Gambling predictions for college football are back! Okay, so maybe we do believe here at Off the Hook that Week 0 is bad for the sport. Who cares at this point? If we’re going to have it, well, then we need to have some fun in the process, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do here.
Once again, we will pick the point spread and over/under of every single SEC game each week along with every game between two top 25 teams. We will also have five best bets each week completely unrelated but with at least one moneyline, over/under and spread. There will sometimes be some overlap.
Last year, we were 138-26 in the regular season and 25-22 on our best bets in the regular season, just turning a profit at over 52 percent. Now, we’re full on, though, so let’s dive in for Week 0. There are no SEC or all top 25 games this week, so we’ll just do best bets, but we can get five out of these four college football games.
Best bets of Week 0
Georgia Tech +10.5 vs. Florida State
Last year, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets had a strong first full season under head coach Brent Key in his second full season, and they actually return a ton of talent. The Florida State Seminoles went all in on the transfer portal to rebuild their roster. That lack of chemistry for Mike Norvell’s team combined with the game being in Ireland is why GT will cover.
Montana State -13.5 at New Mexico
I have no science behind this. However, I can’t ever imagine an FCS college football team being a two-touchdown favorite on the road against an FBS team. That’s why I’m taking them to cover. This is clearly a game where Vegas is trying to fool you into betting against the Montana State Bobcats against the New Mexico Lobos. Knowing how Vegas works, I say don’t fall for it.
Florida State MONEYLINE vs. Georgia Tech
To be fair, there were no good moneyline bets to make, so this was all we had. While they won’t cover, FSU will win the game of the week in college football, and since they are the closest spread, their payout will be the best. Currently, FSU moneyline is -465 on FanDuel, which isn’t great, but it pays better than anything else.
Georgia Tech vs. Florida State, Under 55.5
FSU’s main reason for not covering will be its inability to generate points consistently. New quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei has failed to complete 60 percent of his passes or throw for more than a touchdown each of the last three years in his first start against a Power Five team. Couple that with this being in Dublin and Key being a defensive mind, and this game may be in the 40s.
SMU at Nevada, Over 55.5
Sure, the game is in Nevada, but the SMU Mustangs are facing a Wolf Pack team that went 2-10 last year and has a new coach. SMU has its dangerous quarterback back, a loaded offense that was elite last year and former Vol Casey Woods as OC. Nevada’s weakness was its defense. As a result, SMU’s offense lighting it up pushes the game to over this total.
