Week Zero was incredibly Week Zero.

I will be doing a written recap of my bets and the overall takeaways from each week of the CFB season. Usually, I won’t be able to go through every game but for this Week Zero slate, I will touch on everything.

The first game, Notre Dame/Navy, was incredibly disappointing. Navy laid an absolute egg and it was the CLEAR wrong side. Sam Hartman looked really good but Navy did not belong on that field.

Navy +21- LOSS -1.2u

UTEP was by far the most infuriating loss of the day. They outgained Jax State by nearly 100 yards. They were over double the amount of YPA of Jax State. They had 7 more first downs than Jax State. They lost the game. They lost the turnover battle 3-0 which is already repulsive. To make matters worse, they were driving with a chance to win the game or tie with a field goal. They had a 3rd and 1 and 4th and 1 from the Jax State 24 where they decided to throw downfield on both plays instead of running for the 1-yard despite their advantage in the trenches.

This was one of the worst coaching performances you will see all year in CFB. UTEP was the right side the whole way but they take a loss here.

Utep ML- LOSS -1.13u

Ohio was another incredibly frustrating loss. Losing your all-conference QB in the first half is just brutal and they still had a real shot to tie the game on their final drive. Based on what we saw from SDSU offensively, I am very convinced that Ohio would have won the game if Rourke had stayed in. Sometimes that’s just the way it goes.

Ohio +3.5- LOSS -1.2u

UMASS saved the day for us. I said in my Week Zero podcast that this was my favorite spot of the weekend and the Minutemen came through big time. The dual-threat action from their new QB was awesome and they took advantage of the NMSU turnovers.

UMASS +8- WIN +1u

UMASS +225- WIN +1.51u

Two things were clear in this next game- Vanderbilt is still nowhere near competing in the SEC East and Timmy Chang has Hawaii back on the right path. The run and shoot looked great and Hawaii should have a good year moving in the right direction. Vandy is a team I will continue to look to fade whenever I can.

Hawaii +17.5- WIN +1u

LA Tech was disgraceful. They just could not get the ball in the end zone to save their lives. Hank Bachmeier’s turnover troubles have made their way to Louisiana and that put LA Tech in an early hole. LA Tech outgained FIU by over 250 yards with a 28-8 1st down ratio. However, the turnovers and inability to convert in the red zone resulted in a short win for LA Tech. Luckily, I fired on them 2H and that canceled out the full-game loss.

LA Tech -10.5- LOSS -1.1u

LA Tech 2H -7- WIN +1u

Overall, with the bad break in losing Rourke for Ohio, the ineptitude of the UTEP coaching staff, and losing on the right side with LA Tech, having a basically even Saturday isn’t bad. This was just a little warm-up and next weekend we will be back in full effect. Look out for the Week One betting preview coming this Friday.

Week Zero: 4-4 -0.12u

2023 CFB Season: 4-4 -0.12u