College Football

2024 College Football odds: Best bets for Notre Dame-Texas A&M, Miami-Florida

Updated Sep. 2, 2024 10:28 a.m. ET

And we’re back!

The first full weekend of college football has arrived, and it’s time to kickstart the weekly best bets column.

Last year, we finished 53-43 (55%) and 5.3 units in the green.

Remember, this space isn’t the place for a million picks or five-team parlays. These will always be the games I love the most.

Let’s go to work.

Florida Atlantic at Michigan State (-13, O/U 45)

Tom Herman generally thrives as an underdog. He completely retooled Florida Atlantic’s offense through the transfer portal and the Owls will be a team that plays fast, utilizes its speed and takes shots down the field. That recipe should work against a Michigan State program that hasn’t been great in the secondary since Mark Dantonio was running the show. I thought about a small moneyline bet around +430, and I’m digging all these points.

PICK: Florida Atlantic (+13) to lose by fewer than 13 points or win outright

Miami (-2.5, O/U 54.5) at Florida

I hate how much I love Miami this year. Not only did I bet the Hurricanes to win this interstate affair, I might have pops at +250 and +225 on ‘em to make the College Football Playoff. Those prices are much lower thanks to Florida State’s dud in Dublin. The Hurricanes have more talent than Florida, better line play on both sides and the superior quarterback. Mario Cristobal gets dragged for his late-game antics, but he has built a monster at Miami.

PICK: Miami (ML -135) to win

West Virginia at Penn State (-7.5, O/U 50)

This number was 10 for most of August. Now we’re seeing 7.5 scattered across the American markets and the offshore ones, too. James Franklin might not win big games, but since 2005, he’s the third most-profitable coach in college football behind Mike Gundy and Jim Tressel. Thanks to Evan Abrams from The Action Network for that nugget. Franklin is also very good at knowing the spread and going out of his way to cover it. I’ll lay the wood here.

PICK: Penn State (-7.5) to win by more than 7 points

CFB Week 1: Gambling Group Chat previews Penn State vs. WVU, LSU vs. USC and more!

Notre Dame at Texas A&M (-3, O/U 47)

My numbers have the Irish as a 1-point favorite. That’s not to say my numbers are better than Vegas’ numbers, but this game opened a PK earlier this summer. The always-expected SEC bias combined with concerns about Notre Dame’s offensive line to drive the betting line to A&M -3. However, I believe Riley Leonard is an upgrade from Sam Hartman at quarterback and the Irish defensive line should make enough plays to pull the upset.

PICK: Notre Dame (+3) to lose by fewer than 3 points or win outright

Sam Panayotovich is a sports betting analyst for FOX Sports and BetQL Network. He previously worked for WGN Radio, NBC Sports and VSiN. Follow him on Twitter @spshoot.

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