After college football on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday in Week 1, it's time to get into the thick of things in Week 2 of the season.
Let's look at Week 2 CFB action and go over the betting trends, stats and notes you need to know.
Here's the Action Network's weekly college football betting primer.
College Football Betting Trends, Stats, Notes
No Upsets
Big favorites in college football have been winning straight up at a very high rate to start the season. Here's how double-digit favorites — or teams favored by 10 points or more have performed early in the season.
- In Week 0, we had six such games and Florida State was the lone loser — going 5-1 SU.
- In Week 1, we had 21 games on Thursday (21-0 SU), we had five games Friday (5-0 SU), 59 games Saturday (58-1 SU) and one game on Monday (0-1 SU), with the only two losses coming from Virginia Tech against Vanderbilt and Florida State (again!) against Boston College.
- In total, double-digit favorites are 89-3 SU this season (this includes all lined CFB games via Action Labs).
If you include just FBS teams, double-digit favorites are 58-3 SU and 30-31 ATS entering Week 2.
Outright losses as a double-digit favorite this season
2: Florida State
1: All other teams combined
The Bad List
Florida State has unbelievably lost its first two games of the season outright, both as double-digit favorites. Over the last 40 years, the only other teams to begin their season with back-to-back losses as double-digit favorites was Baylor in 2017 and Wyoming in 2015.
Florida State's win total this season was 9.5. It has to go undefeated the rest of the year to cash the over.
MAC Leads The Way
Entering Week 2, the ATS champion as a conference so far is the MAC at 9-2 ATS, but just 6-5 SU. Behind the MAC is the SEC at 11-4 ATS so far this season.
Feeling Blue
It's very rare to see a Boise State team getting this many points against anyone. The Broncos spread against Oregon had a lookahead line of +24.5, but after Oregon's close call against Idaho, it's creeped below +20.
At any spread of +14.5 this weekend, this would be Boise State's largest line as an underdog since 2001 as a 19-point dog against South Carolina and Lou Holtz — or if it closes higher than that, as a 27-point dog against UCLA back in 1999.
Unfortunately for the Broncos, last year wasn't one for the 'dog, as they finished the season 0-5 SU in that spot.
Geaux Away
Brian Kelly is now 0-3 SU/ATS in openers with LSU, and he's lost his opener ATS in six straight seasons dating back to 2019.
LSU now faces Nicholls State in Week 2. In his second game of the season, Kelly is 9-1 SU and 6-4 ATS, including 2-0 ATS with LSU, beating Grambling 72-10 and Southern 65-17.
Cover Tide?
Alabama (-34.5) rolled Western Kentucky 63-0 in its opener. Alabama is now 9-1 ATS in its opener since 2015 and 15-2 ATS since 2008.
Since 2004, the Tide are 19-1 SU but just 6-12-1 ATS in their second game of the season. Let's see if Kalen DeBoer can buck the trend.
Hokie Bounceback?
Florida State already suffered back-to-back losses as a double-digit favorite, but can Virginia Tech bounce back? The Hokies are coming off their worst loss since 2020 as 17-point favorites vs. Liberty.
Since 2022, Virginia Tech will be the eighth team to lose their opener as a double-digit favorite, with the previous seven teams going 0-6-1 ATS.
In the last decade, those such teams are 20-31-1 ATS (39%).
Truly Wild
Northwestern won and covered its opener against Miami (OH) and now faces Duke with a chance to start 2-0 SU/ATS. Northwestern hasn't started 2-0 SU/ATS since 2015.
Over the last two seasons, Northwestern is 2-0 ATS in August/September when listed as a favorite. But over the last 20 years, it's historically really struggled in that category, going 16-30 ATS as favorites in August/September, with a $100 bettor down $1,504. That makes the Wildcats the least profitable ATS of 150 schools.
Iowa Overs?
Week 1 of college football featured an Iowa over. Entering 2024, Iowa unders were 21-6 over the last three years, the best mark in college football.
If Iowa-Iowa State goes over the total in Week 2, it would be the first time in 20 years Iowa's first two games both go over the total. Since the calendar year changed to 2022, Iowa has only gone over the total in consecutive games once — against Ohio State and Northwestern back in October of 2022.
The total this week for the Cy-Hawk game is 35.5 — the second-lowest total in the rivalry game in the last 20 years. In the 18 total Cy-Hawk games since 2005, the under is 15-3, last going over the total in 2017.
Big Texas Line
The Wolverines are 7.5-point underdogs vs. Texas.
- This is Michigan's biggest home underdog since 2019 vs. Ohio State at +9. It lost 56-27.
- This is Michigan's biggest underdog in any game since 2022 vs. Ohio State at +9. It won outright 45-23.
- This is Michigan's biggest underdog vs. a non-conference opponent since 2021 vs. Georgia at +7.5. It lost 34-11. If Michigan closes above 7.5, it would go back to 2012 against Alabama, where it was +13 and lost 41-14.
Michigan has closed as a 7-point home underdog just five times since 2000 and it's 0-5 SU. The Wolverines' last win as a seven-point home dog came all the way back in November of 1995 against Ohio State as a 9-point underdog.
The Volunteer Half
Tennessee coach Josh Heupel has coached college football for six years — three at Tennessee and three at UCF.
In that span, his teams are 41-17-2 against the first-half spread — the most profitable ATS of 305 head coaches. That includes a mark of 22-7-1 1H ATS away from home.
In Week 1, Tennessee covered the 24.5 first-half spread, leading 45-0 against Chattanooga.
Irish Goodbye
Notre Dame is coming off a very impressive win against Texas A&M and is now listed as big favorites against Northern Illinois.
Since 2019, the Irish have performed very well in a tough role — coming off a SU win, when listed as a favorite. They're 33-4 SU and 25-12 ATS in that spot — that's the fourth-best ATS win percentage in the country with minimum 20 games played behind just Penn State, James Madison and Kansas State.
Playing A Role
The Buffaloes are 7.5-point underdogs against Nebraska this week.
Deion Sanders and Colorado have now been married together for 13 total games. In five of those games they've been favorites, and in eight, they've been underdogs.
As a favorite, they're 4-1 SU and as underdogs, they're 1-7 SU, with their lone win coming against TCU as 21-point underdogs in their first game together.
Heading East
Cal doesn't frequently play on the east coast — this is just their sixth-lined game in EST since 2005 and 13th game in either EST or CST, with Cal actually 8-4 ATS, covering the spread by over four points per game.
Dating back to 2016, Cal has covered the spread in five straight games played in EST/CST, having been an underdog in four of those five games.
Away From Lawrence
For just the 11th time since 2005 and 14th time since 2000, Kansas is listed as a favorite on the road. Kansas was listed as a road favorite three times last season, but before that, the Jayhawks hadn't been a road favorite in any game since 2009.
If you're looking for the last time Kansas was a road favorite vs. a Power Five team this early in the season, you have to go back to September of 1992, when Big Eight member Kansas was favored on the road against PAC-12 opponent Oregon State.
Since then, the Jayhawks have been a road favorite against UTEP, SMU, TCU, North Texas and Houston this early — but none were in major conferences then.
Historically, the road hasn't been a fun place for Kansas, going 38-57-2 ATS (40%) since 2005, the second-worst ATS mark of any program ahead of just Colorado.
More Man
Nobody figures out a way to cover the spread like Kyle Whittingham. Whittingham has finished his last eight seasons above .500 ATS, according to Bet Labs, and in terms of laying big numbers, it hasn't mattered too much.
As a double-digit favorite, Whittingham is 46-27-1 ATS, making him the second-most profitable coach as a double-digit favorite since 2005, behind only James Franklin.
How about this? Since the 2017 season, Whittingham is 33-0 SU and 21-12 ATS as a double-digit favorite. His last loss as a double-digit favorite came back in November of 2016 as a 12-point favorite against Justin Herbert and Oregon on a last-second TD pass from Herbert that won the game with two seconds left.
More Man
Speaking of Franklin, Penn State is a massive favorite against Bowling Green this week. Under Franklin, Penn State is 65-4 SU and 41-26-2 ATS, including 19-6-1 ATS since 2020, which is the best mark in the country for teams with a minimum of 10 games.
Transferring Skills
Clemson got blown out in its opener against Georgia and now Dabo Swinney and the Tigers try and bounce back against Appalachian State.
Dating back to 2012, Clemson is 18-1 SU and 11-8 ATS after a SU loss, including 13-1 SU and 9-4 ATS when the Tigers are favored by under 20 points in the spot.
The Trojan Horse
USC opened the season with an outright win as underdogs against LSU and is on the right track to eclipse its win total again.
The Trojans win total sat at 7.5 for the 2024 season. It was the fourth time since 2010 that USC had a win total below eight.
In each of the previous three seasons with a win total below eight, the Trojans eclipsed their win total.
- 2024: 7.5
- 2019: 7 (over with eight wins)
- 2016: 7.5 (over with nine wins)
- 2011: 7.5 (over with 10 wins)
Staying in Neutral
Arkansas is coming off a game against Arkansas-Pine Bluff at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock — a neutral site game. Teams playing a game after a neutral site game, where they're listed as the underdog, are just 11-46 SU (19%) since 2019, including 26-31 ATS.
Close Call
Both Texas Tech and South Carolina are coming off very close calls in their openers, closing as 20+ point favorites in the game but only winning by 10 points or less outright.
In the last 20 years, teams who close as 20+ point favorites in their opener and win by 10 points or less are 59-43-2 ATS in their second game of the season — having a good opportunity to play better the following week.
No Upsets
Here's your weekly college football wind report. In CFB, we're looking for a bit more drastic wind strength than in the NFL. At 13 mph or stronger, unders are cashing at over a 57% rate since 2005. Unders in high wind games have been above .500 in the games selected for 10 consecutive seasons entering this year.
Looking Ahead
In recent years, CFB teams who travel across the country between games have been a bit undervalued. When a team plays their previous game in PST and then plays their next game in either CST or EST, they're 35-18-1 ATS since 2019, covering the spread by 2.6 points per game.
Through The Trenches
When facing non-Service Academy teams, Air Force, Navy and Army been a good ATS bet as underdogs against the first-half spread.
In the last decade, Army, Navy and Air Force are 71-47 ATS (60.2%) for a +16% ROI as underdogs against the first half spread — being .500 ATS or better in 10 consecutive seasons.
This week, Army is listed as underdogs against Florida Atlantic.
