Originally published on Wednesday, 9/2/26, at 10:01 a.m. Eastern.
Updated on Thursday, 9/3/26, at 2:30 p.m. Eastern.
–Here are my Power Rankings going into Week 1.
–My favorite pick for Week 1 is SMU -3 at FSU.
–Stat of the Week: Georgia is 0-15-1 against the spread in 16 games when favored by 38.5 points or more during Kirby Smart’s tenure. As of Thursday afternoon, UGA was -46.5 or -47.5 at most books for Saturday’s opener at home vs. Tennessee St.
-As noted above, SMU -3 is my favorite Week 1 play. My next-favorite bets are Ole Miss -6.5 (or -7) vs. Louisville (in Nashville) and LSU -10 vs. Clemson. Remember, Dabo Swinney’s team went 7-6 SU last year playing in the Ass Candy Conference, and it lost nine players, including five inside of the first three rounds and four in Rounds 1 and 2, from that team to the 2026 NFL Draft.
-There are four FBS vs. FBS matchups on Thursday night: Rutgers -29 vs. UMass, Wake Forest -24.5 vs Akron, Ga. Tech -6.5 or 7 vs. Colorado and Illinois -27.5 vs UAB. Missouri will play host to an FCS foe, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, on the SEC Network at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.
Eli Drinkwitz’s squad was 54.5-point home favorite at most spots on Wednesday morning. The Tigers will be without a pair of preseason All-Americans in RB Ahmad Hardy and OT Cayden Green, who is expected to be back for a Week 2 game at Kansas next Friday. The timetable on Hardy’s return remains top secret in CoMo.
When Drink was asked about it earlier this week, he said, “Ahmad’s been working hard to get back. He’s still progressing in his running regimen and trying to get back to full speed and just needs his total focus on that.”
Akron plans on starting Reese Poffenbarger at QB, but he’s still awaiting a waiver from the NCAA. There should’ve been news on this at some point yesterday (Wednesday), but here we are merely hours from kickoff with the NCAA doing its thing while the Zips have no idea who will take their first snap tonight. Poffenbarger had 6,613 passing yards with a 60/17 touchdown-to-interception ratio (and eight rushing TDs) in two seasons as a starter at Albany. He lost QB1 competitions vs. Cam Ward (at Miami) and Drew Mestemaker (North Texas) in 2024 and 2025.
As of early Thursday morning, Wake Forest was -24.5 tonight vs the Zips, who are 13-12 ATS in 25 games as road underdogs during Joe Moorhead’s tenure. The Deacs went 3-1 ATS in four games as home favorites in Jake Dickert’s first season. Dickert had a spectacular first year at Wake Forest, leading his team to a 9-4 record both straight up and against the spread. Unfortunately for him, many of his top players were poached by other teams with better NIL situations. Gio Lopez is replacing Robby Ashford as QB1 in Winston-Salem.
UPDATE: As of 2:30 p.m. Eastern, most shops had Wake Forest at -27.5. The move off of -24.5 was made at around 11:12 a.m. Eastern.
Ga. Tech had a tough offseason, losing OC Buster Faulkner, QB Aaron Philo, TE Luke Harpring, WR Bailey Stockton and center Harrison Moore to Florida. Brent Key replaced Faulkner with George Godsey, and Chris Weinke will serve as co-OC. The new DC is Jason Semore, who was under Charles Huff the last three seasons at Marshall and So. Miss. Semore is replacing former DC Blake Gideon, who left for Texas.
-I’m on Fresno St.’s season win total to go ‘over’ 6.5. The Bulldogs open the season Friday night at USC. As of early Thursday, they were 21.5 or 22-point road underdogs at most spots. Fresno St. is 14-7 ATS as a road underdog since 2017.
-Hawaii is a three-point home underdog vs. UNLV. The Rebels are in bounce-back mode after dropping a 27-21 decision vs. Memphis as 4.5-point home favorites in Week Zero. Dan Mullen’s team saw center Austin Boyd, a second-team All-Mountain West selection last year, go down with a lower-body injury midway through the fourth quarter. Before Boyd’s injury, UNLV had given up only two sacks on 40 drop-back passes. After he went down, Memphis sacked Jackson Arnold four times on nine drop-back passes. Las Vegas radio titan Steve Cofield, who has covered UNLV for decades, told me via text on Wednesday that Boyd isn’t playing Saturday against the Rainbow Warriors.
Hawaii has compiled a 19-5-2 ATS record in its last 26 games as a home underdog. The Rainbow Warriors are 12-5-1 ATS with seven outright wins in 18 games as home ‘dogs during Timmy Chang’s tenure, going 12-3-1 ATS in its last 16 such spots.
After missing last week’s Week Zero loss at Stanford, Hawaii WR Pofele Ashlock is listed as ‘questionable’ Saturday vs. UNLV. Ashlock had 76 catches for 827 yards and eight TDs in 2025. Just my two cents: If you’re betting Hawaii like I am this week, do it because you like the Rainbow Warriors to cover without Ashlock. I don’t think he’s playing, but I hope I’m wrong.
-My favorite player prop of the week is Ole Miss RB Kewan Lacy to go ‘over’ 85.5 rushing yards vs. Louisville, risking 1.14 units to win one unit (FanDuel as of Wednesday morning). Lacy produced 87 rushing yards or more in six of the Rebels’ last seven games of 2025. He had at least 87 in 10 of 15 overall games.
-When Stanford hosts Miami on Friday, it will be without 3 starters on the o-line – OT Niki Prongos, OG Simione Pale and center Aidan Kilstrom. WR Nico Brown and DE Gabe Kaminski are also ‘out.’ Kaminski had four tackles, 1.5 sacks and one pass broken up in last week’s home win over Hawaii.
-Luke Fickell is on a boiling hot seat going into his fourth season at Wisconsin. I thought this was a home-run hire, but it hasn’t turned out that way. (In fairness, he has dealt with injuries galore at the QB position.) Fickell’s teams are 16-20 SU and 17-19 ATS, going 5-7 and 4-8 SU the last two years. He’ll lead his team up against Marcus Freeman’s Notre Dame squad on Sunday night at Lambeau Field in Green Bay.
Freeman played at Ohio St. when Fickell was with the Buckeyes as an assistant. He served as Fickell’s DC at Cincinnati from 2017-20. As of Wednesday morning, most spots had the Fighting Irish as a 20.5-point ‘chalk.’ The total was 47.5 points.
Wisconsin has a pair of starting offensive linemen who are dealing with injuries. OT Kevin Heywood and Emerson Mandell, who started all 12 games for the Badgers in 2025, are expected to be game-time decisions. When Fickell met with the media Monday, he talked about doing what’s best for the team and the season “in its entirety.”
Translation? With Western Illinois and Eastern Michigan on deck in Weeks 2 and 3, respectively, before a road assignment at Penn St., sitting Heywood and Mandell would give them more time to heal up before getting into the heart of the schedule. Therefore, the guess here is that both o-linemen won’t play. Colton Joseph, the new starting QB after transferring from Old Dominion, had 1,007 rushing yards for the Monarchs last season. It’s a good thing he has mobility because he could be running for his life Sunday night in Green Bay.
Notre Dame LB Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa is ‘questionable.’ In 2025, Viliamu-Asa contributed 48 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss, five QB Hurries, three sacks, two passes broken up, one fumble recovery and one interception. WR Quincy Porter, a redshirt freshman that’s a projected starter, has already been ruled ‘out.’
-Louisville RB Isaac Brown is “good to go” Sunday night vs. Ole Miss in Nashville, according to head coach Jeff Brohm.
-Western Kentucky star WR K.D. Hutchinson isn’t listed on the depth chart for the Hilltoppers’ opener Saturday at Nevada. Per PFSN College, Hutchinson had the nation’s fourth-highest catch rate among college football’s returning WRs. In 2025, he hauled in 66 receptions for 618 yards and three TDs. The Tops remain 2.5-point road favorites.
-Miami (OH.) WR Keith Reynolds isn’t on the depth chart for Saturday’s opener at Pitt. Reynolds had 36 catches for 352 yards and one TD for the RedHawks last season.
-Cal TE Dorian Thomas is listed as ‘questionable’ for Saturday’s opener vs. UCLA during the feel-good hours. Kickoff is scheduled for 10:30 p.m. Eastern on ESPN. A transfer from New Mexico, Thomas had 56 receptions for 560 yards and four TDs in 13 games for the Lobos last season. As of Thursday morning, most books had the Bruins as 1.5 or two-point road favorites.
-Kentucky RB Jovantae Barnes is ‘out’ of Saturday’s opener vs. Youngstown St.
-South Carolina DE Dylan Stewart and OT Jacarrius Peak are ‘out’ of Saturday’s opener vs. Kent St. Peak is a five-star transfer from NC St. who is still dealing with an injury sustained playing basketball back in February. Stewart is a projected first-round pick in the 2027 NFL Draft.
-If you’re looking for a longshot bet to win the Heisman, I’ll go with Miami WR Malachi Toney at 38/1 (DraftKings).
–My 2026 preview of the Vanderbilt Commodores.
–My reasoning for backing BYU’s season win total ‘over’ 8.5.
–My preview and pick on the season win total for the 2026 Houston Cougars.
–Here are some of my thoughts on FAU at Florida in this video with Billy Jones for Southeastern 16.
Please refresh this page or come back to this article throughout the week, as I’ll continue to add injury notes and other newsworthy items as they develop…