Week Zero is upon us and college football is officially underway. We have seven games on the slate and I have four best bets to give you. The four bets will start 2023 on a great note for the boys. I will give my best bets every week and on Saturday morning, I will provide my full card. So with that being, said let’s get into my three best bets for Week Zero.
Navy vs Notre Dame (-20.5) O/U (48.5) 2 PM (Dublin, Ireland)
We have a great opening matchup in Dublin with the matchup of the Navy Midshipmen taking on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Notre Dame enters year number two in the Marcus Freeman era. They struggled out of the gate, but they finished with a 9-4 record. Notre Dame brings in Sam Hartman from Wake Forest to be their starting signal caller. This Notre Dame team was run-heavy in 2022, but with the addition of Hartman the Irish could go in a new direction.
The Navy Midshipmen for the first time since 2008 have a new head coach. Brian Newberry gets promoted from defensive coordinator to head coach. He is keeping the same triple option style of offense at Navy in 2023. With the offense looking the same, the defense is going to be the question mark. The secondary looks good, but their front seven will need to be a lot better than they were in 2022. The Navy Midshipmen have a ton of question marks, but a ton will be answered in this week’s matchup.
The Betting Trends
-Navy are 6-3 ATS in last nine games vs Notre Dame
-Navy is 2-5 SU in the last seven games overall.
-The over is 7-0 in the last Notre Dame’s games.
-Notre Dame is 1-3 ATS as double digit favorites in the last four games.
The Don’s Play
I am taking Navy +20.5 -104 in this one. The Midshipmen have been good at covering the double digit spreads. Navy is going to be a tough test to open up the season for Notre Dame. The Irish will win this game, but Navy will stay inside the number.
Hawaii vs Vanderbilt (-17.5) O/U (55.5) 7:30 PM
These two teams met last season in Hawaii and the teams went on two different paths. Hawaii struggled and were 3-10 in Timmy Chang’s first season. Vanderbilt finished 5-7 in Clark Lea’s second season and improved from his 2-10 record in year number one. Now we saw Vanderbilt go crazy offensively against Hawaii last year, can the Rainbow Warriors start the 2023 season on a better foot?
The Commodores offensively are led by sophomore AJ Swann who put together a good freshman year before his season-ending surgery. Swann had two interceptions all year and had four games with 2+ passing touchdowns. Their offensive line has returning starters that took a step forward and they have talented weapons at receivers. It is going to be a lot for Hawaii to handle.
The Rainbow Warriors had some promising play from Brayden Schager in his sophomore season. He ended 2022 with five straight games with 200+ passing yards. The promise is there and Timmy Chang is a great person to learn the quarterback position from. With Schager playing well, it built up their running game. Tylan Hines had at least 60 rushing yards in half of their games last year. If Hawaii is going to cover, this offense is going to have to put points on the board.
Betting Trends
-Hawaii 7-1 ATS in their last 8 games.
-The under is 6-2 in Hawaii’s last 8 games.
-The under is 5-1 in Vanderbilt’s last 6 games.
-The over is 4-2 in Vanderbilt’s last 6 home games.
The Don’s Play
I am taking Vanderbilt 1H -9.5 -128 and Vanderbilt -17.5 -105. This is a two play game here on week zero. I think the Commodores are way ahead talent wise over Hawaii. This is a great start for the Commodores and it will be the same result that we saw last year in Hawaii. The Commodores are a better home team anyways, so expect them to blowout the Rainbow Warriors.
Final Thoughts
These are my best three plays, but my whole card will be on my twitter on Saturday mornings. Make sure that you follow me on twitter @cjoneswho1212, and it is a great season to ride with the Don Corleone of Sports Gambling.
