5 best predictions for the start of the college football season. What games appear to be the best bets and the best picks for Week 0?
CFN Experts Week 0 Picks
Week 1: Thursday/Friday | Saturday
Week 0 Schedule, Game Previews
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Ahhhhhh yes, Week 0. The soft opening.
The college football season gets rolling for real next week, but first we all get up to speed with a modest slate of games that matter. There might not be a ton of massive games – or any – and there isn’t anything for the College Football Playoff chase.
But it’s college football, it counts, and you’re going to enjoy it.
There’s a limited number of games – usually this piece tries to pick from all the glut of options for a normal Saturday – but here are 5 best bets just in case you choose to invest this weekend.
We’ll start out with two for the price of one …
Click on each game for the preview
5. Wyoming at Illinois & Northwestern vs Nebraska point totals
LINE Wyoming vs Illinois 44, Northwestern vs Nebraska 49.5
Point Total Picks Under
No argument if you want to go over on these two games – you don’t win friends with the under – but …
It’s Week 0. We’re all guessing without any preseason to go off of. It’s a mistake to assume that 2021 will carry over to 2022 – new teams, new coaches in some sports, new schemes – but the general Week 0 theme is to go with what you know until proven otherwise.
Wyoming, Illinois, Northwestern, Nebraska – can any of them score?
44 is an obnoxiously low college football point total – 24-21 and you lose – considering it’s always possible that one team can hit that by itself, but until they show us something different, Wyoming and Illinois might struggle to get there.
This is more about the Cowboys. They rose up and rocked against a Utah State team that didn’t need the game late last year, and they hung up 52 on a Kent State defense that was but a polite suggestion, but they lost their key skill guys through the transfer portal, should bring a solid defense, and Illinois isn’t going to be an offensive juggernaut.
The Illini will do their part, though. Wyoming is going to struggle.
Northwestern and Nebraska in Dublin, Ireland, almost certainly isn’t going to be a firefight.
The Wildcats will try to grind this down, the defense should be far better than the version that gave up 56 to the Huskers last year, and 50 between the two might be asking for a lot.
After the big day against Northwestern, Nebraska failed to hit 30 points the rest of the way.