Well, well, well. Week 1 of the 2023-24 College Football Season has arrived at our doorstep. If you enjoyed the chaotic nature of 2022, you should be very excited for this 2023 season. On its face, it might look like much of the same, as we have UGA, Michigan, Ohio State and Bama at the top of the rankings. However…this year feels more up-in-the-air than ever before. Three of those top-four teams are bringing in first time starters, and while they have rosters loaded with talent, the rookie QBs make them less of a sure-thing than we’re used to seeing. UGA is once again the heavy favorite to take home the title with a three-peat on the line, which would be an incredibly impressive feat that we haven’t seen in the modern CFB era. The last team to “three-peat” was the Minnesota Gophers from 1934-36. Sorry Gopher fans, I’m gonna go ahead and not count that in my personal record book. In the year of our lord 1935 us Americans were more concerned with battling the Great Depression instead of watching a bunch of marginally athletic white guys from Minnesota smack each other around in leather helmets. The Rose Bowl was actually 13 years old in 1935, but folks were instead preoccupied with the Dust Bowl at the time. Enough with the history lessons, Q and DPJ are ready to be your exclusive resource for winners for this College Football season. We were an impressive 55-48 on the year in 2022 (all picks published on sidehustlebetsmjq.com, a Side Hustle Bets LLC production) and we will only get stronger and smarter in 2023. Let’s get off to an early start with a fresh batch of winners in week 1. 

DPJ’s Best Bets

Texas Tech @ Wyoming – Saturday, 9/2 (7:30 PM EST)
Pick: Texas Tech -14 (-110) (1 unit)

The Red Raiders head to Laramie, WY with a true road game to open the 2023 season against the Wyoming Cowboys. Luckily for Tech, Josh Allen is not suiting up for these Cowboys as a 27 year old 9th year senior ala Brandon Weeden. Wyoming will look to play spoiler in what could be a promising season for the Red Raiders but I don’t think they have the juice to do it, and I think Tech will control this one from start to finish. The only thing that scares me about Wyoming is a formidable rush attack going up against a typically weak Texas Tech run defense. Even if they make some noise on that side of the ball, I don’t see them keeping up with Tech’s high powered passing game spearheaded by QB Tyler Shough. Score Prediction: Texas Tech 38 – Wyoming 21.

Virginia @ Tennessee – Saturday, 9/2 (12:00 PM EST)
Pick: Tennessee -27.5 (-110) (1 unit)

The 12th ranked Vols get a pseudo home game to open the season against the Virginia Cavaliers and their legendary alumnus S*tt*n “Bird” White. This game is not being played at Neyland Stadium but it is being played just three hours away from Knoxville. These two will face off in Music City, USA aka The Place Where Taylor Swift Pretends She’s From aka Nashville, TN. I’d bet the stadium will be 95% Tennessee fans and shouldn’t feel much different than a peak mid-season game on campus. We’ll find out early in this season whether or not journeyman QB Joe Milton is a fraud, but I don’t think that test will come against UVA. Milton will likely light up the Cavs, and showcase both his rocket arm and his wheels. This one should be over before it starts, and our only threat will be a backdoor cover. Score Prediction: Tennessee 42 – Virginia 13.

Mega Moneyline Parlay: Colorado @ TCU/Coastal Carolina @ UCLA/Oregon State @ San Jose St/Clemson @ Duke
Pick: TCU ML/UCLA ML/Oregon State ML/Clemson ML (-110) (1 unit)

I will not waste your time reading about why I think a bunch of favorites are going to win in week 1. This is one of my favorite bets to make every year (and really most weeks in particular) as it’s incredibly fun to watch a bunch of good teams beat up on scrubby opponents. The one that I feel most confident about? Clemson. The one that I feel least confident about? TCU. Deion Sanders might be fielding a team half full of scrubs in Colorado, but he also might have some devil magic up his sleeve against the Horned Frogs. Score Predictions: a lot to a little.

Q’s Best Bets

Stanford @ Hawaii – Friday, 9/1 (11:00 PM EST)
Pick: Hawaii +3 (-104) (1 unit)

Who would ever bet on a team whose mascot is the Rainbow Warriors??? Me. Thank god the NCAA Football video game is finally coming back because I can’t wait to play on mascots mode with this team… Believe it or not, Hawaii looked pretty solid in Week 0 vs Vandy. They moved the ball at will for most of the game and this is just as much a Stanford fade as a Hawaii play. There’s quite a few moving parts for Stanford coming into this game, including a new head coach and system. Teams simply don’t play well in Hawaii (other than Hawaii obviously) and Hawaii returns a heavy number of starters from last season. I was tempted to take Hawaii straight up here but I’ll take the points and bank on an inspired Hawaii squad to start the season right for us. Score Prediction: Hawaii 27 – Stanford 20.

Boise State @ Washington – Saturday, 9/2 (3:30 PM EST)
Pick: Washington -14 (-110) (1 unit)

This take is relatively simple. Washington is my favorite to win the PAC 12 this year, they catch a rebuilding Boise State team (on defense) at home and Heisman hopeful Michael Pennix Jr should jump out to a hot start. Expect the Penix/Odunze connection to be on full display and for Washington to outmatch a young Boise State squad in virtually every facet of the game late night Saturday. Score Prediction: Washington 38 – Boise State 20.

MTSU @ Alabama – Saturday, 9/2 (7:30 PM EST)
Pick: Alabama -39.5 (-110) (1 unit)

That’s a lot of points to cover, right? I’ve been going back and forth on what absolute unit of a program I wanted to lay the points on against an inferior opponent at home coming into week 1… Landed on the tide. It truly doesn’t matter what QB the tide starts against MTSU coming into Saturday… It’s going to be a blood bath regardless. Nick Saban is currently 13-2 ATS since arriving in Tuscaloosa. That’s truly absurd. I don’t need to spend time breaking down the matchups for this game on Saturday because there’s a very obvious common theme. The Tide loves to set up a rollover game to start their season and MTSU’s number has been called for duty in 2023. But what if one of the best recruiting schools in the country pulls their starters after the first half? Bama’s backups are better than MTSU’s starters… take that to the bank. Expect the Tide to ROLL Saturday night. Score Prediction: Alabama 55- MTSU 6.

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