College Football is officially back this week.
I’ve grabbed early-week lines for two Week 0 games, both big Saturday📖 underdogs, and I recommend you grab these lines immediately 🌟before they move.
Central Michigan +14.5 vs. Michigan State
I think Central Michigan could come out of n🎃owhere to win the MAC this♑ year.
They were severely unluꩲcky with injury, turnover and close-game luck last season, and coach Jim McElwain is a solid Group of Five coach known for 🌳making big year-over-year turnarounds.
The defense should be elite, given there are 10 r💯eturning starters, inclu𝕴ding the conference’s best secondary.
The offense is hard to project.
I’m hoping the Chips start quarterback Bert Emanuel, given his athleticism and rushing ability – he rushed for 466 yards and seven touchdowns over the Chips’ final three games last year.
Emanuel will have three ret🌳urning offensive line starters, including both tackles,ౠ which can open rushing lanes.
Either way, I’m much higher ꦫon Central Michigan than I am on Michigan State.
The Spartans’ roster is razor thin.
They lost quarterbackℱ Payton Thorne to the portal, leav🧸ing a bunch of backups to battle for the starting spot.
They lost their top two wide receivers and there’s n♓o depth at that position.
They lost 58 pe💫rcent of their offensive line starts.
They lost thrꦫee of their top four tacklers and their two best defensive backs from a defense that ranked sub-100 in every important metric last season.
This team is going to be bad, and I think Mel Tucker’s 2021ღ season was a facade.
I’m high on Central Michig🔥an and low on Michigan State for this season. So, it’s only natural I bet the former against the latter agaꦛinst the spread in Week 0.
Our Acti🅰on Network Analytics team shows huge value on the Chips here, projecting Michigan State as only a f𓂃ive-point favorite.
Try and bet this line before it drops under two touch♐downs.
Betting on College Football?
- Check out the best College Football betting sites
- Read our expert’s guide on how to bet on College Football
- Get the latest College ꦛFootball National Championship winner odds
Navy +20.5 vs. Notre Dame
The Midshipmen return 78 percent of offensive line snaps and 84 percent of rushing yards from last year’s squad, meaning their triple-option attack should be a well-oiꦺled machine in 2023.
Meanwhile, Nꦛotre Dame is going through turnover in their꧒ defensive front seven. ;
♋The Irish return less than 35 percent of pressures and stops from last year’s team, including their top three pressure creators (Isaiah Foskey, Jayson Ademilol, and Justin Ademilola).
And it’s not like Notre Dame was a good rush defense last season. The Irish finished 58th nationally in success rate all🍒owed and 103rd in expected points added (EPA) per play allowed against th♒e run.
I could see Navy rushing all over Notre Dame’s defense in this one, similar to how Marshall did in the non-con la🌺st year.𓄧
I expect Notre Dame to improve offensively under🧸neath new offensive coordinator Gerard Parker and new quarterback Sam Hartman, but the transition won’t happen overnight. I expect it could take a few weeks for the ♍new system to take shape.
Ultimately,🌊 thiꦓs game projects as a lower-scoring grinder, where Navy dominates the time of possession with long rush-heavy drives that eat up clock and keep Hartman off the field.
It’s hard to cover big numbers against service academies, anyw♈ay, given the triple-option🍰 attack shortens games and keeps final scores from getting too lopsided.
Air Force,𒊎 Navy and Army are a combined 20-10-1 against the spread as two-touchdown-or-more underdogs since 2006.