College Football Expert Picks, Predictions: Week 1 Thursday, Friday

Week 1 college football expert picks and predictions for Thursday and Friday including West Virginia at Pitt, Penn State at Purdue, and Illinois at Indiana

College football expert picks, predictions for Week 1, highlighted by West Virginia at Pitt, Penn State at Purdue, and Illinois at Indiana


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* next to the pick means the team will win, but not cover.
Click on each game for the game preview and CFN Prediction

Week 1 College Football Expert Picks
Ball St at Tennessee | WVU at Pitt
CMU at Ok State | La Tech at Missouri
Penn St at Purdue | NMSU at Minnesota
WMU at Mich St | Va Tech at ODU
Temple at Duke | Illinois at Indiana
TCU at ColoradoWeek 1 T/F Schedule Picks
CFN Predictions & Game Previews
2022 CFN Preview of all 131 Teams

Ball State at Tennessee

Line: Tennessee -32.5, o/u: 67.5

Eric Bolin, RazorbacksWire.com: Tennessee
Evan Bredeson, CornhuskersWire.com: Tennessee
Patrick Conn, College Wires Editor: Tennessee
Tony Cosolo, ColoradoBuffaloesWire.com: Tennessee*
Jeff Feyerer, CFN: Tennessee*
Pete Fiutak, CFN: Tennessee*
Dan Harralson, VolsWire.com: Tennessee
Phil Harrison, BuckeyesWire.com: Tennessee
Joey Ickes, AggiesWire.com: Tennessee
Jeremy Mauss, MWwire.com Tennessee*
Kevin McGuire, NittanyLionsWire.com: Tennessee
Big Game Ben Niewoehner, CFN Tennessee*
Ethan Niewoehner, CFN Tennessee*
Zack Pearson, TarHeelswire.com Tennessee
Johnny Rosenstein, SportsBookWire.com: Tennessee
Nick Shepkowski, FightingIrishWire.com: Tennessee*
AJ Spurr, RollTidewire.com Tennessee
Scott Steehn, WinnersandWhiners.com: Tennessee*
Joe Vitale, UGAWire.com: Tennessee*
John Williams, SoonersWire.com: Tennessee
Clucko the Chicken (a coin flip), CFN: Ball State
CONSENSUS PICK: Tennessee*

NEXT: West Virginia at Pitt Expert Picks, Predictions

Minnesota vs New Mexico State Prediction, Game Preview

Minnesota vs New Mexico State game preview, prediction, and breakdown for the Week 1 game on Thursday, September 1

Minnesota vs New Mexico State prediction, game preview, how to watch. Week 1, Thursday, September 1


Minnesota vs New Mexico State How To Watch

Date: Thursday, September 1
Game Time: 9:00 ET
Venue: Huntington Bank Stadium, Minneapolis, MN
How To Watch: BTN
Record: Minnesota (0-0), New Mexico State (0-1)
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Minnesota vs New Mexico State Game Preview

Why New Mexico State Will Win

The Aggies already have a warm-up game under their belt.

They weren’t bad in the 23-12 loss to Nevada – the defense did a nice job of holding up, was solid against the Wolf Pack passing game – there wasn’t anything happening deep – and was in it until late.

Former Gopher head coach Jerry Kill is facing his old program, and his team will try to replace the same style with a tough running game that controls the clock. That didn’t work against Nevada, but that’s still the goal.

Minnesota has no problem grinding games down a bit, and that might fit into New Mexico State’s plan to make this a battle.

Minnesota’s defense didn’t come up with enough plays in the backfield last season, but …

Week 1 Expert Picks, Thursday & Friday

Why Minnesota Will Win

The Gophers should be a rock against the run.

A few transfers are helping out the established starters, and it should all work against a New Mexico State offense that’s going to try pounding away, but will struggle to get too much going. The Aggies managed just 3.4 yards per carry against Nevada, and they’re not going to have the passing attack to open it up deep.

The focus will be on the other side and the return of RB Mohamad Ibrahim from a torn Achilles tendon. He and Trey Potts should be able to rumble at will as the revamped offensive line gets time to jell.

New Mexico State’s front three should be better, but it has a long way to go after allowing close to 200 rushing yards per game. It gave up 170 yards to the 1-2 punt of Toa Tau and Devonte Lee, and now it’s about to get hit a whole lot harder.

Week 1 Schedule, Predictions, Game Previews, Thursday & Friday

What’s Going To Happen

Will Minnesota show up?

It almost always wins the layup non-conference games under PJ Fleck – the gack against Bowling Green last season was the exception – but it has a weird way of needing to work WAY too hard in games that should be easy.

It struggled against Miami University last year, had to push to get by South Dakota State, Fresno State, and Georgia Southern in 2019, and …

It beat New Mexico State 48-10 in 2018. There won’t be a problem here with the balanced offense taking over after two drives.

All of the CFN Predictions

Minnesota vs New Mexico State Prediction, Line

Minnesota 44, New Mexico State 10
Line: Minnesota -36.5, o/u: 53.5
ATS Confidence out of 5: 1.5

Minnesota vs New Mexico State Must See Rating: 2

5: ‘Billie Jean’
1: Aidan Hutchinson’s rendition of ‘Billie Jean’

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