College Football Week 1 Best Bets (Bet LSU to Crush Clemson on Saturday)

Week 0 served as a perfect warm-up for the college football season, so now it's time to sink our teeth into the meat of the season with every team across the country set to hit the field this weekend.

We have an almost endless amount of games stretching from Thursday to Monday, so if you're looking to place some bets, the number of options can be overwhelming. In this article, I'm going to give you my best bet for three of the biggest matchups this week has to offer.

Let's dive into them.

College Football Week 1 Best Bets

Odds via Caesars Sportsbook

Auburn -7.5 (-112) vs. Baylor
LSU -10 (-109) vs. Clemson
Louisville +215 vs. Ole Miss

Baylor vs. Auburn Best Bet

I have more faith in this Auburn team than the betting market does this season. I'm a big fan of the new head coach, Alex Golesh, and I love the talent that he brought over in the transfer portal. Most notably, he brought his USF quarterback, Byrum Brown, with him.

Brown is a dual-threat quarterback who threw for 3,158 yards, 28 touchdowns, and just five interceptions last season, while adding a blistering 1,008 yards on the ground. He's going to thrive in the SEC this season.

The pairing of Brown and Cobb should find plenty of success against a Baylor defense that was one of the worst in the country last season, ranking 111th in Net EPA per play and 103rd in defensive success rate. The Bears took a few steps in improving their play on that side of the ball, including hiring new defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman, but I don't think it's going to be enough to slow down this Auburn offense.

Pick: Auburn -7.5 (-112)

Clemson vs. LSU Best Bet

LSU is one of the most unpredictable teams heading into this season with a brand new head coach and a completely different roster from a year ago. With that being said, I'm prepared to fade this Clemson Tigers squad, which is no longer close to the team that used to dominate the ACC.

Dabo Swinney's refusal to fully dive into the transfer portal has led to this program being left in the dust, especially when you consider that Curt Cignetti used the complete opposite strategy at Indiana and led a program that was one of the worst in the nation to a National Championship.

Until Clemson moves on from Swinney, I can't trust them to hang with any elite team in the country.

I'll lay the points with LSU.

Pick: LSU -10 (-109)

Louisville vs. Ole Miss Best Bet

In my Week 1 upset picks article, I made the case for betting on Louisville to upset Ole Miss on Sunday:

Trinidad Chambliss is back for another year at Ole Miss, but that's not enough for me to think that the Rebels will be the dominant team they were last season under Lane Kiffin. There's no doubt that Ole Miss has plenty of offensive weapons, but so does Louisville. Isaac Brown, the Cardinals' running back, averaged a blistering 8.8 yards per carry last season. If he can replicate numbers even close to his 2025 production, Louisville is going to be a tough offense for any defense to stop.

Let's also remember how good this Louisville defense was last season, ranking 25th in the country in defensive success rate, compared to Ole Miss, which ranked 56th in that metric while ranking 86th in opponent rush success rate.

I have more faith in the team with the returning head coach. This could be a big season for Jeff Brohm.

Pick: Louisville +215

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