Navy is projected to win the American Conference while Florida Atlantic is projected to finish 9th. Navy has won the last three meetings with Florida Atlantic, and this week's spread is only -4.5. The Midshipmen were 11-2 last season and 7-1 in conference play. They have a new quarterback this season in senior Braxton Woodson that takes over after throwing only six passes in last week's 42-15 win over Towson. Last season, Navy rushed for 397 yards against Florida Atlantic. It's going to be Navy's running game against the Owls' passing game, and I think Navy has more success winning by 10 or more.

Iowa and Iowa State have stayed under the total in seven of their last nine meetings against each other, and I think they're going to stay under this time too on the basis of both teams getting new quarterbacks. Iowa added 16 players through the transfer portal, and none of them were a quarterback to replace Mark Gronowski. Iowa State lost Rocco Becht and head coach Matt Campbell to Penn State, leaving them with Arkansas State transfer Jaylen Raynor to take over at quarterback. No starters return on offense or defense for Iowa State. But this rivalry will have them play better than they are, and the game will stay close. Under is the play.

Ohio State beat Texas two times last year, the first time when they scored 14 points in the 4th quarter to win 28-14 in the playoffs. The second came in August when Julian Sayin didn't make any turnovers, and Arch Manning did in the Buckeyes' 14- 7 win. The Buckeyes had no turnovers in last season's meeting. I think that's going to be the case again Saturday when they meet in Austin. The Buckeyes win with conservative bully football like they did last year in Columbus. Except this year, I think Sayin has a much bigger role in his sophomore season. Manning's going to eventually experience good times, but Ohio State is a better football program, and the Buckeyes take care of business on Saturday.

Drew Mestemaker threw for 34 touchdown passes and 9 interceptions at North Texas last year and decided to come over to Oklahoma State with head coach Eric Morris this season to change things around. The Cowboys went 1-11 last year, but this year didn't start much better. Last year they beat Tennessee-Martin 27-7 in the opener; this year they lost to Tulsa 24-10 as Mestemaker was picked off twice. Oklahoma State was hyped up by some in the media, and they were 13.5-point favorites over Tulsa before losing. Next step for Oklahoma State is the Oregon Ducks, who they lost to 69-3 last year in the same week. Oregon covers.

We've got two teams that used Week 1 as the perfect test session for their season, as they're supposed to. Texas A&M had a 50-0 win while ASU cruised to a 70-7 win. But what I was alerted to before the game was that ASU has a new quarterback transfer from Kentucky named Cutter Boley and Coach Kenny Dillingham gave him extreme confidence, letting him throw all over the field for 387 yards with six touchdown passes and no picks while completing 77.8 of his passes. Texas A&M is probably the value side, with the spread that should be 13 on a neutral field, plus 6 points given to the home edge for a spread that should be maybe -19. Sun Devils over the total.

Florida State won the first three games last season, including defeating Alabama in the first game, but they only finished 5-7. They've got a new quarterback this season in Ashton Daniels, but I feel like the Seminoles are going to experience the same type of inconsistent play that he had at Auburn and Stanford. They struggled with New Mexico State last week but still won 34-17 as 30-point favorites. SMU plays its first season in the ACC and has senior quarterback Kevin Jennings running the show and leading them to the playoffs. SMU might win the ACC this year while Florida State looks for another QB. SMU to cover.

Notre Dame and Wisconsin play at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, and I don't think we're going to see many points scored in the game. Wisconsin has a good defensive scheme, which has helped them keep it under in their last nine games. But they have a problem scoring on offense: they scored 0 points against Ohio State and Iowa and 7 points against Minnesota, Indiana, and Oregon. Notre Dame's defense is not going to do the Wisconsin offense any favors. I see the score like 27-6, right around the number but under the total.

Is this the beginning of the end for Dabo Swinney at Clemson? The fans are calling for his job. They play in the weak ACC and have been one of the slightly better-than-mediocre teams in conference play the last two years. What happened? Wasn't this team just fighting for championships? But I think this year will be different as Swinney brings back several key starters from last year. Christopher Vizzina starts at quarterback after being Cade Klubnik’s backup. I think Swinney does something spectacular with his boys in the first game against Lane Kiffin at LSU.

We got to a buy-low, sell-high situation with Indiana, who starts the season with its absolute highest rating rather than building on a number like they did last year when they won the National Championship. Coach Curt Cignetti's third season at Indiana starts with new quarterback Josh Hoover, the senior who spent the last 3 years at TCU. Last year, Indiana started the season at home against the Old Dominion and came away with the 27-14 victory. North Texas is kind of a wild card; even though they come off a 12-2 season, they have a new head coach and don't bring back any starters from last season. Still, too many points. I'm on North Texas.

Haynes King graduated from Georgia Tech after 3 years as the starting quarterback, and replacing him will be Alberto Mendoza, the brother of the 2025 Heisman winner. Georgia Tech head coach Brent Key wants to run the ball, and Tech has the horses to pound it on the ground with Justice Haynes and Malaki Horsley. The real reason for betting on Georgia Tech in this game is the lack of interest I saw from Coach Deion Sanders last year. He's trying to do the same thing this year as he did with his QB son two years ago, with freshman starter Julian Lewis. Colorado went 3-9 last year and 1-8 in the Big 12, with no starters returning on defense this year. Georgia Tech wins.

Akron finished last season 5-7 and 4-4 in the MAC, and they start this season with only six returning starters. Coach Joe Moorehead's team has gone 13-35 in his four years at the school, and they're one big loss last year was at Nebraska that beat them 68-0. They lost their first three games of the season. Wake Forest comes to this game with eight returning starters on defense and UNC transfer Gio Lopez at QB, who unites with Rob Ezelle, his offensive coordinator at South Alabama in 2024. Akron is rated as the 128th team out of 138. Wake Forest shows off at home and covers the spread.

Hawaii finished 9-4 last year in the Mountain West Conference, and their season started with a 23-20 win against Stanford. They finished the year in the bowl game against another ACC power, Cal, winning 35-31. The team's leader is sophomore quarterback Micah Alejado. He averaged 282 passing yards per game with 24 touchdown passes and only nine interceptions, earning him Mountain West Freshman of the Year. They build off of last year's success in Timmy Chang's program and continue it with the win at Stanford.

North Dakota State opened as a 10-point home favorite in early June against Jacksonville State, and the spread is -6.5 now. This will be North Dakota State's first game as an FBS team after dominating the lower level with a 51-7 record in the FCS tournament. Jacksonville State made the same jump just a couple of years ago. There's going to be no drop-off from the Bison who went 9-5 against FBS foes. They're led by senior quarterback Nathan Hayes, who was the backup on last year's 12-1 team. North Dakota State is a quarterback factory, and this is a team that could actually win the Mountain West Conference in their first year. North Dakota State by 20 in this game.

San Jose State went 3-9 last year, with the worst performances in their last three games. Coach Ken Niumatalolo only had two starters return, and they're both offensive linemen. Now he's got to face a USC team in the opener that is loaded this season, with nine starters back on offense, including senior quarterback Jayden Maiava, and five on defense. They have all five starters on the offensive line returning, and that's the biggest component I look at in these opening games. The cohesion is gonna be there, and apparently the boosters money is also there, as they had the No. 1 recruiting class in college football. I think USC could be the next Indiana this year. USC shows off for the nation.

Wisconsin transfer Billy Edwards Jr was named the starter Tuesday in Bobby Petrino's new UNC offense, and all I ask of the senior is that he works on not turning the ball over. It may sound like a simple task, but the QB position at North Carolina turned the ball over too much last season. If they actually score on offense, that will be a bonus, and Bill Belichick's defense will handle the rest. The defense isn't the problem; it should be the star of the team. They just need the offense to stay patient and, once in a while, make some noise with a couple of scores. I'm betting Belichick slows the game down in Ireland and stays close with the chance to win.