College Football Betting: Three Things To Know Heading Into Week 0

Wham, Bam, thank you, ma’am! Football is back! Well, sort of. Week 0 of college football, as it’s been appropriately named, is basically just a tease for college football fans because most teams don’t kick off until Week 1 and only a few irrelevant schools schedule games (shoutout Florida State for reaching that floor). But, unlike NFL preseason, these games do actually count, so all of us who are starved for the return of real football will tune in and gamble.

For me, things are going to be slightly different this year. As Dimers grows and evolves, they find new ways to slot me in for articles where I’m useful to them. In the past, that’s been write-ups with my best bets for the week, but with an army of new staff writers who are much more competent and professional than I am, I’ve been transitioned to a new angle that fits my character a bit better.

So, without further ado, I introduce to you the first weekly “Three Things To Know” article, where I’ll be giving the casual fan a few major things to look for and think about going into the weekend. For those of you who still want picks, fear not — I’ll still be posting all of those on Twitter and The Gold Mine — so you can ride along for some profitable CFB Saturdays with your favorite cartoon!

With all my gabbing out of the way, let’s get to the good stuff! 

1. WERE BACK!!!

As I said above, the most important thing about Week 0 is that we have legitimate games of football that count for something. Now, “something” is an appropriately vague word because their actual importance is up for debate. As far as games that will have an impact on potential conference championships or playoffs, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that almost none of the teams suiting up are going to be relevant come December (or even October).

The beauty of gambling, though, is that it makes every game important regardless of how bad the teams are. North Carolina, Nebraska, Florida State and Illinois have an outside chance of slipping into a Top 25 poll at some point in the year (and that’s being generous), but all we care about on Saturday is who covers the spread or total (or whatever other weird crap you people like putting money on). Week 0 is a tease for the pure fan, but the big time starts right now for us gamblers.

MORE: Nebraska vs. Northwestern Betting Preview

2. Build your good will 

For a vast majority of people on Dimers (and even for a sizable chunk of the American population as sports gambling grows), betting on sports is just a piece of our daily lives. But, while gambling is a meaningful priority, you’ve also got errands to run, significant others or family who want to spend time with you, and any other number of items necessary for your survival that you have to keep in mind. My recommendation? Don’t let Week 0 take over your life.

I’m lucky enough to be married to a woman who loves football (to be fair, it’s probably a necessity...no other woman would tolerate me), but every person has a limited number of “tokens” to use as far as putting everything aside to sit their ass on the couch to watch sports, drink and gamble all day. My advice? Use this week to build that hoard, not deplete it. Make sure to ham up to your non-football loving friends and family (why you care about those people is unclear) that football has started, but that you love them enough to focus on quality time instead of the TV. They think you’re giving them something important, and you can live with checking the score of Idaho State-UNLV on your phone. It’s a win-win (depending on how you feel about deceiving your loved ones).

MORE: Betting insights on every upcoming college football game

3. Early-season CFB is a field of landmines for teams and gamblers

I probably don’t need to say this, but I’m going to anyway; you should not be laying massive chunks of money on these games. Sure, there may be angles and plays that have some value and I’m not saying that this is a total crapshoot like NFL preseason, but early-season college football games are more of a mystery because we know absolutely nothing about new players or how teams intend to line up. No preseason games or high-level media coverage means we’re just slightly in the dark.

So, with that in mind, air on the side of caution in Week 0. Most people have a set bankroll for the season, and you shouldn’t have 70% of that in play on Saturday (or any week, for that matter). Enjoy some gambling and the return of football, but this is just the warm up before the actual show. Think of it as shooting a few threes before you go out for your “big time” Tuesday night pick-up game.

With that, go forth and prosper! And, most importantly...WELCOME BACK FOOTBALL!