up at the DraftKings Sportsbook using RotoWire's DraftKings Promo Code for a deposit bonus.

Over 49.5 Nebraska at Northwestern

This early in the season, you have to make some assumptions, otherwise, it's nearly impossible to pull the trigger on any game. Here, I'm going to assume that the Wildcat offense won't be as bad this year as it was last year. This is a fairly safe assumption because that offense was about as bad as it gets. If we can forecast just a slight improvement on offense, we should get enough points to push this total over the number. Nebraska has a new OC, and he's very pass-happy, which means shorter drives, which means more drives. Even if the efficiency isn't there, Nebraska should have enough drives to put up plenty of points.

UConn UConn +27 at Utah State

It's tough to back a team as bad as UConn, but let's give them a chance to start the year. Perhaps the Huskies aren't as bad as they've been over the past few years. They have some interesting new players along with a lot of returning starters, so maybe they'll have some cohesion to start the season. Utah State is undoubtedly the better team here, but 27 is a big number, especially when you are breaking in some new players on offense. Everything could go right, and Utah State could win by 40, or a more likely scenario is that there are some growing pains and this game ends up a little closer than the odds makers think.

Over 54 Vanderbilt at Hawaii Hawaii

Let's close it out with the final game of the week. There's nothing quite like that make-good late Saturday night game to put you in a good position heading into Sunday. What we have here, much like the Nebraska game, are two teams where it looks like the offense is ahead of the defense. That's definitely true for Hawaii as its defense was bad last year and looks to be poor again this time around. Vandy will have more balance, but the Commodores look vulnerable on defense, at least against the type of attack Hawaii will bring. This is a relatively low number, so let's hope for some defensive miscues early in the season.

If you're not yet signed up at FanDuel Sportsbook, use RotoWire's FanDuel Promo Code to take advantage of an offer in which you can bet $5 and get $150, win or lose.

Last Week: 0-0-0, Last Season: 29-41-1

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.