Clay Travis’ Week 1 College Football Betting Picks: 11 Winners, Starting Thursday Night

Week 1 of the college football season is here, and I’ve got 11 winners for you – starting Thursday night and running through the Saturday night slate. These are my Week 1 college football predictions and picks, brought to you by Hard Rock Bet Sportsbook.

Clay Travis’ Week 1 Picks: The Full Card

• Georgia Tech -6.5 vs. Colorado (Thursday)
• Stanford +24.5 vs. Miami (Friday)
• Texas State +29.5 at Texas
• Baylor vs. Auburn – OVER 58.5
• Furman +46.5 at Tennessee
• Northern Illinois +31.5 at Iowa
• Clemson +10.5 vs LSU
• UCLA -1.5 at Cal
• Wisconsin +20.5 vs. Notre Dame (Lambeau Field)
• Louisville vs. Ole Miss – OVER 55.5
• Florida State +3 vs SMU

Now the reasoning.

Georgia Tech -6.5 vs. Colorado (Thursday Night)

Georgia Tech beat Colorado. If you remember last year, Haynes King scored late to give Georgia Tech a 27-20 lead. Alberto Mendoza – the younger brother of Fernando – is going to be the new Georgia Tech quarterback.

I am taking Georgia Tech -6.5 in this opening Thursday night game.

Stanford +24.5 vs. Miami

This is not going to make everybody happy inside of Hard Rock. There are a lot of big fans of “The U” inside of Hard Rock. Here’s the problem.

The Hurricanes are traveling all the way across the country. Miami to the Bay Area is one of the longest flights truly that you can take in America. I believe the longest non-stop you can take in the continental United States is Miami to Seattle. This is a long trip.

Everybody focused on the USC crowd – did you actually see what the crowd was like for the Stanford game? I think Stanford is probably the best school in the nation. I wanted to go to Stanford after I visited that campus back in 2000. I wanted to go to Stanford Law School; they didn’t let me in, and I ended up at Vanderbilt. I was blown away by Stanford. I was not blown away by Stanford’s crowd last week.

I think this is going to have an environment and an atmosphere somewhat akin to a low-level Friday night high school football game. Not that much energy. I think there are University of Miami practices that will have a higher energy level than what we will see in Palo Alto on Friday.

I just really feel like Stanford’s going to have some success. They put up 37 against Hawaii last weekend with nobody watching.

I’m taking Miami to win, but I like Stanford plus all the points on with the point spread. I think probably Miami wins by 14 to 17, so I feel pretty good about the 24.5.

Texas State +29.5 at Texas

You guys know I picked Texas to win the national title, but next week is Ohio State. Oftentimes you can have some success betting on a team that has got a monstrous next-week opponent. I think Steve Sarkisian is going to get his starters out early.

Texas State has jumped to the Pac-12. Their quarterback completed 70% of his passes – these are great research facts from William, who’s now on the team – with 3,000 passing yards, 21 touchdowns and just seven picks.

Texas State covers as a 29.5-point underdog.

Baylor at Auburn – OVER 58.5

I love, love, love the over here.

South Florida transfer Byrum Brown along in that Alex Golesh offense.

You remember the Alex Golesh offense? I know Alabama fans do, because of all the points that Tennessee hung on Alabama in that epic 2022 win – the 11-2 Tennessee team that performed the best under Josh Heupel so far. That was Alex Golesh. He went to South Florida, went on the road and beat Florida last year. Golesh has had a lot of success.

Baylor frankly hasn’t been very good offensively under Dave Aranda going forward. The Bulls scored 41 last year on average. I’m going over.

Furman +46.5 at Tennessee

Tennessee’s true freshman is starting. I think Tennessee believes they have something special with him, but they do not want to overload him or have issues associated with him.

Jake Garcia is the quarterback for Furman. By the way – welcome to the modern era of college football – Garcia has played for Miami, Missouri, East Carolina and Michigan. This is his fifth different team.

I think they cover the 46.5.

Northern Illinois +31.5 at Iowa

31.5-point favorites for Iowa against Northern Illinois. NIU’s got a brand new head coach. This is crazy. Iowa should not be favored by 31.5 points against anybody based on the history of their offense.

I’m going with Northern Illinois.

Clemson +10.5 at LSU – Tap the Veins

Big game. Tap the veins, boys and girls. The first of my Blood Bank plays of the season.

Everybody has been paying attention to LSU. There has been so much attention forced upon LSU from the moment that Lane Kiffin left Oxford and headed to Baton Rouge. Kiffin, it feels like, has been in the news every single day, and I think it’s fair to say he is now the most hated coach in all of college football.

Let me say this: I like Lane. I’ve always had a pretty good relationship with him over the last 10 to 15 years. I think he is a great coach and I think he does whatever he can within the rules to win. I think the run he had at Ole Miss was incredible. I don’t begrudge him for deciding to leave.

But I do think it’s often the case that the team that dominates the offseason doesn’t show up and play as well in the actual first game of the season.

• You’ve got a brand new quarterback who’s coming off of a significant injury.
• You’ve got an overwhelming home crowd, which sometimes can psych your team out a little bit.
• Clemson is totally under the radar. Dabo, relatively speaking, has been pretty quiet.

I just think this is going to be a single-digit game. I still feel like LSU gets the win, but Clemson plus double digits feels too steep for me.

UCLA -1.5 at Cal

You guys know I teed off on Nico a lot last year. I think his new coach that has been inherited by Nico and the rest of the UCLA Bruins is going to be able to be a good fix for his overall offensive skill set.

I’m not sold on Cal. I still believe, by the way, this should be a Pac-12 rivalry game. I think UCLA gets the win on the road by a touchdown or more.

Wisconsin +20.5 vs. Notre Dame at Lambeau Field

I’m taking Wisconsin as a big, big underdog in a game at Lambeau Field.

You have got Notre Dame, which has not played since they feel like they were unfairly left out of the College Football Playoff. Two first-round running backs are gone. As good as Marcus Freeman has built this roster, I think CJ Carr right now is a little bit overhyped.

It’s going to be a tough environment. I like Wisconsin to find a way to cover the 20.5.

Louisville at Ole Miss – OVER 55.5

This one is here in my backyard of Tennessee. It’s a neutral site game, and both teams are going to be scoring points like crazy.

We know what the Ole Miss offense has been capable of doing under Trinidad Chambliss. I don’t think that’s going to change. Jeff Brohm is a fantastic coach and has done great for Louisville.

I would expect that this will be a pretty good crowd. Electric. Lots of fans from both teams. I like the over in this one.

Florida State +3 vs SMU

I went to two games last year at Doak Campbell Stadium – the opener against Alabama, and then the later season game against Miami.

I think that as good as Kevin Jennings is, and as much success as he has had, for Florida State this is a statement game. They weren’t great last week, but they got some reps in.

I think they win outright on the moneyline, but I will take them for three points.

All referenced odds are subject to change.