College football Week 1 Thursday best bets

Week 1 of the college football season kicks off on Thursday night with 21 games. While most games are quite lopsided and expected to be blowouts there are always winners to be found from a betting perspective.

Most matchups are expected to be blowouts with enormous spreads which is something I like to stay away from early in the season. There are a handful of good matchups though that should make for an exciting night of football.

Here are 3 best bets for Thursday night in week 1 of the college football season:

Odds via FanDuel Sportsbook:

Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER

Season Record: (2-1)

North Dakota St. +9.5 (-110) at Colorado

This is the biggest game of Thursday night despite being an FBS vs FCS matchup. North Dakota St. is no joke and Colorado could be in trouble if they do not take this game as seriously as they should. 

NDSU is one of the top FCS programs and is 9-4 all-time against FBS opponents. They return a 2 year starter a quarterback in Cam Miller which is huge in a big game early in the season. Miller had over 3,000 total yards last season including 645 that came on the ground.

This game will feature two different styles of play with the Bison looking to slow the game down and run the ball while Colorado will want to play at a fast pace and air it out with quarterback Shedeur Sanders. 

In these types of matchups I favor the team who slows it down and NDSU has always been one of the best at doing that with their tough and physical style of play.  I expect NDSU to control the game with their slow tempo and give Colorado issues with a style of play that they are not used to.

North Carolina moneyline (-128) at Minnesota

This is the only matchup between two power conference teams on Thursday night. These teams are pretty evenly matched and neither have very high expectations for the season. I expect offense to be the deciding factor in this one and believe North Carolina has the upper hand in that category. 

UNC is led by Omarion Hampton who is coming off a 1,400+ rushing yard season and should be one of the best running backs in college football this year.

The Tar Heels will not have the talent they have had in recent years at quarterback but they bring in transfer Max Johnson who had stints at LSU and Texas A&M and showed flashes during his time in the SEC.

On the other side, Minnesota had one of the worst offenses in college football last season and I do not expect much improvement in 2024. Also, I think this is the year the wheels completely fall off for Gophers head coach PJ Fleck and I will take every chance I can to pick against them.

Buffalo -3.5 (-105) vs Lafayette

This one is all about seeing two team names and a small spread number that does not make much sense, which is a strategy that could easily backfire.

Buffalo is a very up-and-down program and is coming off of one of those downs with a 3-9 record in 2023. They are in a rebuild as they brought in new head man Pete Lembo who has an all-time record of 112-65 as a college football head coach. 

On the other side, Lafayette is not a historically good FCS program but they are coming off a 9-3 season and seemingly have high expectations for this season.

Prior to last year though the Leopards had not won more than 4 games in a season since 2014. Also, Lafayette has lost their last 5 games against FBS opponents by an average of 29 points. 

The more I look at this one the more I start to feel that it is my favorite pick of the week. I could very well come out of this one with egg on my face but I will ride with the Bulls.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

Frank Sciarroni is 2-1 ATS in college football.