College football is a sport built on traditions. Tailgate menus, fight songs, grainy highlight videos. Bowl games played in bizarre venues and stadiums that have been hosting the same school for over a century. Decades of familiar rivalries, chants, playbooks and trophies.
But it's also a sport built on new innovations. This season will be defined as the debut of a newly expanded College Football Playoff, supersized conferences, two-minute warnings, the Big Ten on CBS and Nick Saban demure and mindful as a TV analyst.
Two newer innovations that already feel like familiar traditions are the Week 0 games and the Aer Lingus Classic in Ireland. Both are scheduling quirks that have really picked up steam in the past decade and now feel almost like century-old institutions in the sport.
What’s college football without the Heisman Trophy or without a conference game played in a rugby stadium in front of a bunch of bewildered Irish fans? Nothing, that’s what.
Even if this week’s slate is just a little selection of appetizers before the coming months of feasting, we should still tuck in and enjoy every tasty morsel of college football.
We have four games this weekend featuring FBS programs, plus an HBCU showcase. Each one is a chance to savor this great American pastime, and of course, another chance to cash a winning bet.
Let’s take a look at the schedule. The spreads get continually larger as the day progresses, starting with our closest game at noon and ending with a laugher in Hawaii. Let’s run down some things you need to know to get to the window.
Florida State vs. Georgia Tech
The season kicks off with an ACC conference game from Dublin, Ireland. Mike Norvell’s Seminoles are 11.5-point favorites in the opener of their revenge campaign after getting squeezed out of the playoff field last year.
They face a feisty Georgia Tech program, but one that's likely overmatched defensively. Most of the pieces of Florida State’s excellent rushing attack are back, and the Jackets ranked 123rd in Defensive Success Rate on the ground.
The ‘Noles and their new quarterback, the well-traveled DJ Uiagalelei, will find little resistance when rushing the ball.
On the other side of the matchup, Georgia Tech quarterback Haynes King is — wait for it — sneaky athletic and a good bet to compile a solid rushing box score on the ground himself. His ability to extend plays will matter against this ferocious FSU pass rush and its tremendous secondary.
Both Action Network Betting Power Ratings and Bill Connelly’s SP+ make this game 19.5 in favor of the ‘Noles. While the Ireland kickoff games tend to be close fought affairs, the power ratings suggest the move is to lay the number with the favorite.
Of the nearly 30,000 bets on this game tracked in the Action App, 71% are laying the points and backing Florida State.
Montana State vs. New Mexico
We have a historic game here, as Montana State will be the largest FCS road favorite against an FBS opponent ever.
It’s a perfect storm: an FCS powerhouse program, reliably in the top five of that level, facing off against a New Mexico team beginning a deep rebuild with a hollowed out roster.
Bronco Mendenhall is the Lobos’ new coach, and brings a great track record of success with him to Albuquerque, but make no mistake: this roster situation is dire.
Montana State is built on a killer ground game but will be breaking in some new pieces. Postseason hero quarterback Tommy Mellott is back, but his running mate, Sean Chambers, is not. The Bobcats also lost multiple starting linemen to FBS transfers.
Finally, running back Julius Davis (6.9 yards per carry) is out with an injury.
Florida A&M vs. Norfolk State
The Florida A&M Rattlers will be looking to score their third win in the annual MEAC/SWAC Challenge.
Norfolk State is playing in this opening-week tradition for the first time in school history and will be hard-pressed to earn the win. Connelly’s SP+ system makes the Spartans three-touchdown 'dogs.
The Rattlers are the defending Celebration Bowl champions and will be led by former Central Michigan and Florida Atlantic quarterback Daniel Richardson.
SMU vs. Nevada
The Mustangs are a trendy darling pick as they elevate back into major college football for the first time since the dissolution of the SWC.
Rhett Lashlee’s Ponies are huge favorites on the road, and this program has made a recent habit of squashing bugs with huge margins.
While SMU win total over bettors won’t need to sweat this one for their tally, they should watch to get a look at the team’s quarterback situation. Presumptive starter Preston Stone still seems to be locked into a position battle with backup Kevin Jennings, and Lashlee indicates both will play on Saturday.
Is he paying lip service, or is this a real competition? Is Jennings stepping up, or does Stone need a little extra motivational “oomph” from his head man?
Delaware State vs. Hawaii
If you stay up to watch a game that kicks off at midnight ET, you will be delighted to find perhaps the single worst college football outfit that will grace your screen this fall. Delaware State went 1-10 last fall, and the only win came over Virginia University of Lynchburg from the National Christian College Athletic Association.
The Hornets played a pair of FBS teams last year, losing by a combined 119-20 to Army and Miami (OH).
The ‘Bows opened as home favorites of 27.5, but it’s been bet up to 39.5. Ninety-five percent of the money tracked in the Action App is on the Rainbow Warriors to cover at home.
“The Hornets won’t be stinging,” Action Network's Mike Ianniello said on this week’s G5 Deep Dive on our "Big Bets on Campus" podcast. It’s hard not to agree.
