College Football Group of 5 Roundup (Week 0)

Welcome to Week 0 of the college football season, as we dip our toes into the sport with seven matchups on the FBS level. The Group of Five has several opportunities for Power 5 victories as Navy takes on Notre Dame overseas, San Jose State travels to USC and Hawaii heads to SEC country to play Vanderbilt. There are also two Conference USA matchups also Saturday, so there is plenty of intrigue already on the schedule. With that, let’s take a look at Week 0.

All odds are per DraftKings Sportsbook.

Group of Five Notes

FIU @ Louisiana Tech (-10) — O/U 58.5

9 p.m. ET, CBS Sports Network

Last year these two teams played with FIU taking the matchup 42-34 in double overtime at home. Grayson James threw for 321 yards and three touchdowns for the Panthers who had four total wins last season. James is one of five starters back on offense for the road team. He could find some success once again against a Louisiana Tech squad that has four defensive starters back and was absolutely horrible defending the run. On the other side, there’s a lot of excitement surrounding the potential for the Bulldogs offense. It’s year two for Sonny Cumbie, and he’s brought in some explosive transfers including Boise State QB Hank Bachmeier and Nebraska WR Decoldest Crawford. One note is that leading rusher Marquis Crosby is out while Miami-Ohio transfer Tyre Shelton is questionable. I expect this side of the ball to succeed especially early against an FIU team that struggled against any offense with a pulse.

Betting Fact

FIU was 4-5 ATS as a double-digit underdog last year with two outright wins. 

UTEP (-1) @ Jacksonville State — O/U 52

5:30 p.m. ET, CBS Sports Network

Welcome to FBS football Jacksonville State! Now start your season with a conference tilt against a winnable opponent. If you read my best bets article, I’m high on the Gamecocks for several reasons. Their quarterback Zion Webb is a veteran of the sport having been in college football for seven years. Ron Wiggins joins ULM transfer Malik Jackson in the backfield, as it looks like Anwar Lewis is not playing in the game. The running back was not listed on the team’s depth chart. Still, I have faith in the ground game to continue to succeed despite missing Lewis. The problems may come on the defensive side of things where seven starters are back from a group that gave up 54 points at Tulsa. Chris Hardie and J-Rock Swain are two very good pass rushers, but the rest of the unit has question marks. Meanwhile the Miners are in the mix for a C-USA title with plenty of starters back on both sides of the ball. QB Gavin Hardison and RB Deion Hankins will be tough to stop especially with an experienced offensive line returning. This line has flipped back and forth with each team being a favorite at some point.

Betting Fact

The last three seasons JSU was 3-2 ATS against their FBS opponents.

Ohio @ San Diego State (-3) — O/U 49

7 p.m. ET, FS1

The Aztecs start a very home-friendly early part of their schedule with a visit by Ohio. Last year, San Diego State edged Toledo 17-14 at home in a riveting non-conference game. This year’s SDSU team is led by Jalen Mayden on offense. The former safety was better than expected after the position move throwing for over 2,000 yards and 12 touchdowns. Mayden was helped out by a solid ground game that lost Jordan Byrd and Chance Bell, but still has Jaylon Armstead and Kenan Criston returning. The usually strong defense has to replace a lot of their defensive line and Patrick McMorris in the secondary so we’ll see if they can keep the tradition going. There are high expectations for the Bobcats who have the majority of their offense back under Tim Albin in his third season. QB Kurtis Rourke, RB Sieh Bangura and WR Sam Wiglusz are one of the best offensive trios in the MAC. The road was not kind to Ohio last year in the nonconference although the road trips were to Penn State and Iowa State who were slightly better than this Aztecs team.

Betting Fact

The last four seasons Ohio is 2-7 ATS in FBS nonconference games. 

UMass @ New Mexico State (-8) — O/U 44.5

7 p.m. ET, ESPN

Previously this would have been a matchup between two independent programs, but New Mexico State took its talents to Conference USA. The Aggies are riding high off a 6-5 season and a victory in the Quick Lane Bowl over Bowling Green. A large chunk of the offense is back including QB Diego Pavia who surprised some with his play. The signal caller threw for 13 touchdowns while adding six more on the ground. We’ll see how much he misses WR Justice Powers who averaged 22 yards per reception and opened things up for this side of the ball. The defense was efficient last year, but there’s only four starters back. They should ease into the season against a UMass team that lost 23-13 at home to NMSU in 2022. The Minutemen have won three games over the last four seasons combined and don’t really have a ton of strengths. There is some intrigue surrounding Taisun Phommachanh at quarterback after playing at Georgia Tech. Still, UMass is going to struggle once again so they should enjoy their time on ESPN.

Betting Fact

Over the last four seasons, UMass has been a single-digit underdog to an FBS opponent just five times with two of those coming against these Aggies.

FCS outlook

There are just three FCS contests with only one of them featuring a team in the preseason top 25. Mercer checks in 20th as they take on North Alabama at 3:30 in Montgomery, Ala. The Bears went 7-4 in 2022 and have a pretty good offense returning. The other two games are Fordham at Albany at 7 p.m. and Jackson State vs. South Carolina State at 7 p.m. in Atlanta.