College Football Week 1 Saturday Picks, Predictions, and Odds

There will be a smorgasbord of college football betting action this weekend after a small tasting sampler in Week 0. We didn’t see any real upsets this past weekend as USC and Notre Dame both hammered their opponents, and only one road team managed to pick up a win. That will certainly change this week as toe meets leather across the country. I already made some plays for Thursday night’s games, so be sure to check those out before getting down on these beauties come Saturday.

College Football Week 1 Betting Odds at BetRivers Sportsbook

Utah State +26
Iowa -26
Total 43.5

As crazy as it sounds, this game will come down to whether or not Utah State can score a touchdown. If the Aggies are able to find the end zone, they should cover the CFB betting line here without much trouble. While Iowa is continually in the race for the Big Ten West title, the offense has been putrid under Brian Ferentz. They have only scored more than 33 points once in the past two seasons (27 games), and they only scored more than 27 points once last season. Grad transfer Cade McNamara is hoping to kickstart this side of the ball after coming over from Michigan, but that’s easier said than done. The defense should be great, yet the offense will likely continue to hold the program back for the foreseeable future.

Play: Utah State +26

Arkansas State +35
Oklahoma -35
Total 58.5

One of the big overarching questions coming into the season is whether or not Brent Venables’ first season at Oklahoma was a fluke or a sign of things to come in Norman? The Sooners are on their way to the SEC at the end of next summer, but they are coming off their first losing season since 1998. This program was always a title contender under Bob Stoops and Lincoln Riley, yet they were blown out by both Texas and TCU last season.

Dillon Gabriel is back, and there are three seniors along the offensive line, but there are still major questions. In the past, Oklahoma could just outscore its opponents with an elite offense, but the Sooners are no longer leaps and bounds better than everyone else in the Big 12 on this side of the ball.

The oddsmakers think this will be a blowout with the Sooners installed as a five-touchdown favorite per the CFB betting odds. However, this is usually the time that Butch Jones turns a program around. Jones went 11-2 in his third year at Central Michigan in 2009, 9-3 in his third year at Cincinnati in 2012, and 9-4 in his third year at Tennessee in 2015. He inherited a program on the slide and ripped out the cupboards over the last two years while bringing some real talent to Jonesboro.

Play: Arkansas State +35

Army -10
Louisiana-Monroe +10
Total 48.5

Credit to Jeff Monken for seeing the writing on the wall when it came to the triple option. After three decades of throwing opposing teams off balance on a week-to-week basis, it is no longer viable in its traditional state due to the rule changes regarding cut blocking. We saw Navy’s triple option completely stall out against Notre Dame in Ireland last week, and it’s likely only a matter of time before the Midshipmen change tack too.

Monken spent the offseason installing the flexbone in order to bring the offense into the 21^st Century. There are still some of the same principles and same body types that were found in the triple option, so this isn’t a humongous change, but it should have a pretty big impact going forward.

It is a bit risky to back a completely new offense on the road in Week 1, but Louisiana-Monroe doesn’t have a real home field advantage. Additionally, the Warhawks lost a ton of players in the transfer portal and have some major questions at several positions. That’s going to make it tough for Louisiana-Monroe to be competitive early, so I’ll lay the double digits with an Army team that should be able to win at the line of scrimmage.

Play: Army -10