There's nothing like some late-night college football action.
Most sports don't have games that start at 11 p.m. ET and roll long into the early hours of the morning — but that's one of the many things that makes college football special.
Our staff loves the late-night slate here in college football Week 2, as you can see in our expert college football predictions for Saturday night's late games. In fact, our college football writers came through with five best bets for the Saturday games starting at 10 p.m. ET and later, including picks for Boise State vs. Oregon, Texas Tech vs. Washington State, Mississippi State vs. Arizona State and Utah State vs. USC.
So, let's make some coffee to stay awake as we prepare to end the night in Green Dot City.
Continue reading for all five of our late-night college football best bets — and be sure to check out the rest of our top picks for the noon, afternoon and evening kickoff windows as well.
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College Football Predictions, Picks: Best Bets for Week 2 Late Games
| Game | Time (ET) | Pick |
|---|---|---|
  | 10 p.m. | |
  | 10 p.m. | |
| 10 p.m. | |
  | 10:30 p.m. | |
  | 11 p.m. | |
Specific betting recommendations come from the sportsbook offering preferred odds as of writing. Always shop for the best price using our NCAAF Odds page, which automatically surfaces the best lines for every game. | ||
Boise State vs. Oregon College Football Pick: Take the Over
By Alex Hinton
Oregon escaped with a win in Week 1; one of the biggest surprises of the week was that it didn’t come close to covering a near 50-point spread in a 24-14 victory over Idaho.
While the Ducks didn’t light up the scoreboard, it didn’t have much difficulty moving the ball. Quarterback Dillon Gabriel threw for 380 yards as 10 different receivers caught passes.
I expect Oregon’s offense to get right against Boise State this week. Last week, Boise State allowed 45 points, 461 total yards and 322 yards passing to Georgia Southern.
However, it didn’t fall victim to the upset because its own offense was able to do whatever it wanted.
The Broncos amassed 280 passing yards and 371 rushing yards in a thrilling 56-45 victory. Two backs went over 100 yards, but Ashton Jeanty stole the show with 267 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns, two shy of the NCAA single-game record.
Despite playing in the Mountain West, Jeanty may be the first running back selected in next spring’s draft. He’ll be motivated with the chance to prove himself against Oregon’s defense.
Jeanty and the Broncos will be three-touchdown underdogs in this game, but don’t expect them to be intimidated. Boise State has actually won all three meetings in this series.
If Boise State is able to score 21 points or more, we’ll have a great shot at the over here. We can get there with a 38-24 kind of game.
Pick: Over 60.5 (Play to 63.5)
Texas Tech vs. Washington State College Football Prediction: Bet the Underdog to Cover
The Texas Tech defense got lit up in its opener by Abilene Christian, and that’s what has caused this number to move in favor of Washington State.
While allowing 500+ passing yards through the air to an FCS school is certainly concerning, there are a few reasons why I like Tech to have a better showing in Pullman.
First and foremost, Tech’s top cornerback Bralyn Lux didn’t play last week against ACU due to injury. Lux is an elite player, and his presence alone takes a lot of pressure off of the rest of the secondary.
From everything I listened to in Joey McGuire’s pressers this week, it sounds like Lux will be back in action on Saturday night. That matters.
Additionally, as poor as the defense played, I was very impressed with Behren Morton and the Red Raiders’ offense.
Morton has a rocket for an arm, and now that he’s finally 100% healthy, he looked in total control of the offense.
I expect TTU to once again move the ball at will in this game, and although the defense is certainly a work in progress, I show value on Tech as an underdog in a game it can light up the scoreboard.
Give me the Red Raiders as a small road dog. Wreck ‘Em.
Pick: Texas Tech +2.5 (Play to +1.5)
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Texas Tech vs. Washington State College Football Pick: A Moneyline Bet for Saturday Night
By Doug Ziefel
Texas Tech and Washington State began their seasons against far inferior opponents, but the results were very different.
Washington State looked nearly unstoppable as it put up 70 points, with six of its nine touchdowns coming through the air.
As for Texas Tech, it narrowly survived as 34.5-point favorites. The Red Raiders blew two multiple-score leads and only won in overtime because Abilene Christian went for two and failed.
While we can't fully overreact to either of these performances, it's clear that Texas Tech has some issues defensively, particularly against the pass. The Red Raiders allowed 506 yards passing, and now they'll face a better passing offense, which averaged 20.7 yards per completion last week.
However, Washington State's defense will also be tested. The Cougars lost a lot of NFL-caliber talent and will now have to stop one of the best running backs in the country, Tahj Brooks.
If the Cougars can contain Brooks, quarterback Behren Morton has yet to prove he can carry this offense.
This game will be a shootout but with all the uncertainty surrounding the Red Raiders’ defense, the Cougars should get the job done at home and move to 2-0 on the season.
Pick: Washington State ML -125 (Play to -145
Mississippi State vs. Arizona State College Football Prediction: Points On Both Sides
By Brett Pund
In what was known as the Pac-12 After Dark spot, I’m expecting this matchup between Mississippi State and Arizona State to have plenty of points.
One of the main reasons for this play is the change in offensive system for the Bulldogs. After a disastrous year offensively, MSU brought in former Oklahoma offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby as head coach.
The Sooners ranked inside the top 15 in seconds per play last season under Lebby, which is a big improvement for a Mississippi State team that was outside the top 70. He also brought in Blake Shapen from Baylor and multiple transfer receivers to run his system.
Unfortunately for Lebby, he’s also tasked with replacing an entire defense that was solid in 2023. In the offseason, the Bulldogs lost three starters on the defensive line, two linebackers – who each had over 100 tackles – and three starters in the secondary.
To make matters worse, one of MSU’s key returning defenders Corey Ellington (safety) is out with an injury. This opens the door for the Sun Devils to light up the scoreboard.
Michigan State transfer Sam Leavitt played well in his debut last week, and he should have weapons and a veteran offensive line to work behind. However, Arizona State also has a lot of holes on defense.
The Sun Devils did bring in some quality transfers, but they have to replace eight of their top 11 tacklers from last season. It all adds up to a shootout.
I love this prop, especially with the plus price compared to just playing the total to fly over.
Pick: Both Teams to Score 25+ (+146 | Play to +130)
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Utah State vs. USC College Football Prediction: Bet Another Over
By Cody Goggin
I personally haven’t fully bought into the USC defensive renaissance that seems to be the prevailing narrative from its win last weekend. Yes, the Trojans held LSU to a 77th-percentile Success Rate and 72nd-percentile EPA per play, but these still aren’t stellar numbers.
LSU’s offense was great last year, and with the amount it’s replacing on that side of the ball, I think that we may be giving USC’s defense too much credit for performing fine in this matchup.
Just a season ago, USC ranked 105th in defense, according to SP+. It was 113th in Success Rate Allowed and 104th in Explosiveness Allowed. Both the run and pass were an issue for this defense, as it ranked 113th in Rushing Success Rate Allowed and 93rd in Passing Success Rate Allowed.
This week, the Trojans will take on Utah State, which isn’t a pushover on the offensive side of the ball. This team ranked 54th in SP+ on offense last season and returned nine starters.
Utah State saw last weekend what its offense is capable of when Bryson Barnes came into the game in relief of an injured Spencer Petras. Barnes averaged 0.25 EPA per drop back and gained another 88 yards on the ground.
I do think that USC’s defense will be better this season, to an extent. It’ll face an easier schedule of offenses in the Big Ten than it did in the more spread out Pac-12. The Trojans will also benefit from having nine returning starters on this side of the ball and new defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn.
I just don’t think that this defense has been fully transformed overnight, and Utah State’s offense should be more than capable of pushing this game over.
Utah State’s defense was one of the worst in FBS last season, ranking 131st in SP+. It does have seven starters back and a new staff on this side of the ball, but I’m not expecting it to have any success against this impressive-looking Lincoln Riley offense.
At 63 points, I think we could see this game fly well over this total and provide us with some late night fireworks on Saturday night.
I’d bet this up to 64.5 points as I believe this total to be way too low based on the profiles of these two squads.
Pick: Over 63 (Play to 64.5)
