College Football Bets: Odds, Picks & Predictions for Week 0 (2022)
Check out a few of our top picks for Week 0 of the 2022 college football season from expert Thor Nystrom. And you can find all of Thor’s top picks here.
Connecticut (+27.5) at Utah St.
UConn, which hasn't won an FBS game since Oct. 26, 2019 (UMass), isn't likely to take a big step forward in Year 1 under HC Jim Mora Jr. (my numbers project the Huskies to win 2.2 games). But it would be surprising if the Huskies weren't more competitive.
You can't undersell how badly the last roster hated former HC Randy Edsall, who checked out prematurely besides. Mora and his staff of young assistants infuse energy and direction.
The offense has some clock-control potential with former four-star Penn State dual-threat Ta'Quan Roberson next to RB Nathan Carter. But though UConn has a little WR talent, Roberson's scattershot accuracy is likely to waste it if indeed he is the guy Mora tabs.
Utah State was one of college football's biggest surprises last year, finishing 11-3. The Aggies snuck up on the CFB world, starting a respectable 3-2 before finishing on an 8-1 heater.
But USU doesn't really profile as the team you want money on trusting to cover big spreads. The Aggies, who rank a humble No. 96 in my power rankings, won only two-of-11 games last year by 28 points or more. One of those wins was against an FCS team.
No doubt the Aggies will win this game. But UConn does enough in Mora's debut to stay within the number.
New Mexico St. (+9) vs. Nevada
At long last, the market has finally caught on to how horrific this Nevada team is going to be. Without sanctions, Nevada essentially suffered a death-penalty offseason.
The Wolf Pack lost two stars to the NFL Draft (WR Romeo Doubs and TE Cole Turner), lost another in UDFA (QB Carson Strong), lost its coaching staff, and then lost almost 20 players in the transfer portal, most of whom were in the two-deep, more than half of whom were projected starters.
Things were so bad over the spring that the new coaching staff was struggling to fill linebacker drills. Walk-ons could be found throughout the two-deep. This team is nothing like the Nevada teams you remember from the past two years.
On the other side, Jerry Kill makes his debut at NMSU. Kill is a methodical program-builder. On offense, he wants to run the ball and control the clock. On defense, he wants to mind gaps and tackle, nothing fancy, force you to work for it down the field.
The Aggies are one of the worst teams in the nation. That isn't why we're betting on them. We're betting on them because Nevada has joined them. The Aggies are live 'dogs.
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