College Football Best Betting Picks for Week 1 August 31, 2024

We made it. We. Finally. Made it. 

The start of the college football season ushers in a full slate of games on tap for Saturday, and plenty of opportunities to find some value to kickstart your extended weekend.

An opening-week tip: It’s a good idea to go into who needs the result, and more importantly, what kind of result they need. 

A team that needs to build momentum? They are trying to put up a big number in the first week. A team with a tough draw next week might look to ease off in Week 1, focusing on being healthy for the meaningful matchups.

With this in mind, here’s a look at some of our best bets for Week 1.

Bucknell vs. Navy

On the basketball court, Navy and Bucknell are considered equals. On the football field, that is definitely not the case. 

The Midshipmen are head and shoulders above the Bison, who have been one of the weakest teams in the Patriot League over the past few seasons.

Brian Newberry nearly got Navy to a bowl game last year, and after a few lean years, the Mids were willing to be patient with him. If there’s another instance with no postseason, Newberry will start to feel some pressure as he heads into year three. Navy needs to put up a healthy number in this game, and Bucknell should provide little resistance.

The spread is high with the triple option as Navy’s primary form of attack, but the Mids should be able to handle it.

Navy -33.5 (-106 at FanDuel)

Indiana State vs. Purdue

In general, fading teams from the Missouri Valley Football Conference isn’t a great idea. The MVFC is the strongest conference in FCS football, mainly because of the performance of the Dakota schools. Indiana State is neither one of the Dakotas nor one of the top programs in this league. The Sycamores have been rather terrible over the past two seasons, winning just three games. The record gets worse when you dive in — two of the wins were over Western Illinois, who just departed the league because it had become non-competitive.

Purdue has to get off to a good start. The Boilermakers were picked to finish dead last in the Big Ten, and that’s not going to make anyone feel good about Ryan Walters’ situation. The Boilers have to get a comfortable win to give the fans confidence that Walters is the guy. They should be able to handle that here.

Purdue -32.5 (-110 at DraftKings)

South Dakota State vs. Oklahoma State

Unlike Indiana State, South Dakota State is a fantastic FCS squad. The Jackrabbits are coming off a 15-0 national championship season where they gave up just 15 points in the entire postseason. South Dakota State is very capable of competing with and beating FBS competition, as it showed in 2022 when it nearly picked off Iowa to open the season.

Oklahoma State is a veteran team with a powerful offense, but the Cowboys have been known to have head-scratchers in the non-conference under Mike Gundy. They usually don’t lose the opener, but they do make themselves work harder than they should.

In 2022, they had the Central Michigan game controlled, only to allow the Chippewas to pull off a backdoor cover. In 2021, they barely escaped against Missouri State, winning by seven. This time, they’ll likely have a similar result: a win, but not one that feels dominant by any means. This should be a one-score Oklahoma State victory, which suits our needs nicely.

South Dakota State +9.5 (+100, FanDuel)