Texas vs. Alabama: College Football Week 2 Odds & Picks (2023)
Gear up for another awesome weekend of college football action with BettingPros! We’ll have you covered with all of our top picks for the week along with our projected spreads and totals to help guide your college football bets. Below are our top picks and predictions for Saturday’s Week 2 game: Texas vs. Alabama.
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Top College Football Odds & Picks: Texas vs. Alabama
Texas (+7.5) at Alabama
The market is circling Alabama following its emphatic 56-7 win over Middle Tennessee. Earlier in the day, Texas had an on-the-surface less inspiring 37-10 win over Rice. But while the Tide out-gained MTSU by 220 yards, the Longhorns outgained the Owls by 282. MTSU actually had more time of possession than Alabama, but the Blue Raiders lost the turnover battle 2-0 and cost themselves 84 yards on nine penalties.
So toss out last week - we learned little, and one score was deceiving. I go back to my preseason reads on these teams.
Texas lost RBs Bijan Robinson and Roschon Johnson over the offseason, but basically everyone else returned. QB Quinn Ewers and WR Xavier Worthy were a two-man show last year through the air. This time around, Texas has WRs AD Mitchell (from the portal), Isiah Neyor (back from injury), and Johntay Cook (five-star freshman) to compliment him, along with returning steady-eddy vet WR Jordan Whittington and TE Ja'Tavion Sanders, who has turned into one of the nation's best.
The new three-man backfield rotation has plenty of talent, and that group is running behind an offensive line that returned all five starters (each of whom started all 13 games last year). In sum, the Longhorns return 16 starters. They are objectively a better team than they were last year, and I believe they are a CFP contender.
The Crimson Tide, on the other hand, only returned 11 starters. They lost three top-12 picks in last April's draft (QB Bryce Young, EDGE Will Anderson Jr., and RB Jahmyr Gibbs), five more Day 2 picks (S Brian Branch, OT Tyler Steen, DL Byron Young, S Jordan Battle, and TE Cameron Latu), two Day 3 picks (LB Henry To’oTo’o and S DeMarcco Hellams), and, in my opinion, at least two more who should have been drafted (OL Emil Ekiyor Jr. and CB Eli Ricks).
The Crimson Tide's revolving door of assistant coaches has new coordinators on both sides of the ball this year. New OC Tommy Rees convinced former Notre Dame pupil QB Tyler Buchner to transfer over in the offseason because the two young holdovers QBs performed so poorly in the spring. But then QB Jalen Milroe beat out Buchner in camp - more an indictment of Buchner than a commentary about Milroe. Milroe is an awesome athlete - but his struggles as a thrower are going to cap the ceiling of Alabama's offense. That issue could be exacerbated by an Alabama's WR corps that appears to be underwhelming again.
Last season, Alabama needed a 33-yard field goal with 10 seconds left to escape Texas 20-19 - and that was after the Longhorns were forced to play backup QB Hudson Card for three-plus quarters following Ewers' injury in the first.
This time around, Texas is better, Alabama is worse, and Ewers is healthy in a revenge spot for the Horns. Not only that, but starting Alabama DBs Jaylen Key and Malachi Moore are both questionable for this game with injuries sustained last week. That's a potentially troubling development heading into a game against one of the nation's best WR corps.
Getting more than a TD feels like a gift. I also sprinkled on the Texas ML. The Horns are live.
The pick: Texas +7.5 (play to +7)
Best Ways to Bet College Football for Beginners
Game Total
Bettors new to the hobby can be confused by spreads, but game totals are simple. Every football game has a total posted for the combined final score between the two teams. Bettors have the option to choose the OVER or UNDER, generally at -110 odds (risk: $110; win: $100). So if the total is 42 and you take the OVER, you need 43 points to win the bet. If you put a bet down on the over to win $100 and it goes over, you get back the money you initially risked, plus $100. If it stayed under, you would have lost your $110 and that's it. If by chance the game ended with 42 total points, it's called a push; when a game pushes, you get the money you risked back but nothing more.
ie: California vs. Illinois, Over 42 or Under 42
tip: Over bets can be a really fun social event with your buddies. Have everyone throw in a few bucks, then take the over together. Instead of getting pumped when one side scores, everyone is pumped for ANY score, all game.
Moneyline
The moneyline is the easiest way to test your college football knowledge: who will win the game? That's it. The moneyline doesn't use favorites or underdogs, it's totally straight up. That said, the risk-reward can be challenging because they're weighted. Instead of every game being around -110, like game totals and spreads, moneylines vary depending on the matchup.
For our example, California was favored by seven points over Illinois, meaning oddsmakers think the Golden Bears are a touchdown better than the Fighting Illini. If you took Cal on the moneyline, points don't matter, they just need to win the game. But because it's safer to take them straight-up without points, you'll have to risk more when you make the bet - remember, they're seven points better than Illinois in the eyes of the oddsmakers. In this case, Cal is -280 on the moneyline, so if you want to win $100, you have to risk $280. On the flip side, moneyline bets can be valuable when taking the underdog because it's a riskier bet - they're seven points worse than their opponent. In this case, Illinois is the underdog - +220 on the moneyline. You'd win $220 on a $100 bet if you picked Illinois on the moneyline and they pulled off the upset.
ie: California (ML -280) vs. Illinois (ML +220)
tip: Check their history against one another. Keep an eye on the injury report and the weather.
Player Props
Player props are some of the most exhilarating bets you can place during a college football game, but they're also easy to understand. For major conferences, you'll have a wide array of options to choose from. Quarterbacks, running backs, receivers, and sometimes tight ends will have props to choose from. It's simple, fun and easy to follow, and odds on player props don't vary as much as moneylines. Generally, prop bets are in the -110 range like generic spread and total bets.
ie: How many passing yards will Brandon Peters have against California? Over 250 or Under 250
tip: Check how players have performed in the situation they're going to be in. Use split stats on any reliable site to see their numbers at home, on a neutral-site, in December, etc.
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