College football odds, picks, top predictions for Week 2, 2024: Proven computer likes Oklahoma in best bets
By CBS Sports Staff,
2024-09-02
Notre Dame has cracked the top five in the latest college football polls after defeating Texas A&M , 23-13, in College Station to kick off the 2024 college football season. The Fighting Irish climbed to No. 5 and Texas A&M is just outside the top 25 after opening the season ranked No. 20 in the country. Notre Dame has its home opener against Northern Illinois on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET and is a 28-point favorite, according to the SportsLine consensus, in the latest Week 2 college football odds. The Week 2 college football schedule doesn't have as many pairings within the top 25 as last weekend's opener, but one of the marquee matchups is No. 14 Tennessee vs. No. 24 NC State .
Tennessee is an 9-point favorite on the road in the latest Week 2 college football odds coming off a dominant 69-3 win over Chattanooga last weekend. Should college football bettors expect Tennessee to win by double-digits when making Week 2 college football bets, and how should you play the big matchup between No. 3 Texas and No. 10 Michigan (+7)? Before locking in any Week 2 college football picks, be sure to see the latest college football predictions from SportsLine's proven model .
The model simulates every FBS college football game 10,000 times. Since its inception, it has generated a profit of over $2,000 for $100 players on its top-rated college football picks against the spread. It is also coming off a profitable 13-9 season on top-rated spread picks. Anyone who has followed it has seen strong returns.
One of the college football picks the model is high on during Week 2: South Carolina (+9) covers against Kentucky at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday. South Carolina had a disappointing 5-7 season last year to finish with its first losing record since 2020 and the Gamecocks used the transfer portal to fix some of last year's weaknesses. South Carolina added 22 players from the transfer portal, only two SEC teams added more players than them, including four four-star players, according to 247Sports.
Running back Raheim Sanders was one of those four-star transfer portal additions and he played a key role in South Carolina's 23-19 win over Old Dominion last week. The senior, who spent his previous three seasons at Arkansas, rushed for 88 yards and a touchdown and proved capable of being the go-to option in the backfield. South Carolina has won each of its last two matchups against Kentucky and has either won or lost by single digits in 12 of their last 14 meetings with the Wildcats. The model projects the Gamecocks to cover the margin on Saturday in well over 50% of simulations. See the rest of its Week 2 college football picks here.
Another prediction: No. 16 Oklahoma (-27.5) easily covers the huge spread against Houston in a 7:45 p.m. ET kickoff on Saturday. Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables saw his program improve from six wins in 2022 to 10 in 2023 and now the Sooners are making the transition to the SEC. They opened their season with a 51-3 win over Temple last week and it was Venables' defense that was the main attraction, holding the Owls to 197 yards of offense and forcing six turnovers.
Meanwhile, Houston began its first season under new head coach Willie Fritz with a 27-7 loss to UNLV . The Cougars only managed 247 yards of total offense and starting quarterback Donovan Smith averaged only 4.5 yards per pass attempt while throwing two interceptions. The model is expecting this talented Oklahoma defense to feast on a Houston offense that is clearly in flux. It's predicting that the Sooners cover in more than 60% of simulations despite the sizable spread. See picks for every other game in Week 2 here.
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