College Football Week 0 Early Picks & Predictions (2025)

Saturday marks the return of college football, kicking off with a five-game slate during Week 0. The 2025 regular season officially gets underway with meaningful action, so college football fans and sports bettors have plenty to look forward to, starting with the Aer Lingus College Football Classic between No. 22 Iowa State vs. No. 17 Kansas State in Dublin, Ireland, at noon ET.

Three of five Week 0 matchups feature teams from Power 4 conferences. There are three Mountain West teams, a Big Sky team represented by Idaho State, and a Conference USA tilt between Sam Houston vs. Western Kentucky. Week 0 concludes with a 7:30 p.m. kickoff between Stanford vs. Hawaii from Honolulu.

Let’s dive into early lines for three of these games and assess their projected line movement, which also includes a pick. Here are our early College Football Week 0 picks and predictions. Follow me on X @Matt_MacKay to get updated college football betting analysis and insights, including free picks, during each week of the 2025 college football season.

• NCAAF Game Odds
• NCAAF Team Futures
• NCAAF Player Futures

Get instant alerts when a line reaches your target via the BettingPros App >>

College Football Week 0 Picks & Early Line Movement

(Odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook)

Iowa State (22) vs. Kansas State (17)

The lone top-25 matchup kicks off the Week 0 slate when Iowa State and Kansas State go head-to-head during the Aer Lingus Classic overseas. These two Big 12 rivals know each other well and odds have begun to shorten in the Cyclones’ favor.

We’re currently sitting at a key number of -3 on Kansas State. The Wildcats return QB Avery Johnson, who posted a 58 percent completion rate in 2024, while recording 5.4 YPC and leading the team in total rushing touchdowns alongside RB1 DJ Giddens.

Now that Giddens is gone, it’s up to RB Dylan Edwards to fill his shoes in head coach Chris Klieman’s offense. The former Colorado player will have a difficult first assignment against Iowa State’s historically stout defense under head coach Matt Campbell.

The Cyclones finished 2024 with an 11-3 record, allowing 22.9 points per game, which was 41st out of 134 FBS programs. They’d go on to beat Kansas State 29-21 at home late in the regular season.

Iowa State is also returning its starting quarterback from last year, Rocco Becht, who threw for over 3,500 yards. I give the edge to Iowa State’s defense and quarterback, so let’s side with the line movement and back the underdog at their current price of +3 on the point spread.

Pick: Iowa State +3 (-110)

Kansas vs. Fresno State

An interconference matchup between a Power 4 program, Kansas, hosting Fresno State out of the Mountain West, has led to a much bigger point spread set to -12.5 favoring the Jayhawks. There’s plenty of reason to be bullish on Kansas in 2025, especially with senior QB Jalon Daniels.

Daniels will no longer have RB Devin Neal to churn out production in the backfield. That’s now RB Daniel Hishaw Jr., who averaged 5.8 YPC on only 65 rush attempts in 2024.

Fresno State’s begun to have the point spread shift in their favor, moving one full point from +13.5 to +12.5. The Bulldogs finished below .500 in 2024 under head coach Tim Skipper but it’s now the Matt Entz era.

Traveling to Lawrence to face Daniels in an early season primetime game is going to be difficult for Fresno State’s new regime. They were better defensively in 2024 than on offense, ranked 65th in opponent points per game (24.8), while scoring 26.1 points per game on average, which ranked 81st in the country.

Despite a 5-7 record, Kansas did a lot of things well last season. Five of the Jayhawks losses were by six or fewer points, including a 1-5 start. Head coach Lance Leipold will undoubtedly remind his team to remain aggressive throughout the game to avoid another collapse.

This time, I’m going to go opposite of the line movement and back the more seasoned team to win by 13 or more points. Bet on the Kansas Jayhawks during their home opener against a rebuilding Fresno State roster at -12.5 on the point spread.

Pick: Kansas -12.5 (-112)

Stanford vs. Hawaii

The night cap for Week 0 should be a fun one with Stanford playing Hawaii. The Rainbow Warriors host the Cardinal, with both programs turning over a new page at quarterback.

Former Indianapolis Colts head coach, Frank Reich, now leads Stanford in the same position. It’s his first season with the Cardinal as their head coach and he has a low ceiling to hit based on Stanford’s 3-9 record under Troy Taylor in 2024.

Timmy Chang returns as Hawaii’s head coach, with QB Micah Alejado under center. In limited action behind Brayden Schager last season, Alejado logged a 70 percent completion rate for six touchdowns and zero interceptions. He could be a big upgrade from Schager.

The Rainbow Warriors’ offense was among the worst in the FBS last year, averaging 22.3 points per game, ranking 111th out of 134 schools. Stanford’s defense was equally bad, allowing 33.7 points per game, which was 116th in the country.

The Cardinal also had a bad offense in 2024, averaging 22.8 points per game. It was in the bottom tier alongside Hawaii in terms of production, but now, with Reich and Oregon State transfer Ben Gulbranson as QB1, there’s reason for higher expectations in 2025.

The point spread has not moved since opening at Hawaii -2.5 over a week ago. This is once again a key number in football, with Hawaii winning by a field goal (3 points) enough to cover the current line.

Interestingly enough, the point total has seen movement, bumping down from 52.5 to 51.5 total points. Stanford is implementing a new offense and Hawaii is also rolling out a new QB1. Neither team had a good defensive unit in 2024, which makes under 51.5 a bit scary to recommend.

I’ll back the Mountain West favorite over a Power 4 underdog at home. This is primarily due to Alejado’s upside in the same system he played in last year, versus Stanford’s big rebuild. Let’s bet Hawaii -2.5 to start Week 0 with a 3-0 record.

Pick: Hawaii -2.5 (-108)