College Football Bets: What You Need To Know Before Week 1, 2023

Now that’s more like it. A REAL college football slate filled with great games and huge matchups and… wait, what? You’re telling me we have a single matchup between Top 25 teams and the “best” game in the entire Saturday slate is North Carolina vs. South Carolina? For the love of god…

The unfortunate reality of college football is that, in some ways, the “preseason” happens for a lot of teams during the first couple of weeks of the year. Look no further than Alabama playing MTSU or Georgia playing UT Martin (apparently these schools really want to crush the state of Tennessee) for the kind of cupcake games that really serve as tuneups to get big programs back into the flow.

But we do get a big Sunday matchup between LSU and FSU which should be an absolute blast, and a full Saturday CFB card will still be filled with reasons to watch and gamble. My own BC Eagles are facing off with NIU, and while it might not seem meaningful to literally anyone else I’m still excited.

MORE: College Football Week 1 Best Bets

Find out why definitely pays to have more than one funded US Sportsbook account when betting on sports.

For example, did you know that new users at bet365 can get $200 in bonus bets after betting just $1? That's easily one of the best promos to take advantage of when betting on football this season.

With that, let’s get into 3 things to know for CFB Week 1, thanks to my free sports picks friends at Dimers!

1. Times They Are a-Changin'

If you plan to turn on a TV and watch college football on Saturday (or any of the other days it’s on this week), you should expect to listen to talk about the changing Conference landscape ad nauseam. You’ll hear all about the logistical problems, the money grab, the softball team that gets screwed, etc, etc.

Are they right? Yes. This whole wave of realignment is a mess and makes no sense other than for schools to solidify large sums of TV money at the expense of everything else. It also does have a fairly big impact on teams moving forward, so discussing things like the new shape of the Big 12 does make some sense. But at this point, we’ve all heard it enough and everyone has the exact same take. Just mute the first 5 minutes of every game until the commentators tire themselves out and focus on the actual football.

MORE: College Football Week 1 Props

2. Research Goes a Long Way in Week 1

College football, especially early in the season, is so hard to figure out because the amount of public knowledge is so low. There are no national insiders, agents leaking information, or even a preseason to use for information. Sounds dangerous right? Well, it can be, but if you do some real digging into beat writers and other sources of intel you may be able to pick up on some strong edges that aren't baked into the national narrative.

On top of that, you can do yourself A TON of favors by getting a good grip on expected lineups, valuable transfers, and some of the other less “fun” aspects of capping. It is a bit risky, but there will be a lot of lines that miss the mark by a fairly wide margin in Week 1, and you can capitalize on these if put in the time

MORE: College Football Futures: Who will be crowned National Champions?

3. It's a Good Week to Be a Gambler

I mentioned it above, but the reality is that until we get into conference play, the quality of games isn’t necessarily going to be all that high. But the beauty of gambling is that we can focus on something entirely separate from the final score and make life way more interesting than it will be for someone who is just a fan.

Neither you nor I need to be told about the beauty of gambling - if you’re on this page you’ve already drank that Kool-Aid - but it’s a nice reminder that gambling adds value to your life aside from just potentially making money. Thank god they legalized this stuff (although I'm not a big one for parlays).

 

Enjoy gambling responsibly. Treat it as entertainment, not a way to make money and only gamble with funds you can afford to lose. Know when to stop and seek support if needed. Remember, gambling should be a fun and enjoyable experience. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER.