The 2025 college football season begins this weekend, with bettors eyeing opportunities as teams including Iowa State, Kansas State, Stanford, and Hawaii take the field. The Saturday schedule opens with No. 22 Iowa State facing No. 17 Kansas State at noon Eastern Time in Dublin, Ireland, and closes with Stanford playing Hawaii at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time.
SportsLine’s computer model has published its recommended picks for Week 0 on FanDuel. The model suggests that Iowa State could upset Kansas State as a +134 underdog. According to the projections, Iowa State wins in 51% of simulations even though it is not favored by oddsmakers.
For the Stanford versus Hawaii game, the model expects a strong showing from Stanford’s offense and recommends betting on the Cardinal to score over 24.5 points—a line offered at -102 odds by FanDuel. This projection aligns with recent results; last year Stanford defeated Hawaii 37-24.
The model also identifies value in backing Fresno State to beat Kansas at +385 odds despite being a considerable underdog in their matchup. Fresno State starts its season under new head coach Matt Entz and introduces E.J. Warner—the son of Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinee Kurt Warner—as quarterback this fall.
On returning Cyclones players and coaching consistency, quarterback Rocco Becht comes back for his third year after throwing for 3,505 yards and accounting for a combined total of 33 touchdowns last season. Head coach Matt Campbell enters his tenth season after leading Iowa State to an 11-3 record—the best in school history.
Stanford features Frank Reich as interim head coach following his NFL experience with the Colts and Panthers between 2018 and 2023. Senior Ben Gulbranson takes over at quarterback after transferring from Oregon State, while running back Micah Ford returns as Stanford’s top rusher from last season.
SportsLine notes that since inception, its simulation-based recommendations have produced significant returns: “The model simulates every FBS game 10,000 times (…). Since its inception, it has generated a betting profit of well over $2,000 for $100 players on its top-rated college spread football picks (…).”
Interested bettors are encouraged to check all SportsLine predictions before placing wagers: “You’ve seen the model’s Week 0 college football best bets (…). Now (…) get against the spread, total and money-line picks for every Week 0 CFB game here, all from the model that’s simulated every game 10,000 times,” according to SportsLine.
Additional insights are available from former Vegas bookmaker Micah Roberts and SportsLine’s Josh Nagel: “You can also see Week 0 college football picks from former Vegas bookmaker Micah Roberts (…). SportsLine’s Josh Nagel (…) has locked in his best bet for Iowa State vs. Kansas State right here.”
Key best bets highlighted by the SportsLine model include:
– Iowa State to defeat Kansas State (+134)
– Fresno State to defeat Kansas (+385)
– Stanford Over 24.5 team total (-102)
A combination parlay of these three wagers on FanDuel would result in +2147 odds if successful (risking $100 yields $2,147).
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