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

5 Best College Football Predictions Against The Spread Week 1 Thursday, Friday

5 best predictions for the first big weekend of the college football season. Best bets and picks for Week 1’s Thursday and Friday games.

5 best predictions for the first big weekend of the college football season. What games appear to be the best bets and best picks for Week 1’s Thursday and Friday games?


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Expert Picks
Week 1: Thursday/Friday | Saturday | NFL
Week 1 Schedule, Game Previews

Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak

Week 0 turned out to be interesting, but now it gets going for real.

If you were on the right side of the Northwestern call against Nebraska – you’re welcome for that Wildcat on the money line call (getting the cockiness out of the system now before reality kicks back in) – and if you figured out that Vanderbilt was an all-time gift, you enjoyed Week 0.

But we’re all still guessing here.

There aren’t any preseason games, and what happened in Week 0 stayed in Week 0. For the Thursday and Friday games for Week 1 the idea is the same – go with what you know, assume that no one is sharp quite yet, and remember that the coaching staffs had weeks to prepare for this opener.

The big picks for the Week 1 Saturday are coming. First, after the soft opening of Week 0, we get the introduction to the season as we continue to ease into the fun.

Results So Far: 7-1-1

Click on each game for the preview

5. West Virginia at Pitt point total

LINE 51
Point Total Pick Over

I have to redeem myself for my two misses of last week – they were both on point totals.

The Illinois-Wyoming game was a push, and Northwestern suddenly decided to do that scoring thing again in its win over Nebraska.

That’s all fine. The Backyard Brawl will make up for it.

The point total started out at 55.5, and even then that seemed potentially ten points too low. It immediately dropped like a rock to 51, and the world is going to be a happier place for it.

Obviously that means the public doesn’t believe that this will be any sort of a shootout, but you don’t need much to get to the 51 – 27-24 pushes, and there will be a whole lot more scoring than that.

New teams, new players, but same style for Pitt. Lots of pass rushing, lots of leaving the corners out to dry, and lots of chances for new West Virginia starting QB JT Daniels to bomb away. The Panthers went over on 51 in every game but three last year, and even with the big losses on offense, they should do their part.

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On the other side, there’s a good defense coming back, West Virginia allowed over 20 points nine times. Again, we’re not asking for a firefight here – one team is going to hit 30 in this, and both probably will.

And more than that – and don’t ever take this next part as any reason to invest – it’s one of the big games on Thursday night. You can’t make a game go over, but these two are going to bring the show.

NEXT: College Football Pick Against The Spread No. 4 ACC Fun: Temple at Duke, Virginia Tech at Old Dominion 

TCU vs Colorado Prediction, Game Preview

TCU vs Colorado game preview, prediction, and breakdown for the Week 1 game on Friday, September 2

TCU vs Colorado prediction, game preview, how to watch. Week 1, Friday, September 2


TCU vs Colorado How To Watch

Date: Friday, September 2
Game Time: 10:00 ET
Venue: Folsom Field, Boulder, CO
How To Watch: ESPN
Record: TCU (0-0), Colorado (0-0)
Sign up and live stream college football on ESPN+

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TCU vs Colorado Game Preview

Why TCU Will Win

One of the Big 12’s better offenses in 2021 should be even better under new head coach Sonny Dykes.

The Horned Frogs are loaded at receiver, Max Duggan is an underappreciated talent at quarterback, and the balance will be there with a good running game behind a veteran offensive line.

Colorado has to prove it found a pass rush over the offseason, and it has to go from nothing to great in a hurry offensively to keep up the pace. The Buffaloes struggled to get to 20 points – it only scored more than that four times last season – with the second-worst O in college football yardage-wise.

The transfer portal didn’t do enough to take the attack to a whole other level – it needs QB JT Shrout to be amazing coming off a torn ACL, or Brendon Lewis has to be better.

Fortunately for Colorado …

Week 1 Expert Picks, Thursday & Friday

Why Colorado Will Win

The TCU pass rush isn’t going to be a thing for a little while.

The defense was a stunning disaster last season mostly because it couldn’t do much of anything up front. It would have been a massive help to get a few cupcake games in before this to get everyone in place around the veteran linebackers, but the run D that allowed 222 yards per game will get pushed and tested right away.

No, the Colorado offense isn’t going to be Ohio State, but the running game will come out smashing with a revamped line around Alabama transfer Tommy Brown.

Again, the TCU receiving corps and passing game should be great, but Colorado has the defensive backs to hold up – the secondary might be the team’s biggest strength right away.

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

What’s Going To Happen

Both teams are coming off of wildly disappointing seasons. The Colorado offense that didn’t do much of anything will suddenly find a spark at home, the TCU defense that didn’t much of anything will generate more big stops and should be more effective, and …

For all of Colorado’s problems, it was it 3-0 at home after an October 2nd loss to USC – and was 0-5 on the road. TCU was 0-4 on the road over the same stretch.

Of course that shouldn’t matter – new year, new teams, new styles – but the Buffs being in Boulder helps.

The offensive line will come up with a great performance in the late night setting, but it’ll be the defense that rises up with a good fourth quarter to survive a fun – and somewhat shocking – end to Friday before it Week 1 really gets humming the next morning.

All of the CFN Predictions

TCU vs Colorado Prediction, Line

Colorado 30, TCU 27
Line: TCU -13.5, o/u: 55.5
ATS Confidence out of 5: 4

TCU vs Colorado Must See Rating: 3.5

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

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