Best College Football Bets for Week 0 (How to Bet Florida State vs. Georgia Tech Total)

No, it's not a full college football slate, but we have a nice appetizer on Saturday with Week 0 action.

The headliner on the four-game slate of FBS action is Florida State and Georgia Tech in Dublin, Ireland, with an evening matchup between SMU and Nevada. Thankfully, we've got you covered for this one with a bet on each.

Find out how to get the season started with your bets below!

Best College Football Bets for Week 0

Florida State vs. Georgia Tech OVER 55.5
SMU (-25.5) vs. Nevada

Odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook

Florida State vs. Georgia Tech Prediction and Pick

The ACC heads to Dublin for this conference meeting, and fireworks could be in store for the opening game of the 2024 season.

While Florida State’s offense will look quite different after turning over a ton of key players like Jordan Travis to Uiagalelei and needing to replace its top three catchers who were the only ones to have more than 21 catches last season, I still believe head coach Mike Norvell can find answers against a poor Georgia Tech defense.

I expect the Seminoles to lean into the power running game with Uigalelei under center and throws near the line of scrimmage, he completed 73.8% of his passes last season of fewer than 10 yards.

The GT defense is returning only 54% of its snaps on defense, one that was quite poor last season. So we’re seeing a poor unit that doesn’t have much to go off of from last season, ranking outside the top 115 in yards per play allowed, defensive line yards, and EPA/Rush.

The Seminoles should be able to dictate the terms of engagement on the ground and move the ball relatively easily.

However, the Yellow Jackets budding offense should keep pace.

King found a home within Buster Faulkner’s offense last season, leading a unit that was 31st in EPA/Play and ninth in yards per carry. The team returns the dynamic King as well as 1,000-yard rusher Jamal Hayes, one who scored 24 or more in seven games last season.

The Seminoles lost 13 players to the NFL last season --10 draft picks and three undrafted free agents. I believe we see some growing pains from the new look ACC favorite.

I’m eyeing a shootout in the opening game, I’ll bet the over in this one.

PICK: OVER 55.5

SMU vs. Nevada Prediction and Pick

The Mustangs should get off to a quick start in 2024 against a Nevada team that can’t hold up against the talent that the visitors have.

SMU returns about three-fourths of production on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball, so we have a pretty strong understanding of what this team is capable of. In 2023, Rhett Lashlee’s bunch beat G5 teams in the FBS ranks by an average margin of more than 29 points while ranking 21st in EPA/Play and scoring more than three points per drive and 6th in EPA/Play on defense while racking up the fifth most sacks in the nation (40).

Nevada is starting fresh under a new head coach for the second time in three seasons, and I don’t believe the offense nor the defense can hold up just yet. The Wolf Pack return less than 60% of production on both sides of the ball while ushering in a whole new coaching staff.

While there could be concern about SMU hunting margin in a game with a point spread this large, the Mustangs proved last year it wasn’t afraid to run up the score and I believe the group should have little issue winning by four touchdowns or more. Last season, Nevada scored more than 24 points in just two of nine games that Lewis had more than 15 pass attempts.

This is a mismatch, make sure to bet on that.

PICK: SMU -25.5

Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

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