College football is soft launching its season on Saturday.

Week Zero is the opportunity to slow dip back into the marathon Saturdays that we’ll experience over the next three months.

Even as a college football diehard I have to admit the Week Zero slate is a lackluster one.

Florida State and Georgia Tech got shipped over to Dublin to play the first game of the season, Montana State of the FCS is a double-digit favorite over New Mexico, SMU is a 24-point favorite against Nevada and Hawai’i is a 40-point favorite against Delaware State in a game you have to pay to watch.

The real college football betting gauntlet begins on Thursday with a decent-sized slate of Week 1 games spread across five days, but even with just four games this Saturday, there’s still some betting to be done on the two bigger games.


Florida State vs. Georgia Tech

Florida State still hates everyone involved in the College Football Playoff and may or may not want to leave the ACC because of that.

That’s been the major offseason storyline surrounding the Seminoles, but the on-field product has some questions around it.

D.J. Uiagalelei, who failed at Clemson and then resurrected his career at Oregon State, is back in the ACC as the Seminoles’ quarterback but there isn’t a ton of betting confidence in FSU. They’ve dropped from a 14-point favorite to a 10.5-point spread at NJ sports betting apps over the last few weeks.

The line movement does not mean the ‘Noles will struggle, but it at least makes you think.

Georgia Tech returns its quarterback, Haynes King, and it is coming off a 7-6 season in which it entered the 21st century of offense after years trying to properly go away from the triple option.

The Yellow Jackets went 9-4 to the over last season and eclipsed the 20-point mark in every game they played. That included games against Georgia, Louisville, Ole Miss and Miami.

FSU went 8-6 to the over last season and went 4-5 against the spread as a double-digit favorite.

The over is intriguing because of Georgia Tech’s scoring consistency. I would even look into the Yellow Jackets’ team total of 21.5 because they won’t stop trying to score.

There’s not a lot of historical data for Dublin games, but two of the last three matchups at Aviva Stadium did go under the 55.5 point total set for Saturday’s game.

SMU at Nevada

Let’s be honest here –

You aren’t watching Montana State vs. New Mexico and there’s a one percent chance you make the extra effort to watch the Delaware State vs. Hawaii game at midnight.

SMU/Nevada is the second-best option for CFB betting action on Saturday.

Southern Methodist is now in the ACC and will be a factor in that conference because of a pass-heavy offense led by returning quarterback Preston Stone.

The Mustangs only went 6-8 to the over last season, but they scored over 30 points in 10 of 13 regular-season games.

Nevada’s regular-season win total is set at over/under 2.5, and they’re coming off a 2-10 season and had eight concessions of 30 or more points last year.

Nevada is bad, very bad in fact, so if you want to bet this game, an SMU angle is suggested. The spread fluctuated between 24 and 26 points throughout the week. Anything under four touchdowns is a good bet. I would also look into a first-half spread bet or first-half SMU team total because of how lopsided this game could get. And if you’re looking for a PA sports betting promo, and use FanDuel, there’s a 50% profit boost available to use on any game on the 8/24 slate.