College Football Expert Picks: Best Bets, Predictions, and Props for Week 0

Week 0 may be just an appetizer.

But when you're starving, that'll do just fine.

We've got five games on tap this Saturday to kick off the 2025 college football season, which is more than enough to whet our whistles before the true bangers rip next week.

As we'll do every week throughout the season, we polled FanDuel Research's college football writers to get their favorite bets of the week: one side, one total, and one prop.

Which bets do they like in FanDuel Sportsbook's college football odds? Let's check it out.

College Football Week 0 Expert Betting Picks

Austin Swaim

Spread/Moneyline: Stanford Moneyline (+104)

Total: Kansas Under 31.5 Points (-130)

Player Prop: Elijah Green Anytime Touchdown (+120)

Elijah Green transfers to the Sam Houston State Bearkats after productive stays in committees with the North Carolina Tar Heels and Indiana Hoosiers. Green, obviously, is one of the most talented backs in school history for this upstart Kats program already, so I'm expecting they'll give him a significantly higher rush share than last year's leading back (29.7%).

Even at a conservative projection of 40% of SHSU's carries, I've got Green projected for 0.75 total TDs, which would imply closer to -111 odds. Despite being a double-digit 'dog, Sam Houston's team total (24.5) is high enough to expect someone to score.

Skyler Carlin

Spread/Moneyline: 1st Half Spread: Kansas State -1.5 (-110)

The Kansas State Wildcats started off last season hot with a 7-1 record before going 2-3 down the stretch, but they are returning a decent number of their starters from a season ago, most notably quarterback Avery Johnson. Aside from ESPN's SP+ Rankings having the Wildcats ranked 18th and the Iowa State Cyclones 31st, Kansas State was 44th in offensive success rate (43.5%) and 17th in defensive success rate (36.9%) a season ago, giving me enough confidence in them to secure an early lead in the first half.

Total: Fresno State-Kansas Over 50.5 (-105)

Player Prop: Dylan Edwards Over 80.5 Rushing Yards (-114)

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The above author is a FanDuel employee and is not eligible to compete in public daily fantasy contests or place sports betting wagers on FanDuel. The advice provided by the author does not necessarily represent the views of FanDuel. Taking the author's advice will not guarantee a successful outcome. You should use your own judgment when participating in daily fantasy contests or placing sports wagers.