NCAA Football Week 1: which games should New Jersey bettors be targeting to start season strongly?

While there are four games that begin the 2024 NCAA Football campaign in Week 0–including a Top 10 team (Florida State) traveling to Ireland for the first ESPN contest of the year–the real action kicks off on what has now become a standard for college football: a very long Labor Day weekend filled with wall-to-wall action.

Starting on Thursday, August 29 (21 games) then with six more Friday, NCAA Football continues its opening weekend bash Saturday, August 29 with 66 contests, before a huge Top 25 battle Sunday between USC and LSU. Florida State then comes back home to finish off the weekend with a Labor Day night ACC clash against Boston College.

All five days will have at least one Top 25 team in action, with three Top 25 clashes the highlight of the weekend: we already told you about USC LSU, but Saturday sees the two most high-profile matchups, with No. 1 Georgia and No. 14 Clemson playing in Atlanta at noon, and No. 7 Notre Dame visiting No. 20 Texas A&M in College Station at 7:30 p.m.

That is not a bad weekend of action: 95 games, and a lot of television time.

But how do you figure out which games to wager on if you are watching at the Jersey Shore, or maybe just in your backyard for your Garden State Labor Day barbeques?

Well, NJ.Bet has you covered.

Here is a list of games–at least one from each day–that you could find worth putting a few bucks on through your sports betting apps. Need a bonus? Bet $5, Get $150 in bonus bets at bet365 NJ with a promo code: USB365.

Key Matchups of the Weekend & Predictions:

• USC vs. LSU – Sunday, September 1
• Georgia vs. Clemson – Saturday, August 31 (Atlanta)
• Notre Dame vs. Texas A&M – Saturday, August 31 (College Station)

Thursday, August 29

Colorado -8.5 vs. North Dakota State

A lot of the metrics actually point to the Bison here. Since ascending to FCS dominance a little over a decade ago, the Bison have gone 6-1 straight up and 6-1 against the spread against FBS teams, including 5-1 straight up and 5-1 ATS against power conferences. During this period, they have an astounding average cover margin of 17.2 points per game, showing that sportsbooks have consistently underestimated NDSU.

But Deion is building something in Boulder, and it would make sense for the Buffaloes to come out and try to score as many points as possible in the contest, and we think that Colorado covers here. We also like the Buffs team total to go over.

Friday, August 30

TCU -7 at Stanford:

The line here is currently -8, but we say bet it down to -7 for the Horned Frogs, who are looking to rebound in 2024.

Saturday, August 31

Notre Dame ML +110 at Texas A&M

The Irish will be looking to jump up the playoff rankings with a tough road win, and they would be favored here at a neutral site or at home. They are a slight underdog here, and we say take them on the moneyline.

Georgia State +17 at Georgia Tech

The Yellow Jackets have to deal with the jet lag coming back from Dublin, and this game could be much closer than people think. We think you could even move the line down to +10 on top of the +17 wager and try for a big score with Georgia State, and maybe even put a few bucks on the +750 money line upset.

Sunday, September 1

USC +6 to +7 vs. LSU

EVERYONE is on the Tigers in this game, thinking that USC will struggle because the Trojans lost No. 1 pick Caleb Williams. But LSU lost the No. 2 pick Jayden Daniels, and this point spread should be much tighter. We say take the points, and if you can get +7, even better

Monday, September 2

Boston College +22

FSU has the game in Ireland but extra rest. That does seem like a lot of points, though: the better bet might be to take the Seminoles to go over the team total.

Check back with NJ.Bet every week, as we break down the best games of the NCAA Football season.

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